Not sure why, but I was thinking today about way back when wine coolers were cool. Maybe they’re still cool, I don’t really know.
Bartles and James wine coolers were popular back in the 1980s. The ads featured two actors and were quite humorous. What I find interesting is that they had the wine coolers with the names of these two (fictional) people, which was a part of the Ernest and Julio Gallo Wine Company. I suppose brothers or family members founded many wine companies.
Anyway, back when I was writing, I “invented” these two guys named Ergo and Max. Actually depending on the story, Max sometimes was a female character. It never settled into anything; it was just two character names I liked.
I also had a novel I was writing with two characters named Willy and Sam. Willy was an Irish lad named William, and Sam was short for Samantha. I believe I liked the name Samantha from the show “Bewitched.” Samantha was an interesting character; she worked in a bar in Mystic, Connecticut, and was a big-time drinker. Kind of like me, except I am a he/him rather than a she/her.
I quit writing because I grew tired of working on my “Great American Novel.” I wrote the first chapter of the novel dozens of times and had absolutely no idea how to go from there. My dream of becoming a paid author sizzled out before I got started.
Now, I write poetry and am part of an online group that meets sporadically to critique each other’s writing. I am also going to start writing fiction, blogging, and whatever else. Maybe I’ll throw in a photo of a Zentangle now and again.
I am now retired and have a few ideas about what I want to do. We recently moved to Idaho and are slowly getting settled in. I bought a Mandolin and am teaching myself to play, with help from books and online Patreon lessons.
I wanted to take art lessons, but I have decided that it is too expensive to get involved in art the way I had initially thought. Also, it was requested by my wife that I start writing again because, in her words, “you are good at it.” It is because of the cards I used to create and give to her. Nevertheless, I am beginning to write again. Hopefully, our house in Virginia will sell soon, so I can retrieve my books from the furniture movers, as everything is currently in storage.
I hate giving up the art before I get started, as I enjoy Zentangle and adult coloring books. I am going to take an online class that discusses color and how to utilize and match colors for art, coloring, graphic design, or Zentangle. It will be interesting to learn about that. I would take one class at a local art place that offers lessons. It is just three weeks, and the result is an abstract painting. If I do that, it will alleviate this urge from my system, and I will have done it.
So be on the lookout for the emergence of Ergo and Max, and maybe even Sam in the near to distant future in the pages of this blog.
Kevin