8.05.2008
TRAMBLINGS...
Have I ever told you guys how much I love GENO DELAFOSE? I haven't? Really? I find that hard to believe but I'll take your word for it. My mother introduced me to Zydeco music and I loved it from the first chord. About ten years ago, she and I traveled to New Orleans on a impromptu mother-daughter trip. It was one of the first times I remember seeing her as a woman separate from me, my life, the lives of my sisters or my father. It was nice. I mark that trip as the beginning of our friendship. The fact that it happened in her home state of Louisiana is not lost on me. I am California born and raised but I've always felt like a southern girl in my heart. The south was very present in our household but it ruled my grandparents house. I used that dynamic to shape the Redfield clan and, even after all this time, the contrasts intrigue me.
Anyway, one night after an afternoon of sightseeing through the French Quarter and the Garden District, we decided to grab some dinner and find a place to listen to music. We found an out of the way joint with great food and a live zydeco band. We weren't in the door two minutes before three different men rushed over to ask my mom to dance. For the next hour I sat on the sidelines and watched. She was beautiful out there and I keep that as a very nice memory. We stayed up late that night and she told me stories about Louisiana, the music, the sweltering summers she spent with her family, the wicked battles my sharp-tongued grandmother would launch with her equally ferocious sisters. Some of those tales have made their way into the Maceo books and some are just waiting their turn.
Either way I've been in love with Delafose (blazing crush on Geno) and his father, John, ever since that trip. Here's a taste for those of you who've never indulged.
This evening I spent the better part of the night reading through the notebooks I kept while writing THE DYING GROUND and THE LAST KING. I am looking for snatches of dialogue, pieces of history, ideas, words, phrases, musical references, characters, whatever, that didn't make it into either book. Man, I could write a book on the things I've forgotten. There are twenty notepads and another box I plan to go through this weekend. I read a few things to the Crown Prince, rattling off character names I plan to use for Book Three. He raised an eyebrow and said, "You've been holding out on me. Those are great names." They are. Can't wait to shape a couple characters around them.
I'm also going to re-read both of the novels in order to address any hanging chads I may have left. It's fun deciding what the characters have been up to in the five years since we've seen them. A lot will change but one thing (or couple) that I hope survive all the rewrites are (wait for it)...Clarence and Yolanda. Wouldn't it be nice if the two of them found love together? I think so. I've been holding onto that for a few years now. Hope it works.
Lastly, it's nice to be back in this world. Feels like a protective shield and if you've read this blog from the beginning you know Maceo was instrumental in guiding me through the grief over losing my father. Ya'll think he's up to being called back into duty? I. Hope. So.
Until next time...
Have I ever told you guys how much I love GENO DELAFOSE? I haven't? Really? I find that hard to believe but I'll take your word for it. My mother introduced me to Zydeco music and I loved it from the first chord. About ten years ago, she and I traveled to New Orleans on a impromptu mother-daughter trip. It was one of the first times I remember seeing her as a woman separate from me, my life, the lives of my sisters or my father. It was nice. I mark that trip as the beginning of our friendship. The fact that it happened in her home state of Louisiana is not lost on me. I am California born and raised but I've always felt like a southern girl in my heart. The south was very present in our household but it ruled my grandparents house. I used that dynamic to shape the Redfield clan and, even after all this time, the contrasts intrigue me.
Anyway, one night after an afternoon of sightseeing through the French Quarter and the Garden District, we decided to grab some dinner and find a place to listen to music. We found an out of the way joint with great food and a live zydeco band. We weren't in the door two minutes before three different men rushed over to ask my mom to dance. For the next hour I sat on the sidelines and watched. She was beautiful out there and I keep that as a very nice memory. We stayed up late that night and she told me stories about Louisiana, the music, the sweltering summers she spent with her family, the wicked battles my sharp-tongued grandmother would launch with her equally ferocious sisters. Some of those tales have made their way into the Maceo books and some are just waiting their turn.
Either way I've been in love with Delafose (blazing crush on Geno) and his father, John, ever since that trip. Here's a taste for those of you who've never indulged.
This evening I spent the better part of the night reading through the notebooks I kept while writing THE DYING GROUND and THE LAST KING. I am looking for snatches of dialogue, pieces of history, ideas, words, phrases, musical references, characters, whatever, that didn't make it into either book. Man, I could write a book on the things I've forgotten. There are twenty notepads and another box I plan to go through this weekend. I read a few things to the Crown Prince, rattling off character names I plan to use for Book Three. He raised an eyebrow and said, "You've been holding out on me. Those are great names." They are. Can't wait to shape a couple characters around them.
I'm also going to re-read both of the novels in order to address any hanging chads I may have left. It's fun deciding what the characters have been up to in the five years since we've seen them. A lot will change but one thing (or couple) that I hope survive all the rewrites are (wait for it)...Clarence and Yolanda. Wouldn't it be nice if the two of them found love together? I think so. I've been holding onto that for a few years now. Hope it works.
Lastly, it's nice to be back in this world. Feels like a protective shield and if you've read this blog from the beginning you know Maceo was instrumental in guiding me through the grief over losing my father. Ya'll think he's up to being called back into duty? I. Hope. So.
Until next time...
Labels: Geno Delafose, Louisiana, Redfields, Writing, Zydeco
2.20.2008
TRAMBLINGS...
My I.D. expired on my birthday and I forgot about it until the last minute. Went with my sister to the local DMV to get a new one. Now, first off, my old picture is so breathtakingly bad that my mother took one look and said, "Oh, my god, Chelle. Oh, my god." The Crown Prince saw it once and said, "You look like a thumb print." Oddly enough I agreed. A bizarre cross between a thumb print and MOROCCO MOLE (remember that little guy from Secret Squirrel?) Anyway, when it came time to fill out the paperwork my pencil hesitated over weight. My sister saw that and said, "If they wanted the truth they'd have a scale up in this motherf*cker." Classic. We laughed so hard and, frankly, laughing, each other and music, are the only things getting us through these dark days.
The illness continues and it's a rollercoaster ride for everyone involved. Some days I leave the hospital feeling hopeful and other days I'm so despondent I can't even breath. Today was a good day. Tomorrow? Who knows. Sitting on the side of the bed, reading the same paragraph over and over and over again in whatever book I've chosen for the day, means I've seen an amazing amount of bad TV. The bad stuff is easier to digest because I don't have to think and my sister and I can snark at the screen and amuse each other. In the reality TV world there is so much to make fun of. Is it a requirement on every show that at least one person utters the line, "I'm here to bring it?" Bring what? Unoriginality? The same old ridiculous worn out comments and phrases get recycled again and again. We should start a drinking game.
Watched the boy's night on AMERICAN IDOL and was thoroughly unimpressed. A couple of the girls made me smile but my overall thought was that all of the contestants failed reading comprehension in high school. Did anyone else get the feeling that the majority of these kids didn't understand the lyrics, had no idea what they were singing about or that words strung together actually form sentences, sentences form thoughts, and a song can actually convey an idea or an emotion? Maybe it's me. Maybe I'm old. I can live with that. It just seems to me that their performances might benefit from taking the time to figure out what the songs means. Even if they're wrong it will at least give their singing a point of view. But I did like THIS GIRL, THIS GIRL, and THIS ONE but moreso in the audition phase.
And, in non-TV talk, I have two speaking engagements on the horizon. The offers came to me through this website which is very, very cool. THE LAST KING was published in 2004 so the press for that book is nonexistent these days. Same for THE DYING GROUND because that pub date was 2001. THE FINISH PARTY had a group reading at BOOK PASSAGE last December and it was the first time I'd read in awhile. I read the first chapter of a work-in-progress instead of something from the Maceo series. I spoke at CAL last spring but I read an essay that I'd written for ON HARPER LEE. It's a very personal essay and that was the first and only time I've read it in public. I also read a snippet from THE LAST KING but not much. Reading the same thing becomes tiresome after awhile so I wanted to mix it up a little.
Not sure what I'll read for the upcoming engagements but I'm considering my short story, "A BEST FRIEND NAMED RICK". I think I excerpted it here once. It's up for critique next month with The Finish Party and it's also the short piece my reps include when submitting me for TV shows. In addition to my RESCUE ME spec, the LAW & ORDER: SVU and the original one hour drama, they'll also throw in a short story, a chapter from one of the books or the reviews. "A BEST FRIEND NAMED RICK" was the piece that went out last year during staffing season but it only went to WOMEN'S MURDER CLUB. I didn't submit it to my reps until the end because I thought the other three samples were enough. This time, because staffing season is upon us once again, it'll go with the rest of the samples. The death of Tommy's father on RESCUE ME, and the addition of Larenz Tate to the cast of the show, blew holes in big parts of my script so I don't know how viable that will be. My original spec is "soft" so I need another piece to balance that out. I'm on it.
Three years ago I was visiting my mom and she told me about this story she heard on the news. It blew me away. A great local news story with POTENTIAL all over it. I called the Crown Prince and told him about it. He agreed it was amazing and then I said, "You should do something with it." It didn't seem like a movie or a book but it did have the feel of a great one hour drama. At the time, I was focused on the book and not really planning the transition to TV. I did a little research and found the two small articles written about the story. Then I put it away. A year later the story started to creep up on me again. I asked C.P. about it but he was swamped. Then once I finished my first original spec and gained some confidence in the arena I decided to "take my story back". I asked C.P. if he ever planned to do anything with the idea and he said no.
At the start of staffing season last year I had a meeting with both my TV agents and my manager to figure out the game plan for the season. It was an interesting meeting because each of them had a different favorite out of my samples. But they all loved the new idea when I pitched it. One of my TV agents said, "Please, Nichelle, whatever you do don't tell that idea to anyone. I mean it." Well, this ain't my first time at the rodeo. When my ideas are at the nascent stage I only share them with C.P., my mom or my sister. No one else. The story has to get to the toddler stage (when it can walk on it's own) before I share it with others. My agent, of course, thought it was easy to steal so he was protecting my ass on that end. Well, since WMC - or at least my involvement with WMC - seems to be over it's time to get out there and shake my ass again. Or, to be blunt, I'm back on the ho stroll.
I started outlining the new spec last week, and once that's done I'll write the first draft and then the second and third. My manager said, "It would be great if you finish it in a month." I didn't freak out. I have a lot of down time at the hospital so I try and use it to flesh out my ideas. I do that in my head and write it down later or I stack the novel I'm reading with blank post-it notes and scribble on those. Since I came up with the idea I've had an opening sequence (the teaser) stuck in my head. While in L.A. with the Crown Prince last week I told him the idea and then he told me his. IT. KICKED. ASS. Much better than mine and I am woman enough to admit it. When I expressed my surprise at how thoroughly he'd thought about it he said, "I think about this story every day. Do you want to give it back to me?"
Uh, no.
But that give and take is a perfect example of what happens when two writers, who work in the same genre, share the same space. I read Joan Didion's THE YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING when it was published (loved that book) and one passage stuck with me. Excuse the paraphrasing, I don't have the book here with me in Northern Cal, but it really hit me when Didion said that after the death of her husband she missed the sound of his writing in another room. During the course of an afternoon they'd each be in their separate writing spaces shouting out to one another about the spelling of a word, the structure of a sentence, etc. Didion also talked about reading pages to one another and bouncing ideas around. The silence that engulfed the apartment after his death was different from the silence that existed while the wrote together but apart. C.P. and I often do the same thing. He writes in the morning and morning is not my friend. I write at night which means I have the house to myself. When Kobe was a pup he would stay up with me. Now that he's an old man he bids me adieu at about 10p.m. In the afternoons when C.P. and I are both around we'll often give each other pages to read, help one another to flesh out a character, or talk through a problem with narrative or action.
While I was on script for WMC I wrote until about four or five in the morning, printed out the pages and left them on C.P.'s laptop. Whenever I dragged my carcass out of bed, those same pages would be on my laptop or desk with his edit marks and comments written in the margins. If he was gone I'd call his cell phone to get clarification, argue my point of view or tell him how I planned to go forward. He does the same when he's writing with strict instructions to grammar edit, read for continuity, or general notes. I didn't do this with THE DYING GROUND but I couldn't have written that book if I hadn't met C.P. He introduced me to the real-life Jonathan "Holly" Ford and another friend of his is the physical prototype for Maceo. Besides that, he prodded me to really look at the social ramifications, and not just the personal ones, of the drug wars of the late 80s and early 90s.
Because I was living and writing in northern California at the time, and he was in L.A., I read chapters to him at night over the phone. And I was the first reader of the script that went on to make a splash. By that time I'd sold THE DYING GROUND and was living in New York. He sent me the completed script via FEDEX and I sat in CARL SCHURZ PARK and read it in one sitting. That script got him his first agent, his first script sale, his first rewrite assignment and his first manager. It's all mixed up together but we don't write as a team. We tried it once and, let's just say, it did not go well. In his words, he'd write pages leave them for me to read and I'd just rewrite them. (I was young. What can I say?) Or I'd read a section and say, "I really like that." Not realizing (because of my out-of-control ego) that they were my own words. We still laugh about that. But the deal breaker I think was the "fuck no!" scribbled in the margins when I didn't agree with one of his changes. (Again, I was young but it's a good thing he can laugh about it now). We finished that script and NEVER again tried to write together. Since we're getting married in a couple months that was probably a good decision.
Over dinner once I told my lawyer about the way C.P. and I work together and he almost choked to death. I am not kidding. He lost all the color in his face and had to gulp down two glasses of water before he could talk. He asked me if I thought I might marry C.P. and I responded that I certainly hoped so. His answer, "Great. Good to know. We need to have a serious discussion about intellectual property and a pre-nup." I can dig it. He was looking out for me and my interests. And when C.P. wrote the adaptation of THE DYING GROUND, my attorney treated him, and the producer attached to the project, like strangers on the street. He was a tough negotiator. I think it was his way of working through the stress of the loosey-goosey way his client approached living with another writer. I know other writing couples and they all have similar approaches. Do you guys know any writers that live together and manage to keep things totally separate? Drop me a line if you do.
Anyway, back to the hospital tomorrow, and trying to decide what to read at the next speaking engagement. Maybe I'll make it easy on myself and read from one of the books, maybe I'll read from a short story or a work-in-progress. Maybe I'll read from a story I wrote while taking a creative writing class at SFSU. The first engagement is at a university for the creative writing students. It could be interesting to show them just how green the writing was all those years ago. I'll let you know.
Until next time...
My I.D. expired on my birthday and I forgot about it until the last minute. Went with my sister to the local DMV to get a new one. Now, first off, my old picture is so breathtakingly bad that my mother took one look and said, "Oh, my god, Chelle. Oh, my god." The Crown Prince saw it once and said, "You look like a thumb print." Oddly enough I agreed. A bizarre cross between a thumb print and MOROCCO MOLE (remember that little guy from Secret Squirrel?) Anyway, when it came time to fill out the paperwork my pencil hesitated over weight. My sister saw that and said, "If they wanted the truth they'd have a scale up in this motherf*cker." Classic. We laughed so hard and, frankly, laughing, each other and music, are the only things getting us through these dark days.
The illness continues and it's a rollercoaster ride for everyone involved. Some days I leave the hospital feeling hopeful and other days I'm so despondent I can't even breath. Today was a good day. Tomorrow? Who knows. Sitting on the side of the bed, reading the same paragraph over and over and over again in whatever book I've chosen for the day, means I've seen an amazing amount of bad TV. The bad stuff is easier to digest because I don't have to think and my sister and I can snark at the screen and amuse each other. In the reality TV world there is so much to make fun of. Is it a requirement on every show that at least one person utters the line, "I'm here to bring it?" Bring what? Unoriginality? The same old ridiculous worn out comments and phrases get recycled again and again. We should start a drinking game.
Watched the boy's night on AMERICAN IDOL and was thoroughly unimpressed. A couple of the girls made me smile but my overall thought was that all of the contestants failed reading comprehension in high school. Did anyone else get the feeling that the majority of these kids didn't understand the lyrics, had no idea what they were singing about or that words strung together actually form sentences, sentences form thoughts, and a song can actually convey an idea or an emotion? Maybe it's me. Maybe I'm old. I can live with that. It just seems to me that their performances might benefit from taking the time to figure out what the songs means. Even if they're wrong it will at least give their singing a point of view. But I did like THIS GIRL, THIS GIRL, and THIS ONE but moreso in the audition phase.
And, in non-TV talk, I have two speaking engagements on the horizon. The offers came to me through this website which is very, very cool. THE LAST KING was published in 2004 so the press for that book is nonexistent these days. Same for THE DYING GROUND because that pub date was 2001. THE FINISH PARTY had a group reading at BOOK PASSAGE last December and it was the first time I'd read in awhile. I read the first chapter of a work-in-progress instead of something from the Maceo series. I spoke at CAL last spring but I read an essay that I'd written for ON HARPER LEE. It's a very personal essay and that was the first and only time I've read it in public. I also read a snippet from THE LAST KING but not much. Reading the same thing becomes tiresome after awhile so I wanted to mix it up a little.
Not sure what I'll read for the upcoming engagements but I'm considering my short story, "A BEST FRIEND NAMED RICK". I think I excerpted it here once. It's up for critique next month with The Finish Party and it's also the short piece my reps include when submitting me for TV shows. In addition to my RESCUE ME spec, the LAW & ORDER: SVU and the original one hour drama, they'll also throw in a short story, a chapter from one of the books or the reviews. "A BEST FRIEND NAMED RICK" was the piece that went out last year during staffing season but it only went to WOMEN'S MURDER CLUB. I didn't submit it to my reps until the end because I thought the other three samples were enough. This time, because staffing season is upon us once again, it'll go with the rest of the samples. The death of Tommy's father on RESCUE ME, and the addition of Larenz Tate to the cast of the show, blew holes in big parts of my script so I don't know how viable that will be. My original spec is "soft" so I need another piece to balance that out. I'm on it.
Three years ago I was visiting my mom and she told me about this story she heard on the news. It blew me away. A great local news story with POTENTIAL all over it. I called the Crown Prince and told him about it. He agreed it was amazing and then I said, "You should do something with it." It didn't seem like a movie or a book but it did have the feel of a great one hour drama. At the time, I was focused on the book and not really planning the transition to TV. I did a little research and found the two small articles written about the story. Then I put it away. A year later the story started to creep up on me again. I asked C.P. about it but he was swamped. Then once I finished my first original spec and gained some confidence in the arena I decided to "take my story back". I asked C.P. if he ever planned to do anything with the idea and he said no.
At the start of staffing season last year I had a meeting with both my TV agents and my manager to figure out the game plan for the season. It was an interesting meeting because each of them had a different favorite out of my samples. But they all loved the new idea when I pitched it. One of my TV agents said, "Please, Nichelle, whatever you do don't tell that idea to anyone. I mean it." Well, this ain't my first time at the rodeo. When my ideas are at the nascent stage I only share them with C.P., my mom or my sister. No one else. The story has to get to the toddler stage (when it can walk on it's own) before I share it with others. My agent, of course, thought it was easy to steal so he was protecting my ass on that end. Well, since WMC - or at least my involvement with WMC - seems to be over it's time to get out there and shake my ass again. Or, to be blunt, I'm back on the ho stroll.
I started outlining the new spec last week, and once that's done I'll write the first draft and then the second and third. My manager said, "It would be great if you finish it in a month." I didn't freak out. I have a lot of down time at the hospital so I try and use it to flesh out my ideas. I do that in my head and write it down later or I stack the novel I'm reading with blank post-it notes and scribble on those. Since I came up with the idea I've had an opening sequence (the teaser) stuck in my head. While in L.A. with the Crown Prince last week I told him the idea and then he told me his. IT. KICKED. ASS. Much better than mine and I am woman enough to admit it. When I expressed my surprise at how thoroughly he'd thought about it he said, "I think about this story every day. Do you want to give it back to me?"
Uh, no.
But that give and take is a perfect example of what happens when two writers, who work in the same genre, share the same space. I read Joan Didion's THE YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING when it was published (loved that book) and one passage stuck with me. Excuse the paraphrasing, I don't have the book here with me in Northern Cal, but it really hit me when Didion said that after the death of her husband she missed the sound of his writing in another room. During the course of an afternoon they'd each be in their separate writing spaces shouting out to one another about the spelling of a word, the structure of a sentence, etc. Didion also talked about reading pages to one another and bouncing ideas around. The silence that engulfed the apartment after his death was different from the silence that existed while the wrote together but apart. C.P. and I often do the same thing. He writes in the morning and morning is not my friend. I write at night which means I have the house to myself. When Kobe was a pup he would stay up with me. Now that he's an old man he bids me adieu at about 10p.m. In the afternoons when C.P. and I are both around we'll often give each other pages to read, help one another to flesh out a character, or talk through a problem with narrative or action.
While I was on script for WMC I wrote until about four or five in the morning, printed out the pages and left them on C.P.'s laptop. Whenever I dragged my carcass out of bed, those same pages would be on my laptop or desk with his edit marks and comments written in the margins. If he was gone I'd call his cell phone to get clarification, argue my point of view or tell him how I planned to go forward. He does the same when he's writing with strict instructions to grammar edit, read for continuity, or general notes. I didn't do this with THE DYING GROUND but I couldn't have written that book if I hadn't met C.P. He introduced me to the real-life Jonathan "Holly" Ford and another friend of his is the physical prototype for Maceo. Besides that, he prodded me to really look at the social ramifications, and not just the personal ones, of the drug wars of the late 80s and early 90s.
Because I was living and writing in northern California at the time, and he was in L.A., I read chapters to him at night over the phone. And I was the first reader of the script that went on to make a splash. By that time I'd sold THE DYING GROUND and was living in New York. He sent me the completed script via FEDEX and I sat in CARL SCHURZ PARK and read it in one sitting. That script got him his first agent, his first script sale, his first rewrite assignment and his first manager. It's all mixed up together but we don't write as a team. We tried it once and, let's just say, it did not go well. In his words, he'd write pages leave them for me to read and I'd just rewrite them. (I was young. What can I say?) Or I'd read a section and say, "I really like that." Not realizing (because of my out-of-control ego) that they were my own words. We still laugh about that. But the deal breaker I think was the "fuck no!" scribbled in the margins when I didn't agree with one of his changes. (Again, I was young but it's a good thing he can laugh about it now). We finished that script and NEVER again tried to write together. Since we're getting married in a couple months that was probably a good decision.
Over dinner once I told my lawyer about the way C.P. and I work together and he almost choked to death. I am not kidding. He lost all the color in his face and had to gulp down two glasses of water before he could talk. He asked me if I thought I might marry C.P. and I responded that I certainly hoped so. His answer, "Great. Good to know. We need to have a serious discussion about intellectual property and a pre-nup." I can dig it. He was looking out for me and my interests. And when C.P. wrote the adaptation of THE DYING GROUND, my attorney treated him, and the producer attached to the project, like strangers on the street. He was a tough negotiator. I think it was his way of working through the stress of the loosey-goosey way his client approached living with another writer. I know other writing couples and they all have similar approaches. Do you guys know any writers that live together and manage to keep things totally separate? Drop me a line if you do.
Anyway, back to the hospital tomorrow, and trying to decide what to read at the next speaking engagement. Maybe I'll make it easy on myself and read from one of the books, maybe I'll read from a short story or a work-in-progress. Maybe I'll read from a story I wrote while taking a creative writing class at SFSU. The first engagement is at a university for the creative writing students. It could be interesting to show them just how green the writing was all those years ago. I'll let you know.
Until next time...
Labels: Reality TV, Research, Speaking Engagements, Writing
1.08.2008
TRAMBLINGS...
How's everyone? Much of the same on this end except for a serious family illness that will keep me in northern California for awhile. (One good thing about this damn strike, huh?) I've been here for a week after a quick return to L.A. to stock up on warm clothes, books and the files I needed for the book project. Because L.A. has actually been cold I had a bunch of new sweaters that have come in handy. You already heard about the coat but I also managed to find a long, black down jacket for $30 that I've officially moved into. It's my new address. The illness, of course, is daunting, scary, humbling and fucked-up. Good days and bad days as we deal but I have been seriously overwhelmed by the love and kindness people have shown my family. All positive thoughts and energy are welcome.
Since I was seven years old and I stapled together scratch paper to make my first "book" writing has been a refuge for me. I am trying to get back to that place during some of the down time but it's hard. My mind wanders, and for lack of a better description I can't get my mental marbles to roll in the same direction. I can actually visualize a gang of colorful marbles in my head all going every which way. The Crown Prince suggests that I take it easy and not be too hard on myself but, frankly, I'm never hard on myself so I need to get it together and be productive.
I went through my files yesterday, tried to find the seed of what got me going on this story. I had a great hour or two where I re-read pages I haven't opened in over two years. I also found notes from THE FINISH PARTY that were very helpful. They still make a lot of sense so I'll spend this evening typing them up in a sort of cheat sheet reference file. My fingers are itching, my mind is jumping to create, so it's just a matter of me taming the marbles or at least getting them to sit still and be quiet.
The wedding stuff is coming along (a nice distraction for everyone) though it looks like Sonoma or Napa may have to fill in for Santa Barbara, my first-first-first choice. I love Santa Barbara (and I always have) but it just as easily serve as a honeymoon locale. The Wine Country is just as beautiful and only an hour away from my family. We'll see.
The past couple days I've been watching Academy Screeners with the family. (A perk of WGA membership). So far I've received 3:10 TO YUMA, JUNO, THE SAVAGES, SWEENEY TODD, NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, LARS AND THE REAL GIRL, MARGOT AT THE WEDDING, AWAY FROM HER, KNOCKED UP, DAN IN REAL LIFE, DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY, INTO THE WILD, ZODIAC, THE KITE RUNNER and THERE WILL BE BLOOD. Loved 3:10 TO YUMA (but in the interest of full disclosure one of the screenwriters is a friend of the Crown Prince), JUNO, LARS and AWAY FROM HER. MARGOT AT THE WEDDING made me want to pull out my own teeth. DAN IN REAL LIFE and THE SAVAGES held my interest but that's about all. KNOCKED UP was just not that funny to me. I know people went crazy for the movie but it didn't work for me. But, what do I know, SUPERBAD had me in hysterics.
The screenwriter of JUNO has gotten a tremendous amount of press and she deserves all the accolades. Just so well-written. The actors were great. I especially loved Jason Bateman, he just captured that broken-down weariness you see in the eyes of husbands who have one foot out of their marriage. Jennifer Garner was also impressive with her wound-up sadness. I think I'll watch again.
In the meantime, NYC/RAGAZZA pointed me toward two essays written by the creator of BROTHERS & SISTERS. Part One covers how his WORK drove him from L.A. (He was ousted from his own show). PART TWO focuses on the perils of living and loving in Los Angeles. The New York versus L.A. argument rarely covers new ground but he makes points that are shape enough to shave with. Take a look.
WOMEN'S MURDER CLUB ran it's last new epiosde on Friday the 4th. That was the last one completed before the strike. There were some repeats during the month of December but, unfortunately, mine wasn't one of them for those of you who missed it. It's also not available online but, hopefully, one or the other will change in the next few months. THE WIRE is back though and that is ALWAYS good news.
Lastly, when I decided to make the transition from author to TV writer, I had a mentor who was just amazing. I met with her weekly for six months and she always had time for me no matter what was going on in her life. She helped me with my RESCUE ME spec, read the LAW & ORDER: SVU that I'd completed before I met her, and gave me notes on the original one-hour drama I'd written the year before. She was great. She also talked a lot about opening an entertainment consultancy and this week she did just that. Visit her new WEBSITE (isn't she sooooo cute?) and if you're thinking of making the jump to television then you don't need to look anywhere else. Seriously, this woman was hugely instrumental in me getting a job on WMC. Good luck!
Until next time...
How's everyone? Much of the same on this end except for a serious family illness that will keep me in northern California for awhile. (One good thing about this damn strike, huh?) I've been here for a week after a quick return to L.A. to stock up on warm clothes, books and the files I needed for the book project. Because L.A. has actually been cold I had a bunch of new sweaters that have come in handy. You already heard about the coat but I also managed to find a long, black down jacket for $30 that I've officially moved into. It's my new address. The illness, of course, is daunting, scary, humbling and fucked-up. Good days and bad days as we deal but I have been seriously overwhelmed by the love and kindness people have shown my family. All positive thoughts and energy are welcome.
Since I was seven years old and I stapled together scratch paper to make my first "book" writing has been a refuge for me. I am trying to get back to that place during some of the down time but it's hard. My mind wanders, and for lack of a better description I can't get my mental marbles to roll in the same direction. I can actually visualize a gang of colorful marbles in my head all going every which way. The Crown Prince suggests that I take it easy and not be too hard on myself but, frankly, I'm never hard on myself so I need to get it together and be productive.
I went through my files yesterday, tried to find the seed of what got me going on this story. I had a great hour or two where I re-read pages I haven't opened in over two years. I also found notes from THE FINISH PARTY that were very helpful. They still make a lot of sense so I'll spend this evening typing them up in a sort of cheat sheet reference file. My fingers are itching, my mind is jumping to create, so it's just a matter of me taming the marbles or at least getting them to sit still and be quiet.
The wedding stuff is coming along (a nice distraction for everyone) though it looks like Sonoma or Napa may have to fill in for Santa Barbara, my first-first-first choice. I love Santa Barbara (and I always have) but it just as easily serve as a honeymoon locale. The Wine Country is just as beautiful and only an hour away from my family. We'll see.
The past couple days I've been watching Academy Screeners with the family. (A perk of WGA membership). So far I've received 3:10 TO YUMA, JUNO, THE SAVAGES, SWEENEY TODD, NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN, LARS AND THE REAL GIRL, MARGOT AT THE WEDDING, AWAY FROM HER, KNOCKED UP, DAN IN REAL LIFE, DIVING BELL AND THE BUTTERFLY, INTO THE WILD, ZODIAC, THE KITE RUNNER and THERE WILL BE BLOOD. Loved 3:10 TO YUMA (but in the interest of full disclosure one of the screenwriters is a friend of the Crown Prince), JUNO, LARS and AWAY FROM HER. MARGOT AT THE WEDDING made me want to pull out my own teeth. DAN IN REAL LIFE and THE SAVAGES held my interest but that's about all. KNOCKED UP was just not that funny to me. I know people went crazy for the movie but it didn't work for me. But, what do I know, SUPERBAD had me in hysterics.
The screenwriter of JUNO has gotten a tremendous amount of press and she deserves all the accolades. Just so well-written. The actors were great. I especially loved Jason Bateman, he just captured that broken-down weariness you see in the eyes of husbands who have one foot out of their marriage. Jennifer Garner was also impressive with her wound-up sadness. I think I'll watch again.
In the meantime, NYC/RAGAZZA pointed me toward two essays written by the creator of BROTHERS & SISTERS. Part One covers how his WORK drove him from L.A. (He was ousted from his own show). PART TWO focuses on the perils of living and loving in Los Angeles. The New York versus L.A. argument rarely covers new ground but he makes points that are shape enough to shave with. Take a look.
WOMEN'S MURDER CLUB ran it's last new epiosde on Friday the 4th. That was the last one completed before the strike. There were some repeats during the month of December but, unfortunately, mine wasn't one of them for those of you who missed it. It's also not available online but, hopefully, one or the other will change in the next few months. THE WIRE is back though and that is ALWAYS good news.
Lastly, when I decided to make the transition from author to TV writer, I had a mentor who was just amazing. I met with her weekly for six months and she always had time for me no matter what was going on in her life. She helped me with my RESCUE ME spec, read the LAW & ORDER: SVU that I'd completed before I met her, and gave me notes on the original one-hour drama I'd written the year before. She was great. She also talked a lot about opening an entertainment consultancy and this week she did just that. Visit her new WEBSITE (isn't she sooooo cute?) and if you're thinking of making the jump to television then you don't need to look anywhere else. Seriously, this woman was hugely instrumental in me getting a job on WMC. Good luck!
Until next time...
Labels: Family, Movies, THE FINISH PARTY, Writing
12.09.2007
TRAMBLINGS...
Pretty busy weekend as the holiday season kicked into full gear. Friday night my mentor threw a Christmas bash that I had to miss because of some family stuff and a generally foul mood. Happens to the best of us. The good thing is that I managed to write my way out of it. Did some good work on the book and outlined another project with the Crown Prince. I have two delivery dates depending on what happens with the strike but I did make that pledge in a September post to finish the book next fall. I am holding myself to that.
On Saturday I celebrated MY FRIEND and I had such a good time. The company was amazing, the food was great, cute babies were in the house, and I met a few new people. I remember as a teenager, and a young twentysomething, seeing magazine ads where people were dressed really nice, the table was set beautifully, wine and champagne seemed to flow and I'd think...who has parties like that? To my small town eyes it just looked so amazing and sophisticated. Well, yesterday I attended what I used to dub "magazine parties" in honor of a friend who is making a HUGE life change next year. She's my new hero.
I just love when people "step out on faith" and trust that it will work out the way it needs to work out. I love the fact that she's not holding herself to any strict rules, deadlines, or expectations. How freeing is that? You'll see from her blog that she plans to leave California and the U.S. to make a home for herself in ROME. Again, a new hero of mine. I've always harbored fantasies of living in some "exotic" locale but those plans continue to just be plans. Hats off, chica.
Have you guys seen COCAINE COWBOYS? Blew my mind. C.P. and I watched it on Friday night. The filmmakers found three great storytellers in Jon Roberts (a dealer), Mickey Munday (a courier) and Jorge "Rivi" Ayala (a disturbingly charming hitman).
Here are six pages of FIRST NOVELS that have caught my eye over the years. You might find a couple of Christmas gifts on that list. There's also a couple of nice titles on the MONKEY SHINES list. Monkey Shines is my nickname for my best girlfriends. Once in awhile they ask for book recommendations so I put a list together on shelfari that they can refer to at anytime. A couple months ago we took a three day holiday to Palm Springs. They were traveling without their children so hair was let down. Hijinks ensued.
I took to calling them "little monkeys" whenever they needed to be rounded up. "Alright, little monkeys, let's get moving." "Alright, monkeys, pay attention." "Monkeys, let's go!" Needless to say, I cemented my reputation as the bossy one. SGW nicknamed me "The Aviator" in response to my bossiness and the fact that I was in charge of directions even though I don't drive. No one, including my mom, can believe my acute sense of direction since I don't drive AT ALL. (I know, I know, but everyone has at least one flaw). My mom's favorite sentence, "Your no-driving ass sure can get me where I need to go."
I've taken lessons but it's just not my thing. Makes me nervous and crazy. C.P. always says "Chelle doesn't want to drive, she wants to be driven." I just imagine it took me forever to walk as a baby. Snuggled up in my stoller thinking, "This is just fine. Hand me another blanket and my Drowsy (pictured below) and keep pushing."
(By the way...I loved her despite her less than stellar appearance. My dad had a running gag where he'd come up on her laying around somewhere and release a blood curdling scream. "Ow, Chelle, that's the ugliest thing I've ever seen. She scared the shit out of me.") No wonder I ended up with C.P. That is sooooo his style of humor.
Wait, what was I talking about? Driving? Drowsy? Cocaine? Monkeys? There's a sentence in there somewhere but I don't have the energy to put it together. Moving on. ABC will rerun the first nine episode of WOMEN'S MURDER CLUB on Saturday nights. Which means my episode "No Opportunity Necessary" will rerun in January for those of you who missed it. Because our show is owned by Fox it isn't streamed online. That might change. It might not.
The STRIKE continues to go very, very poorly. Another TAKE over at ARTFUL WRITER. Anyway, come Monday morning I am done talking about it, obsessing about it, or letting it take up anymore of my time or creative energy. I will continue to picket but I am officially off the rollercoaster. The hours I lose stressing aren't productive nor are they particularly enjoyable so I'm done. I've informed C.P. that I don't want to hear "the latest development" anymore. Let me know when the strike is over. I am not interested in the latest prediction, the latest press release of doom, or insider information that continues to put gray hairs on my head. One of my mottos is "react when there's something to react to" which has served me well. I am going back to that. Which means, of course, that on the picket line I will smile politely, chit chat and stick in my headphones when the hearsay ramps up.
Here's my MIx for this week.
All Along the Watchtower, Jimi Hendrix
All Night Long, AC/DC
Born Under a Bad Sign, Jimi Hendrix
Can't You See, Marshall Tucker Band
Caught Up in You, .38 Special
(Don't Fear) The Reaper, Blue Oyster Cult
Dream On, Aerosmith
Feel Like Making Love, Bad Company
Fly Like An Eagle, Steve Miller Band
Michelle(Shade Tree Demo), Lynrd Skynyrd
Free Falling, Tom Petty
Gimme Shelter, The Rolling Stones
Jamie's Crying, Van Halen
Love Reign O'er Me, The Who
Midnight Rambler, The Rolling Stones
Show Me The Way, Peter Frampton
The Song Remains the Same, Led Zeppelin
Sweet Emotion, Aerosmith
Take the Long Way Home, Supertramp
Take the Money and Run, Steve Miller Band
Tom Sawyer, Rush
You Drive Me Wild, The Runaways,
Until next time...
Pretty busy weekend as the holiday season kicked into full gear. Friday night my mentor threw a Christmas bash that I had to miss because of some family stuff and a generally foul mood. Happens to the best of us. The good thing is that I managed to write my way out of it. Did some good work on the book and outlined another project with the Crown Prince. I have two delivery dates depending on what happens with the strike but I did make that pledge in a September post to finish the book next fall. I am holding myself to that.
On Saturday I celebrated MY FRIEND and I had such a good time. The company was amazing, the food was great, cute babies were in the house, and I met a few new people. I remember as a teenager, and a young twentysomething, seeing magazine ads where people were dressed really nice, the table was set beautifully, wine and champagne seemed to flow and I'd think...who has parties like that? To my small town eyes it just looked so amazing and sophisticated. Well, yesterday I attended what I used to dub "magazine parties" in honor of a friend who is making a HUGE life change next year. She's my new hero.
I just love when people "step out on faith" and trust that it will work out the way it needs to work out. I love the fact that she's not holding herself to any strict rules, deadlines, or expectations. How freeing is that? You'll see from her blog that she plans to leave California and the U.S. to make a home for herself in ROME. Again, a new hero of mine. I've always harbored fantasies of living in some "exotic" locale but those plans continue to just be plans. Hats off, chica.
Have you guys seen COCAINE COWBOYS? Blew my mind. C.P. and I watched it on Friday night. The filmmakers found three great storytellers in Jon Roberts (a dealer), Mickey Munday (a courier) and Jorge "Rivi" Ayala (a disturbingly charming hitman).
Here are six pages of FIRST NOVELS that have caught my eye over the years. You might find a couple of Christmas gifts on that list. There's also a couple of nice titles on the MONKEY SHINES list. Monkey Shines is my nickname for my best girlfriends. Once in awhile they ask for book recommendations so I put a list together on shelfari that they can refer to at anytime. A couple months ago we took a three day holiday to Palm Springs. They were traveling without their children so hair was let down. Hijinks ensued.
I took to calling them "little monkeys" whenever they needed to be rounded up. "Alright, little monkeys, let's get moving." "Alright, monkeys, pay attention." "Monkeys, let's go!" Needless to say, I cemented my reputation as the bossy one. SGW nicknamed me "The Aviator" in response to my bossiness and the fact that I was in charge of directions even though I don't drive. No one, including my mom, can believe my acute sense of direction since I don't drive AT ALL. (I know, I know, but everyone has at least one flaw). My mom's favorite sentence, "Your no-driving ass sure can get me where I need to go."
I've taken lessons but it's just not my thing. Makes me nervous and crazy. C.P. always says "Chelle doesn't want to drive, she wants to be driven." I just imagine it took me forever to walk as a baby. Snuggled up in my stoller thinking, "This is just fine. Hand me another blanket and my Drowsy (pictured below) and keep pushing."
(By the way...I loved her despite her less than stellar appearance. My dad had a running gag where he'd come up on her laying around somewhere and release a blood curdling scream. "Ow, Chelle, that's the ugliest thing I've ever seen. She scared the shit out of me.") No wonder I ended up with C.P. That is sooooo his style of humor.
Wait, what was I talking about? Driving? Drowsy? Cocaine? Monkeys? There's a sentence in there somewhere but I don't have the energy to put it together. Moving on. ABC will rerun the first nine episode of WOMEN'S MURDER CLUB on Saturday nights. Which means my episode "No Opportunity Necessary" will rerun in January for those of you who missed it. Because our show is owned by Fox it isn't streamed online. That might change. It might not.
The STRIKE continues to go very, very poorly. Another TAKE over at ARTFUL WRITER. Anyway, come Monday morning I am done talking about it, obsessing about it, or letting it take up anymore of my time or creative energy. I will continue to picket but I am officially off the rollercoaster. The hours I lose stressing aren't productive nor are they particularly enjoyable so I'm done. I've informed C.P. that I don't want to hear "the latest development" anymore. Let me know when the strike is over. I am not interested in the latest prediction, the latest press release of doom, or insider information that continues to put gray hairs on my head. One of my mottos is "react when there's something to react to" which has served me well. I am going back to that. Which means, of course, that on the picket line I will smile politely, chit chat and stick in my headphones when the hearsay ramps up.
Here's my MIx for this week.
All Along the Watchtower, Jimi Hendrix
All Night Long, AC/DC
Born Under a Bad Sign, Jimi Hendrix
Can't You See, Marshall Tucker Band
Caught Up in You, .38 Special
(Don't Fear) The Reaper, Blue Oyster Cult
Dream On, Aerosmith
Feel Like Making Love, Bad Company
Fly Like An Eagle, Steve Miller Band
Michelle(Shade Tree Demo), Lynrd Skynyrd
Free Falling, Tom Petty
Gimme Shelter, The Rolling Stones
Jamie's Crying, Van Halen
Love Reign O'er Me, The Who
Midnight Rambler, The Rolling Stones
Show Me The Way, Peter Frampton
The Song Remains the Same, Led Zeppelin
Sweet Emotion, Aerosmith
Take the Long Way Home, Supertramp
Take the Money and Run, Steve Miller Band
Tom Sawyer, Rush
You Drive Me Wild, The Runaways,
Until next time...
Labels: Books, Cocaine Cowboys, Holidays, Women's Murder Club, Writing
4.04.2007
TRAMBLINGS. . .
I'm back. Arrived home Monday morning at 5:45a.m. Maui, of course, was amazing and the company was even better. I judge my friendships by how much we belly laugh together. Not laugh but belly laugh. There's a difference. I spent eight days laughing in the kitchen, out by the pool, in the media room, at the grocery store, in the tacky little tourist shops, and even during a hellish wait at the airport. Because we only meet once a month, there's a sense each time of catching up and reconnecting. We're all close but still a little reserved with one another. But, seriously, eight days in the same house...hair looking crazy, letting everything hang out in bathing suits, pajamas, and sweats washed all that away.
Last year, my girl A. bought a cute little pink dress to wear around the house. She dubbed it the "magic dress" because it was one-size fits all and could be worn as a cover-up, a house dress, a night gown and with a cute pair of jeans. Now, if that's not magic enough for you, how about this...it cost $16. Did I mention it was damn cute. Anyway, I vowed to get my own magic dress this year. I made a trip to the local drugstore where magic dresses are sold and bought one in a vivid blue with pink hibiscus flowers. (Not the print in the above picture but the exact same dress). The next day I bought a green polynesian print. So cute. I got the requisite compliments on the dress. Then I blurted out, "You know the best thing about this dress? It's good for belly rubbing." A got some laughs but the point was I felt comfortable enough to utter such a random thought out loud. I usually reserve those sort of things for the Crown Prince. Matter of fact, when I came home and modeled the dresses for him I showed him why it qualified as a great belly-rubbing dress. His response, "I can see that." It's also a great dress for writing or curling up with a book. And for updating blogs. I'm wearing the green one now.
Before I left, I finished the spec episode so I planned to write an outline for a new pilot and work on the book. Guess what? My body told me I needed to do something else. At the end of the week, I shared my worry that I hadn't written a word. L, another member of the group, asked if I'd been productive even though I hadn't written anything. My answer was yes and all the pressure immediately melted away. I read over 30 television pilots (all one-hour dramas) while on my trip. I started with ABC shows and worked my way through the networks and then the cable channels. A real eclectic mix this year and some really great stuff. You can click HERE to see what might be coming down the pipe.
While reading through the pilots, I kept thinking that there is some really great writing being done in television these days. Sure there were a couple scripts that made me wonder if the writer was the "daughter of", "son of", or "brother-in-law" of someone with power but not too many. In addition to the pilots, there's already so much good stuff on the air. People are snobs about TV but not me. ROME, THE WIRE, THE SOPRANOS, FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS, RESCUE ME, etc., etc, etc. are all too good. I'm still bummed about the fall of Rome, and after watching THE TUDORS I don't think it's going to be my perfect replacement. I'll give it another chance next week but ROME grabbed from the beginning.
I loved CIARAN HANDS, the actor who played Julius Caesar, and RAY STEVENSON was great as Titus Pullo. Pullo was my favorite character along with Atia of the Julii. Loved her last lines to Octavian's wife. She was so wicked the entire series. Stevenson, Polly Walker (who played Atia), Kevin McKidd (Lucius Vorenus), James Purefoy (Mark Anthony), and Zuleikha Robinson, have all been casts in pilots. I've read all except the one starring Kidd but three of the five are on my list of favorites. It would be nice to see these ACTORS again on a regular basis but I will miss Sunday nights in ancient ROME. Looks like Chelle will be buying the DVD or asking for it for Christmas.
Until next time...
I'm back. Arrived home Monday morning at 5:45a.m. Maui, of course, was amazing and the company was even better. I judge my friendships by how much we belly laugh together. Not laugh but belly laugh. There's a difference. I spent eight days laughing in the kitchen, out by the pool, in the media room, at the grocery store, in the tacky little tourist shops, and even during a hellish wait at the airport. Because we only meet once a month, there's a sense each time of catching up and reconnecting. We're all close but still a little reserved with one another. But, seriously, eight days in the same house...hair looking crazy, letting everything hang out in bathing suits, pajamas, and sweats washed all that away.
Last year, my girl A. bought a cute little pink dress to wear around the house. She dubbed it the "magic dress" because it was one-size fits all and could be worn as a cover-up, a house dress, a night gown and with a cute pair of jeans. Now, if that's not magic enough for you, how about this...it cost $16. Did I mention it was damn cute. Anyway, I vowed to get my own magic dress this year. I made a trip to the local drugstore where magic dresses are sold and bought one in a vivid blue with pink hibiscus flowers. (Not the print in the above picture but the exact same dress). The next day I bought a green polynesian print. So cute. I got the requisite compliments on the dress. Then I blurted out, "You know the best thing about this dress? It's good for belly rubbing." A got some laughs but the point was I felt comfortable enough to utter such a random thought out loud. I usually reserve those sort of things for the Crown Prince. Matter of fact, when I came home and modeled the dresses for him I showed him why it qualified as a great belly-rubbing dress. His response, "I can see that." It's also a great dress for writing or curling up with a book. And for updating blogs. I'm wearing the green one now.
Before I left, I finished the spec episode so I planned to write an outline for a new pilot and work on the book. Guess what? My body told me I needed to do something else. At the end of the week, I shared my worry that I hadn't written a word. L, another member of the group, asked if I'd been productive even though I hadn't written anything. My answer was yes and all the pressure immediately melted away. I read over 30 television pilots (all one-hour dramas) while on my trip. I started with ABC shows and worked my way through the networks and then the cable channels. A real eclectic mix this year and some really great stuff. You can click HERE to see what might be coming down the pipe.
While reading through the pilots, I kept thinking that there is some really great writing being done in television these days. Sure there were a couple scripts that made me wonder if the writer was the "daughter of", "son of", or "brother-in-law" of someone with power but not too many. In addition to the pilots, there's already so much good stuff on the air. People are snobs about TV but not me. ROME, THE WIRE, THE SOPRANOS, FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS, RESCUE ME, etc., etc, etc. are all too good. I'm still bummed about the fall of Rome, and after watching THE TUDORS I don't think it's going to be my perfect replacement. I'll give it another chance next week but ROME grabbed from the beginning.
I loved CIARAN HANDS, the actor who played Julius Caesar, and RAY STEVENSON was great as Titus Pullo. Pullo was my favorite character along with Atia of the Julii. Loved her last lines to Octavian's wife. She was so wicked the entire series. Stevenson, Polly Walker (who played Atia), Kevin McKidd (Lucius Vorenus), James Purefoy (Mark Anthony), and Zuleikha Robinson, have all been casts in pilots. I've read all except the one starring Kidd but three of the five are on my list of favorites. It would be nice to see these ACTORS again on a regular basis but I will miss Sunday nights in ancient ROME. Looks like Chelle will be buying the DVD or asking for it for Christmas.
Until next time...
Labels: Hawaii, Magic Dresses, TV Pilots, Writing
3.28.2007
TRAMBLINGS...
You're gonna hate me when I tell you this and I can dig it. I'd hate me too. Okay, ready? Yeah, I'm on a writing retreat - in MAUI. Gotta love that, right? This is the third annual writing retreat with my writer's group and it gets better every year. The first year we went to Joshua Tree for ten days. Remember that trip? It included a flash flood that trapped us on the property and a power out that included no flushing, spoiled meat, aggressive mosquitos, stink bugs and 100 degree heat. I loved every minute of it. Had a great time despite the trials and tribulations and I got a lot of writing done. The five of us who attended really bonded which made the group really click for me. Besides that, there are some great cooks in this group of ladies and you know how happy a nice meal makes this old broad.
The second year, one of the members (who has a vacation home in Kapalua) was gracious enough to offer it to all of us. There was a polite pause then a lot of "Hell, Yeah's!" We had a successful week long retreat with some whale watching, cooking and drinking thrown into the mix, so we're back again this year. It's more beautiful then I remember and despite the gorgeous weather and insane sunsets, I have actually been writing. We've all been writing and EATING. A diffferent person cooks each night and the meals have all been tasty. I made dessert once, vanilla biscuits twice, breakfast once and today, drum roll, I made some of those "house burgers" Eddie Murphy used to joke about. No white bread but it made for a nice lunch.
Tonight we're having dinner out on the town because one of us leaves tomorrow and we wanted a nice group picture. I brought a nice skirt and top for the occassion but, mostly, I've been in sweats and pajamas. On Sunday, I took a break long enough to watch the season finale of ROME. It made me sad (first because it's over and second because I hated seeing Mark Anthony reduced to wearing eyeliner and dresses) because it's such a good show. THE SHIELD starts up soon and RESCUE ME is on the horizon. Then, of course, THE SOPRANOS and ENTOURAGE and the return of all the shows that have been interrupted during this weird programming season.
Lastly, yesterday I read Vendela Vida's LET THE NORTHERN LIGHTS ERASE YOUR NAME. Well done. Today, out by the pool (yeah, I know, just had to rub that in) I started Marcus Sakey's THE BLADE ITSELF. Liking it so far. Liking just about everything right now.
Until next time...
No, wait, Aloha...
You're gonna hate me when I tell you this and I can dig it. I'd hate me too. Okay, ready? Yeah, I'm on a writing retreat - in MAUI. Gotta love that, right? This is the third annual writing retreat with my writer's group and it gets better every year. The first year we went to Joshua Tree for ten days. Remember that trip? It included a flash flood that trapped us on the property and a power out that included no flushing, spoiled meat, aggressive mosquitos, stink bugs and 100 degree heat. I loved every minute of it. Had a great time despite the trials and tribulations and I got a lot of writing done. The five of us who attended really bonded which made the group really click for me. Besides that, there are some great cooks in this group of ladies and you know how happy a nice meal makes this old broad.
The second year, one of the members (who has a vacation home in Kapalua) was gracious enough to offer it to all of us. There was a polite pause then a lot of "Hell, Yeah's!" We had a successful week long retreat with some whale watching, cooking and drinking thrown into the mix, so we're back again this year. It's more beautiful then I remember and despite the gorgeous weather and insane sunsets, I have actually been writing. We've all been writing and EATING. A diffferent person cooks each night and the meals have all been tasty. I made dessert once, vanilla biscuits twice, breakfast once and today, drum roll, I made some of those "house burgers" Eddie Murphy used to joke about. No white bread but it made for a nice lunch.
Tonight we're having dinner out on the town because one of us leaves tomorrow and we wanted a nice group picture. I brought a nice skirt and top for the occassion but, mostly, I've been in sweats and pajamas. On Sunday, I took a break long enough to watch the season finale of ROME. It made me sad (first because it's over and second because I hated seeing Mark Anthony reduced to wearing eyeliner and dresses) because it's such a good show. THE SHIELD starts up soon and RESCUE ME is on the horizon. Then, of course, THE SOPRANOS and ENTOURAGE and the return of all the shows that have been interrupted during this weird programming season.
Lastly, yesterday I read Vendela Vida's LET THE NORTHERN LIGHTS ERASE YOUR NAME. Well done. Today, out by the pool (yeah, I know, just had to rub that in) I started Marcus Sakey's THE BLADE ITSELF. Liking it so far. Liking just about everything right now.
Until next time...
No, wait, Aloha...
Labels: Hawaii, Writing, Writing Retreat
