Quill

Yesterday was a good day for writing (and a good day in general), after a rocky start. I did some short-story revision in the morning, and every word I wrote looked like shit. I was in a bad mood. Then my doorbell rang, and it was some junior high kid trying to sell me a newspaper subscription. He was really nervous, quite inarticulate, lots of "umms" and forgetting the words to his little sales pitch. I looked like an ogre, I imagine. I hadn't shaved in four days, hadn't brushed my hair, and I didn't have my contacts in so I squinted at him. I probably radiated pissed-off irritation. I was pretty mean to him, too; I gave him little more than a snarl and closed the door on him.

I hate being a prick. I felt bad all morning. I wanted to go out and wander the streets until I found the kid so I could apologize. But I didn't. If I'd found him, he would've been like "Oh, so you do want a newspaper subscription?" And I would've bought one out of guilt.

The rest of the day was better, for me, and I hope for the poor newspaper-selling-kid. Absolutely gorgeous weather. I sat on the deck at the coffee shop and revised Genius. And... da-dum... it's finished. I still have to type the revisions, of course, and I'm sure I'll tighten and polish a bit more on that last run-through, but it's basically done, from scene-rewrites to line edits. I was merciless yesterday; I think I cut about five pages worth of excess crap. I'm a very happy Tim.

Last night I went with D. and Scott to see Quills at the Nick. Quills is the Marquis de Sade movie with Geoffrey Rush (as the Marquis) and Joachim Phoenix (sp?) and Kate Winslet. Really good film! It attempted neither to canonize nor demonize the Marquis, but addressed the contradictions in him. Michael Caine was great as the generally nasty medical doctor who takes over the Marquis's treatment. I highly recommend it. There's some beheadings, and a bit of nudity, and some pretty rough scenes, but it's not like a de Sade porno; most of the weird-brutal sex scenes are verbally rather than visually depicted. There's some seriously funny stuff in this movie, too.

And seeing Kate Winslet walk around in a corset for two hours was well worth the price of admission.

I even saw previews for a couple of movies I want to see. Shadow of the Vampire, which I'd heard about before, and The House of Mirth. The casting for House is weird-- Dan Akroyd, Gillian Anderson, and Eric Stoltz in a period piece based on an Edith Wharton novel (it's a really good novel, too-- I like it loads better than Ethan Frome). I'm afraid this will be a token "serious, important movie" for these actors, but I love the book, so I'm willing to give them a chance.

So. Today. I've done a little writing this morning, working on the glass casket story. I'll try to finish it tonight. I need to do revisions on "Meranhu's Gifts" (John Sullivan read it and responded with some great crits; that story's going to rule when I get it fixed up, folks). I need to clean my room, and wrap gifts, and go grocery shopping. There's lots of stuff that needs doing, but with the weight of novel revisions off, none of it seems that daunting.

Hmm. You know, I've always heard that free-writing and rough-drafting are supposed to be easier in the morning; your internal editor is still sluggish or something, so you write with a less critical eye. That is so not true for me. I wrote a thousand words on the glass casket story this morning, and every word was an ordeal. I like doing revisions in the morning. On weekends, I often go straight from brushing my teeth to revising my fiction. I write new stuff best in the afternoon, when I have some coffee in me, or at night. I should just follow my inclinations, I guess..

I mean, jeez. Look how crappy this entry is! None of my usual dash or élan.

Maybe I'll write another one tonight, and then you can do a compare-and-contrast...

Have a lovely Sunday!