Well, dear readers, this month is flying by, like a gazelle rolling a hard eight in Vegas. I mean, it’s the middle of the month already, how can that be? And that means that as of today, I’ve been writing the new book every day for two weeks. I’m thinking that if all goes according to Hoyle, I might just finish it by the end of next week. But as I’m getting to the final forty to fifty pages I am in the section of the book where I have to tie many strands together and therefore, I don’t know how long that will all take. But I think once I get there it will probably become clear to me, especially after hot showers. Other than that, once again it wasn’t much of a music day or night, due to a lot of stuff having to get done, but that’s for later. I did listen to the rest of The Bartered Bride and enjoyed it very much. And I’ve been sitting here like so much fish trying to keep up with everything and juggling writing and getting the footage from project one ready for Marshall Harvey. We had a few snags we had to deal with – Eric shot his stuff with his iPhone and a separate mic and he had to marry that audio with the video. But something went wrong somewhere, that we think has to do with differing frame rates for the audio and video or perhaps when he was converting the video to mp4s something went wrong, so his stuff would start in sync but then drift and would be five or six frames out by the end of a take. Well, Marshall did not want to sit there and hand sync as he went along, so we had Eric send us the takes directly from his iPhone with the iPhone audio, which of course is in sync. So, I now have all that, plus his audio files from the other mic, plus the mp4s as there may be a way to convert the frame rate, but my recommendation was to just use the iPhone video and audio, since that’s what Hartley did. Anyway, those files have been uploading all evening, then I have to rename them and get them all on Marshall’s hard drive, which he’s going to pick up today. Doing stuff this way is a learning experience for everyone – that’s the brave new world we’re living in right now.
Yesterday was certainly a day. I only got six hours of sleep, then once up I answered e-mails then spent the next hour or so futzing and finessing. Then I printed out 107 pages, took them to Staples and got them Xeroxed, after which I picked up a package, then came home.
I’d ordered a pastrami sandwich from Togo’s, not even realizing it was national pastrami day. It arrived thirty minutes later, and it was very good this time around. I had a chocolate donut, too. Then Muse Margaret called, so I drove over there and delivered the pages. Then I came right back home and started to write new pages, but only got a couple done. I was in a tricky section, so I kept stopping and starting, but finally got it the way that I wanted. Then the whole project one thing happened, so that took up some time. That was cause for a second chocolate donut. I wrote another page or two, then sat on my couch like so much fish.
Last night, I tried to watch a DGA screener entitled Radioactive, yet another terrible title for a film about Madame Curie. I watched about forty minutes but found it fairly pedestrian, especially the script, so I shut it off.
Then I wrote more pages, had some popcorn, got more videos, and then it was time to write these here notes. At the time I began them, I’d written eleven new pages and I’ll definitely do four more after I post these here notes and take a shower. I’m in the middle of a fun sequence, so I’ll finish that up and mush on. Muse Margaret read about half the pages and called and said she’d read the other half this morning, but she loved what she read and only had one thing that bothered her, which she was totally right about, so I’ll adjust that – it’s just removing a few repeated words. But she also caught a whopper of a mistake, timeline-wise, so I have to go back and just redo about three paragraphs, and I’ve already figured out what that change will be.
Today, I’ll be up by eleven, I’ll futz and finesse, I’m having a visitor pick up some CDs at one, then Marshall will come by at some point and get the hard drive so he can start editing. I’ll write new pages, I’ll hopefully pick up some packages, I’ll eat something reasonable, write new pages, take some music breaks, write new pages, and get to bed by one, as she of the Evil Eye will be here bright and early.
Tomorrow, she of the Evil Eye will be here bright and early and I’ll go do something for a couple of hours. Once I return then it’s the usual futzing and finessing and writing, but I also have to relax and have some ME time, and that goes for Sunday, too. Then next week, I’m hoping I’ll finish the new book and that will be exciting. I also want to have some forward momentum on project two, so those conversations will happen.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by eleven, hopefully have a Muse Margaret call, futz and finesse, write new pages, have a brief visit, give Marshall the hard drive, write new pages, hopefully pick up packages, eat, have a few music breaks, and write new pages. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Friday – what is currently in your CD player and your DVD/Blu and Ray player? I’ll start – CD, I probably will have some opera to listen to. DVD, I may try another screener. Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, learning as we go in this brave new world of making entertainment without actually being together.