October 11, 2010

Happy Columbus Day

  • The final draft will be in the area of 34,000 words. Small. Novella sized and therefore probably doomed. But I cut a farkton of fluff, so there I am. Officially described as "absurdist" - since people need to know the "genre" - it's really... I don't know what it is...it's short. Out of all that stuff you may/may not have read in bits and pieces, it ends up being about a guy who gives up everything in life in order to save one hundred thousand dollars in cash. He's just a slug who works in a warehouse and is doing this on a basic paycheck living in a crummy neighborhood. And just when he's about to add the final bit of savings to his stash he realizes he's dying. So he's got to come up with his next move in that context, even though he has nothing, knows no one and just sits around drinking all night long because he's connected to no one and nothing. It's called THINK FAST, and the last (of about 6,000) rewrite should be firmed up this month, with query letters going out this November. So, here we go again.


  • The crazy thing here is that I don't want to work on that anymore because I already have the germ for the next one. This phenomenon, which occurs every time at this stage of the game no matter how much crap I write, always leads me to think that what I'm close to finishing is shit anyway and I should just go on to the next thing because that will be better. I have no idea why it's like that. When I'm working on something it's great and takes on a life of it's own and at moments it even writes itself, but when I'm done I have no interest or affection for it whatsoever. In fact I usually end up thinking it's total garbage. I don't think I've ever ended up liking anything I've ever written. Crazy...


  • MrsRW is off to Utica NY this morning where she will be for the next two weeks. I tried to cheer myself up by telling her it should be pretty there this time of year. Yes I said cheer myself up, what about it? When she does one of these two-week jobs and stays over for the weekend I have to especially guard against my normal process of personal deteriorization that I go through when that happens. Even if we're both busy with our own stuff in different parts of the house for hours it's always better when I know she's here. What can I say?


  • When the wife is out of town being a heavyweight consultant to places like the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota and whatnot (and whatever this hospital in Utica is) I console myself with cooking experiments. The only thing I'm going to experiment with in the next two weeks is a better "take" on the mango-habanero chicken I made the other week. I didn't like it at all. I made it from fresh mangoes and actual habaneros and it was tasty - sorta - but not what I wanted. Too much like a sauce. So I'm going to start with mango salsa instead and have it be more like a topping than a marinade. If I think of it I'll let ya know how it turns out.


  • But mostly, lately, the experiments have wound down into a list of usual things I make for myself, like a list of dinner staples we all have. So during the next two weeks I'll probably do another chivito and some more cacio e pepe which I can't seem to get enough of and is ruining all I've accomplished, weight-wise, over the last couple of years. I know, it's very exciting around here when the Mrs is gone, ain't it?


  • Luckily I have my youngest daughter, Kelly, who comes over every Thursday to watch her "Project Runway" during which I usually pick the winner and loser fairly regularly. I always try to make something new for dinner when she comes over and she's a skinny little salad eater so this Thursday I'm making a walnut-apple salad. It is an entree-type vegetarian salad, meaning it has potatoes and I think cilantro and with some bread and wine it'll be the whole dinner. So there's that. I enjoy project Runway a lot more than I usually care to admit if only because, despite it's extravagant basis and practically irrelevant nature I do consider fashion design an art form equal to painting and writing and theater and etc. So kill me.


  • And, ya know, we're in the middle or nearing the end of the campaign season for the upcoming election. Oh hello. And I have hit that usual place wherein I can't stand anybody on any side of the issue. What is scaring me a little is that it feels like for the first time in my life I may end up voting completely straight Democrat if only to protest the "lowest common denominator" tactics of the Tea Party and the GOP which it is leading around by the nose. I have never in my entire life voted a straight ticket. So this little bit of anger and huge amount of contempt I am harboring for the mis-information, scare-tactics and general anti-intellectual caveman shit from the Know-Nothing luddites now in control of the GOP heart and mind may lead me to a personal first. I know... to some of my older friends that is probably shocking. But I am just that sick of it too.


  • But more importantly, what did I do to turn you off? Just asking.
  • 11 comments:

    sybil law said...

    I just saw some kind of recipe for a bread salad, which sounds interesting, only now I have no idea where I saw it. I am so helpful!

    I think I love you more, now - you watch Project Runway?! I love that show!

    Mostly, I'm excited about the novella. I know it's good.

    RW said...

    No I meant bread with the salad. I need something to make me feel like i actually ate something when I have dinner. I mean, er...

    flask said...

    good luck with all that.

    here's a thing i know you will enjoy knowing: i was browsing christian mug designs over at zazzle, and pages and pages of tea party crap came up and it just isn't even worth asking those idiots why they think their brand of horseshit is particularly christian.

    Verdant Earl said...

    I was watching Meet the Press or some such nonsense yesterday morning and they had the two guys who were running for Congress in Illinois on, doing a little mini-debate. You know the ones...the guy who lied about his family's bank business and the guy who lied about his military record.

    What the hell is going on over there in Illinois, man?

    PS - I kid about Illinois because I love. You want to see some fucked up candidates on both sides? Check out the NY gubernatorial race. It's denigrated to one big Italian stereotype joke. Fuggedaboudit.

    RW said...

    Dude, those were the guys for SENATOR. Obama's old seat!

    Illinois is screwed up seriously. We're like billions in debt and the state hasn't paid contractors for like a year and some are going out of business. Problem for the GOP here is that to win in this state they have to be "moderates", the rabid far right doesn't often fly in this state. So the GOP primaries are putting up guys too Right to win, which leaves us with skanky Democrats who do win & then screw it up.

    It's a normal day.

    Kaye Waller said...

    "One thing that was really important for [Bob] Dylan was that he believed once you've done something, you don't go back and fix it. Move on... If you write a song...then later you don't think it was that good--leave it, let it go, and get on with the next thing. That's what made Dylan great."

    (Barry Feinstein)

    Verdant Earl said...

    Yeah, I wasn't sure if it was the Senate or the House. That's why I went with the generic "Congress". NY, obviously, ain't a bowl of cherries either.

    On a more important note, I'm looking forward to hear if you are going to do any variations on the chivito this time. I still have to try the cacio e pepe. I don't know why I keep putting it off.

    Brian said...

    I actually find Project Runway pretty interesting, too, even though the biggest fashion-related decision I usually make is whether I am going to wear the black or brown Doc Martens today...

    ...but I let my wife think I think watching it is a chore, so I get points for watching it with her :)

    Though I haven't written any novellas (or even passable short stories) I can relate to being sick of something I've created by the time I'm "done" with it. It's definitely true of every paper I've ever published. And old blogs. And music I've had a hand in.

    Gino said...

    you oughta see the political train wreck that is continuing in CA.

    Avitable said...

    I've put my political blinders on. I'm just not into it right now and I don't want to think about it.

    Tug said...

    I think it's sweet that you miss Mrs. RW when she's gone. ;-) If you reallyREALLY miss her, you could cook me dinners & fedex them.

    for realz.