Really, it's Tuesday very early in the morning, but for me, since I haven't been to bed yet, it's Monday still and will be until I retire around 7 AM. We're on Bobbi-time! (Which is nothing like Hammertime, I promise.)
Monday seems to have become my administrative day. I write the blog, print copies of things, email agents, and generally TCB. What's the importance of this disclosure, you ask? None, I answer. Just sayin'.
So, last week's counts are up from the week before -- always a good sign. Bride is up to 182 pages (that's 8 additional) and Meet You on the Other Side is up about 2.5 pages for a grand total of 5.25 pp. (Total writing for the week: 10.5 pages.) Wahoo! Well... it's progress, anyway.
Sent out a few more queries but no responses just yet. Got word that the 2010 Nicholl Fellowship apps have opened should we choose to enter. The organizers of the competition write the nicest emails -- informative, encouraging, well-worded. They put a good thing into the world.
Hmmm, anything else? Superbowl Sunday was great. As you might guess, my interest in football generally registers in the negative numbers, but the Saints are dear to friends of mine, so they're dear to me by extension. And some of my dearest friends came to watch with us, which made the evening better than I could have expected.
It's all good, baby. It's all good.
2.09.2010
2.02.2010
Pounding the (Electronic) Pavement
Quick update on The Pirate's Bride: wrote about 10 pages last week, ripped up 2 last night & today, so the page count is up to 174. Having a bit of trouble going forward, mostly because we have too much to say. This is not a bad thing; just have to get my mind organized.
Other news: had two "thanks-but-no-thanks" replies from agents since last week. At least they're quick and generally polite about responding, although one form letter/email left a lot to be desired in terms of both warmth (and more disturbingly) grammar. I think we're glad that agency wasn't interested...
Bless the Internet; it makes this process much easier. In one of our early forays in seeking representation for our screenplays, we created a form letter & inserts, including a response card. We got a lot of (no thanks) responses (not to mention one interested response that in the end we had to pass on because of the problem of retaining the book rights), but it took forever.
Now we can get kicked in the teeth daily, whenever we decide to check our email. Wahoo!
Nah, I don't mean it, not really... We wrote a good book that's worth reading. If you build it, they will come, right?
Other news: had two "thanks-but-no-thanks" replies from agents since last week. At least they're quick and generally polite about responding, although one form letter/email left a lot to be desired in terms of both warmth (and more disturbingly) grammar. I think we're glad that agency wasn't interested...
Bless the Internet; it makes this process much easier. In one of our early forays in seeking representation for our screenplays, we created a form letter & inserts, including a response card. We got a lot of (no thanks) responses (not to mention one interested response that in the end we had to pass on because of the problem of retaining the book rights), but it took forever.
Now we can get kicked in the teeth daily, whenever we decide to check our email. Wahoo!
Nah, I don't mean it, not really... We wrote a good book that's worth reading. If you build it, they will come, right?
1.26.2010
There's a Refrigerator Full of Food... Challenge Yourself!
My longtime friend Alex may recall the title of this post from some witless movie we watched one evening in the early nineties. It made us laugh then, and it makes me laugh now, but it got me thinking tonight when I sat down to write.
The Pirate's Bride is coming along, adding another 11 pages this past week -- again, not bad considering I only had 4 nights instead of 5 to work within. It's pretty good stuff, though some of it could use a massage. That will come, as will the key into the next section that is currently eluding me. Thank goodness, so far, I can count on it to work itself out in my head.
The screenplay, on the other hand, has gone nowhere. I can't quite kick myself hard enough to get to work on it, and that's troublesome since we're A) writing from scratch and B) hoping to submit for the 2010 Nicholl Fellowship competition, with a May 1st deadline.
So... do I challenge us (Jeannine and me) to buckle down, write the screenplay, edit it, workshop it in a group and complete the additional edits in only 4 months? Or do we decide not to send an entry this year? We don't want to send a rough piece -- what would be the point? But should we set the goal and do whatever it takes to achieve it, knowing that pressure sometimes produces a great piece?
It would be a serious time commitment. It would take away from Bride for sure, and no doubt from other projects. Yet it's only a few months, and we have the idea mostly fleshed out.
Decisions, decisions.
The Pirate's Bride is coming along, adding another 11 pages this past week -- again, not bad considering I only had 4 nights instead of 5 to work within. It's pretty good stuff, though some of it could use a massage. That will come, as will the key into the next section that is currently eluding me. Thank goodness, so far, I can count on it to work itself out in my head.
The screenplay, on the other hand, has gone nowhere. I can't quite kick myself hard enough to get to work on it, and that's troublesome since we're A) writing from scratch and B) hoping to submit for the 2010 Nicholl Fellowship competition, with a May 1st deadline.
So... do I challenge us (Jeannine and me) to buckle down, write the screenplay, edit it, workshop it in a group and complete the additional edits in only 4 months? Or do we decide not to send an entry this year? We don't want to send a rough piece -- what would be the point? But should we set the goal and do whatever it takes to achieve it, knowing that pressure sometimes produces a great piece?
It would be a serious time commitment. It would take away from Bride for sure, and no doubt from other projects. Yet it's only a few months, and we have the idea mostly fleshed out.
Decisions, decisions.
1.19.2010
(Just Like) Starting Over
The midnight to morning shift seems to be working, although I do have to take weekends off -- it pleases my husband. Since my husband is a truly wonderful, tolerant, encouraging man who never asks for much and probably deserves much more than I give to him, I am happy to oblige him on this point. Someday I hope to keep him in the style to which he should become accustomed.
So, counting last week Sunday through Thursday, and subtracting last night (long weekend in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King), I wrote 11 pages last week for The Pirate's Bride and 3 pages for our new screenplay, See You on the Other Side. And those page counts don't include editing for both pieces. Considering that I was hoping at one point to manage 8.33 pages a month, I am happy with the bottom line. Could always be better, of course, but for right now, good enough.
On to the agents' queries... I did send one earlier this morning; first one to a book agent since, wait, lemme look it up--holy frijoles!--last April! Wow. Well, that's one good reason we haven't gotten much response; if we don't contact them, I'm pretty sure they won't contact us.
Yikes. I know we got caught up in the Nicholl Fellowship and then moving house, not to mention moving my dad up here, followed by the responses generated by the fellowship, but still... Time for me to fix my lips and get my shit together. (That's what we tell the dog when his flappy lips get rolled up against his gums...)
All right, 3:30AM break is over, time to get to work.
So, counting last week Sunday through Thursday, and subtracting last night (long weekend in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King), I wrote 11 pages last week for The Pirate's Bride and 3 pages for our new screenplay, See You on the Other Side. And those page counts don't include editing for both pieces. Considering that I was hoping at one point to manage 8.33 pages a month, I am happy with the bottom line. Could always be better, of course, but for right now, good enough.
On to the agents' queries... I did send one earlier this morning; first one to a book agent since, wait, lemme look it up--holy frijoles!--last April! Wow. Well, that's one good reason we haven't gotten much response; if we don't contact them, I'm pretty sure they won't contact us.
Yikes. I know we got caught up in the Nicholl Fellowship and then moving house, not to mention moving my dad up here, followed by the responses generated by the fellowship, but still... Time for me to fix my lips and get my shit together. (That's what we tell the dog when his flappy lips get rolled up against his gums...)
All right, 3:30AM break is over, time to get to work.
1.14.2010
Once There Was a Way to Get Back Homeward
It's been awhile, with no good excuse to offer for my absence. I posted last at the end of September, then went on the combined birthday/anniversary surprise trip to Toronto that my dear husband orchestrated... and then I seemingly fell off the face of the earth. Ah, well -- one of the joys of blogging is that if you fall off the blogspot, you can always climb on again.
New year, new decade, hopefully a new attitude. Had it from a not-so-credible but I'll take it source that this could be the year to get The Long Black Veil sold. But first I have to get it back out there, preferably by the end of this month, as opportunity rarely knocks for long. So that's the plan: start contacting agents again and make the push. We'll see what happens.
Still getting trickles about our screenplay Slide, although the interest has not progressed beyond the "Can we read it?" part. It was a nice diversion through the autumn, even if nothing comes of it. Good to know that making the quarterfinals of such a prestigious competition as the Nicholl Fellowships yields some results. Yea us.
And I am back in the writing game, having traded my days for nights. I get the most done on the midnight to six a.m. shift -- in just three days, I've written 7 pages. I know, still doesn't sound like much, but 7 is more than zero. I've finished the first section, which runs about 145 pages, and begun the interlude that will tie sections one and two together. I would love to write faster, but on the plus side, I generally only have to tinker with the finished product, not rip up and start over. I appreciate any favors bestowed upon me!
So... broken arm, world tragedies, and other bad mojo aside, I am hopeful for my personal progress in 2010, and as part of that progress, I intend to contribute something beautiful to the world that was not there before.
A little belated, but still heartfelt: happy new year!
New year, new decade, hopefully a new attitude. Had it from a not-so-credible but I'll take it source that this could be the year to get The Long Black Veil sold. But first I have to get it back out there, preferably by the end of this month, as opportunity rarely knocks for long. So that's the plan: start contacting agents again and make the push. We'll see what happens.
Still getting trickles about our screenplay Slide, although the interest has not progressed beyond the "Can we read it?" part. It was a nice diversion through the autumn, even if nothing comes of it. Good to know that making the quarterfinals of such a prestigious competition as the Nicholl Fellowships yields some results. Yea us.
And I am back in the writing game, having traded my days for nights. I get the most done on the midnight to six a.m. shift -- in just three days, I've written 7 pages. I know, still doesn't sound like much, but 7 is more than zero. I've finished the first section, which runs about 145 pages, and begun the interlude that will tie sections one and two together. I would love to write faster, but on the plus side, I generally only have to tinker with the finished product, not rip up and start over. I appreciate any favors bestowed upon me!
So... broken arm, world tragedies, and other bad mojo aside, I am hopeful for my personal progress in 2010, and as part of that progress, I intend to contribute something beautiful to the world that was not there before.
A little belated, but still heartfelt: happy new year!
9.24.2009
A Century of Pages
Finally passed the hundred-page mark for The Pirate's Bride; 108 pages to be exact. This milestone actually occurred a few days ago, but I wanted to make sure I planned to keep what I'd written. (It doesn't happen often, but I do sometimes scrap whole scenes, and that would have taken me back into the nineties.)
Frankly, it doesn't seem like much for ten months' work -- only about 58 pages, 'cuz I had 50 when I started. I try to take into account, however, that I also completed a major and a minor rewrite to Slide in those ten months, as well as moved 1.5 households, provided serious emotional support to my dad as he coped with his wife's terminal illness and eventual death, and laid the groundwork for several other projects.
I would really love to knock out 50 more pages before November 6. That would still only bring my average up to about 8.3 pages per month... but who's counting?
Frankly, it doesn't seem like much for ten months' work -- only about 58 pages, 'cuz I had 50 when I started. I try to take into account, however, that I also completed a major and a minor rewrite to Slide in those ten months, as well as moved 1.5 households, provided serious emotional support to my dad as he coped with his wife's terminal illness and eventual death, and laid the groundwork for several other projects.
I would really love to knock out 50 more pages before November 6. That would still only bring my average up to about 8.3 pages per month... but who's counting?
9.15.2009
Light the Sky and Hold on Tight
Ever feel like setting things on fire?
Not literally, of course. I am not an arsonist. But figuratively dropping the match on the pile of tinderwood you've been dancing around for months, even years.
I broke a friendship awhile ago -- shattered it, actually -- for a whole bunch of reasons, not the least of which is that it was time to let it go. Yet I keep a sort of minimal tabs online of the narcissitic personality in question. Why? Beats the hell out of me. Maybe it's the veiled references he is still making to/about me. Maybe I just can't let go of my anger.
I almost responded today. I almost poured on the gasoline and got out my flamethrower. Some nasty, dark part of myself kept whispering, "Burn it all!"
I wrote this instead.
Not literally, of course. I am not an arsonist. But figuratively dropping the match on the pile of tinderwood you've been dancing around for months, even years.
I broke a friendship awhile ago -- shattered it, actually -- for a whole bunch of reasons, not the least of which is that it was time to let it go. Yet I keep a sort of minimal tabs online of the narcissitic personality in question. Why? Beats the hell out of me. Maybe it's the veiled references he is still making to/about me. Maybe I just can't let go of my anger.
I almost responded today. I almost poured on the gasoline and got out my flamethrower. Some nasty, dark part of myself kept whispering, "Burn it all!"
I wrote this instead.
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