I have to write a short post if humanly possibly now… because as I mentioned above… I have more to write.
There have a number of highlights in the past two days…
Two nights ago, we watched Almodovar’s All About My Mother – which absolutely killed me… I ended up having nightmares all night that kidzilla had… well… you’ve probably seen the movie.
The next morning, a handful of associates went to the beach around six am. It was marvelous, truly. The moon was still in the sky and the sun was a small red orange dot. The water looked inviting. I stayed on the beach and just relaxed while everyone else, jogged, biked or swam. There were dolphins swimming pretty close to shore and pelicans swooping over them.
Workshop again was really great. I think Chris had just returned and we read an extended version of something he had read to us earlier. Again, he pretty much blew me away. It was interesting, he has this talent to put you somewhere, in a moment and with this uncanny and quirky precision. It’s very entertaining. His characters are especially entertaining. You want to hang out with them. Stare at them through window when they floss their teeth or choose a book from a shelf. Today, we read the continuation of what we read yesterday – “something he wrote today” he said, “the bastard”, I thought. ;) again, it was amazing.
John also had something for us to read, an excerpt of a short story. It was very different from the excerpt of his book that he read. I admire his ablity to write in different voices. It’s something that I am definitely struggling with. After all the questions that came up, it turned out it would be a better idea if we could read the actual short story – which we did today, where it was summarily decided it should be fleshed out into another novel. (HA!) SO glad, I’m NOT John today! ;)
Dina read a short story she also just completed while here. (everyone is getting something done while I’m freaking out over my measley word count!!!!) It was as Jessica said a tour de force. We all agreed that it was awesome and that she should be sending it out. I can’t imagine what I would do if Jessica said something I wrote was a tour de force. She already said something I wrote was elegant – I almost passed out.
Jessica read an introduction or preface written by Edward Albee about his play, “Three Tall Women.” If I can find it online, I’ll link to it because it really resonated with me. It was about how and why he wrote the play and how/if he was responsible with the memories of his adoptive mother. Albee discussed memory and its use in fiction or playwriting. Very interesting… I’ll do my best to find it tomorrow. If you’re writing anything, I think it will prove useful.
Last night, I went to the movies with Steed, Del and Chris. We saw Revenge of the Sith. I totally need to hang with those guys more often. I really enjoyed the movie first of all. It was the best of the three films by a L O N G shot. I still think Padme and Anikin/Darth Vader were stiff as boards, but the Wookie planet, Obi Wan, Yoda – totally worth the price of admission. Did anyone else notice how the movie started with these amazing special effects and then ended with the original Darth Vader – with the square of LED lights on his chest that looked like a simplified simple simon? BRILLIANT!!! I almost peed in my pants that time…
Ok, I think that’s it. Tomorrow, Jessica is reading at a local library. Oh yeah, the local paper came by and took pictures of us during workshop. If I show up in any (doubtful) I’ll post a pic. I just gave a 20+ page excerpt to everyone to read and hack at for Friday. Wish me Luck.
p.s. I have a fucking mosquito bite on my fucking eyelid. The one place I don’t stick the bug repellent. My Achilles heel turns out to be my fucking eyelid. And word count update: 16,981. I may have to attend the superfun dance party this evening to celebrate… I wish I had a bubble to protect me from the mosquitoes from here to there though.
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