Barstool Philosophizin'

I like talking to old-timers in bars. Some of the most authentic conversations I've ever had in my life are from older men trying to drop some knowledge in the hopes that I'll stay and listen for a while. Loneliness talks.

I was at my neighborhood pub on Saturday, talking to a 60-something Danny DeVito type wearing a red pocket tee and khaki shorts. He's an old-school photographer -- hates the internet and what it's done to good work. Everything is so available, not as special as it used to be, he said. I could hear in his voice that he missed darkrooms.

He asked me what I do, and I told him. And then he asked me what I really wanted to do (because, we creative types, we all have a dream side project). I told him I wanted to write a book (um, join the club, I know), and he asked me why I hadn't started.

"I'm just...I'm afraid it will suck," I said, in my not-so-refined twentysomething parlance. "And then, well, I'll have no dream left."

He took a sip from his highball of Glenlivet 12 and stared straight ahead.

"Even if it 'sucks,'" he said, "it creates a bottom. You'll improve from there."

Wise words from a feller on a barstool.