Summer has finally
started for me. One very time consuming project is finished, so it is
time to start finding new projects to work on. Or get back to some
that have sort of fallen by the wayside.
I've got a book
I'm in the process of editing. A mystery novel set in the 30s out in
Death Valley. I'm about halfway through the second draft and need to
finish that up and get further along the path towards trying to get
it published. Then I can consider writing more books with the
characters I've begun to develop. As far as I can tell mysteries tend
to build collections of books using the same detectives.
Then I've got
plays to write. A couple that are already started and just need more
work. And some that I've just started having ideas for. And I've got
several out being considered for various theatres around the country.
Plus it's about time to start working on one for Tehachapi Community
Theatre's Playwrights Festival. The festival has been moved to the
Spring (so 2014) and the call for submissions is about to be made.
Anybody living in Kern County can submit a script, and a 10-minute
play is only about 10 pages long. (For proper formatting I recommend
the free software Celtx.) So it's something that many of you could
try to do. We had some good scripts last season, but I think that we
can do even better.
Then one short
play I wrote earlier this year seems to be coming back and it is
trying to talk me into making it a movie. And it will likely be
different that some of the other things I've written that Gary
Mazzola has turned into movies. Previously he's taken monologues or
short plays and “filmed” them and released them on YouTube. But
this will be different, assuming it ever gets made.
Then there's
getting ready for the Kern County Fair. Yep, I'm going to try to get
another ribbon or two. So that means trying new recipes. Maybe even
something with Spam again this year. Yum. And there will certainly be
some pies. I've got a really good lemon pie this year, so I'll
probably take that one down. And of course keep trying with apple
pie. I've got some new ideas there too.
And then there are
always new things to learn. I need to try to track down a book on
spiders. None of my insect books has more than a page or two on
arachnids. And with all the spiders around right now, I'm feeling
ignorant. Then I want to find some time to try to learn some
painting. Probably watercolors. But I need to set up my computer room
with space for projects like that. Why the computer room? Well
YouTube has free lessons on so many different things. (Of course some
like flintknapping shouldn't be done inside.)
So summer has
barely started and I've got a full agenda already. Hopefully you'll
be using yours well too. But you know... Right now I think I'll take
a break.
