BOB JOHNSON RIDES AGAIN! 212
212. 3 THINGS THAT BOB JOHNSON WON’T BE SAYING IN THE NEXT FEW DOZEN 3 PARAGRAPH STORIES OR SO*
212. 3 THINGS THAT BOB JOHNSON WON’T BE SAYING IN THE NEXT FEW DOZEN 3 PARAGRAPH STORIES OR SO*
1. “I love Lucy!”
2. “One drink is more than enough for me! Maybe a black coffee instead?”
3. “I’m never getting married ever again!”
* Okay, so I know what you’re thinking. This whole three paragraph deal is going to hell in a handcar. What’s the point of trying to make rules if you spend all your time trying to break them? Frankly, without the whole 3 paragraph idea this book would be a mess, it’s not like we’re writing The Magic Mountain or Hiroshima Mon Amour or some boring work of art like those things. 3 paragraphs! Live with it. You want to shove a few thousand words into a footnote and think that’ll make you happy? Well, it won’t, it won’t make you happy. Trust me, I lived my life writing footnotes to stories I never finished and the damn things take over your life after a while. Oh well, I’ve had my say. If you want to write endless footnotes in order to avoid the 2 paragraph deal, go ahead. I won’t stop you… I won’t! I really won’t stop you! You’re only cheating yourself!
* Okay, so I know what you’re thinking. This whole three paragraph deal is going to hell in a handcar. What’s the point of trying to make rules if you spend all your time trying to break them? Frankly, without the whole 3 paragraph idea this book would be a mess, it’s not like we’re writing The Magic Mountain or Hiroshima Mon Amour or some boring work of art like those things. 3 paragraphs! Live with it. You want to shove a few thousand words into a footnote and think that’ll make you happy?
*Much less than your excessively worded footnote— this is to say I didn’t find The Magic Mountain boring. I read it June 1971, following graduation from UMass… it provided me a retreat from being home… it cleared my head, set me up for two month cross-country trip that in telling would lead to many a 3 paragraphs.