Well, dear readers, I am currently listening to the rain on the roof go pit-pit-a-pat. It has been raining for most of the day and evening except for one ten-minute period in which the sun was shining. Go know. Otherwise, the rain has been fairly steady and very heavy. The streets are a mess but I didn’t go out but once so I was cozy inside the home environment. What am I, a weather report all of a sudden? I gotta tell you. In other news, it was another long day of doing this and that and also that and this. I got up much earlier than I’d wanted to. Since it was pouring out, I knew the long jog wasn’t going to be happening. I answered some e-mails and then did some revisions on the previous day’s writing. I then began to attempt to write the penultimate chapter. But, as I’ve been mentioning, I still had a key plot point to decide on – it could go one of two ways and I just kept waffling back and forth and also forth and back. Two weeks ago on one of the long jogs the entire rest of the book came to me. But prior to that I’d had another notion and that notion just kept nagging at me, so I made the decision to go with the notion. I went back and added some stuff and deleted some stuff, which involved about four pages total. I then tried to continue, but I just couldn’t get with it. I went to the Studio Café and ate some lunch – excellent food but it took almost twenty minutes for a waiter to appear. Actually, a waiter never appeared – the manager took the order. I sat there and realized I should not have gone with the notion, I should have stuck with what came to me on the jog. I don’t know why I do this (it’s happened on almost every book I’ve written), where I second-guess myself. So, I came home and read the changes and hated them. It just didn’t feel right at all. I then put it back the way it wuz, but I’m glad I did it, actually, because had I not have done it I would have wondered if I should have. Having to reconstruct what I’d done did allow me to clean up some less than stellar sentences, so that was nice. But that took most of the day and I got very little new writing done. I wrote the first paragraph of the penultimate chapter, but even though I knew where it was going to now go, I wasn’t sure of my way into it. So, I took a break and sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I watched a motion picture on DVD entitled Le Sauvage, a French motion picture from France, avec Yves Montand and Catherine Deneuve. The film was directed by Jean Paul Rappeneau, whose work I enjoy. The film is a sort-of comedy/romance. The first twenty minutes were headache-inducing – lots of yelling and frenetic pacing, but after that I sort of just surrendered to the abundant charms of the two leads, again, total star power wins out. So, not a great film, but I was entertained and it did have some outstanding moments (plus Miss Deneuve is often in a state of undress and she is one of the most beautiful women who ever lived, if you ask me, and I know you do), a terrific score by Michel Legrand, and it certainly didn’t hurt that it was an absolutely stunning transfer. I’m looking forward to the other films in this Deneuve set, none of which I’ve ever seen.
I purposely finished my viewing by eight so I could go back to the writing of the new chapter. I got two pages done (I’d already done five earlier), but it was like pulling teeth. And then I just couldn’t figure things out and it was driving me absolutely crazy. It was all in my head, mind you, but I could not reach it. I finally got so frustrated that I called muse Margaret and discussed the ending with her. I told her both ways the book could go and she loved the way I’d come up with on the jog, so my instincts were totally correct. I then discussed the ways in which I was having trouble getting into this last section – several things had to happen and I was struggling with HOW to get them to happen. I explained to her what I was trying to achieve and she really thought my explanation was good, and I realized that that was just what I’d written in those two pages. I felt much better after that. I then took a long hot shower and all the important details came to me like manna from heaven. I sketched out the entire chapter beat for beat and wrote it all down, plus what will happen in the final chapter. I should have done that days ago, and should have remembered that I’ve done that for the ending of every single book I’ve ever written. I guess you never really learn. Anyway, I should be able to plow through the next fifteen to twenty pages fairly quickly, as my sketched out notes are quite detailed and even include dialogue. I think I’ve figured out all the beats that needed to occur and I’ll write it as best I can and hope that muse Margaret likes it. Whew!
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below whilst I listen to the rain on the roof go pit-pit-a-pat.
Today, I shall write as much as possible until eleven-thirty, at which time I must go to a work session with Mr. Sean McDermott. That should last two hours, and then I’ll come directly home and write more pages. Then in the evening I’ll be attending some one-act musicals, including two written by my pals, Miss Adryan Russ and Mr. Doug Haverty (also the Kritzerland booklet designer).
Tomorrow, I have no plans other than to write as much as possible. If the weather permits, I hope to be doing the long jog at some point.
Next week is already shaping up as very busy. On Monday, a very exciting thing will happen in the morning – I pick up all the tapes for the next two Kritzerland releases, which I’ll then ship to my mastering guy – he has to get them loaded into his computer and get them back to me so I can return them to MGM.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, write, have a work session, write, eat, write, and see some one-act musicals. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your worst weather horror stories? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, and let me tell you that the rain on the roof is making a lot more noise than pit-pit-a-pat. It now sounds like a herd of elephants is on the roof.