There are a great number of people who like to write – for various reasons. I just read an article by Lisa DeMarco, America’s Funniest Waitress. That she is now a full-fledged columnist is good as we need more funny people in this world. Like me, she just likes to write. She has apparently always known that she likes to write, but it took me to my sophomore year in college to find out. I went to a very small high school in Pennsylvania. I wrote one theme the entire four years.
Thus, when I went to delightful Thiel College in Greenville, Pa. I found out that I had to write more. Initially, I tried to write like others as I had read many books, magazines etc., and I thought I should write like the other authors did. Then in Advanced Composition one day it hit me and I wrote like I felt. The professor gave me an A, and I was on my way. Then, I went to graduate school at the Wharton Graduate School, and ended up going into the City Manager profession. I didn’t feel like being funny in preparing reports for the City Council or for the public to read as it most likely would have been frowned upon. However, I did write some stuff that I considered funny for city manager associations.
Then I branched out, and when I was a city manager in New Jersey, I wrote an annual report in the form of a fairy tale – the City Manager was the knight in shining armor. It went over well, so I started writing columns for the local newspapers about municipal activities while putting some humor in them. After many years I retired, moved to The Villages and started writing for friends and family. It even appeared in the VHA newsletter and later in a weekly paper that the Ocala newspaper sent to The Villages for a couple of years. Now like Lisa’s it is also in Villages-News.com.
Originally, I didn’t know what to call my column. I thought about World’s Funniest City Manager. However, I realized that City Managers still are not considered funny. Besides, I knew some City Managers who were funnier than I was. Thus, I just called it. “Life in The Villages”. As I was writing away, The Blond in the house kept insisting that I write a book – for the kids and perhaps grandkids to have and hold. Finally, I did in 2019 although I think those descendants of mine are doing more holding than reading. That’s OK as when they are retired, they may find the book in the attic (I am not sure that people have attics any more, but you get the idea.) and they can sit back and comment on what the Old Guy wrote.
The book title for those who may faintly be interested is “Musings from Life in The Villages”. It should be noted again that I wrote it for family, and Amazon is treating it that way. I just received a royalty payment of 63 cents for the last quarter which shows that it is still selling like hotcakes. Well at least it shows that somebody actually purchased one in that period!
If Lisa writes a book, I am certain that it will sell better – everyone knows that waitresses are funnier than city managers.
Villager Barry Evans writes about Life in The Villages for Villages-News.com.
