Out of the cave

That's a photo of Stoneman Lake, located about halfway between Phoenix and Flagstaff off Rt. 17.

Gorgeous place.  Found it last September when we were scouting.

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I'm listening to www.pandora.com.  What a great concept:  you plug in your favorite songs, and they find commonalities.

Then they choose music that fits your style.

Based on what you've told us so far, we're playing this track because it features a subtle use of vocal harmony, acoustic rhythm piano, a twelve-eight time signature, mixed acoustic and electric instrumentation, and major key tonality.

Now that's a smart music webpage, huh?  A friend of mine at work recommended it.  She said it was fairly new and not very well known.  Very cool.  Check it out.  You'll totally love it.

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Over spring break, which was two weeks long, I spent several days in San Diego with my composer, Myron Fink, shaping the story Bloody Ground, which we began three years ago.

I came home, fed and watered The Blessed Sir Knavely, May His Line Continue On Through Eternity, and then headed off to Phoenix, where I spent an entire week with Glendon Yoder's family.  They put me up in their guest bedroom, let me write during the day in peace, and watched some of my favorite movies with me, one per evening.

How random was the family section of my favorite films:  Secondhand Lions, A River Runs Through It, Crash, A Time to Kill, and While You Were Sleeping.  You figure out the common strands.

The good news is that the story is done.  Now it's a matter of writing the dialogue.

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Of course, before THAT gets done, I need to do a final description pass through The French Inquisitor.

Yep, that's right.  We're almost ready to send our first screenplay out to a select group of readers.  And then, once it comes back with comments from them, and Steven and I make our final revisions, we'll send it off to screenplay contests and agents. 

I'm aiming to get my final pass done by the end of next week.  Then I'll send it back to Steven for his final dialogue pass.

Does this sound a bit like work to you?  Oh, right.  That's exactly what it is.  And it feels pretty dang good.

Yeah!

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I apologize for the long absence from this blog.  I've been making a significant number of personal decisions about the future, none of which would be appropriate to discuss on this blog.

If you're interested, feel free to contact me by email for more details.

Life is good.  :-)