From what I’ve heard from other writers (and painters, and actors, and dancer/choreographers, and…) the process doesn’t differ as much as the medium, no. I don’t tend to swear that much while working, there are just a lot of stops and starts before I hit a groove. These days, my biggest problem is finding/making time for the creative work, since I teach AND manage a performing organization AND have two children and a wife to maintain a normal life with AND I’m still looking for a job that pays better than my current one(s) AND I have to make my own performance materials (i.e. creating individual parts for members of an ensemble to perform from) AND promote my own work, etc., etc. ad nauseam…
By the time I get to sit down to compose (it’s been over two weeks now!) I’m so creatively spent it’s a wonder I get ANYTHING done.
(That post should probably have been in the B&M thread, though, shouldn’t it?)
My eldest daughter wanted a dog but she’s allergic. So, she went and researched everything she could about dogs for about a month. We would walk down the street and she would stop people with dogs, “Hi. Excuse me. That is a golden labrador. Did you know it is the most popular breed in the world? Unfortunately I would like one but I am allergic. Would you mind if I pet?..is it a boy or a girl?..oh wait I see. It’s a boy.” Then she would ask for Purell from her mother.
Anyway, one day I came home and she was ecstatic, “Dad breathe Dad! I found it. I found the dog I want!” And then whoosh she was gone. I turned to my wife and asked, “Whut?” My wife just pointed to a website on the laptop screen. My daughter had found a hypoallergenic dog website and a link to where they are sold in our neighborhood. She’s dang resourceful, huh? If only she put this much energy in keeping her room clean.
We went to the breeder shop and made sure the dogs didn’t effect her allergies. She got a little messed up but that was cuz there were other dogs. We picked out one we liked. Introducing the latest member to the 'talos clan: Coco. She’s a three month old toy Yorksire terrier.
Ah Yorkies. My mother had two which she got in my late high school years and survived until about five years ago. They are adorable (I was particularly fond of the male, who was dumb as a doornail but had the sweetest disposition of any dog I’ve ever met).
Can’t wait for the special edition. Just don’t add Jar Jar or make Han shoot second.
That’s an ingenious way to keep kids active and physical. But, I wonder how do you keep them interested with small jumps? Don’t they want a longer, higher ramp and jumps? More air time?
I bought a new car Thursday! I also got the first season of BSG on DVD (finally!) As well as the third season of Babylon 5! AND! I have 3 people interested in buying my old car! WOO!
One of the kids endo’d on Saturday because he wasn’t paying attention to his landings, so it’s a real concern. When they’ve got consistency on the good touchdowns and rollouts, then we’ll increase the jump size for sure.
Holy craaaap!! Is he alright? When I was young, I went off a 6ft ramp and went into a tree. I must have been 8-10ft in the air. The bike went one way and I went the other. I hit some branches and not the trunk. phew I landed on a bunch of bushes. I remember staring up at the sky, my heart racing, and thinking, “I’m alive. I’m alive!!” It’s amazing how flexible you are as a child. If that happen to me now, I’d be in the bed for a week.
He has a circlular bruise shaped exactly like the end of his handlebar in his abdomen, but he’s not peeing blood or anything, so I have determined that he’s fine.
He’s a little dodgy on jumping right away, but his little brother (who is paradoxically bigger than him) is totally fearless.
Alright. Hope he feels better. I went off a tree stump that I had jumped dozens of times before and misjudged it. The handlebar hit me in the chest and knocked the wind outta me. As I lay there on the ground, the guy who owned the house in front of the tree stump said, “Serves you right. Always jumping my tree stump.” I was literally gasping and he showed no concern.
Anyway, that night I rode back to his house and pee’d on his lawn. Made me feel a little better.
Internet has been installed, and I just hooked up the wireless router! I’m now posting from the comfort of our dining room table. Woot! On to the Carl Sagan Live Frak Party!
Penciled in.
What is the Dutch piece? Can we find it and listen to it somewhere?
I went through this exact process just a few days ago, Dawn. I got my screenplay read and critiqued by a screenwriting instructor in LA (it was a phone conference–I’m still here in St. Louis). It was a more than 90-minute-long session in which she went through page-by-page and gave me her notes. All of them were insightful and constructive, but it sure was brutal in its own way.
It felt incredible though, to get the thing out of my head and looked at by another human being besides me–one who didn’t even know me and came with no preconceptions, and could also give me advice and a perspective that came backed with years of experience. She too, assured me that I was very talented and would have a good shot at making it as a screenwriter if I made the jump to L.A.–she even thought my advanced age of 30 was a good time to do it, which was a great relief!
So, huzzah for creative endeavors and the mentors who coach us through 'em! And good luck to you Dawn and Armando! Hopefully we will all have more good news to share in the near future.
