Day 987

Sunday, September 27, 2015

Up at 6:50 to write.  I worked on the last scene in ch. 9, then showered and got ready for ping pong with Alice in S. San Francisco.  We played two hours and another 15 minutes of badminton.  We had Vietnamese for lunch, shared a grande latte, then got vegetables and came home.  My Fantasy team kicked some serious butt today (finally!), thumping Tom H. by 60 to capture my first game.  We watched 60 Minutes at 7 and had a very nice dinner.

I have an insanely busy week next week with work, finishing ch. 9, starting chps. 10-11, revising ch. 1 and thinking about my online approach to tumblr and Swifties and the positioning of this new story.  There's so much to do, lots of balls in the air.

Day 986

Saturday, September 26, 2015

I woke up at 8 and wrote all morning and afternoon, building all the scenes of ch. 9.  They're rough but at least on paper. 

After dinner, Alice and I watched two movies, Le Week-End and Populaire.  LWE was just okay, not as good as the hype suggested (I found it odd, unsympathetic, especially in the second half of the film where it felt like something altogether different from the first half).  Populaire, however, was fun and beautifully shot.  I liked it.  Maybe I was in a French Rom-Com mood.

Day 985

Friday, September 25, 2015

Tried out my new racquets this morning and they're very cool.  I love them.  After racquetball, I wrote until 3, then picked up Alice at 4 and had dinner at 6.  I was able to write another hour or so in the evening, then went to sleep around 10:15.

Day 984

Thursday, September 24, 2015

Up at 2:30, wrote for two hours, then went to sleep at 4:30 and didn't wake up until 8:38.  I only had 10 minutes to get ready for work, so I went into overdrive and rushed to shower, dress and collect my things.  I was only a few minutes late.  I worked until 2:30, then came home and spent three hours on E-Force stuff, sending emails, preparing the new racquets for tomorrow morning (can't wait to hit with them), and taking care of a few odds and ends.

Day 983

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

Racquetball in the a.m., then work from 9-2, ping pong with Howard from 3-4, then home for dinner, writing, and getting together with Rossana for an hour at Starbuck's.  It was nice catching up with her.  Started reading before bed and stayed up until 11.

Day 982

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

Slept in until 9:30 this morning, which I haven't done in weeks (months?).  I guess I needed it.  The demo last night at the Oakland Y must have worn me out.  Once I was up, I began work on chapter 9, which has a lot of stuff going on.  This novel is becoming more detailed and elaborate than I'd like, but my main character Mindy is so organized and detail-oriented that it's necessary to create a rich set of tools and options for her.  I wrote until 2, then had to take care of the re-stringing that didn't happen yesterday.  With a clear mind, I was able to troubleshoot what the problem was yesterday. The new black E-Force strings and more difficult to push through the racquet tubes than the clear strings, so I used a little oil to lubricate them and made sure the end of the string was snipped clean. That did the trick and I restrung two racquets before meeting with Chris at 8.  He liked the last chapter and offered some great suggestions.  I checked out a book on dating by Seventeen Magazing from the SF library that has some great tips for teen girls that'd I'd never think of on my own.  I have to say, I don't enjoy writing about the ups and downs of high school life compared to middle school or elementary school life, but I actually think this story is stronger than my children's books.  There's a lot of layers in this story that wouldn't be possible if the audience were younger.

Since writing a scene that features Bach's Chaconne, I've had it in my head for days.  I love this clip of Jascha Heifetz playing this piece toward the end of his career.

Day 981

Monday, September 21, 2015

I wrote from 5-1, then tried to string an E-Force racquet for an upcoming demo, but had a mechanical issue with the handle tubes and couldn't finish it.  Very annoying and a waste of 2 hours.  I had a demo at the Oakland Y from 6-8.  I enjoyed that.  I sent ch. 8 to Chris in the afternoon, and now it's on to ch. 9. 

Day 980

Sunday, September 20, 2015

I woke up around 7 and wrote until 4.  I should have ch. 8 finished and sent to Chris tomorrow.  The Seahawks lost again and so did my fantasy team.  Ouch.  Alice and I watched two segments of 60 Minutes over dinner while also watching the Emmys.  So glad Jon Hamm won his much-deserved award for his icon portrayal of Don Draper in Mad Men.  He much of the show hinges on his brilliant performance.  

Day 979

Saturday, September 19, 2015

I wrote for an hour in the early a.m., but after that it was hanging out with Alice for the day, playing ukulele, ping pong and badminton.  I finished reading a book on shaming by Jon Ronson that has given me so ideas on shaming stories.

Day 978

Friday, September 18, 2015

Up early for racquetball, then wrote from 9-3, working on some challenging scenes in ch. 8.  At 3:30 I left to pick up Alice.  We had a relaxing evening at her place.  I won't write much tomorrow, but should get in a few hours on Sunday.

Day 977

Thursday, September 17, 2015

Wrote for only an hour in the morning, then worked from 9-3.  I tried to write another two hours after work, but I was already pretty spent, so I read the rest of the evening.  

Day 976

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Racquetball in the a.m., worked from 9-3, then ping pong with Howard from 3-4, then home to watch the debate, which I watched most of but also slept through.  It was too long, but certainly the spectacle it promised to be with lots of zingers and finger-pointing.  We'll see if the Donald's number hold.  Read a little before bed at 9:45.

Day 975

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Another full day of writing, working on the second half of no. 8 and reading over what I have.  Chris and I will talk tomorrow night after the debates.  Alice is back from her cruise and refreshed from her 3 days with Cecilia.  Dad and Sue were on the same ship, so Alice bumped into them last night at dinner.  It's a small world.

Chris sent me comments from two members of his writing group who read all of Harmony.  They gave me constructive, nuanced feedback that I found very helpful.  I can easily incorporate their ideas into the text.  Their best feedback focused on the use of conflict, in particular milking some of it and stretching it out over a longer span.  There's an entirely different layer of edits that occur once all the pieces are assembled and refined in a manuscript.  These edits have to do with pacing, setups, deleting lines that aren't needed, and aligning all the storylines into one tight package in the end.  Should take a few days to work their ideas in.  

Day 974

Monday, September 15, 2015

Up at 4:30, racquetball until 6:45, then a full day of writing, still banging out no 8.  I'll have to go over this one a few times.  It's not there yet.  I've also poking at no. 9.  8 and 9 sort of go together.  Mindy's highs and lows remind me of those days when I was so caught up in love and all that love entails.  I don't miss those days at all.  Even writing about them stresses me out.  Writing this book is nostalgic, but not in a good way.  Looking forward to getting all these chapters on paper so I can see what I have.

Day 973

Sunday, September 13, 2015

I woke up at 8 and wrote the entire day.  I had no one to visit, nowhere to go, and nothing to do except write, read, watch the Seahawks lose in overtime (so painful!) and watch my Fantasy team lose to Steve (bummer!).  I worked on chapters 8 and 1, plus outlined a short story.  I was able to go until 8 or 9 p.m., then I crash hard.  I'd love to finish a draft of ch. 8 by Tuesday but I'm not sure that will happen. 

Day 972

Saturday, September 12, 2015

Up at 5 a.m. to drive Alice to SFO for her from Vancouver to San Francisco.  She's going with her friend Cecilia and meeting Chris and Elizabeth for lunch.  I arrived home at 7:15 or so and started my day of writing, working on No. 8 and revising No. 1.  I wrote until 3, then called it quits and got ready for a party Harry Vernon was hosting at his house.  It ended up being a total blast.  Harry had a craps table and blackjack dealer all set and ready to go.  It was so much fun!  I stayed until 10. 

6 was the big number tonight, hitting every other roll!

With Cliff and Harry

Day 971

Friday, September 11, 2015

Racquetball early, then work from 9-3, then home for an hour before heading to San Francisco.  Had dinner with Alice, then attended the San Francisco Conservatory of Music's Classical Kick-Off Weekend Chamber Music Recital featuring music of Mozart and Haydn, including Haydn's four-movement Piano Sonata in G major and his Piano Trio in C major.  We saw Gary there and sat with him in the back row.  We were home by 11 and fast asleep soon after.

Day 970

Thursday, September 10, 2015

Finally, a day to write and no work.  I was up at 4:45 to prep for a Twitter pitch fest geared to agents looking for new material.  I learned a new way to schedule tweets in advance and scheduled about 20 of them throughout the day.  No requests but it was fun and good practice for other Twitter-related events. 

I managed to write 5,000 words of chapter 8 and will organize everything this weekend.  I'd like to send it out next week and work on chapter 9 by Wednesday.  Only 30 days left until my 1,000 days of writing is done.  That was a fast 1,000 days.

At 4 I went to Albany and played ping pong with Howard.  We had some good rallies.  I don't have many offensive shots.  Instead, I'm sitting back playing defense, waiting for him to hit the ball too hard off the table.  Not a good way to play in the end. 

I came home at 6:30 and took care of a few things before heading off to bed at 10.

Day 969

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Racquetball, work, home at 3, then writing for a few hours and preparing several 140-character tweets for a pitch event tomorrow on Twitter. We'll see how that goes.  I'm going back to chapter 1 and beginning the revision process while banging out the rest of the first draft.  I have all my scenes written and now all I need to do is writing them in a way that makes sense and seems interesting. 

Day 968

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Work from 9-2, then home where I found it hard to stay focused and do any productive writing.  It was one of those days in which I wasn't able to get much done.  I can't afford many more of these as I'm running out of days. 

Day 967

Monday, September 7, 2015

It was a holiday today but I still managed to do some writing in the afternoon.  Alice and I drove Austin back to Saint Mary's in the morning.  We had Thai for lunch, then Alice drove me home and headed back to SF by 1.  I slept for a good two hours, then felt groggy the rest of the afternoon.  I managed a few hours of writing and reading.  I went to sleep pretty early, around 9 or so.

Day 966

Sunday, September 6, 2015

I wrote for only two hours this morning.  We left for Elaine and Wayman's around 10:30 and stayed until 11 p.m.  It was a fun day of eating, reading, playing games (including foosball), and relaxing outside in perfect Los Altos weather.  I read about 100 pages of a new book about San Francisco that I checked out of the library on Friday.

I read the chapters that focused on the George Moscone, Harvey Milk, Jim Jones and the People's Temple.  Pretty incredible reading.  I didn't know Jim Jones helped get Moscone elected mayor in the early 70s, allowing him political favors for his cult and an insider in the DA's office.  I'm enjoying this book.

Five of us played three games of Pandemic and finally won the last game late in the evening. 

Day 965

Saturday, September 5, 2015

Wrote in the morning and afternoon until we left at 4:30 for R&G Lounge.  Alice's cousin from Hong Kong was in town so we had a family dinner with Alice's parents, sister, two nieces, cousin Elaine and Aunt Vicki and Uncle Bill.  R&G is always good!

Today I outlined the remaining scenes of La Stravaganza.  I have about 22+ scenes left to write.  That's a lot of writing in the next month.  I'd like to finish a draft before mid-October if that's possible. 

In the afternoon, we went out for Jamba Juice because they were having a two-for-one sale  We stopped at Austin's father's house and I took this picture of Alice on top of the roof, which has an amazing view of San Francisco:

Day 964

Friday, September 4, 2015

Racquetball in the morning, work from 9-2, home to do a few things, then to Alice's at 4.  Went to the library and picked up a few new books:

Day 963

Thursday, September 4, 2015

I slept an extra 90 minutes in the morning and had lots of energy throughout the day.  I was alone at work and took care of the tasks at hand as well as writing out two scenes for ch. 8.  I have about 3k words written in this chapter.  I'd love to finish it by next week.  After work, I came home and wrote another few hours until dinner.  Went to bed at 10.

Day 962

Wednesday, September 3, 2015

Racquetball in the a.m., work from 9-2, then ping pong at the center on San Pablo Avenue with Howard for 90 minutes.  Fun!

So I'm coming up on three months into La Stravaganza and I'm starting to get into chapter 8.  I'm right in the heart of Mindy's passionate love affair with a young, talented sociopath, her "Dear John" disaster that derails her for the rest of the book, or at least until her surprise encounter in chapter 12.  Nathaniel Welles, Nathaniel Orson Welles is a fun character to write about.  He's so unapologetically full of himself but also loaded with a lot of knowledge for a 17-year-old genius.  I find these characters really entertaining and fun to imagine.  He is serving such a nice role in this story.  I'll take out a lot of the Vivaldi details in chapters 4 and 5 and stick them here in 7 and 8. 

Day 961

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Up around 6:30, writing until I left for work, then came back home at 2:30 and continued writing until dinner.  Spoke with Chris from 8-9, then Alice from 9-9:20.  Went right to bed after that.

Chapter 8 sounds a bit different from the other chapters.  I'm setting Mindy up for a big fall.  Tough couple of chapters ahead.

Day 960

Monday, August 31, 2015

Racquetball in the a.m., then work from 9-2, then work on chapter 8, banging out paragraphs and getting a sense of the voice in this chapter now that Mindy has met her "true" love. Now that I'm writing about Nathaniel, I'm having fun with his character.  We'll see how these chapters play out. 

Watched the premier episode of Narcos on Netflix and thought it was fantastic!