New York: How great is it to be a writer here?

Random thoughts from a trip to New York.

* When you look in people's windows - which is impossible NOT to do because some of these places are at street level - you see bookcases. But, unlike a lot of places in LA, those bookcases don't feel like they're for show.
You actually feel like at some point, somebody's having a conversation and goes "Oh... wait... hang on..." and pulls down a reference. Hell, they probably do that in the midst of Trivial Pursuits.

* I saw the apartment complex that Opie lives in. (The one that makes movies and was on the Andy Griffith Show, not the one that does morning radio.)

* Twice while I was out in the last two days I saw people showing proofs for their books - books that were mostly art, with some writing surrounding it. These were kid books, obviously, but still... interesting to me, considering some of the conversations here.

* In a 24 hour town, there are people writing on their laptops at coffee houses past two o'clock in the morning.

And finally, and probably most importantly:

* Regardless of where you are in the city, if you've got the flu, you can get Nyquil at any time of the evening. This isn't necessarily a writing observation, unless you're Hunter S. Thompson and need to see pretty swirly things, but I was still thrilled.

New York makes me a little wistful, as I lived here for a short period of time in the late '80s, and really loved it here. But I also knew if I wanted to write for television, I had to live in Los Angeles. But if you could do what you do anywhere, where would you choose to do it?

Me: #1 choice - Madison, Wisconsin. #2 choice - Manhattan.

Tomorrow: Off to see Avenue Q. Very excited.

- Steve

P.S. I do, very much, love New York. But then I saw an Olive Garden. In a non-touristy area. Where there are nothing but great Italian restaurants. It's like putting a PF Changs in Beijing for God's sake..