What I Like About You

Though far away, “you hold me tight.”

Remember that great, rollicking jam from the band, “The Romantics?” Even today, when I hear it, I can’t sit still. Gotta shake it like a salt shaker.

What I like about you, you hold me tight Tell me I’m the only one, wanna’ come over tonight, yea

There are some people who have an amazing capacity to ‘feel” us. They may live far away and have never actually met us in the flesh, but they possess a spark that ignites a fire deep within us, one that perhaps has been dormant, due to inattention or boredom or simply the stressors of everyday life.

There are people in this community who do that for me. They’ve stoked my internal flame and have kept it at a steady simmer for months now. And I believe my writing has only improved because of it.

Someone, another screenwriter, once told me that he thought I was an empath. I was thrown by that, (because I equated empath with someone who talks to the dead, like a medium), but as I thought about it, it occurred to me that maybe he was right. I’ve always been able to pick up how other people are feeling, thinking. Sometimes to my great chagrin.

But there are worse things than feeling empathy for your fellow man. And if I can sense that someones is hurting, or needs help, I do my best to provide whatever succor, I can. That’s what a human being does: Provides comfort where and when it’s needed. There’s nothing “special” about it. It just is. Or should be.

Keep on whispering in my ear Tell me all the things that I wanna’ to hear, ’cause that’s true That’s what I like about you

We writers can be needy. Oh, so needy. We need validation and recognition for our efforts. As hard as it is to admit it, we need to feel the love. Maybe not every single time we put ourselves out there, but often enough for us to keep at it. To just keep writing.

I’ve tried to examine these mysterious connections from an intellectual, rather than an emotional stance, and usually, I fail. Because there’s nothing intellectual about forging a connection with virtual strangers. It’s visceral. It’s sexy, as I’ve remarked on several occasions.

“Notice how Sherry McGuinn seems to have sex on the brain?” “Why yes, dear, I have. What do you think is up with that?”

I’m not afraid to share that I’m someone who needs that fire to survive. I need that heat in order to deliver my best, as a writer and a human being.

Never one to be drawn to “tepid,” my soul seeks out those individuals who are unafraid to show the world who they truly are. People with wit and intellect and spirit to spare. Like so many of you.

Isn’t “tepid” boring? And so safe. Life is too short to play it safe. I’m not saying we should hurdle headlong into calamity, at every opportunity, but there’s no harm in stirring things up from time to time, no?

To me, “stirring things up” is part and parcel of being a writer. I get a great kick out of it. People need to be stirred up. Moved. Shaken out of their apathy and even, kicked in the ass, once in a while.

You know: Kind of what we expect from the press these days, but is sorely lacking. In my humble opinion, anyway. Perhaps I’ve been watching too many COVID-19 briefings from the Ignoramus-In-Chief, who will no doubt go down in history for telling people to ingest or inject disinfectants to kill the virus.

But — he was being sarcastic.

The recent debacle with this publication’s being shut down by Medium due to one unfortunate individual’s attempt at pulling us all down, and it’s reinstatement set me to thinking how powerful you…we…are.

Of course, Medium must be given credit for seeing the light, pun intended, but it’s so incredibly motivating that together, as one voice, we were able to set things right.

Miserable at the thought of losing a publication where we writers were finally valued, this community was here for one another. We spread our virtual arms and enfolded each other in a hug. “There, there. We’re going to fix this.”

And we did.

Because of ILLUMINATION, I’ve met so many new writers that I might have otherwise overlooked. Talented, intelligent, funny, and empathetic. The total package.

That’s what I like about you.

There’s a level of support here that is truly empowering. Certainly, if, when the shit hit the fan and things didn’t go the way we’d hoped, we would have moved on, but I believe we would have felt the loss, not only of a publication where everyone is welcome but the loss of connections made.

Thankfully, it appears that we won’t have to.

What I like about you, you keep me warm at night Never wanna’ let you go, know you make me feel alright, yea

Maybe that’s overstating things. You don’t keep me warm at night, per se, but you do give me a warm-fuzzy when I need it. And a tingle here and there.

I’m being inappropriate and I don’t care.

So many things I like about you. And “you” know who you are, so I’ll just end by letting “The Romantics” articulate what I’ve so clumsily tried to say.

Who wants to dance?

Sherry McGuinn is a slightly-twisted, longtime Chicago-area writer and award-winning screenwriter. Her work has appeared in The Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, and numerous other publications. Sherry’s manager is currently pitching her newest screenplay, a drama with dark, comedic overtones and inspired by a true story.

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