More than 51K in wordage and 219 total pages, and I'm only up to the People's Democracy march in January 1969. I knew I loved my words, but this is turning into an obsessive-compulsive moment. Not that I mind. I've redone it through page 111 and Brendan's worked in ways to deepen his relationship not only with his friends but also his older brother and sister. I've finally reached that point where I have no idea if this is working or if it makes any sense, again, because it's just flowing along. And that is not a complaint.
I could, officially, post what I have now, even though I'm missing large sections of the story. Apparently you can edit the story up to the point where they reach their 5000 submission threshold; once that happens, everything freezes in place. But I'm loathe to do that; I can just see me getting it all shaped up and readable and finding they closed the contest ten minutes before I submitted my latest edit.
Besides, it's a participant-driven first round. You judge entries based on the first 5000 words in the story, then the highest rated ones get read by people at Publisher's Weekly, then those highest rated ones get read by editors at Penguin, then the finalists get voted on by the public at large. Talk about "Project Greenlight" for the literary set...and look what that turned out to be.
I actually entered all three "Project Greenlights". Made the first cut on the first two but nothing more. And considering what they finally went with -- an odd script about a boy who convinces a dying Jewish kid he has to convert to Christianity to get into heaven, a good script about a boy coming of age that was then paired with the WORST choice for a director, a horror script that was handed over in one of the baldest moments of Hollywood nepotism and set-up ever -- I guess I was really lucky.
But then, I never was cut out to be a director. I have the artistic and technical vision and could come up with some great moments, but it takes more than that, these days...WAY more. And working this freight forwarding job has shown me just how badly I would have done. Because I have never been able to do well when thinking on my feet. I like to sit and think things through and let the ideas sort themselves out in my mind. And these days you just can't do that. You need a super-strong personality and the ability to manipulate people left and right to get what you want for that vision...and not give in on it, no matter what...in order to achieve even a small part of it. All things I suck at.
Oh, well...I can always draw my movies out as graphic novels. And if I ever win the lottery and can spend my days not having to slave for a wage, I'll do just that. Write from about 3 to 6 or 7 pm; work on my graphic novel between 8 and 11 pm. Go to bed at 2 am and wake at 10. That would be just right.
I could, officially, post what I have now, even though I'm missing large sections of the story. Apparently you can edit the story up to the point where they reach their 5000 submission threshold; once that happens, everything freezes in place. But I'm loathe to do that; I can just see me getting it all shaped up and readable and finding they closed the contest ten minutes before I submitted my latest edit.
Besides, it's a participant-driven first round. You judge entries based on the first 5000 words in the story, then the highest rated ones get read by people at Publisher's Weekly, then those highest rated ones get read by editors at Penguin, then the finalists get voted on by the public at large. Talk about "Project Greenlight" for the literary set...and look what that turned out to be.
I actually entered all three "Project Greenlights". Made the first cut on the first two but nothing more. And considering what they finally went with -- an odd script about a boy who convinces a dying Jewish kid he has to convert to Christianity to get into heaven, a good script about a boy coming of age that was then paired with the WORST choice for a director, a horror script that was handed over in one of the baldest moments of Hollywood nepotism and set-up ever -- I guess I was really lucky.
But then, I never was cut out to be a director. I have the artistic and technical vision and could come up with some great moments, but it takes more than that, these days...WAY more. And working this freight forwarding job has shown me just how badly I would have done. Because I have never been able to do well when thinking on my feet. I like to sit and think things through and let the ideas sort themselves out in my mind. And these days you just can't do that. You need a super-strong personality and the ability to manipulate people left and right to get what you want for that vision...and not give in on it, no matter what...in order to achieve even a small part of it. All things I suck at.
Oh, well...I can always draw my movies out as graphic novels. And if I ever win the lottery and can spend my days not having to slave for a wage, I'll do just that. Write from about 3 to 6 or 7 pm; work on my graphic novel between 8 and 11 pm. Go to bed at 2 am and wake at 10. That would be just right.
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