Well, dear readers, I am, as of yesterday, halfway finished with the new novel. Yes, you heard it here, dear readers, I, BK, am, as of yesterday, halfway finished with the new novel. For the second day in a row I managed to do sixteen pages, so that was good. I was in a sequence that was just so much giddy fun I couldn’t stop. I’m sure there’ll be stuff to futz and finesse, but I really had quite a good time doing those pages.
The day got off to an early start with the arrival of she of the Evil Eye. I kept trying to futz and finesse the previous day’s work but other things kept coming up, such as telephonic calls and other interruptions. I actually think I only futzed and finessed one page before the ten o’clock work session. That went very well and very quickly – forty-five minutes and we were through. I then went and had a bacon and cheese omelet and a bagel. I got a telephonic call whilst I was dining, with the rather shocking news that The Federal had just booked out the room on our show night for an MTV last-minute party. I was, needless to say, furious. Their solution was for us to move the show earlier in the day. That’s lovely except we’ve sold more than half the house to people who think it’s at our regular time. I was assured everyone would be contacted, but so what? However, if it had to happen with a show, this was the show because it’s a lot of families and the show time was only moving two and a half hours earlier. The cast was fine, as was our MD, and hopefully we won’t lose any audience and if we do I’m going to expect to have those cover charges reimbursed by the club. So far everyone I’ve contacted is okay with the earlier time. But really, how irritating.
Then I picked up one package, after which I came home and buckled down, Winsocki and futzed and finessed the fifteen remaining pages, smoothing out a lot of stuff, adding a few lines and cutting a few lines. I also had what could have been a horrifying e-mail but wasn’t. It wasn’t good, but it could have been ever so much worse. I responded and we’ll see how it all shakes out in a day or so. But keep those miracle vibes and xylophones coming – we need ‘em.
Then I immediately moved on to the next chapter. It took me just a bit of time to decide on what restaurant I wanted the sequence to take place in – I kept waffling between two – then I chose and began. I did five or six pages right away, so that was good. I had a few other things to do, and then I went back and wrote another five pages, so I was in good shape, page-wise, and took a break for about ninety minutes. But I was in the midst of the really fun part, so I must mushed on and did six more pages. I probably could have even done more, but I didn’t. Then I took a lovely shower, and listened to a new CD I got of music by the French composer Jean-Michel Damase. I became a huge fan of his when I heard a flute and harp sonata – where I heard it is anyone’s guess – it was definitely an LP and I could have sworn it was an early Varese Sarabande classical chamber music album, but I can find no record of that. So, it must have been on some other album I had, but it was just a delightful, lyrical piece. In the Tower Classical heyday I picked up the one or two CDs that had music by him and was equally captivated by his wonderful sense of melody. This new CD from Dutton Vocalion has two works for piano and orchestra, a flute concerto, and a piece called Symphonie. It did not disappoint, in fact it’s a terrific CD filled with beauty and warmth and it’s highly recommended by the likes of me.
Today, I shall futz and finesse, maybe write a few pages, then I’ll print out all of the new material from the past week, Xerox it, and deliver it to Muse Margaret. Once that’s done, I’ll come home and mush on and hopefully do the usual seven to ten pages, if not more. Then in the early evening I’m seeing a play at the Group Rep Theater. I’ll eat at some point, and I’ll probably write more when I get home from the play.
Tomorrow is our first Kritzerland rehearsal, which I’m looking forward to, and prior to that I’ll be writing and praying for miracles. The rest of the week is all writing, a meeting on Wednesday, our second Kritzerland rehearsal on Thursday, our stumble-through on Saturday, and our sound check and earlier show on Sunday. I also must lock down a musical director for the LA show. We’ve added a new collaborator to our team – songwriter Paul Gordon, who currently has Daddy Long Legs running off-Broadway, and who wrote Jane Eyre and other shows.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, futz and finesse, write, print out pages, Xerox pages, take pages to Muse Margaret, write, see a play, and write. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s free-for-all day, the day in which you dear readers get to make with the topics and we all get to post about them. So, let’s have loads of lovely topics and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to be halfway through the book in just over one week. Whew!