Mad Skills for the Writer

At left, Mayor Richard J. Daley and LBJ, White House. Photo courtesy the United States government.

I know a fellow who is writing. He's writing a thriller. He's compiling a list of the skills needed by a 21st century warrior in an urban environment.

I told him to look at the two on the left. They had it in spades.

You give a character the willingness and ability to exploit human weakness, then you have a character who is going to able to handle everything.

Mayor Daley isn't smiling. LBJ is. How you think that's going? Who's the boss of the boss, now?

You have a character do the right maneuvering to make things happen, he doesn't need a pistol or a sniper rifle or a lock-pick set.

He needs the phone number of someone with a pile to invest with a good return - say a better than market return - and a desire to be removed from whatever it takes to make that return happen.

You'd think after Madoff, there'd be less of that sort of thing.

You'd be wrong.

I told my associate two things: an ability to circumvent the campaign finance laws and a solid knowledge of zoning codes ought to do any urban warrior well.

Think I'm wrong?

Try putting in a drive-through in any city in America with more than 100,000 residents. How's that going for you?

I'm taking tonight off. I'm full of myself.