Well, dear readers, we’re having a dribble of rain as I type these here notes. A Dribble of Rain – that’s the title of my next novel. Speaking of something novel, Muse Margaret called yesterday morning. She really liked the last ninety pages and only had one little thing, one line of dialogue that didn’t wring true for her, which I changed immediately. But something was bothering her and when we finally ascertained what it was, it became a very interesting day for me. She always has my back, my friend Margaret. She’s very protective of me. She had some concerns about one aspect of the book and I completely understood why she had them. We went back and forth about it, but she asked me to just take my time with this one – to put it aside, read it again, and then see how I felt. We both feel it’s a strong book for this series, and I do think it has a good lesson, like most of the Hofstetter books. But authors have a tendency to write what they know, to use things from their lives, and I glommed on to something for the plot of this book and I glommed on to it not for personal reasons but because I thought it would be a great plot device and is very current. She was concerned that someone who knows me might think I did do it for personal reasons. So, it was a dilemma that weighed heavily on my mind for most of the day. I spoke to my close personal friend, Mr. Nick Redman, and told him all about the worries and then how I’d actually done the book. And after careful thought, he felt I was fine, as long as I made a handful of tweaks to make a couple of little moments less specific. I thought that was a great idea. I also talked to our very own Doug Haverty, who is an author, too, and he concurred. So, Muse Margaret and I had another talk late in the day and I explained everything I’d been thinking about, what the tweaks would be and it was a great talk and in the end she was much more comfortable and fine with everything. That made me feel so much better. I then went and made the tweaks, which really only involved four or five tiny little lines and moments. Those are now gone. And now I’ll read the book start to finish and if I’ve missed any other tiny moments I can remove them as I go. It didn’t even amount to a quarter of a page. That is why I love Muse Margaret and why I listen to her. Her concerns made me really examine everything – my motives for writing the book (which were pure) and they way I’d presented certain of its details – once that was examined, it was easy to make the tiny adjustments.
The rest of the day was perfectly fine. After the telephonic conversation of the morning, the piano tuner came and tuned the piano, which really needed it. After he left, I moseyed on over to the editing room to do some really fine-tuning to the season finale of Outside the Box. The editor’s first cut was really good. In advance of me coming down, I told him two things that were very minor and he’d already done those. The only other thing we did was shorten one shot, and then begin the final song’s music earlier, over dialogue, so that there wasn’t such a wait before the singing began. That worked great and actually knocked off ten second from the running time. I’m really happy with this episode.
Then I picked up no packages, and I had just enough time to get some bacon and eggs and toast, eat them up, and then do some banking. I got home just in time for the rehearsal with the singer.
We began at the top so I could hear the show in the order I’d come up with the other day. But we stopped and started, just to discuss the intentions of the numbers – what they needed to achieve in this particular show. I’m very detailed in these discussions and she’s great about not only listening and trying, but recording everything that’s being said so she can refer to it later. When we got to her third number, which is a put-together of Some Enchanted Evening and But Not For Me – something she had but that didn’t work at all. I came up with an arrangement that helped it a lot, but it still wasn’t quite right. But as she did it I saw exactly a really good way into the number, that makes it totally unique and not just a song called Some Enchanted Evening – in other words, it’s become a character piece and doing that song in that way makes the second song work perfectly. So, a hoary old standard became a kind of funny, endearing thing and it’s going to work very well. And that’s what we did on every song. We made adjustments to some of the charts and while, for me, it’s still a hastily assembled show, it’s starting to at least be cohesive. There’s one section of the show with three ballads in a row and that’s never optimal, but I’ll watch it again today and see how I feel. Not much to be done about it right now, but if the show’s length is good, I may decide that one of the ballads can go. She’s done a very good job of getting lyrics down very quickly. Now we just have to work on performance details so that every song is different and has a unique point of view.
After that, I went to Gelson’s and got a couple of chicken tenders. Then I watched another thirty minutes of The Seven Per-cent Solution. Then I buckled down, Winsocki and finished the contextual commentary, so that’s done. I’m sure I’ll finesse it over the next few days, but the hard part is done. Then I listened to one of our February Kritzerland releases and I just love it. Classic film, classic score, one of the greatest film themes ever written. Can’t really go wrong with that. This will be its first complete release (it was available on CD many years ago but is long out of print – that version was ten minutes shorter than ours, so some nice cues available for the very first time).
Well, why don’t we all click on the Unseemly Button below because I really must get a good night’s beauty sleep.
Today, I shall do some work on the computer, I shall do some errands and whatnot, I shall eat, I shall hopefully pick up some packages, I shall pay some Kritzerland bills, and then we’ll have another rehearsal.
Tomorrow, it’s another rehearsal, and then I’m attending Peter Pan, to see our very own Mr. Brent Barrett as Captain Hook. I’m hoping we’ll go out after the show. I think he’s staying near Warner Bros. so we could go somewhere up that way. Saturday I have a lunch, then a rehearsal. Sunday I’m a judge at LA’s Next Greatest Singing Star or whatever it’s called. And directly from there I’ll go to the singer’s sound check. Then I’ll probably just hang out at the club and then it’s the show. Next week is our Kritzerland rehearsal week.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, do some work on the computer, do errands and whatnot, eat, hopefully pick up some packages, pay bills, rehearse, and then relax. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite Sherlock Holmes stories, films, and plays? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to be feeling really good about the new book and happier that I have a protective muse.