Two months ago I had accomplished something I had wanted to do my entire life. I finished my "novel." The manuscript for How I Broke Into Heaven came in at 220 pages and nearly 55,000 words. The story felt strong in some places and weak in others. I did not use an outline, hell most of the time I did not even know where the story was going.It felt amazing, for about three minutes. Then I realized that it had taken me about a year to finish the manuscript.
The writer I was at the beginning of the journey and the writer I grew to be were vastly different. There were tonal differences throughout as my life went from good to great to bad to worse and back to good.
That said I still like the story that is buried in there deep beneath all the bullshit that lends itself to first drafts. I also remind myself that the first draft may not be the end of it but it is the most important step. You must sit down and write, if you want to be a writer. Regardless, of the success or publication of this manuscript and the couple screenplays that preceded it, I can now honestly call myself a writer. A good one? Probably not yet. But a writer nonetheless.
I promised myself eight weeks off to work on a screenplay but now am forced to delve back into How I Broke Into Heaven.
I have written second, third, fourth, fifth, drafts of screenplays but that is a different animal than a manuscript.
I suppose my game plan from here on out is something like this;
1) Re-read in entirety, take detailed notes, highlight thoughts I love, try to remain objective and dismiss material that doesn't lend itself to the story.
2) Re-write the entire novel from page one. No copy and pasting, no transcribing long blocks of text from the finished manuscript. Explore ideas that you like with an open mind. Do not attach yourself to past thoughts. Remind yourself to always serve the story.
3) Finish re-write in two months to try to keep quality of writing consistent throughout.
4) The novel itself is the telling of two parallel stories. I would like to try to make sure those two stories match thematically and tonally throughout.
5) Aim to be a more visual storyteller.
6) Be honest to yourself and to your story.
So on July 23rd, 2014 here we go.
by H.W. Brands. Franklin, much like Buffet, has become more of a legend than a human being but Brands illustrated the humanity in Franklin. His struggle to remain faithful to his wife, his inability to maintain very close friendships, and his quest to improve the life of the new America and her inhabitants. A biography that explains the life of a mythological creature much like Franklin and or his contemporary George Washington is understandable. Their lives were so much different than the lives of us, not only because of their extreme successes but also because of our inability to comprehend what life must have been like in their era. A writer trying to make a quick buck writing a biography on a figure that is merely a sparkle in public eye for fifteen minutes is deplorable. The reason there are biographies written for Sarah Palin, Paris Hilton, Jay Leno et al. is mind numbing.
by James Brown was the last memoir I read (with the exception of Jack Kerouac's 
which is breathtakingly brilliant). James Brown's life was marred with death, suicides, homelessness, addiction, and depravity. He had not lived a life of normalcy and had been surrounded by a cast of extremely interesting characters. The book was well written, sharp and honest. I have no problem with memoirs of astonishing human accomplishment being published: overcoming obstacles, beating cancer, etc. but I am so sick of fiction being sold as fact (e.g. the Tiny Little Pieces guy) and mundane being sold as magnificent. 