And a happy good-bye to it. What I achieved -- publishing 2 books. self-publishing a compilation of another, starting another book, and developing a new screenplay -- are outweighed by all the other crap of life that came roaring in. So much for my Year of the Dragon; it drowned and Leo sat on the shore to watch.
But that's changing. I just have 3 goals for this year -- NOT resolutions.
1. Make "The Alice '65" the best script it can be and start entering competitions, again.
2. Finish "The Vanishing of Owen Taylor".
3. Finish a first full draft of "Place of Safety".
Everything else is just hopes and dreams -- like getting control of my finances, losing weight, that sort of crap -- things that have so many variables that are both under and beyond my control, I can't do anything more than try at them.
But I am a writer. A professional. I have 6 novels in circulation that have a sales record. Not bestsellers, but a record. I have 3 projects I want to complete, each of which is meaningful to me, and a dozen more waiting in the wings. So I'm not doing anybody else's writing unless they pay me, and I don't mean piss-ant money or part of the sales. I mean Guild minimum for scripts and $5000 for a first draft of a book. Period.
Again, this is not a resolution; it's a life decision. I'm worth the money. If you disagree, get somebody else. I got other things to work on.
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Now I'm going to finish my last ironing of the year as I watch "Bringing Up Baby", again. It's funny in spots, but Katherine Hepburn's character in this tends to annoy me, because she is so self-centered and unaware. I know that's how the script was written, but it's off-putting. Still, Cary Grant is so wonderful, he mitigates her till she starts being less "madcap heiress" and more human.
I often wonder how Carole Lombard would have been in the role. She has such a lovely, off-key, ethereal quality to her comedy, she might have made it work. Katherine's too intelligent and aware to make a ditzy bitch likable, let alone believable.
I'll just keep telling myself, I'm doing it for A65.
But that's changing. I just have 3 goals for this year -- NOT resolutions.
1. Make "The Alice '65" the best script it can be and start entering competitions, again.
2. Finish "The Vanishing of Owen Taylor".
3. Finish a first full draft of "Place of Safety".
Everything else is just hopes and dreams -- like getting control of my finances, losing weight, that sort of crap -- things that have so many variables that are both under and beyond my control, I can't do anything more than try at them.
But I am a writer. A professional. I have 6 novels in circulation that have a sales record. Not bestsellers, but a record. I have 3 projects I want to complete, each of which is meaningful to me, and a dozen more waiting in the wings. So I'm not doing anybody else's writing unless they pay me, and I don't mean piss-ant money or part of the sales. I mean Guild minimum for scripts and $5000 for a first draft of a book. Period.
Again, this is not a resolution; it's a life decision. I'm worth the money. If you disagree, get somebody else. I got other things to work on.
_02.jpg)
I often wonder how Carole Lombard would have been in the role. She has such a lovely, off-key, ethereal quality to her comedy, she might have made it work. Katherine's too intelligent and aware to make a ditzy bitch likable, let alone believable.
I'll just keep telling myself, I'm doing it for A65.
2 comments:
HAPPY NEW YEAR, my friend.
Thanks, Mac -- and right back at you.
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