Well, dear readers, yesterday was kind of like the opening lines of A Tale of Two Cities – it was the best of times, it was the worst of times. The best of times is, as you might imagine, writing a new book, writing commentary, writing the LA show, getting ready for the first Kritzerland show of the year and that kind of stuff. The worst of times is having to deal with problems, annoying e-mails and the lack of timely miracles. It is, in fact, basically a replay of the beginning of last year and maybe even the year before. So, do send a large dose of those excellent vibes and xylophones for miracles and smooth going. Of course, I only try to dwell on the best of times, as hard as that is sometimes. But writing is always an elixir. Yesterday wasn’t the easiest writing day, but I got ten pages done and I think they’re good and I am laughing a lot as I write. But as with every book, you get to a certain place and you have to figure out how to get to the place after that and what that place should be. So, one has to take breaks, think, get inspired, and then go back to it. I never let too much time go by and even if I’m not quite ready I’ll always just start writing even if it’s terrible because that gets me back on the road and then I just futz and finesse until I’m happy. The writing is moving right along and I should cross page 100 at the end of this evening, which is not bad for six days of writing.
Yesterday began with loud noise and shaking thanks to the cretins doing the teardown next door. That must have begun around seven-thirty. Thankfully it began to pour soon thereafter and somewhere around eight-thirty they gave up the ghost and I fell back asleep until eleven. Once up, the helper came by, and as soon as I was coherent I began to futz and finesse, while the rain steadily came down for most of the day. I futzed and finessed quite a bit, and then wrote a new couple of pages. Then I made a small batch of Wacky Noodles and ate them whilst writing two-thirds of the commentary. I really wanted to get that out of the way so I don’t have to think about it.
Then I went back to writing the book and did another three pages. Then I had an annoying e-mail, which annoyed me. I had several telephonic conversations, too. At some point I sat on my couch like so much fish but didn’t watch anything. Go know.
Then I buckled down, Winsocki and wrote six more pages, for a total of ten. I felt guilty for not doing a few more, but that, of course, is ridiculous. Ten pages is plenty of pages for one day. I remember in the early days of my novel writing being thrilled if I did three pages a day and over the moon if I got to five. But this book is really fun to write so I do more than usual just because it’s making me happy and a happy BK is a good thing.
After that, I finished the commentary, so that’s now out of the way. I’m sure I’ll futz and finesse it in a week or so. Then I sat at the computer like so much fish, listening to the lovely rain.
Today, I hope it continues raining because we need it. I also hope those baboons don’t start with the noise too early. Then I’ll futz and finesse, write new pages, have something to eat, hopefully pick up some packages, hopefully have nothing irritating happen, and then I’ll write more new pages and probably take a break to watch some motion picture or other.
Tomorrow and the weekend will be more of the same. On Sunday I’ll print out however many pages I’ve done and I’ll get them to Muse Margaret. That night I’m seeing some play called Another Antigone, in which our very own Doug Haverty is appearing. I know nothing of it other than it’s by A.R. Gurney. Then we begin our busy Kritzerland rehearsal week, I’ll write every day, and then we have our stumble-through and then sound check and show.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, futz and finesse, write, eat, hopefully pick up packages, relax, write, watch a movie, and write. Today’s topic of discussion: What were the musicals and plays that were game or life-changers for you, the ones that made you see things in a new way? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, hoping that we can lose the second half of the opening sentence of A Tale of Two Cities and just be able to say it was the best of times.