I love doing a review of the past year of my writing life. I recommend all authors do the same.

Here is 2019.

The honor of:

Having a friend of mine tell me, ” I created a file in my computer where I place all the Mort Laitner stories.”

Being selected the blogger for the South Florida Theater Organ Society and having three stories published on their Facebook page and on their website;

Having the South Florida Writers Association’s “The Author’s Voice”  publish “Hamsa”;

The Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel Jewish Journal publishing three of my stories “The Charm Bracelet,” “It Ain’t Necessarily So, Joe” and “Hamsa”. The Journal lists my pieces as “commentary by Jewish leaders;

Having a 83 year old reader read one of my five-year-old stories on my blog and write me on why he found it interesting;

Being invited to give a lecture and having no idea how they got my name.

Being called a visual storyteller by Facebook;

Being asked to teach a writing course;

Being asked to contribute a story for a foreign publication.

Opening Messenger.

There’s a note from one of my FaceBook friends— Lisa.

It read, “Just watched the stars.”

I wondered, “Why this former registered nurse from Miami Children’s Hospital telling me about this event in her life?”

“Should I go out and look at the stars?”

I decided to reread the note.

My eyes or my brain had played a trick on me.

The note now reads, “Just watched the stairs”

“I hope you enjoyed it.” I replied.

Lisa answered,” I did. I went to FIU for nursing school. Saw u teach there. I also downloaded your book “A Hebraic Obsession.”

Well now, my movie got a viewer to purchase my book—not a bad day in the life of a writer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Parallel Universes” by Mort Laitner, The SFTOS Blogger

Our story begins in the Sixties, Joel Jancko enters 9th grade and meets a young English teacher named Stuart Oderman.

Little did either one of them know that they would have a unique common interest.

Their parallel universes intersected in an area called, “The Pre-Talkies Zone”.

“A dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity.”

The middle ground between silence and talk. 

The middle ground between organ notes and the inner ear.

A dimension where sound takes hold of your soul and rides it to the heavens.

 We now ride back to the Seventies, where both Joel and Stuart have left Fallsburgh Central High.

Joel goes off to college, med school and a successful medical practice.

Stuart goes off to a career as a silent film pianist— the Museum of Modern Art, an author of five books including” Talking to the Piano Player, a composer—Laurel and Hardy Laugh Tunes, Pandora’s Box (See it on YouTube) and a conversationalist—on the Joe Franklin TV show. (Who knew there was such a thing as a career as a conversationalist?) 

During hot Catskills summers of the Seventies, Joel’s and Stuart’s lives again intersected, when Joel snuck into the Concord to see Jackie Mason, Dick Shawn and Henny Youngman and unbeknownst to Joel, Stuart is there accompanying them on the piano.

During the Eighties, Joel loved watching silent films especially Laurel and Hardy; sometimes as he read the credits at the end of the movie, there popped up a familiar name, “Movie music played by Stuart Oderman.”

In the new millennium, Joel and his wife, Pam, fell in love with theatre organs.

They brought back to life the Opus 1616.

Sadly, Stuart died in 2017. He never visited the Joel’s Backyard Museum nor saw or heard the Opus 1616.

But if your in the audience on Saturday February 16, 2019  at 7:00 pm for the silent movie: “The Cameraman” starring Buster Keaton accompanied by Walt Stony, you may feel Stuart’s presence, smiling, listening and humming a tune in an area we call, “The Pre-Talkies Zone.”

For more info on the concert or membership in the SFTOS contact:

jerryonthe island@aol.com or Susie@djinc.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Accolades” Satire by Mort Laitner

In this age of emojis receiving heartfelt accolades has become a rarity.

Emojis are not accolades.

They are cute little pictures.

 Accolades take thought.

Therefore, receiving accolades gets harder and harder. (Recent poll finds that Americans are thinking less due to time spent on the Web.)

While those tapping FaceBookers give out a “thumbs up” or a “happy face”  They are really saying, “This is all you’re going to get. So you better enjoy it!”

These tappers refuse to exercise their brain and put it into a higher gear.

I am one of them.

I love the “like” button.

I hit it a hundred times a day.

Zuckerberg is a genius.

He created the lazy man’s or woman’s internet tool to send air kisses—

a tool almost as vicious as the word, “Nice.” 

FaceBookers without any thought—effortlessly click away.

What is even more astounding is how most FaceBookers won’t even click on the “like” button. Why because:

Top seven reasons given in a national poll:

1. Fear of government intrusion;
2. A misapprehension that others may think they give a shit;
3. It’s proof that they are mean mother f—ers;
4. It’s proof that their parents didn’t love them;
5. It’s proof their time on this earth is so valuable that they can not waste even one second.
6. It’s proof that their lives suck and they want your life to suck.
7. He never likes any of my posts. Ergo, I will never like his posts. (My favorite)

But before the emoji age, things were not that different.

Most people only sent letters for the holidays; on those Hallmark cards they signed “Love” and there names.

Number one reason given for not writing a letter:

“Writing a letter requires me to think.”

I was one of them.

I remember the difficulty my bosses had at giving slaps on the back.

These simple rewards were as guarded as the royal jewels.

So when I receive accolades the satisfaction is boundless.

So boundless that today I put them in my stories.

Hello Mort: Finished your book, could not put it down. Thanks again for your time. Regards Joe Sabrin, author of We Dared to Live—A Tale of Courage and Survival. Geffen Publishing House, Jerusalem, Israel.

From a former Barry University student of mine, “A big thank you for all the pearls of wisdom you shared in your lectures.” Jennifer.

So what am I trying to saying:

Write a few words a day on a few Facebook posts, send a friend a letter, share posts that make you feel good.

Remember the Laws of Reciprocity: 

The more love you give, the more love you get.

The less love you give the less love you get.

Remember the Writer’s of Law of Negativity:

Write a story with a negative tone and expect no likes, no shares and no comments.

Merry Christmas. Mort