Well, dear readers, I am sitting here like so much exhausted fish after yet another night of fitful sleep, tossing and turning, Active Brain Syndrome (ABS) and only about five or six hours of sleep. I was actually in bed by three, got up at four-thirty after just lying there like so much fish. The reason for not being able to fall asleep was mostly that I’d just finished the last of the day’s new pages, a sequence in which a new character was introduced. And for the second time in this book, I wrote this character horribly – from his character to his looks to the awful dialogue. So, as I was thinking about that, the entire character came to me full blown, including dialogue, so when I got up, I got all that written down so I wouldn’t forget it when it came time to futz and finesse. I got back in bed about six-thirty and fell asleep until the alarm rang at eleven o’clock. I got up and dressed and the visitor, a book dealer, arrived at eleven-thirty. This is one of my favorite dealers because he’s down to earth and not out to cheat anyone. He comes every now and then to see if I want to get rid of anything. So, he chose about fourteen books, two of which I didn’t want to get rid of. So, that was easy, and he was there about an hour or so. While he was looking through the shelves, I futzed and finessed, although the initial stuff was more than futzing and finessing – I completely rewrote the sequence of about eight pages that I hadn’t liked and it’s so much better now. The character now has personality to spare, good dialogue, and everything works well. So, that was good. Then I futzed and finessed the other pages and finished doing that just as the dealer showed me what he wanted to get. And now, I’m listening to music, specifically Claudine Longet, who showed up out of nowhere and became a good-selling singer. For someone who basically has not much of a voice, her albums are surprisingly fun – wispy, breathy, little volume – but with class A production from A&M Records, great arrangements/orchestrations, and really interesting song choices, somehow it all works.
Yesterday was certainly a Sunday. Not enough sleep, but a nice visit. After the visit, I ordered a roasted garlic chicken pizza from the California Pizza Kitchen, which arrived about forty minutes later. It’s a small-sized affair, just right for one and it was very good. Then I wrote several new pages, took a break but never got around to watching anything. Then I wrote more new pages. Since I was ahead of the game, I was able to write a couple less pages, but I might do another page before sleep.
Then I had quite a long and nice telephonic conversation with my brother. I haven’t seen him in quite a few years, and I’d heard he’d had some health problems, and it was great fun to catch up and know he’s doing better now. As we always do, we ended up reminiscing about our wacky parents and other relatives. I think he’s going to try and visit, which would be fun.
After that, I wrote a couple more pages and crossed page 150. Then I did a quick CVS run, as I was out of Claritin-D. I got that and a couple of bags of those mini candy bar things – Milky Way and Three Musketeers. Oh, and a box of Milk Duds. When I need a sweet, I can just have one of the mini candy bars or a few Milk Duds. I have pretty good control over not overdoing that stuff. Then I came home, took a pill, ate one mini Three Musketeers and one mini Milky Way and about five Milk Duds and that was the satisfying that Ye Olde Sweete Toothe needed.
Today, I have to be up by eight-thirty for the handyman, who’s coming to fix a couple of things. My guess is that I’ll get up at that time and he won’t show up until later – that’s happened before, but if I DON’T get up at that time, then he’ll definitely show up on time. Go know. Once up and coherent, I’ll futz and finesse, write new pages, hopefully pick up some packages, bank, eat something light but fun, write more new pages, and then at some point, watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow, I think there’ll be a lunch with our very own Jason Graae, otherwise it’s writing and stuff. Wednesday is a work session for the Kritzerland show with our musical director – that shouldn’t take all that long, and then it’s writing. And so it goes right through the weekend, when Muse Margaret will get however many pages there are by Saturday. And then we’re into our Kritzerland rehearsal week.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by eight-thirty, futz and finesse, write new pages, hopefully pick up packages, eat, write more new pages, and then watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: Which singers do you like who don’t really have a great voice – the examples, of course, would include Claudine Longet and Astrud Gilberto, but there are many others. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, hoping for a decent night’s sleep and maybe a little break from ABS.