Well, dear readers, I am quite exhausted from a very long day, but I’m feeling fantastic because I had an extraordinary conversation with my muse, Margaret, who’d read the first forty-seven pages of the new book. Starting a new book is always daunting. Starting this new book was more daunting than usual because it’s my first non-fiction book in which I cannot hide behind a plot and characters and make things happen however I wish them to. Interestingly, as I’ve mentioned, I’ve never written this many pages this fast. And as I’ve written, I’ve gone back and futzed and fixed and smoothed and deleted and added. I finished the introduction, which I felt was key, and I’d finished the long prologue and started chapter one. Because this is all new territory for me, I just wrote what I felt I needed to write, including some very personal stuff. The prologue felt a little long to me, but I was sure Margaret would tell me if I was right in thinking so.
I’d had a nice morning meeting with the co-author of the long musical, we’d gone over what we needed to go over, and then I came back to the Valley, picked up a couple of packages, did a couple of errands and whatnot, answered some e-mails and then reread the twelve pages I’d written the day before. I made a lot of little changes, then went back and made even more changes to earlier stuff. Then I printed it all out, took it to Staples and got it copied, and drove it over to Margaret. I then went and had an early supper at the Hamburger Hamlet. When I got home, I had more e-mails to answer and then I finally wrote about three or four new pages. Then muse Margaret called. I was immediately relieved when she said she’d loved the introduction to the book. And then she said she’d loved most of the prologue, too. All I heard, of course, was “most of.” And then she laid it on me – all that personal stuff that I’d gone into (well, it’s all personal, but this was some yucky personal stuff) made her very uncomfortable and she felt impeded the story I was telling. She was very careful in how she couched it, saying it might just be her as a woman, or because she knows me and knew my ex-wife, but I could really hear just how uncomfortable it made her. It involved only three little sections and we talked them over thoroughly. I asked her very specific questions, but in the end what she’d done was cut right to the heart of the matter – what book are you writing? And she felt I had laid that out very clearly in the introduction, what the impetus for writing the book had been. And that’s what she wanted and when it kept taking these little detours she didn’t like it. She loved all the stories and the people and the anecdotes, that was the book for her. And as we spoke I began to suspect she was totally correct, and I told her that I’d go make the cuts and see if she thought it was as good and that it did the trick for her.
I got off the phone. I tried to watch a motion picture on the DVR, but I had no patience, so I opened the Word document and began cutting the three sections that were problematic for her. They really were just simple lifts – hit the delete button on a couple of paragraphs and gone they were. As soon as I deleted the first of them I knew instantly she’d been totally right, totally on the money. Suddenly the flow was so much better and the clarity was so much better. I cut the second one and then the third and I just knew I’d found the book. And it’s not that it won’t get into personal stuff, but it will be the right personal stuff and not the pointless personal stuff that has nothing to do with the story I’m telling, which is about my life as an actor, writer, and director. So, if something personal happened that impacted that, then that’s usable. If it’s something that just happened but had nothing to do with my career, then we’re not using it. It feels very right to me, and I’m sure if I get into things I shouldn’t she’ll keep me from doing so. It really only took about ten minutes to do those lifts, and then I added two tiny descriptive things she asked for, and then smoothed out a couple of transitions, then wrote about five more pages for a total of about nine pages today. And now I will mush on telling the story I want to tell. And that is why I will never ever write a book without the muse.
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I’ve got a busy day tomorrow and I must get my beauty sleep.
Today, I’ll be driving out to Westlake Village again to give Dana Kaproff his Empire Of The Ants CDs, and then I’ll come home and write at least five to ten pages – I’m going to try and get to chapter two by the end of the evening. I have to have a telephonic conversation with the other co-author of the long musical, but I think I’m going to try and get out of it. I just want him to write out his notes and send them – I see no reason to listen to them on the phone if I’m getting them in writing. I also will be getting a CD to listen to so I can make a decision about how to do our next release. It’s now become very complicated and I have to make sure I can justify the cost, which, if I up the number of copies and the price, jumps to a huge number that I was rather shocked by. I’m going to see if we can get that number down a little – my other option is to keep it at 1000 units and the regular price, but the profit margin at that isn’t enough when it involves a second CD and a lot of mastering time. So, we’ll see how it all feels after I’ve heard the original film tracks.
Tomorrow, I’ll be lugging a few tapes to the tape transfer place to see what we’ve got. I’m going to do this a little at a time, so I’ll probably start with three titles.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, deliver CDs, write, do a few errands and whatnot, and hopefully pick up a few packages. Today’s topic of discussion: If you could write a non-fiction book on any subject, what would it be and why? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I remain very thankful to have a marvelously marvelous muse named Margaret.