Bit of a repose for me.
Part of it was wanting to give "New Hooverville" some time at the top of the page [if you haven't read it yet, I'd really appreciate it if you'd go check it out]. It took roughly a year to get to this point, and the urge was pretty strong to let it ride as the first thing people see when they come to the blog, and I even contemplated just leaving it up all week, uninterrupted from any off-topic dithering from yours truly. But I've been getting a surge in visitors as of late, mostly thanks to Kimberly Kaye being kind enough to link me in the sidebar of her blog [for the rest of you who do this, know I appreciate it from you too -- Kaye's link, though, for some reason, has been keeping me in steady referrals for the past two weeks, many of them looking like return visits -- which is rare for me], and when being looked at there is naturally a pretty strong urge to perform and produce. Which is actually what I wanted to talk a bit about.
I'm in a strange place with my writing now. "New Hooverville" is resting as 25,000 word monster which I currently have no place for, and nothing to do with. I think, ideally, I'd just like it to get out there, into the world, and have as many people see it as possible, with or without my name attached to it. As much as I don't want to get into a topic of "what the artist really meant" since, whatever you do or don't take from the piece is perfectly valid, no matter what I wanted, "Hooverville" speaks to this phenomenon I see every day with my peers, a frustration between what they want to do artistically, and the pressure they feel to join up, and act as regular person - to be a part of the "real world." And to be a bit snotty about it, I just don't think regular people necessarily feel that pressure, or at least, not in the same way -- I think so many of them look at that real world, at the nine-to-five, the long-term drudgery of things like managing taxes and health insurance, like working out weddings and starting families, and see anything other than big, welcoming arms of responsibility and adulthood.
I think the rest of us see it, more likely, as a gaping maw. Even those who have learned to work it to their favor. And "New Hooverville" is just me wondering, I guess, why there isn't a louder objection to that. Why those who look at that system, look at that one definition of what responsibility and being an adult is, and say "bullshit!" -- but even more, why in the hell, when I know so many of us feel this way, we don't band together, we don't turn that "bullshit!" into a chorus, we don't just... check out. Try it another way. Do it together. There'd be strength in that.
I don't know the answer to any of that. "New Hooverville" was me trying to get at it, and I think I did, a little bit, I think after all that time I got closer to getting a handle on those feelings -- maybe just "that" feeling -- and I think, maybe, the next thing I work on will have that in it too. "A Change is Gonna Come" certainly did. Without stretching, I think maybe even "Nova," I think even the peep show script is all approaching that same topic, that same feeling, from various angles. So yes, the next thing will almost definitely be about that, but...
I just don't know what that next thing is.
The space between projects is one of the most annoying I've ever encountered. I know writers and creative-types, artists, dancers, actors, etc. who never experience that, who never slow down, who never have less than four things going at once, who think stopping is a privilege, and privilege is bad, so they just never stop. Inspiration flows from them like a fountain, and they are the luckiest of us. They're the reason most of us feel like we aren't writers, aren't artists, aren't creatives, because certainly, if we were, we'd never stop either. No, they must be the real deal, and we must just be playing at it. Because they never come to a full stop. And we do.
My experience is limited to no success and a very short time on this earth. Thanks to the internet, a thousand and one writing tutorials are a click away, ranging from people who've accomplished even less than I have [which would mean, I guess... they're not putting on pants anymore] to those we'd consider the most accomplished, and in some cases, our heroes. The Fitzgeralds, the Didions, the Roths, the Austins, the Johnsons, the Moores. All of them have some tip, some "absolute" - about how the writing on the hardest days is usually as good as those on the easiest days, or about how nothing you produce everyday to could possibly, consistently, be good so therefore expect to write everyday and delete most of it, or about... oy vey. The list is literally endless, and I for one a becoming less and less enthralled by these hard and fast rules about why what I'm not producing is my fault, or why what I am producing isn't any good. I'm not sure [and I'm saying this in a space meant to look at and catalog the process of producing work] that how you get there really matters any longer, and that even the suggestion that there is some way to become the best, to churn out good writing, or whatever you do, is at best merely subjective.
Finishing things, too, also bothers me. There's a great discomfort once you've achieved your goal, only to realize now you're in the margin, between the panels of whatever your next move is.
All of this, ultimately, contributes to my anxiety of not working, of not having a project. And right now, I feel very much like I do not have a project, like I am between work, and that because of that, I am less of [or not] a writer, and that because I am not forcing work out of myself like juice squeezed from an orange, that I'm just playing at being a writer. That I've no business being on the field. And none of this even works the other doubts -- about writers I admire who had already found so much more success long before they reached my age, about peers who have been working just as hard, and have already seen it pay dividends.
But this is not a race. And that stuff is no kind of game to play with yourself.
This kind of talk has been going on in my head for a week or two. I can't put an exact finger on it, but I became most aware of it around six days ago, when I stopped sleeping and letting the other anxieties of life really begin to work on me. I consider myself the king of no-structure, but without the structure of one, over-arching piece to work on, I apparently go to pieces with worry that not only am I failing at this... passion, profession, compulsion I've chosen, but that because of it I don't deserve to be on the field with my peers.
And "over-arching" is the important part to that. Because honestly, I have things I'm working on, things I'm doing. There's a bit of dialogue I scribbled down last week that I have plans to polish, and post here on Friday, time and motivation willing. There are also several unfinished things, some as old as this blog [re:Trendsetter], some older [re: The Familiar], and some almost complete [re: untitled peep show script] that I have re-read recently, think I could probably still do something with.
Nothing that feels like "the project" though. Not yet.
But there are other things. Though I'm not as involved at this stage, Ander and I am working on a new comic, "VHS Generation," and just because the artist is at it with pencil doesn't mean I can necessarily put mine down on the desk [the same is true for "Calamity Cash," which Justin tells me that, even with his intense work schedule, is still coming along]. Even if I could, talking with Ander over e-mail has left me with a great deal of other possible things to work with and look through [the dude sends me illustrated updates of how the work is going -- it's heavenly], including little prompts that have unintentionally but welcomely reminded me of old characters and old ideas, along with smaller projects that were almost forgotten about have begun working their way into a mini-mythology that I'd almost forgotten about [re: "White Trash Nation"]. It's all very exciting, and it, with the day-to-day upkeep around here and the fairly steady stream of books to review, well...
I'm not at a loss for things to do. And even if I were, I tend to like my free time. Luxury though that is.
Showing posts with label The Familiar. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Familiar. Show all posts
Finishing up one project, looking at old stuff.
My nights and days have inverted again.
Sort of a strange few days. Got a deal on a new phone, slightly larger than my old one, but it's way faster, the screen is clearer, the ringer is louder, and everything loads so much quicker. Still, there were a lot of problems getting my old number transferred over, and I'm starting to see why people with steadier incomes just lock themselves into a phone plan. At least then, I guess, you have a contract you can shake at your provider and say "See? This was promised. I don't care that it's four in the fucking morning, make my phone work."
There was even one strange day where I got to sit with a phone that could not take calls. It could act as a two gigabyte mp3 player, it could take pictures, it could play PacMan... it just couldn't do any of the things you sort of expect a phone to do, like, you know, take calls. If you dwell on it long enough, the crotchety old man instinct can take over, until you're just shaking your head and thinking "Feh. Technology."
Anyway. I sent off what I think will be the final draft of copy for my current website job, which apparently I nailed pretty much on the first go. It was just a matter of making sure it was typo-free and adding a small blurb that hadn't been made available to me in the first go round, and then I shot the new content off to the client late last night, my near vampiric hours once again better serving clients by the promptness in which they find copy in their inbox the next morning.
I always thought we got this whole work hours thing wrong. Yes, I toil away after the sun goes down like some nocturnal madman, racing to get done before the sun comes up. But then for everyone who works during the daylight hours, well, they're always sure to have exactly what they need upon getting up the next morning. Trust me, I know these things, as my dad used to deliver newspapers -- the thing you need in the day, so it must be taken care of the night before -- a profession that proves that divvying up day jobs and night jobs better would solve all sorts of problems for people who work on both sides of dawn.
That, and maybe society could cater to us night owls because of it. I would kill to get pizza or Chinese takeout at four in the morning.
Other than the phone and the work, most of my week has been spent thinking about older, unfinished projects [re: Trendsetter, and The Familiar], including a comic book idea I had back in college that I'm not entirely sure why I never bothered to finish it. Two issues already written, and I just up and forgot about it, save for a bunch of notes I cannibalized back when I was trying to put together that treatment for a pilot [re: Sweet Home]. Paying work has made me not really keen on sitting down and typing at the computer, so all of this work has mostly been scribbled in the moleskin, but it feels nice to be creative again, and even in the case of the narrative problems I'm having trouble solving [Familiar in particular -- every time I think I fixed something, I find new plot holes to obsess over] I'm thinking about characters and stories that haven't been on my mind in a long time. Better writers than I probably won't think much of this, but having those names, those places, those situations on the tip of my tongue or in the back of my mind [because apparently writing is like fellatio, kids!] means that sometimes I step out of the shower or into the soup aisle and suddenly realize how to tie something together better. And its always those eureka moments that seem to get me motivated to get the most done.
Pleasant reminders I can still, occasionally, be clever.
Also got some big news concerning some friends of mine. Sort of waiting to see them in person before putting anything here about it, though. Seems more personal that way.
It's my friend Nick's birthday today, too. He's big into tumblr, and for his birthday, you should go check out his blog "Blue-Eyed Devil."
Finally, and not to bury the lead in the least, Savannah's TV show "Huge" was not renewed for a second season. There's currently a petition up to save the show, and whether you were able to watch it or not, whether you were a fan or not, I really would consider it a personal favor if you'd go, and sign. Another one of my friends [Hannah], put it best [and in an especially apt way for this blog, which has always been about writing and creativity]: just think, if you were given an opportunity to tell a story, to make something important to you, and then had your funding yanked out from under you and were unable to continue, let alone finish, the story you were trying to tell. I don't know a creative person that wouldn't be heartbreaking to, so please, sign the petition, spread the news, and just generally get the word out. Realistically, maybe this is a long shot, but with the internet we have seen cult shows saved by fan outcry before, and a show this smart, this funny, this different deserves a second chance.
Or at least some kind of gesture by us, the fans, to show those involved how much their work was appreciated.
Sort of a strange few days. Got a deal on a new phone, slightly larger than my old one, but it's way faster, the screen is clearer, the ringer is louder, and everything loads so much quicker. Still, there were a lot of problems getting my old number transferred over, and I'm starting to see why people with steadier incomes just lock themselves into a phone plan. At least then, I guess, you have a contract you can shake at your provider and say "See? This was promised. I don't care that it's four in the fucking morning, make my phone work."
There was even one strange day where I got to sit with a phone that could not take calls. It could act as a two gigabyte mp3 player, it could take pictures, it could play PacMan... it just couldn't do any of the things you sort of expect a phone to do, like, you know, take calls. If you dwell on it long enough, the crotchety old man instinct can take over, until you're just shaking your head and thinking "Feh. Technology."
Anyway. I sent off what I think will be the final draft of copy for my current website job, which apparently I nailed pretty much on the first go. It was just a matter of making sure it was typo-free and adding a small blurb that hadn't been made available to me in the first go round, and then I shot the new content off to the client late last night, my near vampiric hours once again better serving clients by the promptness in which they find copy in their inbox the next morning.
I always thought we got this whole work hours thing wrong. Yes, I toil away after the sun goes down like some nocturnal madman, racing to get done before the sun comes up. But then for everyone who works during the daylight hours, well, they're always sure to have exactly what they need upon getting up the next morning. Trust me, I know these things, as my dad used to deliver newspapers -- the thing you need in the day, so it must be taken care of the night before -- a profession that proves that divvying up day jobs and night jobs better would solve all sorts of problems for people who work on both sides of dawn.
That, and maybe society could cater to us night owls because of it. I would kill to get pizza or Chinese takeout at four in the morning.
Other than the phone and the work, most of my week has been spent thinking about older, unfinished projects [re: Trendsetter, and The Familiar], including a comic book idea I had back in college that I'm not entirely sure why I never bothered to finish it. Two issues already written, and I just up and forgot about it, save for a bunch of notes I cannibalized back when I was trying to put together that treatment for a pilot [re: Sweet Home]. Paying work has made me not really keen on sitting down and typing at the computer, so all of this work has mostly been scribbled in the moleskin, but it feels nice to be creative again, and even in the case of the narrative problems I'm having trouble solving [Familiar in particular -- every time I think I fixed something, I find new plot holes to obsess over] I'm thinking about characters and stories that haven't been on my mind in a long time. Better writers than I probably won't think much of this, but having those names, those places, those situations on the tip of my tongue or in the back of my mind [because apparently writing is like fellatio, kids!] means that sometimes I step out of the shower or into the soup aisle and suddenly realize how to tie something together better. And its always those eureka moments that seem to get me motivated to get the most done.
Pleasant reminders I can still, occasionally, be clever.
Also got some big news concerning some friends of mine. Sort of waiting to see them in person before putting anything here about it, though. Seems more personal that way.
It's my friend Nick's birthday today, too. He's big into tumblr, and for his birthday, you should go check out his blog "Blue-Eyed Devil."
Finally, and not to bury the lead in the least, Savannah's TV show "Huge" was not renewed for a second season. There's currently a petition up to save the show, and whether you were able to watch it or not, whether you were a fan or not, I really would consider it a personal favor if you'd go, and sign. Another one of my friends [Hannah], put it best [and in an especially apt way for this blog, which has always been about writing and creativity]: just think, if you were given an opportunity to tell a story, to make something important to you, and then had your funding yanked out from under you and were unable to continue, let alone finish, the story you were trying to tell. I don't know a creative person that wouldn't be heartbreaking to, so please, sign the petition, spread the news, and just generally get the word out. Realistically, maybe this is a long shot, but with the internet we have seen cult shows saved by fan outcry before, and a show this smart, this funny, this different deserves a second chance.
Or at least some kind of gesture by us, the fans, to show those involved how much their work was appreciated.
I was a teenage pornstar.
Since Tuesday, I put together ten new pages on "The Familiar" -- basically, a new beginning for that old friend, and I more or less mapped out how the new cut should go. I just need to sit down, and actually write it, and will once I hammer out one or two small details that keep cropping up during my readings of it. It's funny, in school, ten pages in a week was really good turnover, something to aspire to, but I look at what I did and feel vaguely bad there isn't more.
And I'm not crazy about what's there, either. Despite being written over a period of several days I had a real feeling the whole time of needing to get it out, needing to get the scene written, needing to make sure all the most important things were said, and nothing else. It's weird, and unlike me, especially since I know my penchant for sitting down, and letting a conversation take its time. Letting everyone say what they would say, how they would say it, at a leisurely pace. It's easier too, to go back, and cull from that the most necessary parts -- at least then you get some character with the lines, and not just exposition.
Patience is my problem. I just haven't been as patient lately as I usually am. A few people have run afoul of it, and for that I apologize. It's a very valuable thing, patience, and it's the one virtue I feel like my generation, the generation before, and yeah, feeling old for a minute, the generation after, has neglected. It doesn't come naturally to me, but I strive for it, and not having it agitates me. And considering an impatient Randall is already a semi-unpleasant experience for most folks, and agitated impatient Randall is bound to be even less fun.
I'm reminded of that issue of X-Factor where Quicksilver tried to explain why he was such an irritable prick: "Tell me… have you ever stood in line at a banking machine behind a person who didn’t know how to use it? Or wanted to buy stamps at the post office, and the fellow in front of you wants to know every single way he can ship his package to Istanbul? Or gotten some counter idiot at Burger King that can’t comprehend ‘Whopper, no pickles? ... Now, imagine... that everyone you work with, everywhere you go… your entire world… is filled with people who can’t work cash machines."
And I'm not crazy about what's there, either. Despite being written over a period of several days I had a real feeling the whole time of needing to get it out, needing to get the scene written, needing to make sure all the most important things were said, and nothing else. It's weird, and unlike me, especially since I know my penchant for sitting down, and letting a conversation take its time. Letting everyone say what they would say, how they would say it, at a leisurely pace. It's easier too, to go back, and cull from that the most necessary parts -- at least then you get some character with the lines, and not just exposition.
Patience is my problem. I just haven't been as patient lately as I usually am. A few people have run afoul of it, and for that I apologize. It's a very valuable thing, patience, and it's the one virtue I feel like my generation, the generation before, and yeah, feeling old for a minute, the generation after, has neglected. It doesn't come naturally to me, but I strive for it, and not having it agitates me. And considering an impatient Randall is already a semi-unpleasant experience for most folks, and agitated impatient Randall is bound to be even less fun.
I'm reminded of that issue of X-Factor where Quicksilver tried to explain why he was such an irritable prick: "Tell me… have you ever stood in line at a banking machine behind a person who didn’t know how to use it? Or wanted to buy stamps at the post office, and the fellow in front of you wants to know every single way he can ship his package to Istanbul? Or gotten some counter idiot at Burger King that can’t comprehend ‘Whopper, no pickles? ... Now, imagine... that everyone you work with, everywhere you go… your entire world… is filled with people who can’t work cash machines."
Peter David wrote that. Good stuff. I feel like David never gets his appropriate due. Yes, yes, Mark Millar beat Bryan Hitch with a hose until he started putting black bars around his pages to make it look widescreen, but that... people in tights getting at some aspect of the human condition... that we could use more of.
Speaking of comics, and since October is here with Halloween just around the corner, I highly recommend you go and order Eric and Dave's comic about one of my favorite horror rock outfits, Calabrese. I discovered the Modern Mythology guys and Calabrese separately, so every time I think about this combination a little section of my brain malfunctions and I hear George Costanza screaming "my worlds are colliding!" -- but in a good way. Help all the boys out by getting your name down for a copy today.
And that's two solids you'll be doing -- supporting indie comics and up-and-coming musicians -- in one fell swoop.
I'm not sure what else I'll be getting done this week. I've heard back from my client on the website copy [sort of], and I'm going to have a new book in hand to review either today or tomorrow. But I also have two freshly printed copies of "The Familiar" and "Trendsetter" sitting under my pillow every night. Which if I were actually sleeping on would be very uncomfortable indeed.
Speaking of comics, and since October is here with Halloween just around the corner, I highly recommend you go and order Eric and Dave's comic about one of my favorite horror rock outfits, Calabrese. I discovered the Modern Mythology guys and Calabrese separately, so every time I think about this combination a little section of my brain malfunctions and I hear George Costanza screaming "my worlds are colliding!" -- but in a good way. Help all the boys out by getting your name down for a copy today.
And that's two solids you'll be doing -- supporting indie comics and up-and-coming musicians -- in one fell swoop.
I'm not sure what else I'll be getting done this week. I've heard back from my client on the website copy [sort of], and I'm going to have a new book in hand to review either today or tomorrow. But I also have two freshly printed copies of "The Familiar" and "Trendsetter" sitting under my pillow every night. Which if I were actually sleeping on would be very uncomfortable indeed.
"The tenderness and the azure..."
Just some quick updates, and some links.
First off, thanks to anyone who checked out Ian's story, or who have checking out Ian's story penciled in as one of their activities in the near future. Though a little sporadic at posting, "A Wave of the Hand" is an excellent blog by a top-notch writer, and should be a staple in everyone's RSS feeds.
Other things. I was hoping for a couple of free days to work on some fiction or prose, but my next book came in the mail for the j-o-b, and that's now my major point of focus. Coupled with how full this past weekend was [Saw Scott Pilgrim - it was, naturally, awesome and I have a sort of hope to write a little something about it once my week frees up], I just haven't really had time to sit down and do any real writing, even with the insomnia, baring a few hours last night where I had a new idea I might follow up on [re: Found Out About You - inspired by a particular rat-bastard of an ex-friend who has popped up in the peripheral of my life, annoyed me by screwing with friends of mine, but also made me think there might be a story there, or at least a chance at some catharsis], or discard. There's a reason for my hesitancy to move forward, non-personal issues related, which I might discuss here, or in a rare move for me I might actively just write the damn thing and then lock it in a drawer if I think it's too offensive or whatever. It's pretty loose right now, of course -- just some ideas, there's no outline yet, and I don't tend to go forward on full scripts without one.
Not that it hasn't happened before -- just that it is rarely a good idea.
Also been kicking around in my head to pick up something old, and work on it, actually finish it. I have a couple of things like that, honestly. Just a matter of getting excited about them again, or figuring out the solutions to the problems that made me put them down in the first place [re: Trendsetter, The Familiar].
Also putting something together I'd like to keep hush-hush for the time being. Watch this space.
And, for those wondering, I finally dug through my e-mail and found the website for that contest I entered "Nova" in a few months back. The day of reckoning is November 15th. We'll see how it goes. Fingers crossed, I might get my little story about angels made yet.
To keep this from being an entirely useless post, there's some really great writing up at "The Bathroom Monologues" and "Hipstercrite" today, by John and Lauren respectively. John's piece [re: "Killing to Kill a Mockingbird"] is just so incredibly interesting, while Lauren's "The Difference Between You and I" is one of those things that makes me feel incredibly... [fine, I'll say it] blessed by blog culture. Just a really great, moving work, that I can't recommend enough.
Also, Eric M. Esquivel is back blowing our minds over at Modern Mythology Press, with his new western work called "The Lone Survivor" with Ian Synder on art duties. Check out the cover preview, and tell me you're not interested in what comes next.
Finally, I'm not sure if anyone happened to read the "What is it about 20-Somethings" piece By Robin Marantz Henig in the Times, but it's stirred up a bit of interest amongst me and my liked-minded and like-aged peers, particularly over at the 20-Nothings Blog. It's actually made the writer there, Jessie Rosen, put out a call to arms to all of us, which I think if anyone is reading this here, they might want to go, check it out, and participate in it. It is an exceptional idea - though make sure you catch the other few posts on the subject, too.
I gave it a shot, but realized, when asked directly, I have surprisingly little to say. Especially since I feel like I spoke best about the subject with "New Hooverville" a few months back, and I doubt seriously that what Rosen wants from her participants is fiction. Still, there are a few people who read this that might want to throw their hats in the ring before the Friday deadline.
Probably hear more from me soon. My week opens up big time after tomorrow.
First off, thanks to anyone who checked out Ian's story, or who have checking out Ian's story penciled in as one of their activities in the near future. Though a little sporadic at posting, "A Wave of the Hand" is an excellent blog by a top-notch writer, and should be a staple in everyone's RSS feeds.
Other things. I was hoping for a couple of free days to work on some fiction or prose, but my next book came in the mail for the j-o-b, and that's now my major point of focus. Coupled with how full this past weekend was [Saw Scott Pilgrim - it was, naturally, awesome and I have a sort of hope to write a little something about it once my week frees up], I just haven't really had time to sit down and do any real writing, even with the insomnia, baring a few hours last night where I had a new idea I might follow up on [re: Found Out About You - inspired by a particular rat-bastard of an ex-friend who has popped up in the peripheral of my life, annoyed me by screwing with friends of mine, but also made me think there might be a story there, or at least a chance at some catharsis], or discard. There's a reason for my hesitancy to move forward, non-personal issues related, which I might discuss here, or in a rare move for me I might actively just write the damn thing and then lock it in a drawer if I think it's too offensive or whatever. It's pretty loose right now, of course -- just some ideas, there's no outline yet, and I don't tend to go forward on full scripts without one.
Not that it hasn't happened before -- just that it is rarely a good idea.
Also been kicking around in my head to pick up something old, and work on it, actually finish it. I have a couple of things like that, honestly. Just a matter of getting excited about them again, or figuring out the solutions to the problems that made me put them down in the first place [re: Trendsetter, The Familiar].
Also putting something together I'd like to keep hush-hush for the time being. Watch this space.
And, for those wondering, I finally dug through my e-mail and found the website for that contest I entered "Nova" in a few months back. The day of reckoning is November 15th. We'll see how it goes. Fingers crossed, I might get my little story about angels made yet.
To keep this from being an entirely useless post, there's some really great writing up at "The Bathroom Monologues" and "Hipstercrite" today, by John and Lauren respectively. John's piece [re: "Killing to Kill a Mockingbird"] is just so incredibly interesting, while Lauren's "The Difference Between You and I" is one of those things that makes me feel incredibly... [fine, I'll say it] blessed by blog culture. Just a really great, moving work, that I can't recommend enough.
Also, Eric M. Esquivel is back blowing our minds over at Modern Mythology Press, with his new western work called "The Lone Survivor" with Ian Synder on art duties. Check out the cover preview, and tell me you're not interested in what comes next.
Finally, I'm not sure if anyone happened to read the "What is it about 20-Somethings" piece By Robin Marantz Henig in the Times, but it's stirred up a bit of interest amongst me and my liked-minded and like-aged peers, particularly over at the 20-Nothings Blog. It's actually made the writer there, Jessie Rosen, put out a call to arms to all of us, which I think if anyone is reading this here, they might want to go, check it out, and participate in it. It is an exceptional idea - though make sure you catch the other few posts on the subject, too.
I gave it a shot, but realized, when asked directly, I have surprisingly little to say. Especially since I feel like I spoke best about the subject with "New Hooverville" a few months back, and I doubt seriously that what Rosen wants from her participants is fiction. Still, there are a few people who read this that might want to throw their hats in the ring before the Friday deadline.
Probably hear more from me soon. My week opens up big time after tomorrow.
Good Riddance 2009
Well, thank god that's over.
I don't have a list of resolutions for 2010. It's not really my style, I'm not really a "resolution guy," and more importantly, any sort of list I'd put together here would probably be more a list of things I want, rather than things I feel like I'd actively pursue. And honestly, I have no desire with the kind of year that's behind me to suddenly start making a lot of goals and objectives that I will be able to use next year to evaluate whether or not I succeeded or failed in 2010.
I like to think this space holds me accountable, and this is just one of those cases where I want to let myself slide.
To a better year.
I had an interesting conversation with my cousin Travis, who some may remember I've mentioned before. Travis has a plush job, a lucrative and creative hobby that might well become his new plush job, and the kind of pragmatism behind it all that I'm sure a lot of people in the family wish I had too. He's also incredibly talented as a producer [re: music], which I encourage everyone to go check out at his website, TCustomz.com.
Anyway, we were talking, as creative people tend to do, about being creative, and more specifically producing new work, and he asked me innocently but pointedly if I felt my work was still improving. I haven't been doing much work lately, but upon thinking about his question [and not even for very long], I felt pretty confidant in saying that yes, I had improved, and that I felt like when I was producing work, it was getting better.
Which is sort of odd for me, to pat myself on the back like that. All told, I think I've always had a relatively low opinion of my strengths -- not that I was necessarily bad at what I did, but that what I did well wasn't something to be particularly proud of. I've always thought of the strongest aspects of my writing as something of a parlor trick, especially since throughout college I had a great number of people say things like "the marvelous thing about Randall's writing is that he seems to do everything wrong -- but it works!" I'm glad for it, but it's also hard to not have statements like that hang a little like an albatross.
And even though lately I've been fond [well, not fond] of saying it feels like I'm just out of college again, I look back at that person I was on graduation day and feel like I've progressed from that, and that extends from my written work. How's a little more complicated.
I think I've learned that I can't force it, and expect my writing to still come out naturally. I'm not saying I've come to accept this as an absolute fact, but I do realize that it's a mountain I have to climb when starting things I'm not feeling my most passionate about, and that's been helpful to me. I will still torture myself over it, for not being able to just turn the imagination on like faucet like a lot of other writers and even some of my peers do. I'll work on it. But it wasn't a limitation I knew I had, and knowing it feels like an asset, and an improvement.
My comics have improved. I haven't done as many, of course, but looking at "Calamity Cash" and then looking at "Real Quality Comics," I think I've learned how to rope myself in a little bit, and understand that the artist is not just a tool to get what I want on the page. Justin has done great things with "Town with No Name," but it is a ridiculous and unwieldy beast of a script which I would have shortened and simplified greatly if I had a second chance. I wouldn't know how, of course, had I not undertaken it, and I think despite what I consider pretty messy scripting on my part, Justin is going to turn the final work into something amazing. So my scripting improves, but more importantly, I've realized that a project where I am a part of step 1 does not live and die with me. Despite the misfortunes of the past year, comics are something I want to keep doing, and I want to find another artist to do them with [not surprising that "Calamity Cash and the Town with No Name" has made Justin want to move on to other projects], and just looking between the Cash script and the RQC script, I feel I've progressed. I'm hoping that I can improve my output, of course, as I was never able crank out regular scripts of issues like I'd proposed I'd do, despite my copious notes.
I think if anything has helped me improve it's this blog. The most telling signs are the little things -- typos and brainos have gotten far less, and I've noticed when I sit down to do small projects, I'm finding less and less common mistakes. I feel more aware of the words I use, their meanings, and I've eased up on using antiquated terms as much, and when I do I try my best to make sure using them is a purposeful action, either reviving the word because of its actual usefulness, or because I really want to commit to "bringing it back," ridiculous though that may sound.
I've gotten better at self-policing, I guess is what I'm trying to say. I have habits, like non sequiturs and sentimentality, real Sterne-esque problems [I'm complimenting myself too much in this post], and I think I've gotten better about seeing these things. Sometimes they're okay, and sometimes they're things that I will use, but I fear too often I lean on them, or in the sake of digressions trust my judgment a bit too much, while getting lost on some side quest that I find more interesting than what I'm actually writing about. I also look at other kinds of repetition, my use of parentheticals, or my fondness for pregnant pauses, ellipses, and my ever-present "--," things I love using, and that just naturally happen while writing, that now I feel better about going back, taking out, or saying "I'm using this when I should be using this." And it's nice, to know I have these toys, or trademarks, but I don't have to use them.
I also feel really confidant about my dialogue. Dialogue fascinates me, and conversations will always be my favorite part of writing, but thanks to some kind words and some really talented people asking me for help this year, I feel good about where this skill is, and in a way feeling better about the skill is almost the same to me as feeling it has improved. And I also think, to some degree, it has improved, as in different mediums -- comics, prose, screenplays -- I've been treating it differently, using the medium to get the better result out of the conversation. This is an idea I was playing with before my dry spell, and I'm looking forward to exploring it further.
And I feel better about my prose. It hasn't progressed in any great strides, but the fact that I've felt like I can come back to it, that it feels like a medium I might be able to work in a again is a good thing, and I don't think I could have become comfortable in it if not for all the time spent writing here. I'm still tentative if I'll keep at it, but I think getting to a place where I'm thinking about it is an improvement. Always nice to open up new possibilities.
Lot of things I still suck at though, that aren't any different from that kid out of college. My endings are still awful -- as bad as my beginnings are good, I'll say, and I haven't the foggiest idea how to improve them. The closest I think I've gotten was with "Nova," which had a proper denouement, and it's ending actually came across like an ending. But I still loathe the falling action parts of movies and comics and novels, and had "Nova's" not come so naturally, I doubt it would have had any either. And that's a problem.
I remain pretty terrible at controlling the lengths of things. "Trendsetter" was supposed to be a short. "Meet Cute" was a short idea that I think can only work as a feature, which is probably why I haven't done anything with it yet. "The Familiar" remains a ten or twenty minutes short from a proper feature, and rewrite of it threatens to push it into epic, three hour territory. I've already talked about how "Town with No Name" got out of hand, and my inability to cut it short. And as much as I'll hold up things like "Real Quality Comics" as what I can do when I'm at my best, and most focused, I haven't duplicated that yet, so I may have just gotten very lucky. Oh? And "Trendsetter?" As a feature, it still remains stalled out just shy of a proper length. Following through [Re: Bourgeois Punks]. That's something too.
And I really need to get back to reading and watching more things, and different things. I've always believed you learn the best from other works, their mistakes and successes, and I've been slacking off brilliantly this past year. A lot of that has to do with mood, but on some level I feel like there's no excuse.
Lot to think about. Trying to get back to that place where all of this talk makes a difference, too.
Huh. Suddenly my arm hurts, my neck is sore, and my lips are chapped. Can't imagine why.
Hope everyone had a nice holiday.
I don't have a list of resolutions for 2010. It's not really my style, I'm not really a "resolution guy," and more importantly, any sort of list I'd put together here would probably be more a list of things I want, rather than things I feel like I'd actively pursue. And honestly, I have no desire with the kind of year that's behind me to suddenly start making a lot of goals and objectives that I will be able to use next year to evaluate whether or not I succeeded or failed in 2010.
I like to think this space holds me accountable, and this is just one of those cases where I want to let myself slide.
To a better year.
I had an interesting conversation with my cousin Travis, who some may remember I've mentioned before. Travis has a plush job, a lucrative and creative hobby that might well become his new plush job, and the kind of pragmatism behind it all that I'm sure a lot of people in the family wish I had too. He's also incredibly talented as a producer [re: music], which I encourage everyone to go check out at his website, TCustomz.com.
Anyway, we were talking, as creative people tend to do, about being creative, and more specifically producing new work, and he asked me innocently but pointedly if I felt my work was still improving. I haven't been doing much work lately, but upon thinking about his question [and not even for very long], I felt pretty confidant in saying that yes, I had improved, and that I felt like when I was producing work, it was getting better.
Which is sort of odd for me, to pat myself on the back like that. All told, I think I've always had a relatively low opinion of my strengths -- not that I was necessarily bad at what I did, but that what I did well wasn't something to be particularly proud of. I've always thought of the strongest aspects of my writing as something of a parlor trick, especially since throughout college I had a great number of people say things like "the marvelous thing about Randall's writing is that he seems to do everything wrong -- but it works!" I'm glad for it, but it's also hard to not have statements like that hang a little like an albatross.
And even though lately I've been fond [well, not fond] of saying it feels like I'm just out of college again, I look back at that person I was on graduation day and feel like I've progressed from that, and that extends from my written work. How's a little more complicated.
I think I've learned that I can't force it, and expect my writing to still come out naturally. I'm not saying I've come to accept this as an absolute fact, but I do realize that it's a mountain I have to climb when starting things I'm not feeling my most passionate about, and that's been helpful to me. I will still torture myself over it, for not being able to just turn the imagination on like faucet like a lot of other writers and even some of my peers do. I'll work on it. But it wasn't a limitation I knew I had, and knowing it feels like an asset, and an improvement.
My comics have improved. I haven't done as many, of course, but looking at "Calamity Cash" and then looking at "Real Quality Comics," I think I've learned how to rope myself in a little bit, and understand that the artist is not just a tool to get what I want on the page. Justin has done great things with "Town with No Name," but it is a ridiculous and unwieldy beast of a script which I would have shortened and simplified greatly if I had a second chance. I wouldn't know how, of course, had I not undertaken it, and I think despite what I consider pretty messy scripting on my part, Justin is going to turn the final work into something amazing. So my scripting improves, but more importantly, I've realized that a project where I am a part of step 1 does not live and die with me. Despite the misfortunes of the past year, comics are something I want to keep doing, and I want to find another artist to do them with [not surprising that "Calamity Cash and the Town with No Name" has made Justin want to move on to other projects], and just looking between the Cash script and the RQC script, I feel I've progressed. I'm hoping that I can improve my output, of course, as I was never able crank out regular scripts of issues like I'd proposed I'd do, despite my copious notes.
I think if anything has helped me improve it's this blog. The most telling signs are the little things -- typos and brainos have gotten far less, and I've noticed when I sit down to do small projects, I'm finding less and less common mistakes. I feel more aware of the words I use, their meanings, and I've eased up on using antiquated terms as much, and when I do I try my best to make sure using them is a purposeful action, either reviving the word because of its actual usefulness, or because I really want to commit to "bringing it back," ridiculous though that may sound.
I've gotten better at self-policing, I guess is what I'm trying to say. I have habits, like non sequiturs and sentimentality, real Sterne-esque problems [I'm complimenting myself too much in this post], and I think I've gotten better about seeing these things. Sometimes they're okay, and sometimes they're things that I will use, but I fear too often I lean on them, or in the sake of digressions trust my judgment a bit too much, while getting lost on some side quest that I find more interesting than what I'm actually writing about. I also look at other kinds of repetition, my use of parentheticals, or my fondness for pregnant pauses, ellipses, and my ever-present "--," things I love using, and that just naturally happen while writing, that now I feel better about going back, taking out, or saying "I'm using this when I should be using this." And it's nice, to know I have these toys, or trademarks, but I don't have to use them.
I also feel really confidant about my dialogue. Dialogue fascinates me, and conversations will always be my favorite part of writing, but thanks to some kind words and some really talented people asking me for help this year, I feel good about where this skill is, and in a way feeling better about the skill is almost the same to me as feeling it has improved. And I also think, to some degree, it has improved, as in different mediums -- comics, prose, screenplays -- I've been treating it differently, using the medium to get the better result out of the conversation. This is an idea I was playing with before my dry spell, and I'm looking forward to exploring it further.
And I feel better about my prose. It hasn't progressed in any great strides, but the fact that I've felt like I can come back to it, that it feels like a medium I might be able to work in a again is a good thing, and I don't think I could have become comfortable in it if not for all the time spent writing here. I'm still tentative if I'll keep at it, but I think getting to a place where I'm thinking about it is an improvement. Always nice to open up new possibilities.
Lot of things I still suck at though, that aren't any different from that kid out of college. My endings are still awful -- as bad as my beginnings are good, I'll say, and I haven't the foggiest idea how to improve them. The closest I think I've gotten was with "Nova," which had a proper denouement, and it's ending actually came across like an ending. But I still loathe the falling action parts of movies and comics and novels, and had "Nova's" not come so naturally, I doubt it would have had any either. And that's a problem.
I remain pretty terrible at controlling the lengths of things. "Trendsetter" was supposed to be a short. "Meet Cute" was a short idea that I think can only work as a feature, which is probably why I haven't done anything with it yet. "The Familiar" remains a ten or twenty minutes short from a proper feature, and rewrite of it threatens to push it into epic, three hour territory. I've already talked about how "Town with No Name" got out of hand, and my inability to cut it short. And as much as I'll hold up things like "Real Quality Comics" as what I can do when I'm at my best, and most focused, I haven't duplicated that yet, so I may have just gotten very lucky. Oh? And "Trendsetter?" As a feature, it still remains stalled out just shy of a proper length. Following through [Re: Bourgeois Punks]. That's something too.
And I really need to get back to reading and watching more things, and different things. I've always believed you learn the best from other works, their mistakes and successes, and I've been slacking off brilliantly this past year. A lot of that has to do with mood, but on some level I feel like there's no excuse.
Lot to think about. Trying to get back to that place where all of this talk makes a difference, too.
Huh. Suddenly my arm hurts, my neck is sore, and my lips are chapped. Can't imagine why.
Hope everyone had a nice holiday.
Disconnected.
I know there weren't any posts for the last week, but I had plans to take a trip and that kept me from doing much writing, especially here. Barring drastic changes [again], it doesn't look like I'll be going anywhere for the time being, so I'm going to try and get back into the routine.
It was weird to miss a week, especially with how I've been feeling lately. Everything has seemed very present, like something is right on my heels, and I'm trying to out run whatever it is. It's hard to explain, but it feels like a deadline, or maybe more like a drum beat from an oncoming army. There's no way to guess what's coming, when it will arrive, or if it's even really on its way at all, and I will freely admit it could all be in my head, but I've felt this real urge to just sit and write -- get things out of my head and onto to paper, even if they're just truncated notes scribbled here and there.
What I feel like I need to do is actually finish some things. If it were any other year, it would be ridiculous to me that things like "Trendsetter" and "Familiar" are sitting unfinished; it isn't any other year, of course, but the point stands. Following up a little better would be nice too -- I finished the script for the RCQ script [Re: Real Quality Comics #1] ahead of schedule, and even found a few places where I might find interested artists, but I didn't keep with it, even though I have three or four outlines for new issues. It's all there, the oft-repeated mantra of this blog might as well be "I just need to do it" and these things are no different. Of course, that's also simplifying it a lot. There's something intangible between "this is what I need to write for this scene" or "this is what needs to happen on this page" to what actually goes on the page, and making that leap, at least for me, takes a lot of time.
I don't want this to seem like a "Randall gets his shit together" entry because that would involve me actually getting my shit together, and we're all better off if I don't have to do a "Randall's sorry he didn't fulfill his promise and get his shit together" post later. But the past couple of days have been prime ones for rethinking things, including some of the stuff I was working on before Dad died that I haven't really picked up since. I think there were ideas, even projects that were really present and important to me, that I sort of "gave up" when that happened, not unlike how I gave up video games for that period of time there.
I spent a lot of today reading over "Trendsetter" again, and thinking of some alternatives to putting so much of it in a Walmart. Having the character of Eddie be a flea market pitchman isn't the best idea I've ever had [and Jesus, I'd have to re-write more than half of TS to accommodate that], but it was fun to play with his dialogue, and get the character back in my head.
And it also reminded me how much I've wanted to write something about Evangelical youth ministers...
I'll see tomorrow if it goes anywhere. Cheers.
It was weird to miss a week, especially with how I've been feeling lately. Everything has seemed very present, like something is right on my heels, and I'm trying to out run whatever it is. It's hard to explain, but it feels like a deadline, or maybe more like a drum beat from an oncoming army. There's no way to guess what's coming, when it will arrive, or if it's even really on its way at all, and I will freely admit it could all be in my head, but I've felt this real urge to just sit and write -- get things out of my head and onto to paper, even if they're just truncated notes scribbled here and there.
What I feel like I need to do is actually finish some things. If it were any other year, it would be ridiculous to me that things like "Trendsetter" and "Familiar" are sitting unfinished; it isn't any other year, of course, but the point stands. Following up a little better would be nice too -- I finished the script for the RCQ script [Re: Real Quality Comics #1] ahead of schedule, and even found a few places where I might find interested artists, but I didn't keep with it, even though I have three or four outlines for new issues. It's all there, the oft-repeated mantra of this blog might as well be "I just need to do it" and these things are no different. Of course, that's also simplifying it a lot. There's something intangible between "this is what I need to write for this scene" or "this is what needs to happen on this page" to what actually goes on the page, and making that leap, at least for me, takes a lot of time.
I don't want this to seem like a "Randall gets his shit together" entry because that would involve me actually getting my shit together, and we're all better off if I don't have to do a "Randall's sorry he didn't fulfill his promise and get his shit together" post later. But the past couple of days have been prime ones for rethinking things, including some of the stuff I was working on before Dad died that I haven't really picked up since. I think there were ideas, even projects that were really present and important to me, that I sort of "gave up" when that happened, not unlike how I gave up video games for that period of time there.
I spent a lot of today reading over "Trendsetter" again, and thinking of some alternatives to putting so much of it in a Walmart. Having the character of Eddie be a flea market pitchman isn't the best idea I've ever had [and Jesus, I'd have to re-write more than half of TS to accommodate that], but it was fun to play with his dialogue, and get the character back in my head.
And it also reminded me how much I've wanted to write something about Evangelical youth ministers...
I'll see tomorrow if it goes anywhere. Cheers.
R.I.P. Cap'n Lou, New Beginning for the Familiar, that other thing I do in the shower...
I'd like to start by saying thank you to Heke and Zoe for their feedback regarding the new setup around here. I was hoping for a bit more of a response to such a jarring change, but I guess it's one of those things that felt like a bigger deal to me. Still, thanks girls. I really appreciate you weighing in.
More than a few people know I'm a wrestling fan -- I've posted about it here once or twice, and I feel like it's only fair to pause and mention the passing of Captain Lou Albano. Albano's career in wrestling was just slightly before my time [or at the very least, before the time I got interested], and even for the little crossover there might have been, I was a southern wrestling fan, high on Ric Flair and WCW and guys with shin covers that looked like cowboy boots. So a lot of my exposure to the Captain was through Saturday morning cartoons, where he portrayed the live action Super Mario, and on MTV, most famously in replays of a certain Cyndi Lauper music video.
Still, Captain Lou was a rad guy, and definitely a pop culture icon [and I love those] who deserves some high praise and fond remembrance. So that's why when my friend John told me this funny but still sort of touching story about meeting him, I told him he should post it over on his site, the Bathroom Monologues, and if he did I would [quoting] "link the shit out of it." As a man of my word, and because I do think this is a really sweet story, I encourage everyone to check out "The Time I Met Captain Lou Albano." And yes, John's Bathroom Monologues are usually fiction, but this one is quite true, and as good of a remembrance of the man as most I've heard lately.
As for writing, I've been doing some work on "The Familiar" this week, specifically trying to take all the stuff out that doesn't fit with the overall tone, and sort of make the things that do work better. In this case, all that really means is working out a new outline, and replacing some of the characters with some that are a bit more down to to earth. A lot of the decisions/questions/changes I've been grappling with are old ones -- stuff that's been on my mind since not long after I finished it the script the first time. Naturally, the solution came to me in the shower, while I was washing my hair, dreading but resigned to the fact that I was about to spend another night torturing myself over the same handful of problems when, like a flash, the answer hit me, and I got to feel very, very stupid for not seeing it before.
I can't go into it as much as I'd like [since I'm still working on it], but this is all a good reminder that no matter how daunting something seems, sometimes the simplest solution is really the best. Sometimes, that subplot you're trying to thread/force through your story is actually a much better place to start everything.
Still a lot left to do, of course. The whole script needs a re-write and a polish, and the new stuff that I need to write is a mixed bag. I feel like I have most of my new characters down, but since most of the scenes will be exposition scenes, where this or that is getting explained, I'm already worried about them coming off as dry, boring, or far-fetched. My hope is the better the job I do with it, the easier it'll be to fix the last, big problem with "Familiar" -- namely the ending, which either needs changed, or what I have needs to be made to work. I'm leaning more towards the latter, but given how things have been coming together lately, I've been trying to think outside of the box and consider some alternatives.
Not that this will mean anything to anyone who hasn't at least read a draft of "The Familiar" but I figured I passed it around enough anyone reading this probably has.
Oh, and did I mention my friend John wrote this really great thing about the time he met Captain Lou Albano? I'm really glad someone talked him into posting it.
Cheers.
More than a few people know I'm a wrestling fan -- I've posted about it here once or twice, and I feel like it's only fair to pause and mention the passing of Captain Lou Albano. Albano's career in wrestling was just slightly before my time [or at the very least, before the time I got interested], and even for the little crossover there might have been, I was a southern wrestling fan, high on Ric Flair and WCW and guys with shin covers that looked like cowboy boots. So a lot of my exposure to the Captain was through Saturday morning cartoons, where he portrayed the live action Super Mario, and on MTV, most famously in replays of a certain Cyndi Lauper music video.
Still, Captain Lou was a rad guy, and definitely a pop culture icon [and I love those] who deserves some high praise and fond remembrance. So that's why when my friend John told me this funny but still sort of touching story about meeting him, I told him he should post it over on his site, the Bathroom Monologues, and if he did I would [quoting] "link the shit out of it." As a man of my word, and because I do think this is a really sweet story, I encourage everyone to check out "The Time I Met Captain Lou Albano." And yes, John's Bathroom Monologues are usually fiction, but this one is quite true, and as good of a remembrance of the man as most I've heard lately.
As for writing, I've been doing some work on "The Familiar" this week, specifically trying to take all the stuff out that doesn't fit with the overall tone, and sort of make the things that do work better. In this case, all that really means is working out a new outline, and replacing some of the characters with some that are a bit more down to to earth. A lot of the decisions/questions/changes I've been grappling with are old ones -- stuff that's been on my mind since not long after I finished it the script the first time. Naturally, the solution came to me in the shower, while I was washing my hair, dreading but resigned to the fact that I was about to spend another night torturing myself over the same handful of problems when, like a flash, the answer hit me, and I got to feel very, very stupid for not seeing it before.
I can't go into it as much as I'd like [since I'm still working on it], but this is all a good reminder that no matter how daunting something seems, sometimes the simplest solution is really the best. Sometimes, that subplot you're trying to thread/force through your story is actually a much better place to start everything.
Still a lot left to do, of course. The whole script needs a re-write and a polish, and the new stuff that I need to write is a mixed bag. I feel like I have most of my new characters down, but since most of the scenes will be exposition scenes, where this or that is getting explained, I'm already worried about them coming off as dry, boring, or far-fetched. My hope is the better the job I do with it, the easier it'll be to fix the last, big problem with "Familiar" -- namely the ending, which either needs changed, or what I have needs to be made to work. I'm leaning more towards the latter, but given how things have been coming together lately, I've been trying to think outside of the box and consider some alternatives.
Not that this will mean anything to anyone who hasn't at least read a draft of "The Familiar" but I figured I passed it around enough anyone reading this probably has.
Oh, and did I mention my friend John wrote this really great thing about the time he met Captain Lou Albano? I'm really glad someone talked him into posting it.
Cheers.
Not sleepin', might as well be postin'.
The title pretty much sums it up.
I actually had a master plan for all this. Monday I have a day out with Mom scheduled, and since that Monday is the big anniversary for the Mojo Wire, I had this idea in my head I'd shoot for a good night's sleep tonight, and then pull an all-nighter Sunday, using that extra time to do a post about the past [first] year and be up at a normal person's hour the next morning so things could get done. Instead, I'm awake now, which will probably mean sleeping tomorrow night, which will probably me... I don't know. Something. I'll cross that bridge when I get there. It probably speaks volumes about me that when faced with one day of functioning before noon, I feel the need to just push on through the whole night.
I actually expected to write more here this week. The anniversary of my first year since graduation was sort of devastating for me, if only for how anticlimactic it seemed, and what at the time I saw as a lack of progress towards my goals was very difficult to deal with. I think when I started this blog, I had a similar mindset, one of "oh what a failure I will be if in one year's time nothing has changed," and I expected a lot of panic and hair-splitting as the day approached. But I think somewhere my outlook shifted a little. There have been a lot of reminders lately that "change" and "progress" are not necessarily synonymous, and though I it has crossed my mind, I don't expect Monday to usher in great feelings of failure or accomplishment. It's a milestone certainly, but not in the grand, defining moment sort of way, and more just in the line of demarcation. If there is any great success here, it's that I've managed to keep it up for a year.
I might still get sentimental once The Mojo Wire: Year 2 gets underway. So don't hold me to any of this, naturally.
This past week has been spent thinking and talking more than writing, honestly. I have a pretty solid outline for the next "Real Quality Comics" issue, but I'm worried about the length of the story and that's kept me from getting a proper start on it. Hopefully I'll be able to break through that invisible wall soon. I've also been taking "The Familiar" out on walks with me, reading it in some of the places I put in the screenplay. Whether that'll yield any different results, I'm not sure, but I feel closer to it, which is never a bad thing.
I spoke with Kyle over the phone about "Nova," and we seem to still be on track, though he's having some difficulties with his other job right now, and there's no reason on my end to push anything. The script is finished, I'm actually pretty pleased with what I have, and expect any final changes to happen either on set or in the editing room. It looks like the DP we want will be freeing up soon, so I expect "Nova" to move forward a little faster after that, but right now the important thing is that nothing has changed, and we're still on our intended schedule.
Justin and I talked for a little bit too, and it looks like the page count for "Calamity Cash and the Town with No Name" has worked out perfectly for printing. It'll be a monster 52 pages, the absolute most allowed for a staple binding [where we're looking to print], which after my script went so far over I consider almost serendipitous. Nice to have something work out of a change, to be sure.
Finally, I'd like to link the website of Peter Wonsowski. PW! is an artist I discovered through the Autumn Society, and I just really enjoy his artwork and encourage anyone reading to go and check out his website. He recently left a comment over on my post about Dana Stevens, and I thought that was really cool of him, especially since I so rarely know who is reading. Which isn't an indictment of anyone, I should point out. Blog comments are sometimes a daunting task.
Cheers. Look for a post Sunday night/Monday.
I actually had a master plan for all this. Monday I have a day out with Mom scheduled, and since that Monday is the big anniversary for the Mojo Wire, I had this idea in my head I'd shoot for a good night's sleep tonight, and then pull an all-nighter Sunday, using that extra time to do a post about the past [first] year and be up at a normal person's hour the next morning so things could get done. Instead, I'm awake now, which will probably mean sleeping tomorrow night, which will probably me... I don't know. Something. I'll cross that bridge when I get there. It probably speaks volumes about me that when faced with one day of functioning before noon, I feel the need to just push on through the whole night.
I actually expected to write more here this week. The anniversary of my first year since graduation was sort of devastating for me, if only for how anticlimactic it seemed, and what at the time I saw as a lack of progress towards my goals was very difficult to deal with. I think when I started this blog, I had a similar mindset, one of "oh what a failure I will be if in one year's time nothing has changed," and I expected a lot of panic and hair-splitting as the day approached. But I think somewhere my outlook shifted a little. There have been a lot of reminders lately that "change" and "progress" are not necessarily synonymous, and though I it has crossed my mind, I don't expect Monday to usher in great feelings of failure or accomplishment. It's a milestone certainly, but not in the grand, defining moment sort of way, and more just in the line of demarcation. If there is any great success here, it's that I've managed to keep it up for a year.
I might still get sentimental once The Mojo Wire: Year 2 gets underway. So don't hold me to any of this, naturally.
This past week has been spent thinking and talking more than writing, honestly. I have a pretty solid outline for the next "Real Quality Comics" issue, but I'm worried about the length of the story and that's kept me from getting a proper start on it. Hopefully I'll be able to break through that invisible wall soon. I've also been taking "The Familiar" out on walks with me, reading it in some of the places I put in the screenplay. Whether that'll yield any different results, I'm not sure, but I feel closer to it, which is never a bad thing.
I spoke with Kyle over the phone about "Nova," and we seem to still be on track, though he's having some difficulties with his other job right now, and there's no reason on my end to push anything. The script is finished, I'm actually pretty pleased with what I have, and expect any final changes to happen either on set or in the editing room. It looks like the DP we want will be freeing up soon, so I expect "Nova" to move forward a little faster after that, but right now the important thing is that nothing has changed, and we're still on our intended schedule.
Justin and I talked for a little bit too, and it looks like the page count for "Calamity Cash and the Town with No Name" has worked out perfectly for printing. It'll be a monster 52 pages, the absolute most allowed for a staple binding [where we're looking to print], which after my script went so far over I consider almost serendipitous. Nice to have something work out of a change, to be sure.
Finally, I'd like to link the website of Peter Wonsowski. PW! is an artist I discovered through the Autumn Society, and I just really enjoy his artwork and encourage anyone reading to go and check out his website. He recently left a comment over on my post about Dana Stevens, and I thought that was really cool of him, especially since I so rarely know who is reading. Which isn't an indictment of anyone, I should point out. Blog comments are sometimes a daunting task.
Cheers. Look for a post Sunday night/Monday.
Rough day, few updates, and 1 Year of Mojo...
Today hasn't been one of my better ones. I haven't been sleeping much since last week [shocker, there], and this morning was used mostly to repay a little of my ever-expanding sleep debt. Rolled out of bed about two, far later than I intended, feeling not altogether anxious to get up, but not really knowing why. I felt a little irritable -- every off-the-cuff Facebook status message or response felt like a slight, and I found myself running past conversations over again in my head, and feeling upset, as though someone had been slyly badmouthing me, and I'd only just noticed. They hadn't, and of course I recognized this, but it made me feel surly. I opted to stay in bed a bit longer, and took some time to catch up on some e-mails and reading,
When I finally ventured out, dinner conversation didn't improve things much; my grandmother's cousin is in town, which is actually really wonderful, and gives grandma something to do and a chance to take her mind off things. However, a sad but unfix-able aspect to any visiting relative now is a lot of talk about Dad, talk that I don't have as much control over. Which is not to paint myself as a control freak, per se, but it's still a delicate enough subject at times that I like to be able to say "I'm done with this," at least momentarily. Instead, there was another walk through of events on the day he died, which didn't help the anxiety attack that had apparently disguised itself as morning [early afternoon] crabbiness.
About an hour ago the feeling abated, but I still did my best to avoid people and not take any drastic action. I've been trying to work out the second issue of "Real Quality Comics," which I had an idea for about a day after finishing the previous one, but have as yet been unable to come up with an outline for. I was no more successful today, but considering my mood, I wasn't surprised, nor did I blame myself all that much for it. A little later, an episode of "Gangland" came on, a show I've been a little taken with since I watched "Bastards of the Party" on HBO a year or so back. Feeling inspired, and a little distracted, I worked out a rough treatment for an idea I've been kicking around awhile, called "Bad Guys."
"Bad Guys" is a movie idea I had while working at the book store last winter. At the time it wasn't much, sort of just an independent movie-type love story about a guy who runs guns from Nashville to New York, working with a real detestable piece of shit while in Nashville, while dating a woman who worked in legal aid and public defense. Working on it, I found my Tarantino sensibilities made the bits with the scumbags and their customers far more interesting to write than the love story, and when I realized that the whole of the script was going to just be long conversations between felons, and short bursts of self-loathing. Plus, it was looking like it was going to clock in at just under forty pages, which meant some actual plot might be necessary, which I didn't have at the time.
I deleted what I had done [which wasn't very good], but kept my written notes. I've been thinking about them and looking them over a lot lately, and with the help of "Gangland," I think I might have a nice ensemble cast crime screenplay on my hands. The ending I have in mind isn't bad either, though I'm going to have to watch "No Country For Old Men" again, and make sure I'm not stealing it.
Anyway, I finished the treatment just over an hour ago. Nowhere near ready to get started yet, but a nice thing to put back, in case my interest is sparked again. I don't know if having the task helped calm me down [most of my friends would say it did, I feel somehow doubtful of that, though], or if I was just finally all panicked out for the day, but I started feeling better about 3:30. Physically, I'm exhausted, but my mind is buzzing now. So much for tonight.
Saw Justin this Sunday [re: Calamity Cash and the Town with No Name]. He and his girlfriend have just moved into a nice apartment in town. Been about a month or so since we've hung out, and he showed me the new pages [excerpts here], which really look amazing. Work is going a bit slower, because he's doing some temping, and might be starting another new job soon, and with the move and everything else, he needs time to get settled. At this point, there's really no rush on the project, and it turned out so huge and so much has gone on this year since we undertook the project that I'm just so happy it's survived, and it's turning out so well.
Another newsworthy thing [as if anything on this blog ever qualifies as news] is that on the 28th, the Mojo Wire will have officially been around for a full year. I've had a lot of thoughts on how to commemorate this, I've even considered that it might be more my style to blow past the anniversary completely, but I haven't decided anything yet. Looking through old entries, it crossed my mind to finally do that mission statement, but I think Ian might have made it so anything I came up with would look like self-parody. So we'll see. There is a part of me that feels I'd be doing a disservice to this space if I didn't do something, especially after the year this has been.
There's also hope that some writing will get done.
Shalom.
When I finally ventured out, dinner conversation didn't improve things much; my grandmother's cousin is in town, which is actually really wonderful, and gives grandma something to do and a chance to take her mind off things. However, a sad but unfix-able aspect to any visiting relative now is a lot of talk about Dad, talk that I don't have as much control over. Which is not to paint myself as a control freak, per se, but it's still a delicate enough subject at times that I like to be able to say "I'm done with this," at least momentarily. Instead, there was another walk through of events on the day he died, which didn't help the anxiety attack that had apparently disguised itself as morning [early afternoon] crabbiness.
About an hour ago the feeling abated, but I still did my best to avoid people and not take any drastic action. I've been trying to work out the second issue of "Real Quality Comics," which I had an idea for about a day after finishing the previous one, but have as yet been unable to come up with an outline for. I was no more successful today, but considering my mood, I wasn't surprised, nor did I blame myself all that much for it. A little later, an episode of "Gangland" came on, a show I've been a little taken with since I watched "Bastards of the Party" on HBO a year or so back. Feeling inspired, and a little distracted, I worked out a rough treatment for an idea I've been kicking around awhile, called "Bad Guys."
"Bad Guys" is a movie idea I had while working at the book store last winter. At the time it wasn't much, sort of just an independent movie-type love story about a guy who runs guns from Nashville to New York, working with a real detestable piece of shit while in Nashville, while dating a woman who worked in legal aid and public defense. Working on it, I found my Tarantino sensibilities made the bits with the scumbags and their customers far more interesting to write than the love story, and when I realized that the whole of the script was going to just be long conversations between felons, and short bursts of self-loathing. Plus, it was looking like it was going to clock in at just under forty pages, which meant some actual plot might be necessary, which I didn't have at the time.
I deleted what I had done [which wasn't very good], but kept my written notes. I've been thinking about them and looking them over a lot lately, and with the help of "Gangland," I think I might have a nice ensemble cast crime screenplay on my hands. The ending I have in mind isn't bad either, though I'm going to have to watch "No Country For Old Men" again, and make sure I'm not stealing it.
Anyway, I finished the treatment just over an hour ago. Nowhere near ready to get started yet, but a nice thing to put back, in case my interest is sparked again. I don't know if having the task helped calm me down [most of my friends would say it did, I feel somehow doubtful of that, though], or if I was just finally all panicked out for the day, but I started feeling better about 3:30. Physically, I'm exhausted, but my mind is buzzing now. So much for tonight.
Saw Justin this Sunday [re: Calamity Cash and the Town with No Name]. He and his girlfriend have just moved into a nice apartment in town. Been about a month or so since we've hung out, and he showed me the new pages [excerpts here], which really look amazing. Work is going a bit slower, because he's doing some temping, and might be starting another new job soon, and with the move and everything else, he needs time to get settled. At this point, there's really no rush on the project, and it turned out so huge and so much has gone on this year since we undertook the project that I'm just so happy it's survived, and it's turning out so well.
Another newsworthy thing [as if anything on this blog ever qualifies as news] is that on the 28th, the Mojo Wire will have officially been around for a full year. I've had a lot of thoughts on how to commemorate this, I've even considered that it might be more my style to blow past the anniversary completely, but I haven't decided anything yet. Looking through old entries, it crossed my mind to finally do that mission statement, but I think Ian might have made it so anything I came up with would look like self-parody. So we'll see. There is a part of me that feels I'd be doing a disservice to this space if I didn't do something, especially after the year this has been.
There's also hope that some writing will get done.
Shalom.
Doing it wrong.
Recently gotten sidetracked with something, when I should probably be working on the new draft of "The Familiar."
Not long ago when I... uh, mysteriously found a copy of a certain screenplay program on my new computer's hard drive, I noticed it had a few default formats for comic book scripts. "Format" has always been kind of a crazy thing when it comes to comics -- there's really no golden rule, and I've seen comic book writers do everything from long, prose-y pieces that resemble film treatments, to screenplay-like breakdowns with panels and pages delineated in the margins. When I decided I wanted to write a comic book in high school, I had even less than that to work with, and ended up using the "Dark Horse Submission Guidelines" script in tandem with a few sample pages included in the back of one of Brian Michael Bendis's collections [it's hard realizing that Bendis was just coming to prominence when I was in high school - it seems somehow too current, for how much time has passed]. It wasn't much, but it led me to the CAPS Lock heavy scripts that most of my early work's in.
In the interest of full disclosure, none of this early work/scripting was ever actually used by an artist. The closest any of it came, actually, was when a few pages were pulled for Sam in some of the early conceptual sketches on the SULK characters, most of whom were never really used in a finished book.
A lot happened in college that made me refine my format. Actually working with an artist was probably the biggest thing, as scripts suddenly became something that others had to work from as well, not just me, and making them as legible and understandable as possible became something I actively thought about while writing. I remember reading an interview with James Robinson and Tony Harris ["Starman," folks], where Robinson also talked about not being so... anal about scripting, and attempting to stick to a four-to-five panel a page scripting template, so that Harris himself had the freedom to either open things up or merge them, as he saw fit. It makes sense -- aesthetically, the writer's the #2 guy, and unless you just have an artist who needs a lot of direction, or a very specific idea for a layout idea, leaving panels and layouts to the artist isn't such a terrible thing.
I also got lucky enough to present some of my scripts in class -- and remember spending a lot of time trying to turn my first two scripts for "White Trash Nation" into something that even someone who didn't know the format, or who wasn't adept at visualization while reading, could still follow the story I was trying to tell. After, it just made sense to me that if this version was easier to read for the average person, then I should probably just write them like that all the time.
I got my hands on a lot of better examples too. Brian Wood often posts scripts of his comics online after they've been out for a bit [I still go back to his "DMZ" #1 script], and as the past few years seems to be the "Auteur" period of comics, there were a lot more collections like those Bendis books with scripts in the back. Even single issues started providing excerpts, which actually gave me examples to pick and choose from "no, not this, oh, that's brilliant, and this -- this saves me so much work now." There are certainly a lot of arguments against this "name"-driven period comics are currently in, but I have to be at least a little thankful for it, for all the resources it provided me.
Even found a lot more comics like the ones I wanted to write, too -- which was nice, to look and see what a non-action based comics look like, and be able to make comparisons to other more dialogue-driven narratives worked on a page. A lot of time was spent pouring over Jim Mahfood's second "Grrl Scouts" collection, as well as Terry Moore's "Strangers in Paradise," and it all shaped what I felt like I could and couldn't do in the medium.
And now, I toss all that out the door, because I've found a computer program that does most of the legwork for me. Well, actually I've not thrown anything out the door - but I will say that the screenwriting software made putting a script together so much easier, I'm willing to give it a test drive as far as comics are concerned.
Besides, I've had an idea.
Past couple of days I've been working on the generically named "Real Quality Comics" #1, a short, mostly introductory issue to a small Bennington/Burlington-type Vermont town, and the art school graduates/washouts who have all come to live there post-graduation. When I got started, I was just hoping for something simple, which I could plug into the program and try and get feel for whether or not it would become my preferred way of scripting from here on out.
I haven't decided that yet, but I will say -- having a computer program force me into such a rigid template has made me disregard a lot of other rules I tend to put on my writing. In a lot of ways what I'm ending up with right now is a very back-to-basics style, with me falling back more on the conversational style, and the telling-over-showing gimmick I used in some of those first comics I wrote. And not just in a mild way, I mean really taking that to the extreme, and trying to see if I can make having the least amount of action still seem interesting, by benefit of the reader just caring about the characters, and their interactions.
In some ways, I am worried it's a step back, even if, for right now, it is just one project -- and not even a project really, more back in the vein of "practice." But even as a step back, it's fun to drag some of the old toys out -- the foreboding, not entirely-explained faux pas, the awkward half-conversations, the long, rambling explanations of otherwise unfavorable or uninteresting opinions.
Sounds thrilling, doesn't it?
Anyway, that's what I've been doing the past two or three nights. I'm about half way done [I woke up this morning a little closer than that, but ditched six pages that just weren't clicking like I want them to]. My goal is to finish and post the script here by this weekend, or at least this time next week, and if I can, try and do a couple of 24 page comic scripts every few months. I'm very curious about what kind of quality I can churn out when working on an industry schedule [even if the stuff I'd like to write is not what you'd usually see produced at that rate], and if not having to self-format makes it easier, and allows me to work faster in the medium.
Plus, I figure if I write a little more about working on comics, an interested artist might pop by the blog via Google search, and maybe be interested in a collaboration. That of course is a long shot of long shots, but I figure until I come up with a better way to meet people interested in illustrating comics, this is a good first step.
We'll see.
So, just a brief intermission. I expect to get back to work on "Familiar" in about a week.
Not long ago when I... uh, mysteriously found a copy of a certain screenplay program on my new computer's hard drive, I noticed it had a few default formats for comic book scripts. "Format" has always been kind of a crazy thing when it comes to comics -- there's really no golden rule, and I've seen comic book writers do everything from long, prose-y pieces that resemble film treatments, to screenplay-like breakdowns with panels and pages delineated in the margins. When I decided I wanted to write a comic book in high school, I had even less than that to work with, and ended up using the "Dark Horse Submission Guidelines" script in tandem with a few sample pages included in the back of one of Brian Michael Bendis's collections [it's hard realizing that Bendis was just coming to prominence when I was in high school - it seems somehow too current, for how much time has passed]. It wasn't much, but it led me to the CAPS Lock heavy scripts that most of my early work's in.
In the interest of full disclosure, none of this early work/scripting was ever actually used by an artist. The closest any of it came, actually, was when a few pages were pulled for Sam in some of the early conceptual sketches on the SULK characters, most of whom were never really used in a finished book.
A lot happened in college that made me refine my format. Actually working with an artist was probably the biggest thing, as scripts suddenly became something that others had to work from as well, not just me, and making them as legible and understandable as possible became something I actively thought about while writing. I remember reading an interview with James Robinson and Tony Harris ["Starman," folks], where Robinson also talked about not being so... anal about scripting, and attempting to stick to a four-to-five panel a page scripting template, so that Harris himself had the freedom to either open things up or merge them, as he saw fit. It makes sense -- aesthetically, the writer's the #2 guy, and unless you just have an artist who needs a lot of direction, or a very specific idea for a layout idea, leaving panels and layouts to the artist isn't such a terrible thing.
I also got lucky enough to present some of my scripts in class -- and remember spending a lot of time trying to turn my first two scripts for "White Trash Nation" into something that even someone who didn't know the format, or who wasn't adept at visualization while reading, could still follow the story I was trying to tell. After, it just made sense to me that if this version was easier to read for the average person, then I should probably just write them like that all the time.
I got my hands on a lot of better examples too. Brian Wood often posts scripts of his comics online after they've been out for a bit [I still go back to his "DMZ" #1 script], and as the past few years seems to be the "Auteur" period of comics, there were a lot more collections like those Bendis books with scripts in the back. Even single issues started providing excerpts, which actually gave me examples to pick and choose from "no, not this, oh, that's brilliant, and this -- this saves me so much work now." There are certainly a lot of arguments against this "name"-driven period comics are currently in, but I have to be at least a little thankful for it, for all the resources it provided me.
Even found a lot more comics like the ones I wanted to write, too -- which was nice, to look and see what a non-action based comics look like, and be able to make comparisons to other more dialogue-driven narratives worked on a page. A lot of time was spent pouring over Jim Mahfood's second "Grrl Scouts" collection, as well as Terry Moore's "Strangers in Paradise," and it all shaped what I felt like I could and couldn't do in the medium.
And now, I toss all that out the door, because I've found a computer program that does most of the legwork for me. Well, actually I've not thrown anything out the door - but I will say that the screenwriting software made putting a script together so much easier, I'm willing to give it a test drive as far as comics are concerned.
Besides, I've had an idea.
Past couple of days I've been working on the generically named "Real Quality Comics" #1, a short, mostly introductory issue to a small Bennington/Burlington-type Vermont town, and the art school graduates/washouts who have all come to live there post-graduation. When I got started, I was just hoping for something simple, which I could plug into the program and try and get feel for whether or not it would become my preferred way of scripting from here on out.
I haven't decided that yet, but I will say -- having a computer program force me into such a rigid template has made me disregard a lot of other rules I tend to put on my writing. In a lot of ways what I'm ending up with right now is a very back-to-basics style, with me falling back more on the conversational style, and the telling-over-showing gimmick I used in some of those first comics I wrote. And not just in a mild way, I mean really taking that to the extreme, and trying to see if I can make having the least amount of action still seem interesting, by benefit of the reader just caring about the characters, and their interactions.
In some ways, I am worried it's a step back, even if, for right now, it is just one project -- and not even a project really, more back in the vein of "practice." But even as a step back, it's fun to drag some of the old toys out -- the foreboding, not entirely-explained faux pas, the awkward half-conversations, the long, rambling explanations of otherwise unfavorable or uninteresting opinions.
Sounds thrilling, doesn't it?
Anyway, that's what I've been doing the past two or three nights. I'm about half way done [I woke up this morning a little closer than that, but ditched six pages that just weren't clicking like I want them to]. My goal is to finish and post the script here by this weekend, or at least this time next week, and if I can, try and do a couple of 24 page comic scripts every few months. I'm very curious about what kind of quality I can churn out when working on an industry schedule [even if the stuff I'd like to write is not what you'd usually see produced at that rate], and if not having to self-format makes it easier, and allows me to work faster in the medium.
Plus, I figure if I write a little more about working on comics, an interested artist might pop by the blog via Google search, and maybe be interested in a collaboration. That of course is a long shot of long shots, but I figure until I come up with a better way to meet people interested in illustrating comics, this is a good first step.
We'll see.
So, just a brief intermission. I expect to get back to work on "Familiar" in about a week.
Twitter joins us, and not much else...
As you can see on the right, visitors to the blog can now view my last three Twitter updates. There's also an option to see my page and follow me there, which I honestly expect to lead to more spam than good. But we'll see, and at least now if I get stranded sans internet, and do something worth talking about, it can be viewed/accessed from here. I ended up going with just a standard JAVA/html code sort of thing with it, as all the Twitter widgets I found seemed a little obnoxious for this relatively minimal blog.
I moved a couple of things around as well. You'll notice "Trendsetter Links" is gone, replaced with a far more generic "Links" header that includes not just the previous sites but a direct link to my Facebook page [An addition that I hope will make it a bit easier for anyone looking for me to actually find me. If anyone is looking for me, that is]. And while it may look like the move is symbolic of me pushing "Trendsetter" aside, well... it is. We're doing "Nova" right now, and there's just not a wealth of new information as it concerns TS. When "Trendsetter" eventually reclaims our focus as project number one, I expect it'll also reclaim it's place at the top of the blog. Until then, all links are still there and working, and available at any time, they're just further down this page.
I have, naturally, been kicking around the idea of starting a "Nova" blog, but Kyle hasn't really mentioned it, and for my purposes I can't see the sense in running one on my own, and just regurgitating the information I post here. Still, that doesn't mean there won't be one as we get closer to shooting time, and naturally I'll keep everyone informed, and probably pimp it out mightily if and when it eventually appears.
And if anyone has any feedback, thinks something might need moved around, might look better here or there, just let me know. I'm always open to suggestions.
This has been a bad week for the blog, not because I couldn't post, but because I really didn't have anything that felt like a real update. I have been working on the final draft of "Nova" since a little before my previous post on Monday, and not making a lot of headway despite putting in quite a lot of time on it. I'm not even entirely sure why I'm not making much progress, but if I had to guess it's because I'm a little terrified of making too many sweeping changes. I like where it is. I just want to make it a little more natural, because there were a couple rough edges at the read.
The read. I said I was going to talk about that more. Well. Not today. But likely very soon, maybe when I've got a last draft I'm pleased with, and I can talk about why I did what I did.
I also worry the reason for my slacking this week was because of the "week off." Which is ridiculous, Kyle and I worked our asses off on "Nova" last week, but since I wasn't able to post, I'm a little worried I've fallen out of the habit. Expect some bullshitty entries in the next week or so, as I force myself back into the routine.
I wish I had some more to say about "Nova." Kyle's been incommunicado this week, despite the notes I've sent along, though I'll admit there's really been nothing pressing with me that's needed his attention. Right now, the worst that seems to come up is scheduling conflicts, and I've yet to get to that place where having too much to do is a problem [as long as said "too much" stays in this creative vein]. Which is my way of saying I've also been discussing some future projects with people as well, and though I can't really talk about it, between "Nova" and a few other things, 2010 could be a very big year for me.
I can talk about working on "The Familiar" a little. My strange vampire script is long overdue for a re-write, and thanks to my current place of residence I've been able to walk around a lot of the settings I put in the movie, and really get into the right head space for the work. The actual writing and re-writing I've done on it has been pretty minimal, but my mind really gets to racing when I'm actually standing in spot where a big scene takes place -- and the re-writes that seemed so daunting a year ago suddenly aren't that dreadful anymore. The only regrettable part is my big finish is set in a cemetery that doesn't actually exist, which does me no favors since my god does that ending really need work.
I'm sure I'll talk about it more, as I'm actually writing it. Tonight, it's more "Nova" work, with hopes for a breakthrough so I don't get discouraged about my lack of progress [too late]. Generally, I like this sort of fine-tuning, but there's just something that's not quite working out loud as it works on the page, and that's driving me crazy. Especially since I don't have people to just read it to me over and over.
Not that anyone would ever say I was getting tired of the sound of my own voice, either.
More soon. Cheers.
I moved a couple of things around as well. You'll notice "Trendsetter Links" is gone, replaced with a far more generic "Links" header that includes not just the previous sites but a direct link to my Facebook page [An addition that I hope will make it a bit easier for anyone looking for me to actually find me. If anyone is looking for me, that is]. And while it may look like the move is symbolic of me pushing "Trendsetter" aside, well... it is. We're doing "Nova" right now, and there's just not a wealth of new information as it concerns TS. When "Trendsetter" eventually reclaims our focus as project number one, I expect it'll also reclaim it's place at the top of the blog. Until then, all links are still there and working, and available at any time, they're just further down this page.
I have, naturally, been kicking around the idea of starting a "Nova" blog, but Kyle hasn't really mentioned it, and for my purposes I can't see the sense in running one on my own, and just regurgitating the information I post here. Still, that doesn't mean there won't be one as we get closer to shooting time, and naturally I'll keep everyone informed, and probably pimp it out mightily if and when it eventually appears.
And if anyone has any feedback, thinks something might need moved around, might look better here or there, just let me know. I'm always open to suggestions.
This has been a bad week for the blog, not because I couldn't post, but because I really didn't have anything that felt like a real update. I have been working on the final draft of "Nova" since a little before my previous post on Monday, and not making a lot of headway despite putting in quite a lot of time on it. I'm not even entirely sure why I'm not making much progress, but if I had to guess it's because I'm a little terrified of making too many sweeping changes. I like where it is. I just want to make it a little more natural, because there were a couple rough edges at the read.
The read. I said I was going to talk about that more. Well. Not today. But likely very soon, maybe when I've got a last draft I'm pleased with, and I can talk about why I did what I did.
I also worry the reason for my slacking this week was because of the "week off." Which is ridiculous, Kyle and I worked our asses off on "Nova" last week, but since I wasn't able to post, I'm a little worried I've fallen out of the habit. Expect some bullshitty entries in the next week or so, as I force myself back into the routine.
I wish I had some more to say about "Nova." Kyle's been incommunicado this week, despite the notes I've sent along, though I'll admit there's really been nothing pressing with me that's needed his attention. Right now, the worst that seems to come up is scheduling conflicts, and I've yet to get to that place where having too much to do is a problem [as long as said "too much" stays in this creative vein]. Which is my way of saying I've also been discussing some future projects with people as well, and though I can't really talk about it, between "Nova" and a few other things, 2010 could be a very big year for me.
I can talk about working on "The Familiar" a little. My strange vampire script is long overdue for a re-write, and thanks to my current place of residence I've been able to walk around a lot of the settings I put in the movie, and really get into the right head space for the work. The actual writing and re-writing I've done on it has been pretty minimal, but my mind really gets to racing when I'm actually standing in spot where a big scene takes place -- and the re-writes that seemed so daunting a year ago suddenly aren't that dreadful anymore. The only regrettable part is my big finish is set in a cemetery that doesn't actually exist, which does me no favors since my god does that ending really need work.
I'm sure I'll talk about it more, as I'm actually writing it. Tonight, it's more "Nova" work, with hopes for a breakthrough so I don't get discouraged about my lack of progress [too late]. Generally, I like this sort of fine-tuning, but there's just something that's not quite working out loud as it works on the page, and that's driving me crazy. Especially since I don't have people to just read it to me over and over.
Not that anyone would ever say I was getting tired of the sound of my own voice, either.
More soon. Cheers.
Looking for a Costume Designer.
Another sleepless night, made only manageable by the few hours I was able to get the evening before.
There was actually a very small window where I know I could have slept peacefully for the rest of the night, but as I was setting the power settings on my computer screen to go off [leaving the machine on to run some downloads], I noticed that for some reason my battery was holding at 64%. Watched it for a minute with no change, then ran a few tests myself, and knew I had to make the call.
Still, sleep's been intermittent at best lately, so I knew if I actually dosed off I could wind up out for 16+ or something equally crazy, and then lose a day in getting whatever the problem was fixed. So I dialed Dell's tech support [24 hours a day], catching Dell Support Canada [India], and then getting transferred to Dell Support Continental United States [India]. Long story short, it could be as simple as my A/C being out, but just in case, Dell's sending me a new motherboard.
Kind of funny when you think about what happened to my last computer. Glad for my current warranty.
Lot of work's gotten done over the past couple of days [re: Nova]. I did up character sheets and One Liner/Synopsis/Story Summary for Nova, while Kyle finished off the storyboards and started mapping out the scenes/shots. Magic number 109.
I also finished up a new draft of the script, with a few minor tweaks throughout, and a considerably re-arranged ending, as discussed in the previous post. I actually find myself with some mixed feelings on these changes, but have decided to sit on them a bit, maybe have a few people take a look before I decide what's next. I expect there will be at least one more draft, if not a couple more. I have a rule of no more than nine, because for one this isn't "Ulysses," and for two, there's a lot of lessons a young screenwriter can take away from "Last Action Hero."
But I've already cheated, as the draft I was toying with last night got labeled "5.1."
Early snag, Kyle and I are looking for a Costume Designer for the film. Specifically, someone with experience and/or an education in the field, who is willing to work free and on a relatively small budget [edit: Also, local, or willing to cover your own travel expenses]. Most of the costuming would be pretty standard, but we'd like something kind of hip for the angel [while still fitting, functional, and relevant], though there would probably be a little room for some flourishes here or there. Inexpensive flourishes, but flourishes nonetheless.
If you're reading this, and think someone might be interested in the job, message me on Facebook, Twitter, or e-mail me at mojo.wire.productions@gmail.com. I actually have a few leads on people to call, but nothing concrete, and nothing I'm 100% sure is going to work out. So I encourage anyone even remotely interested in working with us to contact me.
I finished "Welcome to the N.H.K." this morning. Brilliant, beautiful show. Can't thank those fans who went to the trouble of subbing it enough.
My plan after finishing the "Nova" screenplay is to take another crack at "The Familiar." Might go into more detail as to way later on, but there's been some movement there.
Ending this post with my current tag line idea for Nova. Let me know what you think.
[it's time to let go.]
There was actually a very small window where I know I could have slept peacefully for the rest of the night, but as I was setting the power settings on my computer screen to go off [leaving the machine on to run some downloads], I noticed that for some reason my battery was holding at 64%. Watched it for a minute with no change, then ran a few tests myself, and knew I had to make the call.
Still, sleep's been intermittent at best lately, so I knew if I actually dosed off I could wind up out for 16+ or something equally crazy, and then lose a day in getting whatever the problem was fixed. So I dialed Dell's tech support [24 hours a day], catching Dell Support Canada [India], and then getting transferred to Dell Support Continental United States [India]. Long story short, it could be as simple as my A/C being out, but just in case, Dell's sending me a new motherboard.
Kind of funny when you think about what happened to my last computer. Glad for my current warranty.
Lot of work's gotten done over the past couple of days [re: Nova]. I did up character sheets and One Liner/Synopsis/Story Summary for Nova, while Kyle finished off the storyboards and started mapping out the scenes/shots. Magic number 109.
I also finished up a new draft of the script, with a few minor tweaks throughout, and a considerably re-arranged ending, as discussed in the previous post. I actually find myself with some mixed feelings on these changes, but have decided to sit on them a bit, maybe have a few people take a look before I decide what's next. I expect there will be at least one more draft, if not a couple more. I have a rule of no more than nine, because for one this isn't "Ulysses," and for two, there's a lot of lessons a young screenwriter can take away from "Last Action Hero."
But I've already cheated, as the draft I was toying with last night got labeled "5.1."
Early snag, Kyle and I are looking for a Costume Designer for the film. Specifically, someone with experience and/or an education in the field, who is willing to work free and on a relatively small budget [edit: Also, local, or willing to cover your own travel expenses]. Most of the costuming would be pretty standard, but we'd like something kind of hip for the angel [while still fitting, functional, and relevant], though there would probably be a little room for some flourishes here or there. Inexpensive flourishes, but flourishes nonetheless.
If you're reading this, and think someone might be interested in the job, message me on Facebook, Twitter, or e-mail me at mojo.wire.productions@gmail.com. I actually have a few leads on people to call, but nothing concrete, and nothing I'm 100% sure is going to work out. So I encourage anyone even remotely interested in working with us to contact me.
I finished "Welcome to the N.H.K." this morning. Brilliant, beautiful show. Can't thank those fans who went to the trouble of subbing it enough.
My plan after finishing the "Nova" screenplay is to take another crack at "The Familiar." Might go into more detail as to way later on, but there's been some movement there.
Ending this post with my current tag line idea for Nova. Let me know what you think.
[it's time to let go.]
Various updates: Calamity Cash, Familiar, and Twitter
Few things to cover, mostly business-related.
Quite a lot of work was done on "Calamity Cash" during my week or so of radio silence here on the Mojo Wire. Justin has posted samples here, here, and here on his blog, going from most recent to least. Some may have been posted here before, and as always, I encourage you to click on M.R.C.R.W.
Justin's been trying something different with the way he's working on pages, doing five or so at a time, and then getting to the computer work, which has seemed to up his output considerably. I remain impressed with how well the pages are coming out, and am excited that we've crossed the half-way point and are getting deep into the action of the story. Just recently sent me the finished pages, and I can't say enough about how amazing they look, and how he's made at least one of my dreams come true, by putting an exclamatory "COCKBLOCK!!" in a situation I'm almost 100% certain it has never been before.
Proof positive that if something is awesome, it's more awesome on a motorcycle.
Lately, I've also talked a lot about working with a photographer -- the purpose being to take some pictures of Elk River for a movie I'd written [Re: The Familiar]. Regrettably, it looks as though those plans aren't going to be working out anymore. While the photographer I tapped seemed very committed to the project, she now feels she's unable to fit me into her busy schedule, and I'm left a little out in the cold. I had a lot of hope for the collaboration, and felt like I put myself out there a little bit for a fellow artist. While the timing is no longer as pressing as it was, it is difficult for me to have put so much time into preparing for something, and then have it fall apart like this. Such is life, I suppose, and best to look at this as a learning experience, pick up, and move on.
No hard feelings to any of the parties involved. Some things just don't work out as they should. If anyone is a camera jockey, or knows one who might be interested in pro bono work with the possibility of a payday in the distant future, leave a comment in this entry, or e-mail me at mojo.wire.productions@gmail.com.
Finally, in a smaller note, I'm giving Twitter a try. My user name is, surprise, "themojowire." I feel slightly like I'm selling out for having it, and I blame John completely for starting me on it. Near as I can tell, the program is just a sewage drain into a shallow trench of trivialities where anyone can troll the internet, real life, or people talking about the internet and real life in 140 character bursts. Unless, of course, you live in Iran [you don't].
So why have it at all? There are a lot of things I originally intended to do in this blog [talk about what I'm reading, watching, or the music I'm listening to] which I quickly shuttled in favor of trying to keep the focus on writing and my creative process. And being honest with myself, there's really nothing terribly interesting or professional about me talking about how I'm digging the Detroit Cobras, or how Matt&Kim's album "Grand" makes me smile. The same is true about links to articles I'm reading, thoughts about pro wrestling, or even political musings -- all stuff I toyed with in this blog earlier on that never really took. I'm hoping this can be a place for that.
I also think that as time goes on, and I get busier with some of this film stuff, it might be rad to be able to send updates in real time from my phone to whatever set or anything I'm working on. Honestly, I might be too busy, but if I'm not? That'd be pretty useful gadget to have, and if I suddenly get serious with it, expect it to be integrated into this site in some way.
For now, I just use it as a place to be faux clever, crass, and mopey. Wouldn't recommend it if you're looking for information, or to be entertained. Still, I'm told it gets fun when you start following people, so this is me, giving it the old college try.
Shalom.
P.S. I would also like to send a message to my friend Kaley, and her family. I know since Steven's death they occasionally check this space, and I want to send them my condolences for their recent loss. Each one seems to make all the others sting that much more.
Quite a lot of work was done on "Calamity Cash" during my week or so of radio silence here on the Mojo Wire. Justin has posted samples here, here, and here on his blog, going from most recent to least. Some may have been posted here before, and as always, I encourage you to click on M.R.C.R.W.
Justin's been trying something different with the way he's working on pages, doing five or so at a time, and then getting to the computer work, which has seemed to up his output considerably. I remain impressed with how well the pages are coming out, and am excited that we've crossed the half-way point and are getting deep into the action of the story. Just recently sent me the finished pages, and I can't say enough about how amazing they look, and how he's made at least one of my dreams come true, by putting an exclamatory "COCKBLOCK!!" in a situation I'm almost 100% certain it has never been before.
Proof positive that if something is awesome, it's more awesome on a motorcycle.
Lately, I've also talked a lot about working with a photographer -- the purpose being to take some pictures of Elk River for a movie I'd written [Re: The Familiar]. Regrettably, it looks as though those plans aren't going to be working out anymore. While the photographer I tapped seemed very committed to the project, she now feels she's unable to fit me into her busy schedule, and I'm left a little out in the cold. I had a lot of hope for the collaboration, and felt like I put myself out there a little bit for a fellow artist. While the timing is no longer as pressing as it was, it is difficult for me to have put so much time into preparing for something, and then have it fall apart like this. Such is life, I suppose, and best to look at this as a learning experience, pick up, and move on.
No hard feelings to any of the parties involved. Some things just don't work out as they should. If anyone is a camera jockey, or knows one who might be interested in pro bono work with the possibility of a payday in the distant future, leave a comment in this entry, or e-mail me at mojo.wire.productions@gmail.com.
Finally, in a smaller note, I'm giving Twitter a try. My user name is, surprise, "themojowire." I feel slightly like I'm selling out for having it, and I blame John completely for starting me on it. Near as I can tell, the program is just a sewage drain into a shallow trench of trivialities where anyone can troll the internet, real life, or people talking about the internet and real life in 140 character bursts. Unless, of course, you live in Iran [you don't].
So why have it at all? There are a lot of things I originally intended to do in this blog [talk about what I'm reading, watching, or the music I'm listening to] which I quickly shuttled in favor of trying to keep the focus on writing and my creative process. And being honest with myself, there's really nothing terribly interesting or professional about me talking about how I'm digging the Detroit Cobras, or how Matt&Kim's album "Grand" makes me smile. The same is true about links to articles I'm reading, thoughts about pro wrestling, or even political musings -- all stuff I toyed with in this blog earlier on that never really took. I'm hoping this can be a place for that.
I also think that as time goes on, and I get busier with some of this film stuff, it might be rad to be able to send updates in real time from my phone to whatever set or anything I'm working on. Honestly, I might be too busy, but if I'm not? That'd be pretty useful gadget to have, and if I suddenly get serious with it, expect it to be integrated into this site in some way.
For now, I just use it as a place to be faux clever, crass, and mopey. Wouldn't recommend it if you're looking for information, or to be entertained. Still, I'm told it gets fun when you start following people, so this is me, giving it the old college try.
Shalom.
P.S. I would also like to send a message to my friend Kaley, and her family. I know since Steven's death they occasionally check this space, and I want to send them my condolences for their recent loss. Each one seems to make all the others sting that much more.
Reunion.
Tomorrow's the family reunion on my dad's side -- a refresher course of condolences from people I don't really know, and possibly a lot of tears from the few I do. I don't think I'd dread it so much if it weren't for the fact that it feels too soon after, but then again, had it been six month or a year since, I'd probably be complaining about re-opening old wounds. There will also be people there that I am only tangentially related to, through marriage or the like, who'll have no idea and won't bring it up, or ask about it. And that thought amuses me tonight, for some reason.
I'll also have "Song Summoner" on the iPod, and the food will probably be okay. Small favors.
Today was busy, for the wrong reasons. My photographer called off again [Re: The Familiar], which... was actually something of a blessing, because my grandmother was freaking out about getting ready for the reunion today. So I did a lot of that. Justin and Staci also had to stop by for newspapers [she's having complications moving, it sounds like], and then Aaron [Re: kid brother] and I went out to the mall to... well, not really do anything, but get coffee, watch youtube videos on his phone, and argue if whether or not the professional candy stripers were indeed putting together a giant palm tree made out of balloons in the center court.
I also saw a girl with a mohawk and checkered knee pads. I'd have said hello, but she had a boyfriend with her, and would have probably headbutted me for my trouble.
The photographer cancelling on me is... troubling. I still think they're dependable, but with the exception of going out with Justin and Staci, I had a pretty tight schedule this week and the cancellation threw me. Plans changing are one of those things I should handle learn to handle better, and keeps popping up in my self-improvement initiatives. Which, don't actually exist, but if they did, it would.
Probably write tomorrow.
P.S. Slipped my mind to mention this, but while out earlier in the week with Justin, he showed me the most recent finished pages for "Calamity Cash and the Town with No Name." Very pleased with how it's coming along, and with the movement that Justin has managed to convey from panel to panel, particularly in the action scenes. He's about half way, and it's looking great. Finished product is going to be outstanding.
I'll also have "Song Summoner" on the iPod, and the food will probably be okay. Small favors.
Today was busy, for the wrong reasons. My photographer called off again [Re: The Familiar], which... was actually something of a blessing, because my grandmother was freaking out about getting ready for the reunion today. So I did a lot of that. Justin and Staci also had to stop by for newspapers [she's having complications moving, it sounds like], and then Aaron [Re: kid brother] and I went out to the mall to... well, not really do anything, but get coffee, watch youtube videos on his phone, and argue if whether or not the professional candy stripers were indeed putting together a giant palm tree made out of balloons in the center court.
I also saw a girl with a mohawk and checkered knee pads. I'd have said hello, but she had a boyfriend with her, and would have probably headbutted me for my trouble.
The photographer cancelling on me is... troubling. I still think they're dependable, but with the exception of going out with Justin and Staci, I had a pretty tight schedule this week and the cancellation threw me. Plans changing are one of those things I should handle learn to handle better, and keeps popping up in my self-improvement initiatives. Which, don't actually exist, but if they did, it would.
Probably write tomorrow.
P.S. Slipped my mind to mention this, but while out earlier in the week with Justin, he showed me the most recent finished pages for "Calamity Cash and the Town with No Name." Very pleased with how it's coming along, and with the movement that Justin has managed to convey from panel to panel, particularly in the action scenes. He's about half way, and it's looking great. Finished product is going to be outstanding.
Insomniac's Solidarity
Short update.
Met with my photographer today [Re: The Familiar]. Very productive meeting, though she was feeling under the weather and we decided to push back this Friday's sessions to next week. Absolutely no harm in it -- important to take care of your people in these situations, and it also has given some time to look at the script. Might present some new possibilities.
Hopefully, if this works out, I'll have a personal photographer for my work on the project in November. Too early to say, but I have a good feeling.
Spent tonight going over "Nova" with John. He was immensely helpful [can't even put it into words], and I've done another draft. Not enough significant changes to post Draft 4 here -- but I'm really pleased with how it's turning out. Proud, and enjoying myself. Obsessing a little. Want something nice, wrapped up, and finished. Hard to explain why that's so important right now. Just this driving need I have.
Few more cuts to make. Hope other people who've read are up to giving me feedback. Would very much like to hear their thoughts as well.
With my photographer's rescheduling, the weekend's free -- birthday waiting there on Sunday. Not sure how I feel about that. Hopefully something will come up.
Met with my photographer today [Re: The Familiar]. Very productive meeting, though she was feeling under the weather and we decided to push back this Friday's sessions to next week. Absolutely no harm in it -- important to take care of your people in these situations, and it also has given some time to look at the script. Might present some new possibilities.
Hopefully, if this works out, I'll have a personal photographer for my work on the project in November. Too early to say, but I have a good feeling.
Spent tonight going over "Nova" with John. He was immensely helpful [can't even put it into words], and I've done another draft. Not enough significant changes to post Draft 4 here -- but I'm really pleased with how it's turning out. Proud, and enjoying myself. Obsessing a little. Want something nice, wrapped up, and finished. Hard to explain why that's so important right now. Just this driving need I have.
Few more cuts to make. Hope other people who've read are up to giving me feedback. Would very much like to hear their thoughts as well.
With my photographer's rescheduling, the weekend's free -- birthday waiting there on Sunday. Not sure how I feel about that. Hopefully something will come up.
"Nova" - Finished Draft
Spent most of the night after 2:00 a.m. working on "Nova." Hilariously, I see that four more people downloaded the original draft. If you have thoughts, suggestions, or notes, please send me an e-mail. And if you liked it, definitely download this next thing.
"Nova" Finished Draft[Link removed -- sorry, if you'd like to see "Nova" email me at mojo.wire.productions@gmail.com].
The old link, originally posted here, is dead now. ADrive only lets me share so many files publicly, and anyway, there's no reason to live in the past.
Lot of things about this draft are going to need... tweaked. As usual, I use way too many beats, some of which are totally unnecessary. I was seriously dropping them in every eight lines or so, so in the next draft, those are going to have to go. I also worry about the newscast -- some heavy homage going on there, and I could probably streamline it a bit more. Page count, right now, is 33. I was hoping for a little under 25 for this "short." Some cutting is going to have to be done. But right now, this is everything, every conversation, every bit of rapport, and every awkward moment.
And not being arrogant at all, there is one scene in this I am just absolutely proud of. While writing it, it just felt special, and I'm very pleased. I expect everyone to hate it, now, of course.
Not wild about my ending. I like the visual, but there's something off. Won't say what. Don't want it to color anyone's perception. Maybe it's just me.
Anyone who reads it, please let me know what you think. Either by phone, or via email at mojo.wire.productions@gmail.com.
In other news, a dear friend of mine recently finished up his graduate program. He's a really talented guy, and he really deserves how well he's done. I can't say enough about what an excellent friend he's always been to me, and I couldn't be more proud of him right now.
Other things. My photographer seems to be lined up for next weekend [Re: The Familiar]. Should be a lot of fun, and really productive; I just need to get everything in order so she can do her thing unimpeded by any annoying eventualities. I really expect this to be a great experience -- I'll cover it at length here, once it's actually happened. Meeting with her is tentatively planned before the big day. Should also know more then.
Speaking of "The Familiar," Kyle said he'd take a look at it too. It's sort of shame it's still in the same shape it was in way back when I had everyone read it the first time. I have all these notes and ideas, and just haven't had the time or inclination to give it the attention it deserves. So many changes. Taking these pictures might light a fire under me, but there are really other things I should be putting my time to right now. I'm unfocused.
I really just picture it in my head as this great big vanity project. Just dump a lot of money into this silly little vampire flick and get the Gin Blossoms or Kaki King to do the soundtrack for it, and have all these sets built of places I grew up around. Really is the worst kind of film making, in a way. Don't care. As much as I hated it when it started out, there's something in it, something personal, something I want to say. And if I make it, I'll get to. As if I needed more motivation at this point.
Birthday looms this month on the 21st. I tend to eye the day as an ominous one; bad luck and my birthday have always went hand in hand, if I'm honest about my superstitions. But this year, I think, what's else can I be hit with? I don't think there's any annoyance or disappointment that can top how fucked my 23rd year on this planet has been. I'd almost be looking forward to it, if there was anything to look forward to.
Almost did 20 pages tonight. Exhausted, but... too late to crash now. Too early?
Cheers.
"Nova" Finished Draft[Link removed -- sorry, if you'd like to see "Nova" email me at mojo.wire.productions@gmail.com].
The old link, originally posted here, is dead now. ADrive only lets me share so many files publicly, and anyway, there's no reason to live in the past.
Lot of things about this draft are going to need... tweaked. As usual, I use way too many beats, some of which are totally unnecessary. I was seriously dropping them in every eight lines or so, so in the next draft, those are going to have to go. I also worry about the newscast -- some heavy homage going on there, and I could probably streamline it a bit more. Page count, right now, is 33. I was hoping for a little under 25 for this "short." Some cutting is going to have to be done. But right now, this is everything, every conversation, every bit of rapport, and every awkward moment.
And not being arrogant at all, there is one scene in this I am just absolutely proud of. While writing it, it just felt special, and I'm very pleased. I expect everyone to hate it, now, of course.
Not wild about my ending. I like the visual, but there's something off. Won't say what. Don't want it to color anyone's perception. Maybe it's just me.
Anyone who reads it, please let me know what you think. Either by phone, or via email at mojo.wire.productions@gmail.com.
In other news, a dear friend of mine recently finished up his graduate program. He's a really talented guy, and he really deserves how well he's done. I can't say enough about what an excellent friend he's always been to me, and I couldn't be more proud of him right now.
Other things. My photographer seems to be lined up for next weekend [Re: The Familiar]. Should be a lot of fun, and really productive; I just need to get everything in order so she can do her thing unimpeded by any annoying eventualities. I really expect this to be a great experience -- I'll cover it at length here, once it's actually happened. Meeting with her is tentatively planned before the big day. Should also know more then.
Speaking of "The Familiar," Kyle said he'd take a look at it too. It's sort of shame it's still in the same shape it was in way back when I had everyone read it the first time. I have all these notes and ideas, and just haven't had the time or inclination to give it the attention it deserves. So many changes. Taking these pictures might light a fire under me, but there are really other things I should be putting my time to right now. I'm unfocused.
I really just picture it in my head as this great big vanity project. Just dump a lot of money into this silly little vampire flick and get the Gin Blossoms or Kaki King to do the soundtrack for it, and have all these sets built of places I grew up around. Really is the worst kind of film making, in a way. Don't care. As much as I hated it when it started out, there's something in it, something personal, something I want to say. And if I make it, I'll get to. As if I needed more motivation at this point.
Birthday looms this month on the 21st. I tend to eye the day as an ominous one; bad luck and my birthday have always went hand in hand, if I'm honest about my superstitions. But this year, I think, what's else can I be hit with? I don't think there's any annoyance or disappointment that can top how fucked my 23rd year on this planet has been. I'd almost be looking forward to it, if there was anything to look forward to.
Almost did 20 pages tonight. Exhausted, but... too late to crash now. Too early?
Cheers.
The week from hell, "Familiar" update, "Nova, " and more...
My stomach has been upset for the past several days, and there are so many different things wrong, I can't even guess which reason is responsible. I want out of this house, I want something to do, and most importantly, I want it to be something I can't screw up.
I feel like I'm screwing everything up. This week has just been awful, and the worst parts of it I've either a) got nothing to say about or b) can't talk about here. The short of it all is that my nerves are shot and my judgment is crap, and maybe worst of all I know how far off my game I actually am, which is really frustrating in its own way. Especially knowing myself, anyway.
It all seems stupid, put so plainly.
This week hasn't been an entire waste. I got my long boxes in, which puts one small concern out of the way, and I finally found an acceptable, affordable laptop bag for the new computer [a father's day sale, of all things. Jesus]. Also found an online army surplus store that looks really promising, www.armysurplusworld.com, especially since the ones in the area have been sort of a letdown. Though I did hear about one the other day that I might try and get Justin to check out with me. Plus I still need a ride to pick up my comic books from Cheryl's, and tell her about Dad... in case she hasn't heard yet.
So, yeah. Lot of shopping-related things on my mind. And I got a haircut. It's weird, during Dad's service, while I was in the suit, I kept thinking how I should have gotten one before. And it's been so hot lately -- I just got all of the back hair chopped off, hardly touched the front. It's nice to have it off my neck, and even though it sort of looks like a girl's style, I'm kind of pleased with it. Can pretty much do whatever, and it manages itself. If nothing else, it was a nice chore. A task to do.
Some writing got done too. I came up with two new "Trendsetter" scenes, and worked on the outline a little bit -- mostly just rearranging chairs, in a literary sense, but helpful in getting an idea of the arc of the story. I was worried about that a lot, a few weeks ago.
Talked to Kyle yesterday about "Nova" -- he enjoyed it, which was encouraging, because I did feel like there was a little something there, and it was a nice distraction to work on it. He gave me a nice idea for an opening scene, and just fooling around today, I think I finished the ending of it. There are five or ten pages between what I have, and what I came up today.
I get a report on how many people download any given file I post -- though only one person took a look at "Christmas on the Titanic," I know "Nova" has been downloaded at least six times, and if you did read it, I'd be interested in what you thought, or maybe something you'd like to see in it. I'm going to finish it, just because it's practically done anyway. I'm not trying to call anyone out, but if you want to post a comment here, or e-mail me [Re: mojo.wire.productions@gmail.com], I'd appreciate it.
Also got a photographer lined up in the next couple weeks for work on "The Familiar." This was good, because for at least one location, things have gotten kind of pressing.
Actually, that requires a little explanation. Post-Bennington, I went on this weird-ass tear where I didn't sleep for a week and wrote this screenplay called "The Familiar," which was, among other things, about vampires on Elk River. There's a long explanation as to what brought those strange bedfellows together, but the part of it was me putting all these places I'd seen or passed by so much as a kid into something I was working on. And the look it really important to me, like I know, if I get to make this movie, that these places will have to be reconstructed to fit what I want. And my memory's not so hot, and even Elk River changes... some, as time goes on. So getting it just right, having it documented seems really important. One of those things I keep talking about doing.
Naturally, one of those places is Dad's house. Access to it now may not be as easy, or may even be impossible if his wife has to sell the trailer, move out of the lot. Now was the time. So I threw up a note on Facebook, luckily first responder was who I had in mind. She's good, I'll probably put some links to her work on the blog, the closer we come to working this out, but I have high expectations.
And it would be nice, and useful, to have a photographer I could call or bring in on things, someone who I'd... not trained, exactly, but worked with from the beginning. And the whole idea, my whole "master plan," was to get other people involved, get other artists breaks, too, and this seems in that vein. I'm looking forward to it, and it'll be nice to have that to get lost in. I've had some thoughts on how to fix the screenplay [Re: The Familiar], so this might bring some new inspiration. It's also just nice to look ahead.
Also talked to my friend Shea. He's a comic book artist, littler frustrated he hasn't had anything to draw. So I told him I'd try and put something together. Need to call him, see what kind of thing he's looking for.
I hate this heat. I miss Vermont in the winter. Wrapped up in my coat, with all the beautiful girls in their scarves, pale skin and nice smiles. I'm romanticizing. But it was perfect. I wasn't. I think I'd do it better now. But who knows?
Mom mentioned my Birthday. It's hard to believe that's almost here again.
I feel like I'm screwing everything up. This week has just been awful, and the worst parts of it I've either a) got nothing to say about or b) can't talk about here. The short of it all is that my nerves are shot and my judgment is crap, and maybe worst of all I know how far off my game I actually am, which is really frustrating in its own way. Especially knowing myself, anyway.
It all seems stupid, put so plainly.
This week hasn't been an entire waste. I got my long boxes in, which puts one small concern out of the way, and I finally found an acceptable, affordable laptop bag for the new computer [a father's day sale, of all things. Jesus]. Also found an online army surplus store that looks really promising, www.armysurplusworld.com, especially since the ones in the area have been sort of a letdown. Though I did hear about one the other day that I might try and get Justin to check out with me. Plus I still need a ride to pick up my comic books from Cheryl's, and tell her about Dad... in case she hasn't heard yet.
So, yeah. Lot of shopping-related things on my mind. And I got a haircut. It's weird, during Dad's service, while I was in the suit, I kept thinking how I should have gotten one before. And it's been so hot lately -- I just got all of the back hair chopped off, hardly touched the front. It's nice to have it off my neck, and even though it sort of looks like a girl's style, I'm kind of pleased with it. Can pretty much do whatever, and it manages itself. If nothing else, it was a nice chore. A task to do.
Some writing got done too. I came up with two new "Trendsetter" scenes, and worked on the outline a little bit -- mostly just rearranging chairs, in a literary sense, but helpful in getting an idea of the arc of the story. I was worried about that a lot, a few weeks ago.
Talked to Kyle yesterday about "Nova" -- he enjoyed it, which was encouraging, because I did feel like there was a little something there, and it was a nice distraction to work on it. He gave me a nice idea for an opening scene, and just fooling around today, I think I finished the ending of it. There are five or ten pages between what I have, and what I came up today.
I get a report on how many people download any given file I post -- though only one person took a look at "Christmas on the Titanic," I know "Nova" has been downloaded at least six times, and if you did read it, I'd be interested in what you thought, or maybe something you'd like to see in it. I'm going to finish it, just because it's practically done anyway. I'm not trying to call anyone out, but if you want to post a comment here, or e-mail me [Re: mojo.wire.productions@gmail.com], I'd appreciate it.
Also got a photographer lined up in the next couple weeks for work on "The Familiar." This was good, because for at least one location, things have gotten kind of pressing.
Actually, that requires a little explanation. Post-Bennington, I went on this weird-ass tear where I didn't sleep for a week and wrote this screenplay called "The Familiar," which was, among other things, about vampires on Elk River. There's a long explanation as to what brought those strange bedfellows together, but the part of it was me putting all these places I'd seen or passed by so much as a kid into something I was working on. And the look it really important to me, like I know, if I get to make this movie, that these places will have to be reconstructed to fit what I want. And my memory's not so hot, and even Elk River changes... some, as time goes on. So getting it just right, having it documented seems really important. One of those things I keep talking about doing.
Naturally, one of those places is Dad's house. Access to it now may not be as easy, or may even be impossible if his wife has to sell the trailer, move out of the lot. Now was the time. So I threw up a note on Facebook, luckily first responder was who I had in mind. She's good, I'll probably put some links to her work on the blog, the closer we come to working this out, but I have high expectations.
And it would be nice, and useful, to have a photographer I could call or bring in on things, someone who I'd... not trained, exactly, but worked with from the beginning. And the whole idea, my whole "master plan," was to get other people involved, get other artists breaks, too, and this seems in that vein. I'm looking forward to it, and it'll be nice to have that to get lost in. I've had some thoughts on how to fix the screenplay [Re: The Familiar], so this might bring some new inspiration. It's also just nice to look ahead.
Also talked to my friend Shea. He's a comic book artist, littler frustrated he hasn't had anything to draw. So I told him I'd try and put something together. Need to call him, see what kind of thing he's looking for.
I hate this heat. I miss Vermont in the winter. Wrapped up in my coat, with all the beautiful girls in their scarves, pale skin and nice smiles. I'm romanticizing. But it was perfect. I wasn't. I think I'd do it better now. But who knows?
Mom mentioned my Birthday. It's hard to believe that's almost here again.
Happy birthday, Kiddo.
And a happy New Year to everyone too.
Another odd holiday in this ever-stranger year. Looks like when this posts I'll be at Dave's doing the annual New Years celebration I've hosted the past four years. Most have been great, one went horribly, horribly awry [Optimus Prime ran over a cat, and apparently, dreams can fit in a dog house]...
Generally speaking, I'm against resolutions. The idea of picking one time a year to make promises to yourself and others, in some quest for self-betterment, well... it just implies the need for betterment, doesn't it? And in what world should we admit such weakness? Why not just call China up, while we're at it, and explain to them how our greatest weakness is that ever expanding world-debt that's just begging to be bought up...
Hm. I fear I've said too much.
Suppose I could make a few. Got to get that hard drive cleaned up and straightened out, once and for all, so all the porn and the music has it's place, and iTunes can stop whining every time I move a file. New headphones. Got to get that iPod filled up again.
Need to finish "The Trendsetter" -- really make that intolerable monster into a feature. But it's a beloved monster, isn't it, Bella? Kyle has already messaged me a few possibilities, and I've spent the day rolling them over in my head. It's amazing how the slightest feedback seems to rejuvenate my interest and creativity. I think I need an assistant. A secretary? Is that sexist?
Should find an alternative to Firefox, and to AIM. Trillian seems the best alternative to the latter... AIM's dug its spiny tendrils so deep into this computer I can only imagine how nasty excising it will be. Firefox, I will admit, is hard to see go -- but the damn thing chews up CPU so bad with its add-ons and such, I'm even considering Opera. *Shudders*
"Sort life out" should probably be on here. We'll put it as a tentative addition. Some shit shouldn't be rushed.
Get back to "The Familiar." She deserves to be finished too.
Badger Sam into doing a new comic with me. [Happy Birthday, kiddo!]
Get started on "Beyondo" projects [Re: Bride of Beyondo, Kid Beyondo]. Because those still just sound like fun.
Find other artists to work with. As a matter of fact, if you're reading this, and know someone who draws, or draw yourself and want to do a comic or some other kind of foray into graphical literature, e-mail me. Or get them to e-mail me. Or show me where to find their stuff so I can e-mail them.
Finish off that Joshi. Because really, I should have gotten to all that ages ago. Jesus.
And finally, most importantly, new ideas, greater ideas, more follow-through, and... a promise to this blog to not abandon it, when life picks up or doesn't.
Let's be honest -- this thing was a hard sell from the beginning. Few people could look at this blog and not see it as the masturbatory ramblings of a semi-creative manic depressive. And it's not like there aren't plenty of those on here. No, to stand this blog at all, I think you either have to believe in me very sincerely, or swallow the "production diary" conceit unquestionably. Otherwise, this really isn't much different than the millions or so other blogs out there that give nothing back to the iota of space they pollute on the internet.
That being said, I like having this blog. It's useful to me, to see where I've been, and to talk about where I'm going, and I think I walk the fine, acceptable line between too much information and rambling psychosis. It's also helpful because it's always here, particularly at four or five in the morning where I can't sleep and the fear has gripped me to the point of panic and self-loathing. That's a commitment that I've yet to get from, well, anyone, and just the act of sitting here, typing something up, laying out all the priorities or bitching a little lets me find the center again. So for that, it's a wonderful tool, and one I plan to keep.
Much as tonight is the celebration of the New Year, it is also, in my mind, the celebration of three + months of toiling here, and the 15-20 posts I manage a month, I am pleased. Would I like it to be everyday? Absolutely, and I have that to shoot for, but I have surpassed my own expectations in my commitment to this blog, and I can only hope I can keep with it. I think I actually get pleasure from this. Onward, and upward.
My hope is to find other places to snake the Mojo Wire. Importing it to Facebook will likely be the next step, but is there more? I'll look into it. The reasons for this expansion is largely, unsurprisingly, for the attention -- for finding people who will care. But there's also, I think, a greater possibility in all this, that maybe someone else out there who's creative, and isolated, might be able to use what I'm doing as a template, and find the same use for this that I have.
Then again, I'd probably have to keep at this for many more years before anything that redeeming might happen. Ah, that selflessness and selfishness were less than four letters from one another.
I have a few regulars. I've found a use for my soapbox that I don't entirely loathe myself for. That's a win, or at least a television serial "we still have two seasons left" draw. And I'll take that.
Some people who need thanking. John, and Justin, and Glen, all of whom served as examples that a blog doesn't have to be a whorish-shrine to hubristic self-importance. Sam, who's helped me vent. Ian, for assuring me this doesn't suck, and the book. Kyle, for "The Trendsetter." Anna, for the inspiration. Andrew, for something to listen to while I'm posting. Hillary, for the headphones, which have suddenly made listening to something all the more interesting. Ally, for "Dr. Beyondo" and Bruce Lee. Laura, for Calamity and Tana Cash. Carrie, for the 9x9's. Hunter, for the justification of the dream. The Gin Blossoms and Kaki King. The Motor City Machineguns. The Chinese Take-out place that's down the street from me. Sure I've missed a few.
Happy New Year, folks. Shalom.
Another odd holiday in this ever-stranger year. Looks like when this posts I'll be at Dave's doing the annual New Years celebration I've hosted the past four years. Most have been great, one went horribly, horribly awry [Optimus Prime ran over a cat, and apparently, dreams can fit in a dog house]...
Generally speaking, I'm against resolutions. The idea of picking one time a year to make promises to yourself and others, in some quest for self-betterment, well... it just implies the need for betterment, doesn't it? And in what world should we admit such weakness? Why not just call China up, while we're at it, and explain to them how our greatest weakness is that ever expanding world-debt that's just begging to be bought up...
Hm. I fear I've said too much.
Suppose I could make a few. Got to get that hard drive cleaned up and straightened out, once and for all, so all the porn and the music has it's place, and iTunes can stop whining every time I move a file. New headphones. Got to get that iPod filled up again.
Need to finish "The Trendsetter" -- really make that intolerable monster into a feature. But it's a beloved monster, isn't it, Bella? Kyle has already messaged me a few possibilities, and I've spent the day rolling them over in my head. It's amazing how the slightest feedback seems to rejuvenate my interest and creativity. I think I need an assistant. A secretary? Is that sexist?
Should find an alternative to Firefox, and to AIM. Trillian seems the best alternative to the latter... AIM's dug its spiny tendrils so deep into this computer I can only imagine how nasty excising it will be. Firefox, I will admit, is hard to see go -- but the damn thing chews up CPU so bad with its add-ons and such, I'm even considering Opera. *Shudders*
"Sort life out" should probably be on here. We'll put it as a tentative addition. Some shit shouldn't be rushed.
Get back to "The Familiar." She deserves to be finished too.
Badger Sam into doing a new comic with me. [Happy Birthday, kiddo!]
Get started on "Beyondo" projects [Re: Bride of Beyondo, Kid Beyondo]. Because those still just sound like fun.
Find other artists to work with. As a matter of fact, if you're reading this, and know someone who draws, or draw yourself and want to do a comic or some other kind of foray into graphical literature, e-mail me. Or get them to e-mail me. Or show me where to find their stuff so I can e-mail them.
Finish off that Joshi. Because really, I should have gotten to all that ages ago. Jesus.
And finally, most importantly, new ideas, greater ideas, more follow-through, and... a promise to this blog to not abandon it, when life picks up or doesn't.
Let's be honest -- this thing was a hard sell from the beginning. Few people could look at this blog and not see it as the masturbatory ramblings of a semi-creative manic depressive. And it's not like there aren't plenty of those on here. No, to stand this blog at all, I think you either have to believe in me very sincerely, or swallow the "production diary" conceit unquestionably. Otherwise, this really isn't much different than the millions or so other blogs out there that give nothing back to the iota of space they pollute on the internet.
That being said, I like having this blog. It's useful to me, to see where I've been, and to talk about where I'm going, and I think I walk the fine, acceptable line between too much information and rambling psychosis. It's also helpful because it's always here, particularly at four or five in the morning where I can't sleep and the fear has gripped me to the point of panic and self-loathing. That's a commitment that I've yet to get from, well, anyone, and just the act of sitting here, typing something up, laying out all the priorities or bitching a little lets me find the center again. So for that, it's a wonderful tool, and one I plan to keep.
Much as tonight is the celebration of the New Year, it is also, in my mind, the celebration of three + months of toiling here, and the 15-20 posts I manage a month, I am pleased. Would I like it to be everyday? Absolutely, and I have that to shoot for, but I have surpassed my own expectations in my commitment to this blog, and I can only hope I can keep with it. I think I actually get pleasure from this. Onward, and upward.
My hope is to find other places to snake the Mojo Wire. Importing it to Facebook will likely be the next step, but is there more? I'll look into it. The reasons for this expansion is largely, unsurprisingly, for the attention -- for finding people who will care. But there's also, I think, a greater possibility in all this, that maybe someone else out there who's creative, and isolated, might be able to use what I'm doing as a template, and find the same use for this that I have.
Then again, I'd probably have to keep at this for many more years before anything that redeeming might happen. Ah, that selflessness and selfishness were less than four letters from one another.
I have a few regulars. I've found a use for my soapbox that I don't entirely loathe myself for. That's a win, or at least a television serial "we still have two seasons left" draw. And I'll take that.
Some people who need thanking. John, and Justin, and Glen, all of whom served as examples that a blog doesn't have to be a whorish-shrine to hubristic self-importance. Sam, who's helped me vent. Ian, for assuring me this doesn't suck, and the book. Kyle, for "The Trendsetter." Anna, for the inspiration. Andrew, for something to listen to while I'm posting. Hillary, for the headphones, which have suddenly made listening to something all the more interesting. Ally, for "Dr. Beyondo" and Bruce Lee. Laura, for Calamity and Tana Cash. Carrie, for the 9x9's. Hunter, for the justification of the dream. The Gin Blossoms and Kaki King. The Motor City Machineguns. The Chinese Take-out place that's down the street from me. Sure I've missed a few.
Happy New Year, folks. Shalom.
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