A much, much better writing day today, thank goodness. The entire story has shape. I have to go in and fix some stuff I’d filled out, and then fill out the majority of the scenes, but the loose sketch is all the way there, as of today. Each scene needs a spark of life, a dash of detail, and then it will be done. Ready to write. Hoping I can get to that point by the end of next week. I actually think it’s very doable.
It’s interesting…for whatever reason, this time around, with the intention of outlining at the same time that I write—so, write one book, outline the next—I’ve paid so much more attention to my outlining process. There are stages. Steps. And knowing what they are is immensely helpful. It’s going to speed things up. I can feel that already. Rather than an amorphous blob of, like, six months…it can be a steady stream of four months. Or three. Huge difference.
It was frosty this morning. That so rarely happens in LA. Frosty in the mornings these past couple days, and then warm in the afternoons. Lovely.
We saw a neighbor walking her dog today, Louie. He’s 16 and a half. Cancer. It affects one of his hind legs. But he wants to go outside and be a dog, still, so she’s taking him out. We offered for her to use our stroller if she wanted to. She said she might. We’ll see. My heart aches for her. She said “enjoy your perky happy pups.” I thought…I will. Even though I won’t enough, because it’s just not possible to enjoy them enough to make the hard times hurt any less…but I will. Because I’ve been where you are, not so long ago. I’m sure she has, too.
Caught up on my Shakespeare reading. I also plotted out how far along I’ll be if I can maintain a play (read twice) every two weeks. I’ll be, like, two plays away from finishing the Shakespeare reading project. Not bad. Kinda wild, though, how long I’ll have been reading the guy. Over two years. It’s worth it, though. His plays are rich. Each one is its own world. Insufficient, trite words to express what I’m really feeling and thinking…but this is only a blog entry. Its enough. For now.
Liz and I watched a new doc on Netflix called…I think Secret Mall Apartment or something like that. It’s about this collective of artists—like, legit artists, all from the most prestigious art school in the US—who find this empty, sheltered space inside a mall and turn it into a secret hangout space. Nobody actually lives there full-time, but they sleep there sometimes, and they plan art projects. It was cool.
Night night.