Welcome back.
Something over two years ago, Garrett decided he was going to do a thousand words a day, as a writing project. Cool idea. I did it with him. For about three weeks. And then sporadically for another month or so. And then once or twice. And then not at all.
I keep a writing page so that people can see what I'm writing, get a taste of what's going through my warped little mind. It's been almost two years since I've updated any of the actual content on this page. You'd think I hadn't been writing.
I have, in fact, been writing. Since the thousand words thing fell apart, I've completed two novels, one with my co- author Sarah, am working on another two and a screenplay with her, a third for myself, and have another _three_ screenplays scowling at me and making me feel guilty for not working on them. Indeed, if I'd brought any of them to work with me today, I'd be working on one of them instead of on this.
For what it's worth, the two completed novels have been rejected, both of them nicely: one is a Highlander novel, and they are not, at the moment, publishing those, although they said they'd keep my query letter on file in case they started publishing them again (I have high hopes for next year's movie sparking a new round of book publications), and the other was a romance that was "a solid effort, but too dark" for the publisher's line. So neither of those rejections are spirit- crushing, as far as rejections go.
For the past two months, I've been writing in my journal almost daily; I'm afraid this doesn't mean it's an open book. To me, journals are (1) personal and (2), better written by hand. I can't keep typed journals, which is kinda weird, considering that I don't like doing any of my other writing on anything but a keyboard. But I've been keeping a journal by hand for um. Ten, no, thirteen years. So it's habit. It had been a long, long time since I kept a journal regularly, and now that I'm into it again I really hope I'll have the discipline to continue, particularly after I leave the godawful job I'm currently at. (I'll write about that later.) The good thing about the job is that I have half an hour or so to kill in the mornings before I have to open, and thus I write in my journal.
Other projects: I'm trying to get on with the local paper writing reviews; I suggested to them that they needed a local movie reviewer, and was told they don't often do local movie reviews. Well, yes; I'd noticed that. That's why I thought they needed one. But anyway, the guy did ask me to attend a couple of art shows/theatre things this weekend and write him a couple of five-hundred word reviews, so I'm going to do that, and perhaps I'll end up with a regular gig.
I'm just about to start writing music profiles for a site that's yet to go live; they're working at being a one-stop shop for all kinds of music reviews and band profiles, and they _pay_ people to write profiles for them. A _writing_ job that _pays_!
I'm also trying to get in on popsmack.com as a columnist or a movie reviewer or -- well, there are a number of things I think I could write for them. Again, they threaten to _pay_ for their regular columnists' work.
Those last two things are Sarah's fault, if fault is the appropriate word. She keeps pointing me at stuff that pays -- there's another site I'm supposed to check out tonight, and if I'd get my act together, I could probably write stuff for about.com. I really need to get my act together, now that I mention it. There are probably a lot of historical or literary things I could focus on to write about. Okay, note to self: get off your ass and apply to be one of about's writers.
Actually, more than just the online writing stuff is Sarah's fault. The romance novels we're working on together were her idea, too, and she's the one who said we should try our hand at screenplays. Aren't I lucky to have such a damned clever writing partner?
Anyway, like all that isn't enough to do, I've been kind of wanting to get back to my thousand words. I have this goal, that someday I'll get up in the morning, write in my journal for a while, then sit down and do a thousand words before getting on with the _serious_ writing, It seems like a good way to get the juices flowing, y'know?
I'm not promising great things. I'm not even promising a daily thousand words. I'm gonna try to do a couple a week, more if the mood (or muse) inspires me. We'll see how it goes.