Figments and Celebrations

Yes. I haven't been blogging in the last few days but that is because I have been working my already hard-working butt off and …

I HAVE FINISHED THE FIRST DRAFT OF MY NEW FULL-LENGTH PLAY.

Do I rock?

… Ah, yes.

Have I become more beautiful and intelligent because of my great feat?

… Undoubtedly. I positively freakin' glow.

Did it turn out anything like I planned?

Not even close. Towards the end there is a lot of biting and a lot of blood flowing and well, it kinda gets a little weird and perhaps when I think about it at a later date it will seem a bit vampirish and it will be the first thing to go in the rewrites .. hang on. I just finished the first draft. Let's not sully the moment with talk about rewrites. Rewrites. It's perfect, it's wonderful, it's a goddamn work of art people.

Sorry.

So you should be … mean little figment of my imagination.

Okay. I apologised. What more do you want from me?

Oh, so now it's my fault? Typical.

Can we move on?

Don't speak to me like that. That tone. You should be ashamed of yourself.

I'm moving on. I don't know about you … Will I be celebrating?

Well, I got pretty tanked last night and am feeling it in the head region this morning. But what I'm really going to do is get the hell out of my writing room for a bit. Go see something that isn't my reflection in the computer. That sight will depress the hell out of anyone.

Thanks for the chat.

Oh fuck off.

 

 

And more and more and more

I had a great day writing yesterday. Finished the first draft of the short story and also managed to get out about 6 pages on the new play. The problem is that I can't just leave the short story fester. The first draft was hard but the second draft is going to be harder. And then the third, fourth … AH!

On the other hand, the first draft of the new play, Good World, is just spilling out. They all seem to have found their voices at the moment and all want to have long chats with each other. Could I ask for more?

Of course, as much as I did yesterday and it would be around the 6-7,000 word mark, there is still a HEAP of things I still have to do that haven't got near. Grants mostly, that are weighing on my mind. And a rewrite of the play that is going up in November. I got some great notes from a theatre company that was interested and I want to try and incorporate some of them before I send it out to get some money for the production. Is their ever an end to all of this? No, seriously, I'm asking. Will their ever be a three week block in my life where I think, let's go on a real holiday, let's go see things and do nothing? Doubt it. Enough whinging. Back to work.

Today

Did do some work on the short story yesterday – not as much as I wanted to – but that's the way it always goes with me. Feel pretty pumped to get to it today. I managed to work out the back story for my two main characters and I have them at the point where they meet for the first time.

Was going to do some more last night but started watching Finding Nemo for the first time and couldn't get away. What a great film. Funny and sad – is there a better formula for a hit?

In fact, at the moment, I'm feeling pretty pumped about everything. This always happens when I'm a week away from going back to work. I see the jail doors closing and I rush everything I can out before they slam shut. This year is the year when the day job becomes the love job. Really. It just has to. Back to the $10,000 short story.

 

Onwards and Upwards

Have finally finished this draft of The Cleaning Station and sent it off to J. it's a great feeling. But unfortunately unable to rest on own laurels. There is a short story competition that closes in about two weeks and first prize is worth $10,000. While I haven't written a short story in forever, this is the year that I'm going to make some money so I'm not going to let this one pass me by. $10,000 is five months off writing. $10,000 is a trip to New York. I've got an idea of what I want to do for the short story so I'm going to sit down this morning and try and get some sort of first draft written.

In other news, have just recently got into the show Entourage. Jeremy Piven is a genius. How can someone so awful be so likeable? And Ari is pretty awful. Just look at the face of his wife. Could she be more horrified at how her life turned out? I'm only up to the second season but it's immensely watchable.

Gauntlet

Had a wonderful night on Tuesday with best friend out on the deck on her house eating pizza and throwing back wine and talking about everything under the sun. Best Friend is quite amazing and even more amazing drunk. She told me in no uncertain terms that I had to get my ass to New York and she didn't want to be here the same time next year having the same conversation. So the gauntlet has been, well, at least revealed.

Going back, going forward

I thought I would have my work cut out for me doing the rewrites of The Cleaning Station. But it was nowhere as bad as I thought. In fact, a lot of it is actually quite good. I only have about five pages to go and once that is done I'm going to rewrite something else. I'm thinking that may be the key to not feeling overwhelmed. I have a lot of things that are fine, they just need a rewrite. But it's just more fun to start new stuff, to think about the future rather than go back and try and remember what I was thinking when I wrote that. Or, more importantly, what was I trying to say and how can I now say it better. So that's what I'm going to do today. Finish rewrites for The Cleaning Station and then rewrite one or more short plays.

Brave and Noble Heroes

Feeling very good this morning as I sit on my couch and watch our prime minister say 'SORRY' for past injustices to our indigenous people. It was just amazing. Even though that's not the right word. It was … I don't want to say profound but it was. I thought I would never see it. I didn't think we would ever have a leader that was brave enough to do it. People don't get to use these words very often in the world that we live in but it was noble, it was right, it was brave, and it was historic. I hope that this act changes things. I hope that Prime Minister Rudd's words regarding moving forward, creating an equal future, are not just words. As cynical as I had become under John Howard's leadership, there still burns a glimmer of hope that we can live in a world, we can live in a country where injustice and inequality become archaic words packed up into history and not needed to explain our lives and the world we live in. Well done Mr Rudd. Today, you get to play my hero.