The View Up Here

A week from today I will be nervously re-re-re-re-re-repacking one or all of my bags, drugging my cat and myself for the long trip, and making sure everything is in order. I do have a busy week ahead of me, but I am feeling more energized than anything. I keep thinking of the palm trees and balmy temps as I sit here wearing layer upon layer, staring at the snow outside the windows. This move is so important - not just because I'm going some place warm, but because I'm at long last pursuing something instead of just running away (oh, the vagaries of youth). I am so grateful that I've been given this opportunity to move forward. I think I might have a buyer for the car (will know by noon), and I've perused online enough to feel confident that I can get something in L.A. in my price range that won't be a complete jalopy. She ain't much to look at, but she'll make the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs. Thanks to http://lgreport.blogspot.com/ for the p...

I painted my stubby fingernails scalding scarlet last night. Honestly, I need to keep my nails painted in winter or they shred down to the quick and bleed all over the place (makes it hard to type). I just reached into the basket of 30 seconds dry nail polish (because I am WAY too busy/impatient to do two coats and let it dry for an hour before I do anything) and pulled out the first one I grabbed. At first I thought, "Oh. Damn." Then I thought, "Well why the hell not? Why should this color be reserved for toes? I'm on retreat this week so who cares?" Between the incredible amount of snow, the lack of sunshine (although the sun is out in full force today, it's the first day in 2 weeks that I've seen the orb in the sky), and the usual post-holiday doldrums, I needs me some scarlet fingernails to cheer me up every time I look down at the keyboard. (Also, it brings to mind early 90s television glam where all the women had their nails painted this color, fil...

Tomorrow begins the rest of my writing retreat. I have a list of tech to bring, including all the footage from Korea, my hard drives and cables, speakers, etc. so I can work on Korea Dreambus! I will also produce more pages of the paranormal action comedy screenplay to hand over to my writing group for our meeting on Monday (well, actually, only two of us can meet, but still, it's a deadline). I have a pile of books to bring, a journal, my favorite cartridge pens, and bags of food. Hopefully the Muse will arrive concurrently.

This cold is really hanging on and wiping me out. I finally got the xmas decorations down, and Epiphany was well over a week ago. What can I say; I'm Buddhist. I'm excited because tomorrow starts Part Deux of my writing retreat at the Constance Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts . I'm trying to use today to get ready, dealing with mundane stuff at home so that I can get to work with a clear mind. Unfortunately, the congestion in my ears is still making me want to claw my head off like that poor chap in The Caterpillar from Rod Serling's Night Gallery. The never-ending gray skies and on-again-off-again snow fall in Ithaca is driving me just as batty, as it does every year about this time. A close friend of mine observed that I am usually a bitch this time of year (thanks for that). It's kind of true, though. Even with Vit D. supplements and a faux sunlight lamp, I really just despise existence from now until early April. I keep telling myself I need to move out of...

Just finished packing up my studio to finish my first 9 days of retreat, which really was 8 days because of the 1 sick day I had last week. I am feeling feverish - not in a good way. I think this virus still has me, and unfortunately I have to show up to work tomorrow. Sort of annoyed with myself that I agreed to go in (I'm not contractually obligated to do so - I'm an adjunct, after all). But I did and so that's that. I'll be back at Saltonstall on Sunday through the following Sunday. Will crank out more pages on The Other Side, and start editing my doco. Meantime, work, then friends, then more friends, then sleep.

I've spent the bulk of today and yesterday on non-writing related activities. Job searching, mainly, finishing applications begun back in 2010, and getting new ones out. It's exhausting, and while I resent having to take time away from writing, I recognize that it is a necessary enterprise. I do not buy into the "starving writer" mythos. One of the other residents here at Saltonstall is a writing center director at a university down state. We talked yesterday of the elusive balance that all writers (indeed, all artists) must try to strike between working and making art. For some, these are one in the same, but for most of us, we must render unto Caesar what is Caesar's, and keep our soul, our expression, our most vital selves for doing the creative work we are here to do. I shall now drape myself artfully on the chaise lounge, a bowl of glistening fruit nearby, a crystal goblet of ambrosia in my hand, to ponder what exactly Caesar does with what I give him on a r...

It's Monday, so that means...nothing, really. It's just another day at Saltonstall. Got here at a decent hour this morning and was all set up by 10:00. I'm even doing my laundry here so that I don't have to take time out to get to a laundr-o-mat. Shifting focus from Black Doves to my screenplay On The Other Side. I have a writing group meeting a week from now, so I have to get a bunch of new pages cranked out. Just found out over the weekend that I do, in fact, have my part-time tutoring job this semester. I am very disappointed that the college chose to close the full-time tutoring position. I had applied for it; it would've made my financial life a whole lot easier. That's the way the rice cake crumbles, I suppose. Perhaps there is bigger and better on the horizon...I can only hope.

The cold I came down with on Tuesday has seemingly gotten worse, not better. I had a hard time getting out of the gate today. Didn't get to Saltonstall until around two in the afternoon, and it's been slow going. However, I did manage to finish the action sequence in Black Doves. I am relieved to be done with it (for now). Continuity is quite the stern task master, but I'm not letting my Editor Hat interfere with my Writing Hat. Not today, anyway! Snow continues to drift down. We have quite a bit on the ground now, and it's glowing in the sun's setting light. Thick clouds painted in what I have dubbed New York State Gray are pushing along at quite a clip. Soon I expect the deer will come out to nuzzle the snow for grass. Today's soundtrack: Mozart piano concerti.

Off to a slower start today. Saturday means eggs, toast and bacon and a morning to play with Spaz the cat. It's snowing once again. It wouldn't be a winter at Saltonstall without a serious blanket of the white stuff to clean off my car every night. I'm into an action sequence in Black Doves. It's exhausting. I can see it happening faster than I can write it, so I have a note pad next to me for when flashes of things come to me that I won't actually get to for another page. I'd like to claim that I'm brilliant that way, but I think it's more of a side-effect from all the immediate gratification/multi-tasking media that fill my life. Speaking of which, check out this guy:

It's a bright, cheery, snowy as hell Friday morning. Lesser souls were deterred from making the trek up here in the snowstorm, but I prevailed, and now I'm here watching the snow pile up on the valley below. I made some headway on Black Doves yesterday, so I'm excited to pick up where I left off. This project has been like pulling wisdom teeth in some respects, but also a joyous gift, when I'm feeling the spirit of Moonbase Alpha. Het. Depends on the day. Right now it's feeling joyous so I have to go with that energy. The trick to this novel is that it's essentially a non-Space: 1999 story, but I'm almost shoehorning the Alphans into it. It's kind of weird. I have to be careful not to let Koenig and Pals be too passive. Ultimately, they have to save the day, cause they're the heroes. But in my book (literally), they have to work damn hard to get there. Yesterday I also discovered the reason my legs and feet were so damned cold here - the bottom vent...

It's that time of year for me to hunker down in one of the beautiful studios at Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts and focus on the many projects that are tagging along like a bunch of tin cans hanging off the bumper. 1. Space: 1999 Black Doves novel (first draft) 2. On The Other Side screenplay (first draft) 3. Arapata'an screenplay (revisions) 4. Documentary film about life as and EFL teacher in S. Korea On Day 3. Day 2 was home sick. I pushed myself to get out and up the hill here today. I feel better just for having made it. Worked on Black Doves all morning, just had lunch, and about to dive back in. Qapla!

Even though writing retreat has been over since Sunday, I've managed to continue some of that momentum. Just finished the last bit of revision on "Beauty Is...," along with the log-line, and sent it off to my manager. It might be a bit off-beat for them, but I think she'll at least have some good feedback for me. I've started working on the next few projects, and have made some decisions for Korea DreamBus as far as structure is concerned. This is a major development, because I've been struggling and going all wishy-washy on how to push that baby out into the world. Not feeling terribly well, though. Headache and general woozeyness. Tomorrow I'm back to work, and by end of next week, the semesters at I.C. and TC3 will be in full swing, so I better be ready! Last night I watched (on-line) the pilot of " Spartacus: Blood and Sand ," a STARZ production. It's "300" meets "Gladiator," Exec. Produced by a handful of people incl...

I'm a little more than half way through this Winter's writing retreat at Constance Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts , and I have to say it's been a productive ride. I finished "Arapata'an," the feature length SF screenplay that's become a saga both on paper and in my mind, I've updated a series pitch for a TV pilot, and I've started the works on that Space: 2099 project (which may very well go nowhere, but at least I'm giving it a go). Next up on the docket: "Beauty Is..." heavy revisions, and then scripting for "Korea Dreambus!" Way to go, 2010! The view outside my window at Saltonstall. My workspace. Deep in thought...posing for the picture.

This season of Leverage is gaining momentum. I admit to being slightly disappointed at the season opener, but since then the eps have been strong - funny, twisty, totally entertaining. Will Wheaton's appearance was priceless. Between Leverage and other shows like Burn Notice, I am hopeful that the kind of writing I aspire to actually has legs in the current TV market. That is to say - quirky, personal, fast, funny but with heart. I still feel like I need to spend some time in L.A. but I am still clueless as to how to make that happen with the Ithaca home base. Ideas? I am trying to get a writing retreat set up for Thanksgiving break, as we will not be traveling, thank the gods. Too many projects on tap during the busiest semester in years. But I like it. Oh yes, I like being too busy for my own good.

I just spent a glorious six days devoted to my writing at the Constance Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts artist colony . I completed a final draft of "Beauty Is..." (see log line below*). Also worked on the sci fi screenplay that is just about done, and started in earnest writing a TV pilot. Other than that, I went for walks in the woods, hung out with turkey vultures and deer, and did Yoga. Now it's back to the semester's work: grading mid-term portfolios. Here's to life! Beauty Is... In a small Connecticut town in 1953, a 16-year-old tomboy is forced to go to “finishing school” for the summer, where she encounters a mysterious club of feminine vigilantes who frame her mother for stealing the town’s precious historical silver. This summer, she must stop the vigilantes, clear her mother’s name, and learn how to walk in heels. * Registered with WGA 2008