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Here's a bit of Friday fun before I shut down for the Labour Day weekend. My horror story about home repairs is in today's Life section of the Edmonton Journal. Here's the on-line version of the article.
Happy Labour Day. I'm shutting down for the weekend. Hope you enjoy the article.
I'm pecking away at sample pages to go with my graphic novel proposal, and I have to admit that it's pretty fun. I get to write in a style that is very familiar to me: tv writing. But the cool thing is that I can do anything I want without having to worry about budget. It's very liberating.
The only concern I have write now is that my finger is a bit sore and I'm not sure why. Being the hypochondriac that I am I started to fear that I had arthritis. I'll see how the finger is doing in a couple of days and then I'll see a doctor if it gets worse.
Anyway, I totally feel like I'm back on the writing track, which is good because I don't have much time left before I get into heavy touring season.
Ugh. Barely slept last night... my cats have decided they don't like each other and are fighting at night. Their arena is the back hall where we keep our shoes. The cats knock each other around as well as the shoes down the stairs. It sounds like a herd of teenagers stomping around the house. Consequently, I'm barely awake today and feeling pretty much like a zombie. Did no work today, but I aim to make up for lost time tomorrow... if the cats let me sleep.
This is so weird. After a couple of weeks of just being lazy, I'm suddenly fired up to work on my projects. Timing is convenient with the weather cooling off. I think a bigger reason is the fact that I'm finally out of limbo with the China non-fiction project. Weird how a simple thing like waiting for someone's approval or rejection can wipe out my energy to work.
Now that I know the project is dead, I'm keen to get cracking on the projects that have been on hold. Let's see how far I can get today on the graphic novel proposal. I have to buy myself some time in the next month or so, because then I go into school visits and won't have much time to be at the computer.
Off to work... finally!
Off to St. Albert Chapters for a book signing today. This is a summer event, so I'm not sure how many people are going to be looking for books. The weather is supposed to be nice, so I'm not expecting a lot of traffic. Weird how simple things like weather can affect a book signing. Still, this is a good chance for me to do some PR work on the new book. I might even bring some sketches of True Story to show to kids if they happen to be in the store.
Great day today. I was running a summer camp writing workshop for a few elementary students at Mother Teresa School, and I had a chance to run some of the picture book sketches by the kids. The cover was a hit. The kids really enjoyed the spread of Max beating up the crocodile-Buddy. I'll keep running the sketches by students to get a consensus on what works and what doesn't. So far, it looks like the book is going to work. Yay!
Thanks to the students at Mother Teresa. You the best!
Sigh. Just heard from the publisher for the non-fiction book proposal. No go. I'm a little sad, but surprising not all that sad. This rejection confirms for me that I'm a fiction writer and playwright. While I would have been thrilled to add non-fiction writer to the mix, I realize that the skill set to make facts interesting without embellishing is just not my forte.
In a weird way, I'm relieved to get the rejection, because now I have the time to focus on A Close Shave and the graphic novel proposal. The only thing that disappoints me about the rejection is the explanation. The publisher seemed to contradict his previous notes on my earlier proposal. Maybe I misread his email or maybe I just wasn't able to dig deep enough into the subtext. Either way, I found myself getting rejected for providing what I thought the publisher had asked for.
The only other time I remember this kind of back and forth stuff was when I worked in television with producers who would only know what they wanted once they saw it. They couldn't explain what they wanted or provide clear enough direction; they just asked writers to revise the script until it was in the right place. I called this the fine art of furniture mover writing, where you're moving a very heavy couch around a living room until a fussy homeowner decides where it should live.
Thankfully, the publisher cut me from the project before I could figure out if this was another case of furniture mover writing. I could say that this is just sour grapes for being rejected, but I'm comfortable enough with my skill as a writer that I know I can deliver what a client wants, provided they know what they want.
This experience confirmed for me something that has been gnawing at the side of my brain ever since I entered the publishing world. When I fell into this strange world, I had this weird notion that publishers and editors knew exactly the kinds of books they wanted and what type of story would sell well in the marketplace. I'm now coming to the opinon that the publishing world is just like theatre, film and television; a lot of people with opinions, and those who are most vocal and assertive about their opinions win out over everyone else. In other words, this is a sales-driven industry, and if you can prove you can sell books, you'll get published.
I know people will flay me for suggesting that publishing is mostly a commercial venture, and maybe literary fiction is about artistic voice and literary excellence, but if that's true, why do even publishers need to validate their books by including every award that the book has been nominated for or won. For an author, it might be vanity, but for a publisher, it comes down to the simple fact that awards and nominations can sell books.
Knowing this makes it a whole lot easier to accept a publisher's rejection, because it's not the work that is being rejected, but the marketability of the work that's being rejected. Sometimes, it is about the work but writers have great imaginations and can delude themselves into thinking otherwise.
Anyway, I was happy for the shot to try something I hadn't done before, and I'm sorry I failed at it. Lesson learned. Time to move on to the next adventure.
I finished the article on going back to school. Weird how some ideas just show up on the doorstep. My favourite line in the article is a reference to red shirted security officers in old Star Trek episodes. It's a bit of an homage to a Theatresports player who was a huge Trekkie. She was the one who first pointed ou the business of the red shirts. Sooner or later, everything I've heard or read about will end up in my stories.
Today, I was pretty productive. Not only did I polish the article, but I had a chance to clear some admin stuff that's been sitting around for a week or so. And a friend asked me to do a one-sheet for a half hour comedy series. I banged out the one pager this afternoon and still had time to prep for my writing camp session tomorrow.
I'm ending the day early, knowing that I've had a good start on my motivation to work. Tomorrow, I've got a workshop and a meeting, but I hope to start kicking around the graphic novel proposal. Off to watch Olympics!
What was I thinking? Just when I had a bit of time to focus on some of my existing projects, I go off and pitch another Edmonton Journal article. This one's about my fear of going back to school... adult night classes.
I must be hardwired to take on more work than I have time to do. Either that, or I'm procrastinating from tackling big projects. Weird that I'm distracting myself from writing work by creating more writing work for myself. It makes no sense at all. I think in the end, I'm just messed up... hmm, maybe that's why I'm in the arts.
I'm not saying that I'm responsible for the surge in medals, but I'd just like to point out that before my Olympics article ran in the newspaper on Friday, there were no medals for Canada and now, after my article ran, Canada has seven medals! I'm just saying.
Here's my latest article. It's about Olympic dreams. I figured the topic was appropriate since Canada is still waiting for their first medal. Hope you enjoy the article. Have a great weekend.
Wow! I just came back from my meeting with my illustrator for the picture book. She knocked it out of the park. Not only did she show me sketches of the characters, she also had a storyboard mapped out for the entire book. The sketches look awesome. We had a few pages with some minor changes, but the overall concept is just dynamite. I get to test drive the sketches with kids at a writing camp next week, and I'm itching to show off the images.
The only thing that is a question mark is the ending. Originally, we had conceived the story as the boy blaming his cats for the trouble in the house. I'm wondering if the last sequence should be a bit of payback from the cats. Maybe this story would work better as a "Boy who Cried Wolf" tale. That third sequence is all about the cats fighting and making noise, so the only page that would really have to change is the last one in which the boy has to tell his dad that it is a true story that the cats caused all the trouble. I'm going to mull it over this weekend and see which way to go. Amazing how the illustrators can impact where the writing goes. Very cool exercise in collaboration. I'm loving it.
I've been hiding in my basement playing Word Twist all day. Sigh. At least I'm building my vocabulary. Tomorrow is going to be a scorcher and I have to venture out. I'm hopefully meeting with the illustrator of my picture book. She said she was going to show some sketches of the cats, so that I can figure out which one works best for the characters. I'm still trying to find traction on my graphic novel project and the Sasquatch revisions, but I'm just not movitated this week... make that this month. I have plenty of energy to play games. Maybe I should just write off the rest of the week and start fresh on Monday.
Anyway, tomorrow, the article I wrote this week should run in the Edmonton Journal. Keep an eye out for it.
I've never met Terry Wickham, the executive director of the Edmonton Folk Festival for the last 20 years, but after reading the article about his festival, I want to shake the man's hand. Apparently, there was a glitch on the first day which caused some trouble in the line up. There weren't enough volunteers to deal with a sudden surge of spectators and people waited longer than they should have to get in.
Rather than go into spin control, Terry Wickham came out and said it was their mistake and they would handle the problem with more volunteers so that this wouldn't happen again. I have to say that his honesty was totally refreshing in a world governed by spin and perception.
I've been reading with a heavy heart all the articles about Ron Liepert and how he's been handling the dismantling of regional health boards. Rather than come out and admit that he may have mispoken when he originally was quoted as saying higher salaries were to blame, he's gone into major spin control and blamed the media for misquoting him. Okay, if there's been a mistake, here's Ron Liepert's chance to clear the air and tell everyone the real reason for sacking the public health officials... so far, I've seen nothing that makes sense. In this province, we get what we vote for... and many of us didn't vote, so we got a whole lot of nothing! I did vote and I will continue voting, but I'm starting to lose heart when I see people caring more about what goes on in the rest of the world than in our own backyard.
Apologies... that rant took me off course from the real purpose of this blog entry, and that is to say that this city needs more people like Terry Wickham and less spin doctors. Way to go Folk Fest!
Phew! Last week, I was a lazy dog and now I'm a work horse. Finished the Ipod article and sent it to my editor over the weekend. I also pitched her my Olympic dream article and she liked the idea so much she wants to run it in this Friday's paper. I have to deliver the article before Wednesday. Yikes! Writing under pressure... just the way I like it.
Update: Yuck! Just finished the rough draft of the article a few minutes ago. It's ugly and way out of shape, but I have something I can whip into shape. The hardest part of the article was finding the right way in. I gathered some inspiration from today's events. The Canadian 8-man rowing team are in the finals and trap shooter Susan Nattrass is not. I took those two events and merged them into the inspiration for the introduction. Sometimes, you just have to be open to what the world gives you.
Unleash the hounds... my editor liked my two pitches. I have the home repair article in my back pocket, and now I can get cracking on the shameful song article today. I'm going to try to send them both this weekend.
Of course, now that the Olympics are on, I have an idea for an Olympic life article, but I think I might be too late. Maybe I'll try to pitch my editor Monday and see if there's room in the final week of the Olympics.
Okay, I'm ready to work.
Another lost day. I tried to work, but I've had trouble sleeping with the heat and even more trouble getting to work. I'm withering in my basement office staring at projects that need to be started, but wishing I was living in a freezer. I think there's a connection between hot days and lazy days. I'm feeling downright lazy today and tomorrow doesn't look any better, because the greatest time waster of the summer begins... the Beijing Olympics!
Sigh. Good thing everything is in limbo or else I'd be in trouble. I did finish a revamp of the outline for A Close Shave, and I did start noodling around with the graphic novel idea, but I haven't done anything significant. Plus, tomorrow is the opening ceremonies of the summer Olympics.
Why, oh why am I so lazy today? Okay, someone give me a swift kick in the... never mind.
Back to work this week, but it's a slow start. I spent most of the day updating my computer which is taking a turtle's lifetime to start up. I polished the Edmonton Journal article about home repairs, but I can't send it off until I hear from the editor if she wants the article or not. I started to plan the revision of A Close Shave, but I didn't get very far.
What the heck did i spent all the day on? I just don't know where the time went. Tomorrow is going to be a better day. It just has to be. I have to get going on the novel project. I know limbo is killing my energy, but I can't let it slow me down any more. Move on, move on.
If you're tired of pretentious caped crusaders fighting crime, here's a nice change of pace. Check out Dr. Horrible's sing-along blog!