Well, dear readers, I just began watching a motion picture I’ve never seen, which is surprising since it’s considered a classic of the cinema, Fred Zinneman’s film of Day of the Jackal. I’m only ten minutes in but I’m enjoying it so far and so far I’m enjoying it, not necessarily in that order. Let’s get caught up on the writing business. When I got up, I called Muse Margaret and told her I’d be sending her the revised sections where I’d cut material, so she could see how it all goes. But mostly we talked about the stuff early in the book and when I went through it with her she totally agreed about moving three pages of it to where it would make more sense, while I’d write a few new lines to smooth out what was going away. So, before I even futzed and finessed, I revised the stuff early in the book and moved the pertinent stuff to later, some of which I inserted and some of which I hadn’t gotten to yet. Then I futzed and finessed a whopping twenty page and that took quite some time. I wrote a new paragraph, then went to the mail place and picked up a few items, none of which were that interesting. I went next door, got a Subway spicy Eyetalian sandwich, came home, and ate it all up and it was excellent. Then I buckled down, Winsocki and began writing new pages. Then I had to move stuff around like crazy to make certain things work, adding to earlier sequences and I completely lost track of how many pages I’d written because with all the added stuff it just was too hard to figure out. I wrote for most of the day and most of the evening, taking only a few breaks. I finally stopped around ten-thirty. I’m thinking I probably wrote a total of twenty pages and I’m definitely coming to the finish line but probably not until Friday. I still have somewhere between twenty and thirty pages to go. We’re closing in on page 450 of the manuscript and we’re just shy of 90,000 words so – novella my ASS. That may actually be the title of the book.
That was pretty much yesterday in a nutshell. What yesterday was DOING in a nutshell is anyone’s guess. Oh, I did send Muse Margaret the revised pages and she called to tell me she loved them and it fixed her problems, so that was good and good was that. I had to do a CVS run for more Pepcid, but thankfully I had a 40% off coupon and my usual $10 off monthly thing, so my sixty-dollar tally with some sweets and chips cost thirty dollars. I had some of the Queso potato chips, which taste fine but make the breath smell foul and fetid.
Today, I’ll be up by ten-thirty at the latest, I’ll futz and finesse a LOT of pages, I’ll write new pages, at least fifteen, maybe more, I’ll eat, I’ll pray for a modern major miracle, and then I’ll write more and perhaps watch more of Day of the Jackal.
Tomorrow I may or may not finish the book, but I think it’s probably a safe bet that I will. Saturday and Sunday, I have two casting sessions and there are callbacks on Monday but I’ll probably have made my choices by then so I’m hoping I won’t have to go.
IF I finish the book on Friday, I’ll try to have a celebratory meal with someone.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up by ten-thirty at the latest, futz and finesse a LOT of pages, write new pages, eat, pray for a modern major miracle, write more pages, then maybe watch more of Day of the Jackal. Today’s topic of discussion: What are your favorite films that involve politics or that are political thrillers? Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to be approaching the finish line.