spinning in all directions

good news! big gap between posts means I've been busy on actual work instead of ruminating on it.

-agent is calling me back again and likes the new bofc chapters. he's submitting to new editors.

-worked like, 14 14 hr. days on strays and hit the deadline for class. almost done with the pilot; will email them the rest.

-hipster continues to run thru my veins like bad blood. must bleed it out. soon. agent likes but warns, no one buys novels.

-short stories popping out at random intervals. they're so dark and pathetic that the strength and honesty just may shine thru and i think that's the lightest way to be.

reality check

of course, there's the other side to all this wishy-swishing around through the warm bath water of lavender-scented indecision and frothy ideas.

they come in the form of texts from my friend at william morris who just went thru a writer's bootcamp for agents thing today, and is taking it out on me:

dude, there are too many writers with motivation making money. grow up or stop claiming ur a writer.

ouch, and then...

too harsh for u. i mean i'm bored of postive reinforcement.

ok! followed by...

i mean seriously? ull be procrastinating till ur 40.

i hope they told her to do this to writers or something. and...

the strays idea. how many years u had that stashed?

ok, fine. back to work.

post-materialism, the aesthete and style

my mind is stewing these days with angles, edges, concepts and philosophies all converging aromatically like a big goo-ball at a reggae festival. which austere bun-lady over there would definitely not approve of my sampling.

i'm not sure where it's all going to end up, but i'm treading off into some social commentary land in my new novel, hipster. it's fun, a little daunting, and ultimately, very entertaining to live with ideas jostling through your veins like childhood building blocks.

Helpful Research Tool

This is a great website for television screenwriters.

RIP - the author of 'The Infinite Jest'

never surprises me when writers do this.

here's something he wrote in college:

You are the sickness yourself.... You realize all this...when you look at the black hole and it's wearing your face. That's when the Bad Thing just absolutely eats you up, or rather when you just eat yourself up. When you kill yourself. All this business about people committing suicide when they're "severely depressed;" we say, "Holy cow, we must do something to stop them from killing themselves!" That's wrong. Because all these people have, you see, by this time already killed themselves, where it really counts.... When they "commit suicide," they're just being orderly.

one-month strategic plan

focusing is SO DAMN HARD. i spend more time coming up with new ideas and researching old ones, than actually working.

i need to make a rock-solid plan and then stick to it. darn, does that mean i have to right now? ok, here goes.

to do:

-rewrite bride of christ opening chapter. i'm told it needs to be 'more visual, more shocking.' bleh. the hardest thing is, i'm still struggling with the voice. do i want to be objective and narrative, or can i employ my snarky, holden caulfield voice at times too? then they'll tell me, 'less abrasive. we want to like the character more.' double bleh.
-plot out a STRAYS season, then write the pilot. SO MUCH WORK!!

-brainstorm a plot idea, then write a sample 'mad men' episode. that's how to break in, i always hear. copy an existing show to show your skills before you try to sell a new idea as a no-namer. plus, i've watched 17 or so episodes in the last few weeks. now's the time.

-write some short stories from my vast reprotire of undone ideas. submit them.

so. it's friday, August 29. i have a 3 day weekend. plan out a mad men story by tuesday morning; review the episodes and take notes on names and specific dialogue. research some early '60's demos. ooh! i have an idea! research when the feminist movement started; maybe draker's stay at home wife could have a run-in with some outspoken women and start to think outside the box! i like this!

ok. so start writing the episode two hours every night; have it done by october 1st. meanwhile, get up at 8am every day, and submit 2 short stories for publication by october 1st. and work on bride of christ two hours every day, after work; send three great chapters to my agent by mid-september.

whew! i need a cigarette break and, oh i know, this calls for...a random old typwriter posting!!

hint, hint to the universe

this is my book wishlist right now.
i just ordered
no one belongs here more than you by miranda july. she lives in LA and her best friend is in my writing class. i wish i could be miranda's friend, too. she's out of control awesome.

UPDATE: 10/16

I ended up thumbing thru Dear Diary at the American Apparel warehouse downtown (long story) and it's pretty much lame, so never mind.

Also, I have jealousy issues with the author, who is my age, and just happened to have held on to her teenage years diary. Damn my parents and their irresponsible foreclosure while I lived on the other side of the country and couldn't save all my childhood stuff from being tossed in a dumpster, thereby prohibiting me from seamlessly squeezing my lemons into profitable lemonade, dammit!