About a month ago I was working on an exchange in [i]Crossline[/i] between the main character and a secondary character, and while I felt their conversation was moving along, something was missing. This was more of a character-building scene than a plot-driven scene, and so it was mostly straight dialogue. Still, I wasn’t quite feeling it. For the purposes of this blog, we’ll call this Scene A.

As I often do when I’m feeling a little out of my groove, I picked up a book I refer to now and About a month ago I was working on an exchange in [i]Crossline[/i] between the main character and a secondary character, and while I felt their conversation was moving along, something was missing. This was more of a character-building scene than a plot-driven scene, and so it was mostly straight dialogue. Still, I wasn’t quite feeling it. For the purposes of this blog, we’ll call this Scene A.

As I often do when I’m feeling a little out of my groove, I picked up a book I refer to now and again for style points, and suddenly I was off to the races. I was filling in the exchange with subtext and nuance, getting more inside the character’s heads, and revealing more about their nature. OK. Now I was really grooving. All in all I spent a few weeks on this scene, until I felt I had worked it all the way through.

And then …

Last weekend I wrote a different scene, which we’ll call Scene B, one that preceded Scene A. Scene B was particularly important, I felt, because it established another relationship that becomes important later on, and also connected the dots between an even earlier scene and one that again becomes important not long after. It was a good scene, too. The characters interacted naturally, and revealed some important information.

The result, however, is that this connective scene–Scene B–changed the mode of this larger sequence for the better–but it took Scene A out play. I have since cut Scene A into smaller parts, using one small piece of it earlier on, with the intention of using the rest of it later, where it might fit better.

Thing is, while I was frustrated at having to cut a scene I spent so much time on, I was okay with it. Because as I write, I’ve learned that there’s no waste. Scene A was vital because it helped define Crossline’s narrative style, even if the scene itself never makes the final version of the novel. It might, in some form, but even if it doesn’t, it was extremely valuable.

So even when a groove turns out to be temporarily ungroovy, the end result can be groovier than I anticipated. It’s one of my favorite parts of writing. No matter how I’m going, there’s always room for me to be surprised. Even when it seems that I’m stuck, I can get unstuck, and even when that solution doesn’t end up solving my immediate problem, in the long run, I sometimes come out way, way ahead.

It’s been a tough lessen to learn, but I’ve come far enough as a writer to trust the process, having faith that if I trust myself enough to just let the writing evolve as it does, I’ll ultimately get where I need to be.

In case you didn’t get to read my latest newsletter yet, here is some juicy news:

While I’ve been out there promoting [i]Finders Keepers[/i] as it circulates through the publishing–and Hollywood–world, I’ve been hard at work on Book No. 2.

Tentatively titled [i]Crossline[/i], my current project is a Buck Rogers/Flash Gordon-type of adventure with my usual time-bending, philosophical goofiness that is so near and dear to my heart. It started out almost 10 years ago as a comic bookIn case you didn’t get to read my latest newsletter yet, here is some juicy news:

While I’ve been out there promoting [i]Finders Keepers[/i] as it circulates through the publishing–and Hollywood–world, I’ve been hard at work on Book No. 2.

Tentatively titled [i]Crossline[/i], my current project is a Buck Rogers/Flash Gordon-type of adventure with my usual time-bending, philosophical goofiness that is so near and dear to my heart. It started out almost 10 years ago as a comic book project from the nutty brains of long-time friend Tom Peters and yours truly. We had some pretty ambitious plans for the comic book, but life kinda got in the way, and then it sat on my shelf for years.

Well, a while back I decided to give it another go, and combining some of the space adventure elements of the comic book with another group of short stories I wrote way back in my earliest days as a writer, Crossline the novel is well on its way.

Without getting into any plot points just yet, I will say that [i]Crossline[/i] is full of fun, humor and adventure, and takes some trippy twists I don’t think you’ll be expecting. I’m almost half way done with a first draft, and if all goes well, I’ll have it finished and ready for some writer-dude comments in the first quarter of 2009.

I’m hoping to have it ready for circulation for the Hollywood dudes at Comic-Con 2009, so that’s my target. I’m not sure if I’ll be ready, but I’m going for it.

I’ll be talking more about [i]Crossline[/i] in coming blogs, so be rest assured I’ll be writing and writing and writing for years–even decades–to come.

Post edited by: rcolchamiro, at: 2008/09/18 06:20

Post edited by: rcolchamiro, at: 2008/10/15 06:41

This weekend marked a change in my lifetime that, well, for a long while I thought would never happen:

I am a dog owner! Yikes!

Yep. This weekend Liz and I went up to the North Shore Animal League and picked out a mixed terrier, about two years old. She’s light brown, and very sweet. She’s a rescue dog. She comes from down south somewhere, displaced because of Hurricane Gustav. Not sure how she made her way all the way to our neck of the woods, but she’s a Queens resident now.

This weekend marked a change in my lifetime that, well, for a long while I thought would never happen:

I am a dog owner! Yikes!

Yep. This weekend Liz and I went up to the North Shore Animal League and picked out a mixed terrier, about two years old. She’s light brown, and very sweet. She’s a rescue dog. She comes from down south somewhere, displaced because of Hurricane Gustav. Not sure how she made her way all the way to our neck of the woods, but she’s a Queens resident now.

We named her Penny.

Unfortunately, it looks like the poor thing picked up some kind of kennel cough, and she’s coughing up some spittle and whatnot, so she’s not too happy right now. Liz took her to the vet this afternoon, and indeed she’s got a high fever and some sort of respiratory infection. So she’s on antibiotics and an anti-inflammatory, and should be on the mend and in fully Penny mode soon enough.

Still, Penny is sweet as can be, and has already staked her claim on the corner of the couch! And after walking her a few times I’ve already learned that she loves to chase squirrels. Whoa! She goes right after those suckers.

This is a bit of an adventure for me, after a lifetime of cats, but I think Penny’s is going to make a great addition to the family.

I’ve gotta say, I’m busier than ever these days, and it’s really cutting into my TV time! I realize there are worse things to experience, but at the moment, I’m having trouble thinking of them.

OK, maybe that’s a little overstating things, but I just don’t have the same amount of time I used to for just sitting on the couch and watching TV. But the bigger part of this, aside from how much TV I time I do or don’t have, is just the lack of time I have to do [i]anything[/i].

I’m workingI’ve gotta say, I’m busier than ever these days, and it’s really cutting into my TV time! I realize there are worse things to experience, but at the moment, I’m having trouble thinking of them.

OK, maybe that’s a little overstating things, but I just don’t have the same amount of time I used to for just sitting on the couch and watching TV. But the bigger part of this, aside from how much TV I time I do or don’t have, is just the lack of time I have to do [i]anything[/i].

I’m working longer hours than I used to, and when I’m home, I’m so tired, I barely have the energy to just pick up around the house. The mail piles up longer than it did just 6 months ago, the laundry piles up, and it’s tougher to see friends and family.

On the immediate, I notice this lack of time because not only don’t I have time to watch what new shows will debut this season, I don’t even know what shows are debuting. I’m losing my touch. I’m sure I’ll figure it out, but more and more I find I need to schedule almost every minute of my day–including time to do absolutely nothing–to feel like I’m living a little bit. I feel like I have so little down time, time just to dream, to let my mind wander.

Or maybe I’m just a TV junkie with a habit I can no longer satisfy!

On second thought, let’s chalk it up to me being far too busy.

So here’s another one of those crazy six degrees of separation connections.

Liz and I were at a wedding this weekend outside of Philadelphia. The groom is originally from the UK, so many of his guests were from England. Well, turns out that one of the guests went to Manchester Metropolitan University the same time I did, back in 1994. Crazy enough.

Well, also turns out that he knows a friend of mine, Rich Lewis, who after college went on to work security at the local student union whSo here’s another one of those crazy six degrees of separation connections.

Liz and I were at a wedding this weekend outside of Philadelphia. The groom is originally from the UK, so many of his guests were from England. Well, turns out that one of the guests went to Manchester Metropolitan University the same time I did, back in 1994. Crazy enough.

Well, also turns out that he knows a friend of mine, Rich Lewis, who after college went on to work security at the local student union where we went drinking! This guy I met at the wedding not only remembered Rich from his days in Manchester, but where he’s from and still knows Rich’s buddies!

For a little geography, Manchester is in the northwest of England, equivalent to where Seattle is in the U.S. And my buddy Rich, is from Wolverhampton, which is like being from Indianapolis.

Bizarre.

You just never know when or where you’ll meet people connected to you in one crazy way or another.

I was really looking foward to it, but I have to say that I was disappointed with Entourage’s Season 5 premier. I didn’t hate it, but I was pretty underwhelmed.

The plot of the episode itself was good, and it looked good visually, but there was a certain lack of energy throughout, like they were all just going through the motions (except for Ari). The timing felt like they were all a half-step behind. I don’t know if it was the writing, the direction, or some combination, but something waI was really looking foward to it, but I have to say that I was disappointed with Entourage’s Season 5 premier. I didn’t hate it, but I was pretty underwhelmed.

The plot of the episode itself was good, and it looked good visually, but there was a certain lack of energy throughout, like they were all just going through the motions (except for Ari). The timing felt like they were all a half-step behind. I don’t know if it was the writing, the direction, or some combination, but something was off.

Hopefully this was just a one-episode glitch. Otherwise, Entourage might be officially heading south.

Last weekend Liz and I drove down the Philadelphia area for a friend’s wedding. It was really a spectacular event, even with the monsoon that came pouring down during the ceremony. But more than anything, I realized yet again what I sometimes forget about weddings:

No matter what preconceived notions we might all have about them, the joy experienced at the wedding (both ceremony and reception) has almost nothing to do with venue or expense. It doesn’t matter how much you spend, whether youLast weekend Liz and I drove down the Philadelphia area for a friend’s wedding. It was really a spectacular event, even with the monsoon that came pouring down during the ceremony. But more than anything, I realized yet again what I sometimes forget about weddings:

No matter what preconceived notions we might all have about them, the joy experienced at the wedding (both ceremony and reception) has almost nothing to do with venue or expense. It doesn’t matter how much you spend, whether you have a band or a dj, summer or winter, big wedding or small wedding.

It’s all about tone. You can spend a million bucks and still throw the most boring wedding on Earth. And you can do it completely on the cheap and have the most fun you’ve ever had. You don’t need to serve fancy shmancy o’ dourves or crystal goblets, and you certainly can’t serve perfect. Perfect doesn’t exist.

At least in my mind, a wedding is supposed to be a joyous occasion, and if you allow your joy to come out, chances are, your guests will be joyous, too. Of course, there’s all sorts of unpredictable happenings that can challenge any wedding, but that’s almost half the fun.

Get your friends and family in a room, make a proclamation of commitment in public, and then par-tay in whatever way suits you best. Big or small, expensive or not, weddings are about bringing people together, and when they come off, they’re really something to see.

You better hold onto your life preservers for this one, because it’s a bumpy ride:

I don’t know if you’ve ever been on a cruise ship, but I think they’re great. It’s like a floating hotel that stops at all these great places around the world. I’ve been on a few, and hope to go on more. Unless they’re like this one.

About a month ago a cruise ship that left from New Zealand got absolutely pulverized. It got hit by a storm so bad that the ship almost literally tipped over. Tables smashedYou better hold onto your life preservers for this one, because it’s a bumpy ride:

I don’t know if you’ve ever been on a cruise ship, but I think they’re great. It’s like a floating hotel that stops at all these great places around the world. I’ve been on a few, and hope to go on more. Unless they’re like this one.

About a month ago a cruise ship that left from New Zealand got absolutely pulverized. It got hit by a storm so bad that the ship almost literally tipped over. Tables smashed, many people were badly injured. It was a terrifying ordeal. One of my best friends–and the inspiration for the Theo Barnes character in [i]Finders Keepers[/i]–was on that ship with his family. His kids are still traumatized.

Thing is, the cruise line–P&O Cruises–has been downplaying the event–naturally–saying it really wasn’t that bad. Just a little bad weather, but everything’s A-OK. Well, my buddy says it was like the Poseidon Adventure. The ship almost tipped over! The press coverage, for the most part, has under-reported just how bad it was, although I did find one story that seems to more accurately portray the severity of the incident. I’ve pasted it below.

In all fairness, P&O isn’t all bad. As a gift, they’ve offered passengers on that cruise a 25% discount on their next cruise! Are you friggin’ kidding me?!

So my buddy is now trying to get the story out to the media about just how terrifying–and dangerous–the experience actually was. His son, who’s about 10, still comes to him and says that he can hear children screaming, the boat is turning around and tables are smashing.

I’m not trying to say that cruises are all bad, but this just goes to show what companies–of any kind–will do protect their reputation rather than acknowledge that something went terribly wrong, and that, going forward, they will adjust accordingly. Remember 25 years ago when those Tylenol tablets were tainted with poison? The company recalled every bottle, acknowledged the danger, and repackaged everything. As a company, they seem to be doing just fine. But that kind of accountability is rare.

Is there a moral to this story? I don’t know. But speak up when things go wrong. Because if we won’t, who will?

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=68&objectid=10524889

Terrified cruisers back on dry land

5:00AM Saturday August 02, 2008

By Yvonne Tahana and David Eames

Henry Garrett is one of 42 cruise passengers who needed medical attention. Photo / Paul Estcourt

Bad weather rocks the Pacific Sun

"We had split-open heads, broken bones, blood everywhere. It looked like the Bali bombings," Pacific Sun passenger Jonathan Woodward said.

"There was stuff smashed throughout the whole ship, paintings on the wall – I’d say 80 per cent of them were smashed. It was just chaos."

Mr Woodward was one of 1732 passengers and 671 crew aboard when the vessel was caught in the tropical low that caused chaos across New Zeland. They disembarked when it docked in Auckland about 1pm yesterday – a day later than scheduled.

Sixty passengers have now cancelled on the next voyage – due to leave Auckland for New Caledonia around 5pm tonight. They were given a refund and the 1650 venturing out will get a 20 per cent discount after two nights were cut from the now eight-day voyage.

A spokesperson for ship owners P&O Cruises said a specialist team was checking overnight for any damage – but an initial check by Maritime New Zealand showed no structural damage.

The Pacific Sun was caught in the storm, when 600km north of New Zealand, and battered by 7m swells and near-100km/h winds, which sent the vessel pitching 20 degrees, smashing furniture and fittings.

P&O said 42 passengers needed medical treatment, with three remaining under medical supervision for the rest of the journey.

Spokeswoman Sandy Olsen yesterday confirmed two passengers had been taken to hospital with suspected rib and pelvic fractures, but said rumours one passenger had lost a foot were untrue.

"It was like watching The Poseidon Adventure," Sunshine Coast woman Betty Appleton said, referring to the ’70s blockbuster in which hundreds die after a cruise liner is flipped by a rogue wave. She and husband Jim – veterans of a combined 39 P&O cruises – yesterday described the storm as the most frightening they had encountered at sea, "because of all the flying crockery".

But the couple were philosophical about their ordeal, with Mr Appleton considering it "just bad luck" that the ship had to endure "three lows back to back".

The Appletons were due to set sail out again on their 40th cruise today.

Cynthia Hoban of Waiwera, north of Auckland, was concerned a number of items aboard ship that should have been fixed down, were not. She said listening to items of furniture and other pieces "sliding from one side to another" were alarming. "We thought ‘God, what’s going to come through walls or the ceiling’."

Ms Olsen said there were "some loose items that did move around", and the company would investigate.

Counselling was being offered for passengers and crew who were shaken by their experience, she said. The storm-affected passengers would be offered a goodwill gesture of a 25 per cent reduction in the value of a future cruise.

– NZPA

As you know I don’t write a lot or political themed blogs, but a friend sent me an email today about McCain’s selection of Palin, which just baffled him. A mutual friend of ours–an absolute die-hard extremist Republican–sent him some Republican-slanted email, and got him all riled up.

As for me, Sarah Palin for VP comes across as a risky strategic move … a move of desperation. It’s not about what’s best, it’s about what McCain thinks gives him the best chance to win, which is what all As you know I don’t write a lot or political themed blogs, but a friend sent me an email today about McCain’s selection of Palin, which just baffled him. A mutual friend of ours–an absolute die-hard extremist Republican–sent him some Republican-slanted email, and got him all riled up.

As for me, Sarah Palin for VP comes across as a risky strategic move … a move of desperation. It’s not about what’s best, it’s about what McCain thinks gives him the best chance to win, which is what all candidates do, so I don’t blame him there. It was an inspired choice, I’ll give him that. Never saw that coming. She’s got her baggage, but then again, all the candidates do.

The problem with the Democrats–and I’m a lifelong Democrat–is that coming off 8 years of Bush (in my opinion the worst president in my lifetime, at the very least)–is that Obama is still just barely ahead of McCain in the polls. How is that even possible? Based on the last 8 years, the Republcians have nothing to stand on. This should be Obama in a landslide, but it’s not. Which just goes to show how lame the Democrats can be, just giving the Republicans the very ammunition they need to prove the Democrats shouldn’t be in power in the first place.

I’m voting for Obama. But to underestimate Palin is a big, big mistake. She’s good looking, tough and a very good speaker. She might totally blow up and be an utter disaster in the end, but then again, she could become very popular throughout the campaign, giving the Democrats a run for their money.

The Democrats need to fight–hard and tough and ruthless–until the very last ballot is counted, or else they could let yet another 4 years slip through their fingers. It’s still early and we really don’t know enough about her, but from I’ve seen so far, Palin is no joke. McCain has always been a maverick, and Palin as his choice for VP certainly proves that once again. We’ll just have to wait and see how it all plays out.

When it comes to how I figure out story sequences or bits of dialogue, and sometimes the more complex plotting, I’m reminded of my favorite scene from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

Paul Newman and Robert Redford are in Boliva, hiding out from the U.S. authorities, and they take a job as the security detail protecting the payroll of a mining operation. But before they get hired, the boss wants them to prove they’re worth hiring. So the boss chucks a tin, and tells Redford’s Sundace KWhen it comes to how I figure out story sequences or bits of dialogue, and sometimes the more complex plotting, I’m reminded of my favorite scene from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

Paul Newman and Robert Redford are in Boliva, hiding out from the U.S. authorities, and they take a job as the security detail protecting the payroll of a mining operation. But before they get hired, the boss wants them to prove they’re worth hiring. So the boss chucks a tin, and tells Redford’s Sundace Kid to shoot it. Standing in place, he shoots, but misses by about a foot.

Looking distraught, Sundance does this quick pivot move and blasts the tin like four times in a row. The boss looks at him, amazed, and Sundance says, "I’m better when I move."

Well, that’s how I am when it comes to thinking things through. When I’m writing, and need to figure something out in my head before I can really get going, many times, although not always, I get stuck, just sitting there at the computer. My fingers hover over the keys, twitching, wanting to clack away, but I don’t know where to take them. In my mind’s eye I can’t see where to go.

So I physically get up from the desk. I walk around my apartment and I think out loud. I talk it out. And usually I grab my whiffleball bat and twirl it around, take a few swings, and just get my body going. There’s something about motion, about the physical act of swinging my arms and getting my blood flowing, that helps me think. And during this process sometimes I’ll get inspired, and head right back to the computer and clack away, and sometimes it lasts, sometimes not.

Other times I’ll flop down on the couch, thinking, and then I’ll walk around some more, into the kitchen, into the bedroom, even out on the balcony. And then I’ll head back in, take a few more swings, and slowly but surely the ideas start coming. My mind loosens. I can see where I need to go, and can think it through. There are usually a lot of starts and stops, thinking I’m on track only to realize I’ve thought myself into a corner, but ultimately, I find my way.

While writing for me takes place at the keyboard, the writing [i]process[/i] is much more all over the place. The ideas comes to me when they come to me. I need to be active, to get physical.

Like the Sundance Kid, I’m better when I move.