An Important Announcement From Neil’s Editor: Neil’s Missing!

Yeah, Another Blogger

Greetings, Earthlings. My name is Edgar Reewright. I’m an editor. And I’m writing to you on bended knee, as I will explain a few paragraphs down the line.

Over the years I’ve worked at The New Yorker, The New York Times and, most recently, Playboy. Prestigious jobs they were, not to mention excellent distributors of cash and benefits to yours truly. But as we know, life can throw curveballs and spitballs at any of us at any time. And come my way they did.

I won’t go into too much detail. Let’s just say that I didn’t do myself any favors when, after having devoured two bottles of Jack Daniels at a dazzling party at the Playboy Mansion in 2014, I made a pass — actually, more like 15 passes — at Hugh Hefner’s wife. When I came to a few hours later I discovered myself to be robed in a Playboy Bunny outfit and draped over a traffic light, 20 feet above ground, on Sunset Boulevard. Hef’s boys don’t mess around. Needless to say, my career in big-time journalism was over.

Thanks are due, therefore, to the blogging gods of small-time journalism. A prime example of which is Neil Scheinin’s blog. The one you’re staring at right now. Neil fancies himself to be a writer. What the hell, I always say, let him believe what he wishes. He’s hardly the only delusional collection of skin and bones traipsing around among us.

Anyway, the flimsy quality of Neil’s opuses doesn’t mean a fig to me. What does matter is the paycheck that Neil sends my way weekly. Seven hundred and fifty dollars ain’t bad dough to someone in my situation. Damn good thing I answered Neil’s ad (“Help! Dork desperately in need of editorial assistance,” it read) in the January 2015 issue of All Praises To The Blogosphere. The rest is history. Or something along that line.

Here’s why I’m writing this article: I’m very, very worried. Neil has disappeared. Foul play? Nah, there’s no evidence of that. By his own volition? You can bet the house on it. The louse didn’t even have a story-in-waiting to be published this week. Who does he think he is, skipping a week of writing? His audience probably could care less, but me? I care like crazy. And that’s because Neil not only put down his story-writing pen, he also put down his check-writing pen. I have $236 dollars to my name. If Neil doesn’t come out of hiding, or wherever he is, and pay me my weekly allowance . . . hell, I don’t even want to think about it.

Readers of Neil’s blog, I’m pleading with you to try and find him. His wife Sandy has looked high and low for him and has reported Neil’s absence to the authorities, but so far they’ve come up with nothing.

Me, I think there’s a chance that, in search of inspiration and beneficial aura fields, he’s gone to visit one of his blogging buddies, people who, unlike him, truly fall into the category of writer. And who not only churn out essays with regularity but have penned books. K E Garland, for instance, whose The Unhappy Wife is a strong look at marriage and relationships. And Andrew Ferguson. He wrote The Wrong Box, a romp of a murder mystery filled with sex, laughs and a twisty plot. Neil has told me more than once that he too would like to create a book one of these days. Yeah, right. Believe me, holding your breath waiting for that to happen would be a mistake of the highest order.

Send out the search parties! Spread the word on Twitter and Facebook! Neil is out there somewhere and he needs to return home. His wife will do just fine without him, sure. But not me. My bank account is staring at me with pitiful eyes. He better come back! And pronto. Here’s a photo of Neil. It’s the only one I have. It’s from a recent New Year’s Eve, and maybe will be an aid in finding him. Say what you will about Neil, you’ve got to admire his taste in leis.

Thanks for your help.

(Photo by Max Scheinin)

49 thoughts on “An Important Announcement From Neil’s Editor: Neil’s Missing!”

  1. The Artist's Child August 31, 2017 / 12:59 am

    I sympathise with your plight and need for a pay check. Maybe Neil has gone to one of those shacks on Cape Cod that he loves where famous writers worked. Could he be writing that book? Good luck with your search and editing future.

    Liked by 2 people

  2. Fran Johns August 31, 2017 / 1:09 am

    The lei is a clue. I will see if I can find a few residual flower children out here in San Francisco and ask if they have seen Neil. Of course, they aren’t likely to know a lot about paychecks . . . Nor do many of us Seekers & Free Spirits all these decades later. But our hearts are all in the right place.

    Liked by 3 people

  3. Glen available August 31, 2017 / 2:03 am

    I’d concentrate your search around Bermuda, anywhere between Florida and Puerto Rico.

    I’ve heard there’s a triangular shaped area in that region where a number of bloggers and keyboard warriors have all dissappeared to in order to seek inspiration and be reunited with their salty-dog lost muse.

    Liked by 1 person

  4. Carmel Bendon August 31, 2017 / 3:10 am

    A blog or two ago Neil wrote about his love for New York, rekindled when he met up with an old friend there a few weeks back. I suspect he’s hiding out in a Lower East Side speakeasy, spending the last of your pay cheque on martinis and spaghetti in a futile attempt to recapture his lost youth. You are right to be angry about this but I think, if you’re honest, you can relate.

    Liked by 3 people

  5. Apple Hill Cottage August 31, 2017 / 7:55 am

    Yeah well the only way to write a book is to stop blog writing and disappear. Relax, maybe you’ll have a bigger editing job in a few months.

    Liked by 2 people

  6. joyce hamilton August 31, 2017 / 8:12 am

    Come home soon!

    Liked by 2 people

  7. Sandy August 31, 2017 / 9:33 am

    Dear Edgar,
    When you find out where my husband Neil is, please tell him I miss him and hope he comes home soon. But if he plans to come home tonight, please ask him to wait until after 10pm. The male strippers will have left by then.
    Thanks,
    Sandy

    Liked by 6 people

    • Yeah, Another Blogger August 31, 2017 / 9:56 am

      Sandy, if I hear from Neil I’ll keep that in mind. Nice hearing from you.

      Edgar

      Like

    • Cindy August 31, 2017 / 4:22 pm

      Sandy, I’ll bring the margarita mix and be there by 7:00. Carpe noctem!

      Liked by 2 people

  8. Alyson August 31, 2017 / 12:06 pm

    Oh Edgar – I think you’ve been putting too much pressure on Neil to deliver, just to pick up that very hefty fee. My editor gets nothing like what you do, so stop being so greedy.

    As for Neil I feel sure he will be fine, it’s just that we all need to go on “walkabout” at some point in our lives. In the meantime, Sandy sounds as if she’s making the most of it – Way to go!

    Liked by 2 people

  9. tanjabrittonwriter August 31, 2017 / 4:37 pm

    My guess is he is hanging out at the restaurant at the end of the galaxy, and will be back home after he watches the end of the Universe. No need to worry, time travel merely results in hangover-like symptoms.

    Liked by 1 person

  10. Cindy August 31, 2017 / 4:38 pm

    Edgar, August is prime vacation time, and Neil did mention something about driving to Battle Creek, Michigan, to sample a flight of Cheez-Its at the Kellogg’s outlet. Let the man enjoy his simple pleasures!

    Liked by 1 person

  11. C C Cedras August 31, 2017 / 5:50 pm

    “My bank account is staring at me with pitiful eyes.”

    Been there.

    Liked by 1 person

  12. hairytoegardener August 31, 2017 / 5:57 pm

    Edgar, have you looked under the bed? Or up in Neil’s backyard tree? How about under his deck? Really, he could be under the deck where it’s nice and cool, and he can spend some “alone” time getting away from people like you. Let him have some peace, for Chri___sake! The man is probably busy working on his book and that takes mental strength and a drink or two. He’ll emerge from hiding when he’s ready.

    Liked by 1 person

  15. Deb September 1, 2017 / 4:54 pm

    Maybe you’re just confusing his getting balder with an actual disappearance. You know what they say, “Hair today, gone tomorrow.”

    Liked by 1 person

  16. Lucie September 1, 2017 / 11:09 pm

    I’m with you, little buddy….hang in there.😍

    Liked by 1 person

  17. K E Garland September 2, 2017 / 8:29 pm

    Thanks for the shout out Neil! I mean…er…um…Mr. Reewright lol

    Liked by 1 person

  18. andrewcferguson September 4, 2017 / 4:39 am

    Mr Reewright, we have your Neil Scheinin here. He is well and writing – for now. However, for his safe return we require $1 million of your American currency, in a brown envelope, at a location to be shared with you when you answer this message. You have 48 hours. After that, we start sending his adjectives back to you one at a time. After that, his adverbs. Don’t make us remove his punctuation or it could all get messy.

    P.S. What are Cheez-O’s? We do not have such abominations in our country. He keeps asking for them.

    Like

  20. Christy B September 7, 2017 / 3:03 pm

    I see from the comments here that he’s returned ~ You’ll have to update us on what happened

    Liked by 1 person

    • Yeah, Another Blogger September 7, 2017 / 3:25 pm

      Hi Christy.
      Yeah, I ran off to join the circus for a few days. Details are in the Fishtown story I posted today.

      Thanks for stopping by. I appreciate it.

      Liked by 1 person

  21. Pazlo September 13, 2017 / 10:48 am

    If I was Neil, I’d start to doubt my posse.
    42 LIKES for a post that says “Neil is missing!”.
    Hmmm

    Paz

    Liked by 1 person

    • Pazlo September 13, 2017 / 10:50 am

      Alright.. 98 LIKES!
      Isn’t there a “Don’t Like- Maybe worried a little” button?

      Paz

      Liked by 1 person

      • Yeah, Another Blogger September 13, 2017 / 11:50 am

        Hello Paz. You have a good idea. We bloggers need more buttons!

        Like

  22. JT Twissel September 24, 2017 / 3:02 pm

    Well Mr. Reewright, I bet he’s hiding from editors!

    Liked by 1 person

  23. maristravels September 25, 2017 / 4:32 am

    He’s gone, live with it. Se up a commune of writers like yourself, whose pay-checks are diminishing as I write, or have ceased altogether, and get working. Or maybe, as my mother would say, get a proper job. If that fails, hit the Jack Daniels again, but if I’m joining your commune it will have to be a gin and tonic.

    Liked by 1 person

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