Would That I Might

I am, as mentioned, focusing my effort on revising my play.  I need to be done with the current draft for the next session at Theatre Lab on the 11th and did a pass through that took me almost to the end.  I stopped short, as I am at a point where I know that I am going to add a little more and I want to put a bit more thought into it before I go on. In the current draft I am focusing on changing the age of the character, shifting into a present tense, and also adding the voices of the characters into the speech.  This required me to also do a fair amount of the work that will reshape the plot, as well, since much of that is a result of these things.  I think I've done a good job thus far of creating the frame for that, but I expect that I will want to go back and retexture much of the quoted speech.  I think it will become important to do that, and am especially interested in creating more distinct voices so the actor can really play with that. I think that...

This evening was my first session working with the other playwrights on our scripts.  Not all of the others who are in the group were able to attend, but there were three of the others who came.  We read through each of the plays, and I received a lot of notes that point me in the right direction and helped me to clarify certain ideas in a way that I think makes sense to me. For one, I am definitely making the character an adult, and I am adding some more tension in terms of events surrounding the character.  I think the title will likely change, and I am getting a pretty good notion of certain things that I think will need to happen.  For one thing, I believe that the character will be using more direct quotes and the voices of the other characters.  As well, I am going to alter the tense of the story and tweak certain aspects of the voice.  I think I can also add in some small details here and there, in order to build the exposition. Matt has also bee...

I did some work on the new piece, but didn't get much done, honestly.  I also did a bit more preparation work for revising my play, but I am waiting until after the first official writing session tomorrow night.  I thought, however, that I would take and write a bit tonight about the ideas that I am considering for the poetry workshop I'll be teaching over the Summer.  It is only a one day class, but I want to think about this carefully to make certain I can share something that is useful and concrete for the participants.  As well, I know that I need to send a short description of what I plan to do in for their PR materials, so I want to do this tonight in order to put together that blurb tomorrow. The general idea is about how a poet references the world to bring meaning into a poem that can then be transformed.  I had read this  poem which begins in a way that is very clearly echoing Williams This Is Just To Say .  What interests me about this is ...

So, this is how neurotic I can be: as I was writing the title in on this post, I spent a long time going back and forth over whether to call this day 105 or 106, since, though I didn't write an official entry for the notebook yesterday, this is still the 106th day...  It made sense at the time, but it does not really, now.  Putting that aside, I did begin work on a new project.  I am uncertain about where it is going, though it is informed by the ideas discussed previously.  It began with a few lines that came to mind and started to play around in my mind, and when I sat to write, it took shape in ways I hadn't quite anticipated, but I recognize their shape.  In some ways, I can feel what I am doing, and in other ways, it is a very odd kind of thing.  I do think that their are certain aspects of the story that I am becoming aware of. and which will shape the narrative.  At present, I feel that certain aspects are kind of being drawn from ideas I pi...

I didn't do a ton of work today, as I felt I needed a bit of time off to think, and am still contemplating the idea for the new book.  It was, however, a special day for my family, and I wanted to share a bit about that here. In 2015, Melissa and I decided that we wanted a pet.  I had previously had ferrets, which I loved, but I recognize that they are not for everyone.   In childhood, I had wanted a dog or cat, but could not have them in the apartment where I grew up.  Now, as an adult, Melissa and I decided upon a cat.  First, my brother has a cat, and my parents had long since adopted her as their cat as well.  Cisco actually spends much of her time in Florida, even when my brother is not here.  If we had a dog, it would be far less welcome in their house or in the apartment in New York.  There was one other issue, though.  My mother is allergic to cats, but Cisco is a pure-bred Siberian, a breed that is said to be hypoallergenic,...

I still have a bit to wrap up on the current novel, but I am planning to start a new project tomorrow as well, and to keep working a bit on this until I finish, which shouldn't be too much longer, as I do know the shape of what is to come.  The new book has yet to really be clear to me, but I know I should start tomorrow.  In some ways, I think I am glad to be moving on to something new, as I found this book a beast in many ways, and I think that having another project that is on the front burner and which is more enjoyable to write, will be a good thing for me in general. I do have some thoughts on the shape of what I want to do, as I mentioned yesterday, but I don't really know how to put it all together, or even the specifics of the characters.  Of course, it might be that this idea will wait a bit, and something else will leap onto the page.  That certainly can happen, if an idea is not ripe enough but another is ready.  I think, this current idea needs so...

I still have a significant amount of work on the current novel, but am prepared to get through it tomorrow.  I don't doubt that I can do it, but I am sure it will take an effort.  I am feeling confident about the book as a whole, in terms of the work, though it may well be something just for myself at the moment at least.  It does not feel like it is something that I could publish without a lot more work, and I don't really feel that this is the project I want to sink that time into. I am extremely glad to write this work, of course, as I do think it has helped me gain a much stronger grasp on certain concepts and it also opened up a lot for me in my own thinking.  It was largely a personal journey, and I expect that writing the ending will be as well.  I am, I'll admit, somewhat scared of this project in some way.  I think that is what has slowed me down, and I think the fear is a result of my awareness that this is very personal and about coping with my...