Thursday, November 30, 2006

End of November

The end of November is here, and I have to say, November really did go by fast. I know I was busy with the play at the Guthrie, but though I am still there nearly every night, it has not been all that intense in terms of time. Anyway, in a month I am planning to move. I have felt a tug to move on, trying something new and trying out a new place, and now the opportunity for it is finally here. I'll be moving to the Salt Lake City area to be near my girlfriend, Cassie. It is still rather wild to my mind, but that's definitely a good thing. I'll be pursuing theater and music and writing while I'm there, which I'm really thrilled about. I have a place to live for some semi-indeterminate amount of time, no more than a year, and I have some ideas, at lease, for what I'll be doing, involving auditions and resumes and all that good stuff. A friend of mine at the guthrie, who is also an extra in the show, says he does more film type of work. He mentioned that I should find a good agent, give them a resume and a headshot and see if anything comes up in the line of commercials, something like that. That was not the first person to mention this to me, so I'm thinking I should give it a try. At the worst, an agent will decide not to take me on, so there's not much to lose. He said not to give them any money, which I was already somewhat aware was kind of a shady business practice.

Anyway, I've been feeling good about my writing lately. I haven't been so diligent as to finish, and I still don't write three or four pages a day, as I think I should. I said some time ago that if I worked on it like I should, I would be able to finish the first rough draft by the end of November. I haven't yet, because I haven't worked on it enough, but I still feel good about it, because the story is finally beginning to draw to a close. I'm basically right in the middle of the climax, big battle scenes, people dying, all that good stuff. I keep forgeting that there needs to be some sort of resolution at the end, beyond just the victory point of the climax. Some type of epilogue material, and I neglect to include that in my thoughts about finishing the work. But I feel good about it. Even when I only write a couple paragraphs, I look it over and, for good or ill, I usually like it. Soon I will be able to get down and dirty with editing my own material, reworking everything that doesn't fit to gether or doesn't make sense, fixing grammar and plotlines and foreshadowing and backstory and spelling and everything. It seems like a daunting task, but I think I have a better idea of what needs to be fixed/changed than I would have when I was only half-way through the story. Anyway, my goal is still the end of the year, and I suppose I should make that the second-draft deadline. It's exciting to me, in a way, but I don't think I will really be happy about it until it's on it's way to publication... if it gets to that point. I hope and pray that it does.

And in other news, my guitar practicing has been different recently. I haven't been hammering out cover tunes, like I've intended to, but I've been working on fingering a lot. It's actually really good for me, because it builds up my callouses and gives my fingers a really good workout, and it should make me a better guitar player, so I think it's well worth it. That being said, I should get too work on some more S&G. Maybe some other stuff, too.

That's all for now, I think.


quote of the day:
S: Tell me about your girlfriend Marzipan. What's her deal?

H: She told me today that she thinks your baking has really improved lately.

S: Oh, my baking, eh? I do enjoy baking every once and again.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

H: Intwesting. I'll take note of that.