Well, dear readers, we had our first Kritzerland rehearsal and it was a whole lot o’ fun. I got about seven hours of sleep, got up at nine, shaved and showered and I still hadn’t heard from Muse Margaret. But I realized I made a mistake and didn’t send all the pages – what I sent her was missing the first twenty-four pages of this new batch. So, I immediately made a new PDF and sent that to her, then called to tell her. Turns out that she never read any of it the day before because apparently it was a crazy day. She was almost through reading the fifty pages I’d sent, then she was going to go back and read the twenty-four that preceded it. I did a few things on the computer, and she called me back at eleven and told me she just loved all the new pages – except for one sequence, which I knew she wouldn’t like but that I just wanted to write anyway. She thought that entire business should go as it gave the book the wrong feel and she was right and when the book is revealed I’ll probably make that cut section available, just because it’s kind of fun in a mean way. Cutting that stuff lost me four pages. I then futzed and finessed and then the young folks began arriving. Some are new to us, and some have been with us before. They’re all very different and a really talented group. All the song choices, many of which we’ve done before, work really well and so does the order I chose save for the opening number, which I’m going to swap out for something else that we haven’t opened with before. We’ll see how that feels. We adjusted a few things, but basically just ran the songs. I rarely do any directing on the first rehearsal, but I do a lot of it on the second. It was a long day, but for me a very enjoyable day. We began at eleven and finished early, at three-fifteen. We were, in fact, ahead the entire day, which was great. After that, I was starving, so I ordered Panda Express, and it really was express – arrived ten minutes later and I ate it all except for some white rice. It’s always dependable. That was it for food. After that, I began writing new pages. I’m probably one twenty pages away from finishing, maybe thirty tops, but it’s structurally tricky so it’s a little slow-going between structure and research, but in the end, I only took one break and got fifteen pages done and have crossed the 200-page line. That means I am now in the home stretch. Whew! During the hour-long break, I just watched stuff on YouTube.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll futz and finesse, I’ll write new pages, I may go out to get food that I’ll bring home, I’ll eat, I’ll write more new pages, I’ll take breaks, I’ll try to start cutting and pasting the commentary so I at least have that started, and then at some point I’ll watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow is our second Kritzerland rehearsal – we start at eleven-twenty and finish at three-thirty, and then it’s eating and writing. Sunday is all writing, Monday is our stumble-through at five-thirty, and Tuesday is sound check and show.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up when I’m up, futz and finesse, write new pages, get food, eat, write new pages, cut and paste some commentary, and watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s Friday – what is currently in your CD player and your DVD/Blu and Ray/streaming player? I’ll start – who knows? Your turn. Let’s have loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to be in the home stretch of the new book.