Families keep mattering

I got through another chapter of OT, tonight, and would have done more but family interfered. Gotta love it. 1600 miles means nothing when you have cell phones and need to kick some butt.

I'm going to Hong Kong, again, just before Thanksgiving, so I may not be able to do the NaNoWriMo challenge to write a book in 30 days. Which I do want to do, this time. It'll get me going on reworking A65 or CK or something into a book and set in stone what I want the story to say. I'm still aiming at doing it for A65 because I think it would be perfect as a nice summer read. Plus I know people in the book business who might be willing to give me feedback on it...especially the British ones.

I finished reading Sol Saks' book on comedy writing that really isn't so much about comedy writing as writing in general. I wasn't too impressed except I found out he was one of the originators of Bewitched  and wrote the pilot. His book's more a self-confidence builder than anything else...which works for me.

Hell, anything works for me, right now...

I am NOT "Ready for Hillary"

I made the mistake of donating to a couple of individual Democrats' races for Senate and The House of Representatives, and now I'm on every goddamned mailing list there is from the Democratic party, not only begging me for money because it's our last chance to counter that idiot, Boehner, but because I'm told I'm ready for Hillary Clinton to run for president.

Well...I don't want her. And I told the DNC that, as well as a few others. Do you think they listened? No. The begging only increased. So now they all go into Junk, and I'l be damned if I give them another penny, even if I agree with the person running.

I had this problem once with the GOP. A guy at work, who's a die-hard Republican, sent my name and information in to them with a small donation, so suddenly I was getting inundated with requests for money from CREEP. At my work address! They wouldn't stop when I asked them to...or when I demanded they stop...so I started sending them really nasty Photoshopped images of Bush 2 doing S&M with American men dressed as soldiers, telling them they'd better remove my name from their mailing list or I'd get even nastier. I'd discovered what all could be found on the Internet and made serious use of it. So the mailings finally ceased.

As for Hillary, I hate it when someone is anointed the nominee without me even being given the chance to vote on it. And I wouldn't vote for her, anyway; I don't trust her. I'd rather Elizabeth Warren run, or Al Franken. They know what they're talking about and aren't afraid to say it. Ms. Clinton is nothing but political speech and bullshit.

But I won't pull the same stunt with them as I did CREEP. I'll just dump my junk mail, because I'm still closer to the Democratic line than anything else. But if those bastards do push Hillary's nomination through without so much as a question, I'll vote Green, again. I will not vote for the lesser of two evils, anymore.

That's what got us Obama and his continuation of Bush 2's policies.

This time the charm?

I re-started my edit of The Vanishing of Owen Taylor from the beginning and slashed my way through 5 chapters. Some bits needed to be cut completely, some needed to be changed around, some just wanted a bit more clarification...and this time I rushed nothing. I want my current draft to be ready to read, for feedback.

I was also in discussion with Jake about who to make the final villain, and he's finally on the same page as me...or else, I am with him. I never know, anymore. But it's his story so I need to listen...and he led me to an interesting commentary...or tale.

There's a story about a caliph who asked Maimonides, a Jewish scholar, to explain the Talmud. We're talking about volumes and volumes of rules about religious morals and behaviors and conduct and philosophy as regards Judaism, and do it in the time he was able to stand on one foot. This was in the Middle Ages, in what is now Spain but was then controlled by the Moors. Maimonides responded,  "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. All the rest is commentary."

That's probably the best way to view writing possible -- keep the core of what you mean, remember the rest is commentary.

About-face...

Okay, after whining about GPS yesterday, I have to give it props, today. It saved me while driving from Harrisburg. There's this nasty stretch headed for Corning where you're traveling over township roads and have to change from one route to another that's gotten me turned around more than once. This time, letting the GPS bitch tell me what to do, I made it through in record time.

It's a pretty drive, for the most part, up along the Susquehanna River for miles then over rolling hills of trees just beginning to change colors for the fall or open fields of fully grown corn stalks. The big drawback is so much of it is on two-lane blacktops with only the occasional passing lane. So if you get caught behind a slow-going rig or farmer, it's torture.

Something else I've have fun with on this trip is checking out the WiFi in different hotel chains. The service at the Best Western in Long Island City has improved to where it's good, not great, while the service at a Holiday Inn was next to impossible to use. The best was the La Quinta in Harrisburg; super fast and easy to get onto. Too bad the bed wasn't the most comfortable.

Through all of this, I carried my printout of OT, but got only a few chapters dug into. I guess it wasn't worth the effort; I can always make notes and transfer them once I'm home. Now I have a mountain of laundry to do and piles of paperwork to go through...which will be dealt with...eventually.

I didn't get to have Return to Darian's Point read by actors in London. Dammit. I really wanted this. But I've finally gotten it through my thick skull that winning competitions isn't about how good the script is; it's more about how the committee making the decision "feels about it." I was actually told that by two different contest organizers, so went back and saw other e-mails from contests that said the same damn thing -- that non-comment of how "it's all so very subjective." Talk about dense, on my part.

I'm glad the script got this much recognition, but the contest route means nothing to me, anymore, especially considering the cost of the damn things. I could have bought a new car with the money I've spent on entry fees over the years.

Back to the drawing board...and the thought of turning my DP scripts into books.

GPS Can Bite My Ass

My work phone has Google Maps on it, so I can find my way around...and it's a pain, to be kind about it. The routes it likes to send you on are not always the best ones...like insisting on going up the Van Wyck Expressway in NYC instead of the Grand Island Parkway because it's more direct to JFK (even though it's always packed with heavy traffic)...or vise versa when you're in a cargo van (they aren't allowed on NYC Parkways). And the only way it seems you can change it is if you deliberately ignore it and let it yell at you; then it adjusts to your settings, but not happily.

However, today was the epitome of Google Map insanity. I'm in Washington DC, staying at a hotel just outside the 495 loop, and I need to get to Silver Spring. It's morning rush hour so I know it'll take a while, and the location I'm headed for is on a side road down a dozen other side roads by a park, so I input the address...and Goggle took me off this ramp and turn left here and right there and get on this road and follow it to that fork but stay left...when all it had to do was let me travel along the 495 to the second exit farther and go left...and I'd have been there in half the time.

Then I'm trying to get from Baltimore's Airport to hit the 83 for my return to Buffalo (I'm staying overnight in Harrisburg). I get to the 695 and I know that connects to the 83, so I'm toodling along in VERY slow traffic (it's like the 101 in the morning between Woodland Hills and downtown LA) when Google startles me by saying, "Take the exit for I-95 North." I'm thinking, maybe the traffic isn't as bad that way, so I do it. And it takes me into downtown Baltimore. As in, the city streets. Where you not only have to worry about drivers who know nothing about driving, but pedestrians who think the streets are to be crossed wherever and whenever they want. For miles. By the time I was on the 83 (which, apparently, does not have a direct connection to the 95) I was ready to pull out an Uzi and blow away a few hundred people.

THEN...in Harrisburg, it turns out taking me off the freeway and down some back residential streets is a more direct route to my hotel than just following the freeway around.

It's times like this you wish technology was still in the stone age...so you'd have the damn stones to throw at people when they pissed you off.

NY Does not do well in rain...

The view from my hotel window, this morning. A nice steady soft rain that sometimes got to be monsoon-like. Unlike LA, where when it rains people drive faster, driving in this city in the rain is like taking lessons in how to go so slow, you're headed backwards. And how construction on the freeways does not stop for a little precipitation. Cannot have the natives think they can get around easily in Queens; they might come to expect it.

So a drive to JFK that should have taken 20 minutes took an hour. Same for when I left to head for DC; a 15 minute drive took over an hour, especially crossing the Verrazano Narrows Bridge. Again, going so slow you're all but retracing your tire tracks. Crazy.

But soon as I was in New Jersey, the rain stopped, and the drive to DC was so uneventful, I had to stop a few times to keep from falling asleep.

At least I got here and saw the job and got my hotel -- a Holiday Inn with minimal WiFi that's next door to an Ikea -- and got some more done on OT. I need to spend about a week on nothing but the story instead of this stop and go crap I've been doing, because it gives Jake too much time to reconsider things and suggest changes I don't want to make.

And point out places where I'm missing opportunities to advance the story neatly...dammit...as is Antony, now. He's snapping at me over the representation of his character in a couple of moments.

I still feel like I'm missing something in the story and can't figure out what it is. Like there's an aspect that would help clarify things and I can't see it...or I'm too focused to allow it in or something. Even having this space to let the story settle hasn't made it clear. I guess all I can do is keep plugging away and hope the revelation comes.

Again.

TOQATM and Bette

I don't know why, but all day while slamming through packing this collection of books in time to be picked up, the score for this movie was drifting through my head. And that is all I have to say...

Guess I'll have to watch it, again, when I get home.

Totally geeked out...

Today I saw an Apple I motherboard that still works. It was designed in 1975, is a bit larger than my laptop, and is in near pristine condition. Somehow a Mac guy connected his iPad to it and was able to write a program! Still! It's going to be offered at auction at Bonham's in San Francisco, and they have no idea what it will bring; it's too recent an acquisition. I have gone so fanboy, it's not funny.

Okay...Adam and Casey and I have had a nice little discussion and we've come to the conclusion The Alice '65 is as good as it's going to get as a script. Except for correcting typos that might get pointed out to me (of which I am sure there are plenty), I'm making no more changes. The next step is to tell the story as a book, like I did The Lyons' Den. Which I wouldn't mind doing. I'm happy with how LD turned out; I just need to work up a strategy to get it selling better.

Looks like I'll be taking a trip to the Genius Bar, again. My laptop's e-mail connection is weirding out, again. It keeps asking me for my password, but even though I input it, it rejects it. Dunno what's going on -- if it's age or something wrong with iCloud...but I've also been having trouble with my iphone, so it may be the cloud.

Did a little work on The Vanishing of Owen Taylor. The first section is pretty tight and sets everything up nicely, I think. I almost talked myself into changing what the mystery's about, again, but quickly talked myself out of it. I think I'm just skittish about how it will come across. Jake isn't, however; he's ready to be done.

God, so am I...

Cleveland town...

I've never actually been there, but today I took a drive down to pick up my awards from The Indie Gathering.

All three are for Return to Darian's Point. As I understand it, the statue is for Best Horror Script, the plaque is for Best Feature Script, and the certificate is to verify it. I'll pop it into a frame when I get back from DC and put it on the wall. Verification that my work is likable.

I got to town a bit early so looked around the waterfront. Cleveland's building a new stadium for the Browns or the Indians or both, which didn't even begin to interest me. I think it's pathetic that billion dollar companies insist cities, counties and states give them hundreds of millions in tax breaks and funding so they'll build a place for their teams to play a couple times a year.

That's why LA doesn't have a football team -- the city and county told the NFL, "Fine, you want a team here with a new stadium, we're happy to have it. But you'll have to build it without taxpayer dollars." And the NFL tossed a fit and spit and moaned...and after fifteen years there is still no football team in the nation's second largest market. I don't care if they ever get one.

But the lakefront does have a couple of museums -- for Rock & Roll History and Science -- and a nice park and some boat rides, so it's a pleasant space. Very open.

The wind was brisk and Lake Erie was whipped up with whitecaps, none of which came out good in my photos, but the lake freighter was impressive, up close.

I drove on to my appointment...and saw the inner city looks like the rust belt is still intact. Much like sections of Buffalo. Rather sad. Coming back, I drove over the Cuyahoga River.

Randy Newman's song continues to resonate...

And it's done, again...

I spent the evening working on A65 and have it completed. I even cut it down from 112 pages to 110. There wasn't a lot to be gotten rid of or changed -- just moments where I was pushing the story too hard and not being willing to lose a joke that wasn't really comfortable where it was. I like the build of Casey's and Adam's relationship. It feels normal and natural...exactly what I'm after.

Adam's messing around with me was him being happy, too. As are Casey and Gertrude, and we like it when Gertrude's happy. A lot's been cut from the story that I could easily work into a book -- more about what happened with Adam's father...and Casey's dad...and a more complete explanation of what's happening -- but the script has enough to make it work.

Tomorrow I'm headed down to Cleveland to get my awards from The Indie Gathering, and Sunday I'm off to NYC, again. Then I'm driving down to DC and headed back to Buffalo by car, on Thursday. It's a pretty drive, through rolling hills of forest in a thousand shades of green...and maybe some fall golds. I've already seen leaves beginning to drift down.

Wonder if we'll get snow, already?