Haines Logo Text
Column Archive
January 9, 2010:

THE NORMA DESMOND NOTES

Bruce Kimmel Photograph bk's notes

Well, dear readers, after ten pages of book, and writing the blurb for our new release, I am done writing for the day. And yet, here I am, writing because these here notes must be written. I wish I could draw the notes; that would, at least, be a change of pace. I could make amusing squiggles and shapes, not necessarily in that order. I could doodle, I could draw a flower, I could make concentric shapes if only I knew what concentric means. But noooo, I must write words – words – and more words. We had faces then. What am I, Norma Desmond all of a sudden? Has anyone noticed that we are already in the second week of 2010? I tell you, this week has flown by, like a gazelle in an Isotta-Fraschini. But, it was a very nice week, and I certainly got a lot of writing done on the new book, having written more than double the pages of any other book I’ve written in this same period of time. Yesterday, I got up earlier than I wanted to, answered e-mails, then cleaned up what I’d written the day before and wrote one new page. Then the composer and lyricist of the long musical arrived, and played me a new song for one of our leading characters, his establishing song. While it was certainly competent, I didn’t feel it created the right mood. I’ve worked really hard to get the writers to make this particular character dynamic, with an electric personality, and the new song seemed negative and noirish-sounding to me, which is not the right feel. But I knew the composer had done a couple of other sketches – he hadn’t followed through on them because the lyricist handed him a lyric and he just set that – which is why it’s sometimes better to do it the other way. I had him play me his other tune, and it was an instant grabber and so much better for the tone we’re trying to establish. We went over specifics about why I felt the lyric was taking us down the wrong road, and now they’ll put together a new version. After the work session, I went and had a sandwich and fries, after which I picked up one piece of mail and 0 packages. I then came home and wrote several more pages, then got down to brass tacks and aluminum pushpins and wrote the blurb for the new Kritzerland release. Then I wrote more pages (I got to relive the 1971 Sylmar earthquake in great detail), for a total of ten. I’m almost ready to give muse Margaret a new batch of pages for her mental delectation. By the time I finished all that, it was too late to watch a motion picture – and frankly, I just haven’t been in the mood, other than watching ten or fifteen minutes of The Green Berets before bedtime. What an awful movie it is, too.

Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I think it’s time to get to the next section, you dear, dear people out there in the dark.

I do believe we’re having Norma Desmond notes. I am big – it’s the pictures that got small. And don’t you forget it. Today, I have no plans, other than to hopefully do some sort of jog and then write, do some errands and whatnot, and then write some more. And then I’m having a nice early dinner out somewhere fun.

Tomorrow it will be more of the same, and in the evening hours I shall be attending a dinner partay at cousin Dee Dee and Alan’s home environment.

This coming week will be filled with various and sundried meetings and meals and writing and announcing the new Kritzerland release, printing orders (and hopefully a lot of them), and whatever else comes up.

Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, try to jog, I must write, I must do errands and whatnot, I must write, and I must have an early but fun supper. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite shellfish dishes – and don’t be shellfish and share some recipes with us. I am a huge shellfish fan and like mostly everything except raw ersters and clams. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, and I’m ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille.

Search BK's Notes Archive:
 
© 2001 - 2024 by Bruce Kimmel. All Rights Reserved