North Hollywood, California
It's a Maud Maud Maud Maud world! Last week was an absolute blur - but a productive one. We had 4 recording sessions in 3 days and essentially finished 13 songs, with at least as many vocalists, if not more. Video will be forthcoming, but first we have to get through this week's onslaught, which may or may not be easier, even though there are less sessions! (Only three this time.) But, by the end of the week, we should be done...and then it will be up to me to fashion a demo. Knowing how to edit and having the technology for it really comes in handy!
One thing I have to say is that it's really amazing hearing the songs fleshed out with vocals. I mean, it was one thing to write them on paper, and even another to hear Leo set them to music on his piano and then orchestrate them on his home studio. But to have the voices singing and saying what they're supposed to say...well, I could close my eyes and really see this show on stage, just the way it should be. I'm happy to say things are going well, with no real technical glitches so far. Let's keep it that way!
All right...one more week of intensity. I will also be adding vocals to our demo. Wish me luck!
21 May 2007
10 May 2007
North Hollywood, California
Moving right along. Today was the first "official" recording session for the demo - in quotes to signify that Leo's been recording for weeks, but it's the first session that's involved other people. In this case, the percussionist (OK, drummer - but when Leo's talked about putting drums into the score, I've interpreted it as turning into some boppin' thing, which is not what he means and not period-appropriate! He just means some cymbal things and drum brushes and stuff like that), and the sound engineer. I don't know yet how it went, but I do know that we've survived our first major near-catastrophe - last night Leo called to tell me that something was wrong with his system and he couldn't record any more tracks. Fortunately, it was just some MIDI problem, and when I checked in with him during the session, everything was good to go. Next week we begin the vocals. Would have liked to start them this week, but you know how it goes...
I'm going to be reducing my hours at the data entry place so I can concentrate more of my attention on the show, and, specifically for the immediate future, the demo. There's just a lot to be done and I haven't had much chance to tackle it...
Although, we did some make some headway in tightening up the show, at least. My turn is coming, since I have a complete rewrite to do, but when we started getting times on the songs, some of them were coming in over 5 minutes and that wasn't sitting well with me. It's fine on your standard musical, but with all the ground we have to cover...well, we had some discussions about it, and Leo made some changes on a few of the songs and brought them down in length, which made me feel better. Keep in mind, I'm going to be making more changes than even he will with the dialogue! But also, there are a couple of songs where his only crime was putting music to what I wrote, so, if they're going to get shortened down, I'm going to have to consolidate the lyrics. Generally, I try not to ask him to do something I wouldn't be willing to do myself. I just can't do my part of it for a couple of months yet. Right now all I could do is give it an hour here and an hour there, and I just can't write like that. I don't want the quality of the show to suffer because I'm in too much of a hurry.
All that being said, I want to go on public record and say that Leo's compositions are phenomenal. I might have said that before, but it's a sentiment that bears repeating. You guys are gonna be blown away - I guarantee it!
Moving right along. Today was the first "official" recording session for the demo - in quotes to signify that Leo's been recording for weeks, but it's the first session that's involved other people. In this case, the percussionist (OK, drummer - but when Leo's talked about putting drums into the score, I've interpreted it as turning into some boppin' thing, which is not what he means and not period-appropriate! He just means some cymbal things and drum brushes and stuff like that), and the sound engineer. I don't know yet how it went, but I do know that we've survived our first major near-catastrophe - last night Leo called to tell me that something was wrong with his system and he couldn't record any more tracks. Fortunately, it was just some MIDI problem, and when I checked in with him during the session, everything was good to go. Next week we begin the vocals. Would have liked to start them this week, but you know how it goes...
I'm going to be reducing my hours at the data entry place so I can concentrate more of my attention on the show, and, specifically for the immediate future, the demo. There's just a lot to be done and I haven't had much chance to tackle it...
Although, we did some make some headway in tightening up the show, at least. My turn is coming, since I have a complete rewrite to do, but when we started getting times on the songs, some of them were coming in over 5 minutes and that wasn't sitting well with me. It's fine on your standard musical, but with all the ground we have to cover...well, we had some discussions about it, and Leo made some changes on a few of the songs and brought them down in length, which made me feel better. Keep in mind, I'm going to be making more changes than even he will with the dialogue! But also, there are a couple of songs where his only crime was putting music to what I wrote, so, if they're going to get shortened down, I'm going to have to consolidate the lyrics. Generally, I try not to ask him to do something I wouldn't be willing to do myself. I just can't do my part of it for a couple of months yet. Right now all I could do is give it an hour here and an hour there, and I just can't write like that. I don't want the quality of the show to suffer because I'm in too much of a hurry.
All that being said, I want to go on public record and say that Leo's compositions are phenomenal. I might have said that before, but it's a sentiment that bears repeating. You guys are gonna be blown away - I guarantee it!
05 May 2007
North Hollywood, California
We finally got some news yesterday that we've been waiting for since March! I still can't go into it, as it all needs to be confirmed, but it's a lot closer to materializing than it was even 48 hours ago...hallelujah! Something about getting this news and finally having the bowling ball removed from my stomach seemed to have removed a block I'd been having...specifically regarding adding the last two lines for It's In My Nature. I know I was working on it 4 weeks ago, but I got stuck and pretty well remained stuck. Every time I tried to think about it, my brain just locked up. Of course, part of that is due to my job. Yet, once we got our news...well, again, I was taking a bath, getting ready for work...I wasn't even thinking about the song, really. And suddenly the perfect lyrics popped into my head. It was kind of like, "Why didn't I think of that before?", but I could also tell that it wasn't meant to come until that moment. I'm just glad I can finally remove that from my plate - especially with more things being added to it as we speak!
Despite having to give up a lot of time for school and church work, Leo's really made a lot of progress on the demo this week. We're supposed to start recording the vocals and percussion next week, although I don't know exactly when. What this means for me - aside from juggling my work schedule so I can be there (and they're just going to have to understand!) - is having to go through each song to notate who's going to "play" who, not to mention determine what's not just "simple" singing - there's a good deal of dialogue and sort of half-spoken/half-sung things that need to be delivered correctly, and it's not immediately obvious in the libretto which is which. That, and I'm going to have to do a bit of directing during these recording sessions. All of which ought to be interesting!
I'm also seeing that I'm going to have to do a major rewrite this summer. Some of the songs are turning out to be longer than I envisioned. While I think some of them could be shortened, that's going to involve more lyrical changes from me...other songs need to be as long as they need to be, which means having take dialogue out of other scenes. I intentionally wrote the libretto with a lot of layers, but if I don't thin it out a bit the show will be way too long...and, as the months pass by and I've had a chance to sit with the initial draft, I'm seeing plenty of places where things could be tightened. But I think it'll be July before I can get to that, once...well, I'm not going to tell you right now! :) Believe me - when the time is right, I'll tell all!
Also this summer, we'll have to start filming things for the screen which can only be filmed in summer. The interiors won't matter, of course...but every outdoor scene has to be filmed in the appropriate season - and I purposely wanted to reflect each season, since even Maud didn't live in pastoral spring and summer environs all the time. There's really only three major sequences I can think of that have to be done this summer - possibly four - but, since I've noticed that the leaves start to change already in late August, we're going to have to get this footage in early August...mid-August at the latest. Of course, that's only 3 months away...!
Lots of 9LoLMM stuff happening right now...and lots more coming...so stay tuned!
We finally got some news yesterday that we've been waiting for since March! I still can't go into it, as it all needs to be confirmed, but it's a lot closer to materializing than it was even 48 hours ago...hallelujah! Something about getting this news and finally having the bowling ball removed from my stomach seemed to have removed a block I'd been having...specifically regarding adding the last two lines for It's In My Nature. I know I was working on it 4 weeks ago, but I got stuck and pretty well remained stuck. Every time I tried to think about it, my brain just locked up. Of course, part of that is due to my job. Yet, once we got our news...well, again, I was taking a bath, getting ready for work...I wasn't even thinking about the song, really. And suddenly the perfect lyrics popped into my head. It was kind of like, "Why didn't I think of that before?", but I could also tell that it wasn't meant to come until that moment. I'm just glad I can finally remove that from my plate - especially with more things being added to it as we speak!
Despite having to give up a lot of time for school and church work, Leo's really made a lot of progress on the demo this week. We're supposed to start recording the vocals and percussion next week, although I don't know exactly when. What this means for me - aside from juggling my work schedule so I can be there (and they're just going to have to understand!) - is having to go through each song to notate who's going to "play" who, not to mention determine what's not just "simple" singing - there's a good deal of dialogue and sort of half-spoken/half-sung things that need to be delivered correctly, and it's not immediately obvious in the libretto which is which. That, and I'm going to have to do a bit of directing during these recording sessions. All of which ought to be interesting!
I'm also seeing that I'm going to have to do a major rewrite this summer. Some of the songs are turning out to be longer than I envisioned. While I think some of them could be shortened, that's going to involve more lyrical changes from me...other songs need to be as long as they need to be, which means having take dialogue out of other scenes. I intentionally wrote the libretto with a lot of layers, but if I don't thin it out a bit the show will be way too long...and, as the months pass by and I've had a chance to sit with the initial draft, I'm seeing plenty of places where things could be tightened. But I think it'll be July before I can get to that, once...well, I'm not going to tell you right now! :) Believe me - when the time is right, I'll tell all!
Also this summer, we'll have to start filming things for the screen which can only be filmed in summer. The interiors won't matter, of course...but every outdoor scene has to be filmed in the appropriate season - and I purposely wanted to reflect each season, since even Maud didn't live in pastoral spring and summer environs all the time. There's really only three major sequences I can think of that have to be done this summer - possibly four - but, since I've noticed that the leaves start to change already in late August, we're going to have to get this footage in early August...mid-August at the latest. Of course, that's only 3 months away...!
Lots of 9LoLMM stuff happening right now...and lots more coming...so stay tuned!
03 May 2007
29 April 2007
North Hollywood, California
What a mystery, the creative process.
Earlier in the week, Leo was trying to set It Doesn't Pay to Be Invariably Cheerful to music. But he was running across trouble - and I couldn't blame him, since it's one of maybe two songs I wrote where I didn't have a predetermined rhythm in my head. He'd tried to rewrite some of the lyrics in Spokane but I didn't like them, and the tune he'd come up with sounded incredibly Jewish to me, so we were both sort of scratching our heads.
We were also in a quandary because I said the song needed to sound more '20s, since it takes place in 1924. But all the '20s songs we had access to were happy happy happy. Which is when I suggested making the song sound happy, even though it's got these discouraging lyrics. I was actually serious, but Leo, while finding the concept interesting, decided to go another route - doing this major/minor thing with the melody, creating a duality between sounding up and sounding down. And damned if that didn't work. We were still in a dilemma over chunks of the lyrics, but when he came up with the reinvented (and non-Jewish!) tune, it clicked for me, and I told him I'd gladly rewrite the sections if he settled on a completed melody, which he did. So I took my MP3 player and recorded him playing it on the piano, and tonight sat down to familiarize myself with the melody and rewrite my lyrics.
I was going pretty good there for a while...until I got stuck! And suddenly I found things conflicting with each other, or repeating, or not quite saying what I wanted to say, and before I knew it, almost three hours had passed by while I fumbled over myself. What made it especially frustrating was that I kept sensing I was almost there, and I didn't want to get up until I finished it, and yet, I couldn't make that last little bit of it work.
In situations like that, I always remember the teacher I had in 6th grade - whether taking a test or just doing a normal homework assignment, she would advise us to move on if we got stuck on a problem, and come back to it later. So I threw up my hands and decided to take a bath.
Naturally, as soon as I got in, the ideas started flowing along with the water; I don't know why, but I often get ideas in the bath or shower - or in the bathroom in general! So I got out, dripping, to tap down the new line, but it didn't work with the melody the way I thought it would. Well, back to the bath. But then it came to me - and again I had to grab the towel and plug in the new words. This time it worked - and I finished the song!
Maybe the water represents fluidity of ideas - who knows. All I know is that I finished a song...and that only my face is clean at this point! So, if you'll excuse me, I'm going back to wash that writer's block right out of my hair!
But before I do, I'd like to give a shout out to Mayra from Puerto Rico, who surprised me with an e-mail of encouragment today. ¡Hola, Mayra! :) A few weeks ago someone from Korea commented on one of the YouTube videos, and Yuka still puts stuff up about 9LoLMM on the Japanese LMM site. It's awesome to know people from all around the world are finding out about our show - but it's also good to hear when individual people are looking forward to 9LoLMM, because it really drives us to do our best in a more personal way. So, thank you, Mayra - we'll do ya proud! :)
Now, wish us luck this week for our further developments...developing! There's so much I want to tell you about what's coming up, but we've been in one heckuva holding pattern this month...we need movement in the Force!
What a mystery, the creative process.
Earlier in the week, Leo was trying to set It Doesn't Pay to Be Invariably Cheerful to music. But he was running across trouble - and I couldn't blame him, since it's one of maybe two songs I wrote where I didn't have a predetermined rhythm in my head. He'd tried to rewrite some of the lyrics in Spokane but I didn't like them, and the tune he'd come up with sounded incredibly Jewish to me, so we were both sort of scratching our heads.
We were also in a quandary because I said the song needed to sound more '20s, since it takes place in 1924. But all the '20s songs we had access to were happy happy happy. Which is when I suggested making the song sound happy, even though it's got these discouraging lyrics. I was actually serious, but Leo, while finding the concept interesting, decided to go another route - doing this major/minor thing with the melody, creating a duality between sounding up and sounding down. And damned if that didn't work. We were still in a dilemma over chunks of the lyrics, but when he came up with the reinvented (and non-Jewish!) tune, it clicked for me, and I told him I'd gladly rewrite the sections if he settled on a completed melody, which he did. So I took my MP3 player and recorded him playing it on the piano, and tonight sat down to familiarize myself with the melody and rewrite my lyrics.
I was going pretty good there for a while...until I got stuck! And suddenly I found things conflicting with each other, or repeating, or not quite saying what I wanted to say, and before I knew it, almost three hours had passed by while I fumbled over myself. What made it especially frustrating was that I kept sensing I was almost there, and I didn't want to get up until I finished it, and yet, I couldn't make that last little bit of it work.
In situations like that, I always remember the teacher I had in 6th grade - whether taking a test or just doing a normal homework assignment, she would advise us to move on if we got stuck on a problem, and come back to it later. So I threw up my hands and decided to take a bath.
Naturally, as soon as I got in, the ideas started flowing along with the water; I don't know why, but I often get ideas in the bath or shower - or in the bathroom in general! So I got out, dripping, to tap down the new line, but it didn't work with the melody the way I thought it would. Well, back to the bath. But then it came to me - and again I had to grab the towel and plug in the new words. This time it worked - and I finished the song!
Maybe the water represents fluidity of ideas - who knows. All I know is that I finished a song...and that only my face is clean at this point! So, if you'll excuse me, I'm going back to wash that writer's block right out of my hair!
But before I do, I'd like to give a shout out to Mayra from Puerto Rico, who surprised me with an e-mail of encouragment today. ¡Hola, Mayra! :) A few weeks ago someone from Korea commented on one of the YouTube videos, and Yuka still puts stuff up about 9LoLMM on the Japanese LMM site. It's awesome to know people from all around the world are finding out about our show - but it's also good to hear when individual people are looking forward to 9LoLMM, because it really drives us to do our best in a more personal way. So, thank you, Mayra - we'll do ya proud! :)
Now, wish us luck this week for our further developments...developing! There's so much I want to tell you about what's coming up, but we've been in one heckuva holding pattern this month...we need movement in the Force!
23 April 2007
North Hollywood, California
And we're bookin' along. Never at the pace I want to be bookin' along at, mind you, but that's just how I sort of am in my life in general! Never fast enough! Especially as I get older. But never mind that...
The important thing is, Leo's been making astounding progress the last couple of weeks. Not only has he been recording like crazy for our demo, but he wrote a lot for the remaining tunes over the weekend when he was in Spokane for Bugs Bunny on Broadway! My legacy will be that most of the libretto was written at my former place of employment. Leo's will be that the music was written in Toronto, Burbank, San Antonio and Spokane!
Anyway, it turns out we have different approaches to recording music. Now, mind you, he's the one with all the classical training and writes symphonically, while my experience is writing pop songs that require more knowledge of looping than it does about actual music. When I want to do a song, I usually pick out all my sounds first before I record anything, or at least get it narrowed down and then see how they sound together. Leo's process so far has been laying down a piano track as a guide, and then, by his own description, throwing everything but the kitchen sink at it and seeing what works and doesn't work. And often, he will come back to a composition after a couple of days and not only shape it and edit it, but reconstruct the entire thing, throwing out his original ideas.
It's been a bit of a challenge when he plays his work for me because of this, because when I hear it I've been regarding it as a finished product. But I've slowly been learning to understand that what he's doing is work in progress. Still, it's hard for me to not want to make comments and suggestions, because sometimes the songs sound different than I envisioned or it's evoking something different than I intended, or I don't like this instrument or it doesn't sound period enough. I'm difficult to please; what can I say. :) But I have to say that he's been doing phenomenal work, and currently it seems the demo will be done in early May, which comes as a relief. We've got 14 months and I find myself becoming more and more aware of time being of the essence.
Speaking of time, the only thing I'm really a bit concerned with at this point is the length of some of the songs! We've got so much ground to cover with the show as a whole that I feel most of the songs can only be so long, since we can't put on a 4-hour show. But, there's still a lot of dialogue than be cut out and/or tightened, so I've decided just to let the songs' lengths slide for the purpose of the demo. We won't really know how long the show is until we start our readings this summer, and we can go from there when we find out. Again, I tend to come at artistic ventures as finished products rather than works in progress...and how many finished products in art do you know of that didn't go through several incarnations before becoming finished products? So this is one of the lessons I'm learning from the demo process, and I guess the whole dang musical...
I still have to finish the two-line ending for It's In My Nature...Lord knows I've tried but it just seems to flummox me for some reason! The only up side is that, since the song is on the demo and it's going to be recorded soon, I have no choice but to finish it. Again, it's frustrating to not have this stuff come out perfect the first time! Ah, for those days last summer and autumn, when I was fired up to write the libretto almost every day and words just flowed like a stream trickling through Lover's Lane...
And we're bookin' along. Never at the pace I want to be bookin' along at, mind you, but that's just how I sort of am in my life in general! Never fast enough! Especially as I get older. But never mind that...
The important thing is, Leo's been making astounding progress the last couple of weeks. Not only has he been recording like crazy for our demo, but he wrote a lot for the remaining tunes over the weekend when he was in Spokane for Bugs Bunny on Broadway! My legacy will be that most of the libretto was written at my former place of employment. Leo's will be that the music was written in Toronto, Burbank, San Antonio and Spokane!
Anyway, it turns out we have different approaches to recording music. Now, mind you, he's the one with all the classical training and writes symphonically, while my experience is writing pop songs that require more knowledge of looping than it does about actual music. When I want to do a song, I usually pick out all my sounds first before I record anything, or at least get it narrowed down and then see how they sound together. Leo's process so far has been laying down a piano track as a guide, and then, by his own description, throwing everything but the kitchen sink at it and seeing what works and doesn't work. And often, he will come back to a composition after a couple of days and not only shape it and edit it, but reconstruct the entire thing, throwing out his original ideas.
It's been a bit of a challenge when he plays his work for me because of this, because when I hear it I've been regarding it as a finished product. But I've slowly been learning to understand that what he's doing is work in progress. Still, it's hard for me to not want to make comments and suggestions, because sometimes the songs sound different than I envisioned or it's evoking something different than I intended, or I don't like this instrument or it doesn't sound period enough. I'm difficult to please; what can I say. :) But I have to say that he's been doing phenomenal work, and currently it seems the demo will be done in early May, which comes as a relief. We've got 14 months and I find myself becoming more and more aware of time being of the essence.
Speaking of time, the only thing I'm really a bit concerned with at this point is the length of some of the songs! We've got so much ground to cover with the show as a whole that I feel most of the songs can only be so long, since we can't put on a 4-hour show. But, there's still a lot of dialogue than be cut out and/or tightened, so I've decided just to let the songs' lengths slide for the purpose of the demo. We won't really know how long the show is until we start our readings this summer, and we can go from there when we find out. Again, I tend to come at artistic ventures as finished products rather than works in progress...and how many finished products in art do you know of that didn't go through several incarnations before becoming finished products? So this is one of the lessons I'm learning from the demo process, and I guess the whole dang musical...
I still have to finish the two-line ending for It's In My Nature...Lord knows I've tried but it just seems to flummox me for some reason! The only up side is that, since the song is on the demo and it's going to be recorded soon, I have no choice but to finish it. Again, it's frustrating to not have this stuff come out perfect the first time! Ah, for those days last summer and autumn, when I was fired up to write the libretto almost every day and words just flowed like a stream trickling through Lover's Lane...
08 April 2007
North Hollywood, California
You know, lyric revisions and additions are harder than they seem! I struggled for 3 hours last night to try and add a simple six lines to It's In My Nature. Aside from the fact that I seem to be writing through a fog, I felt like I couldn't come up with anything that either wasn't already in the song, or it didn't go with the two themes that the song is based on. I jotted down a few things but wasn't thrilled with any of them, so finally I moved on to More Important Things. Wouldn't you know the one line I needed for that one popped right into my head! In fact, I came up with four possibilities in case Leo didn't like the original. Go figure! But it was reassuring to know it wasn't an overall block. Sometimes I find it hard to get ideas that make perfect sense in my head out in a tangible form. This happens with lyrics for my own songs, too. Anyway, that left 1917, which was a little harder just because I had to try and unify four different viewpoints, but that came, too. Which brings us back to It's In My Nature. Reading the journal didn't help me with what I was looking for, so I found an e-text version of The Alpine Path, and that gave me an idea! Of course, by then it was past 2:00 in the morning, so I decided to leave it 'til today. Or...tomorrow. I have life stuff that needs taken care of today. But at least I think I know now how to end that song, which I didn't know before, and that's put my mind at ease.
The recording of the demo is set to commence this week, probably even tomorrow. I find myself starting to freak out about not having enough time to get a producer and get this thing on stage in its proper form at the theatre we want on 20 June 2008, but I'm mentioning it here as a form of letting go of it. If any of you have seen The Secret...well, I've long been trying to change the way I think, and that concept would tell me to focus on what I want and not on what I don't want. So we will début on time exactly the way we envision in the place we envision it, and that's that! I am making this public declaration to the Universe!
Now if this other stuff would happen that we've been waiting on...!
You know, lyric revisions and additions are harder than they seem! I struggled for 3 hours last night to try and add a simple six lines to It's In My Nature. Aside from the fact that I seem to be writing through a fog, I felt like I couldn't come up with anything that either wasn't already in the song, or it didn't go with the two themes that the song is based on. I jotted down a few things but wasn't thrilled with any of them, so finally I moved on to More Important Things. Wouldn't you know the one line I needed for that one popped right into my head! In fact, I came up with four possibilities in case Leo didn't like the original. Go figure! But it was reassuring to know it wasn't an overall block. Sometimes I find it hard to get ideas that make perfect sense in my head out in a tangible form. This happens with lyrics for my own songs, too. Anyway, that left 1917, which was a little harder just because I had to try and unify four different viewpoints, but that came, too. Which brings us back to It's In My Nature. Reading the journal didn't help me with what I was looking for, so I found an e-text version of The Alpine Path, and that gave me an idea! Of course, by then it was past 2:00 in the morning, so I decided to leave it 'til today. Or...tomorrow. I have life stuff that needs taken care of today. But at least I think I know now how to end that song, which I didn't know before, and that's put my mind at ease.
The recording of the demo is set to commence this week, probably even tomorrow. I find myself starting to freak out about not having enough time to get a producer and get this thing on stage in its proper form at the theatre we want on 20 June 2008, but I'm mentioning it here as a form of letting go of it. If any of you have seen The Secret...well, I've long been trying to change the way I think, and that concept would tell me to focus on what I want and not on what I don't want. So we will début on time exactly the way we envision in the place we envision it, and that's that! I am making this public declaration to the Universe!
Now if this other stuff would happen that we've been waiting on...!
07 April 2007
19 March 2007
North Hollywood, California
A slight break in the action before heading back to data entry. I actually dubbed off the audio of the Anne movie and loaded it into my MP3 player! Hey, it makes me feel good, and it kills over 3 hours of monotony!
Anyway, Leo seems to be making up for lost time and is attacking Act II with vigour. Me, I'm realizing that I'm going to have to start making myself do 9LoLMM work no matter how draining my job is, because there's just plain out stuff that needs to be done and it's piling up like crazy. I'm especially going to have to do those lyric revisions Leo's been asking for, because he's doing a lot of talking about getting a demo recorded in April, which I of course agree should happen! But that can't very well be done with unrevised lyrics, can it? Also, Leo created a couple of places where new lyrics actually have to go, so that certainly has to be done before any demo can be recorded. A demo, of course, is for the purpose of approaching producers, as well as other folks. So it's very important that it gets done!
I also have to go back through and figure out exactly what needs to be filmed for the screen - and, more importantly, when. The indoor stuff doesn't matter, but the outdoor stuff naturally does! I mean, if it were something that could be done here in Los Angeles...let's face it, this place doesn't have seasons so you could film something in December that's supposed to be July and who would know the difference! But you couldn't go to Lover's Lane in December for July scenery, could you? The most important thing here is that the summer stuff has to be filmed this summer. We could get away with August, as long as it's done before any leaves start changing colour. So I'd better get off my keister, quit crying exhaustion, and figure this stuff out!
You guys are going to have to hold me to these declarations!
A slight break in the action before heading back to data entry. I actually dubbed off the audio of the Anne movie and loaded it into my MP3 player! Hey, it makes me feel good, and it kills over 3 hours of monotony!
Anyway, Leo seems to be making up for lost time and is attacking Act II with vigour. Me, I'm realizing that I'm going to have to start making myself do 9LoLMM work no matter how draining my job is, because there's just plain out stuff that needs to be done and it's piling up like crazy. I'm especially going to have to do those lyric revisions Leo's been asking for, because he's doing a lot of talking about getting a demo recorded in April, which I of course agree should happen! But that can't very well be done with unrevised lyrics, can it? Also, Leo created a couple of places where new lyrics actually have to go, so that certainly has to be done before any demo can be recorded. A demo, of course, is for the purpose of approaching producers, as well as other folks. So it's very important that it gets done!
I also have to go back through and figure out exactly what needs to be filmed for the screen - and, more importantly, when. The indoor stuff doesn't matter, but the outdoor stuff naturally does! I mean, if it were something that could be done here in Los Angeles...let's face it, this place doesn't have seasons so you could film something in December that's supposed to be July and who would know the difference! But you couldn't go to Lover's Lane in December for July scenery, could you? The most important thing here is that the summer stuff has to be filmed this summer. We could get away with August, as long as it's done before any leaves start changing colour. So I'd better get off my keister, quit crying exhaustion, and figure this stuff out!
You guys are going to have to hold me to these declarations!
15 March 2007
North Hollywood, California
All right - finally, here's Part III, and sorry for taking so long to get it out there. It's almost old news at this point! Sort of.
Things are still bubbling along, at least from the music perspective. Leo had to go to San Antonio last week to do a Bugs Bunny on Broadway gig but took his scores with him and started in on Act II. We even discussed some ideas via cell phone when I went to pick him up from the airport and he was stuck on the runway after landing. It's come to a stop the last few days, though, because the relatively young Fr. Lawrence, a priest at the church where Leo is a music director, dropped dead over the weekend, so you can understand how Leo's attentions have had to go toward funerals and such. But the show must go on; I didn't know Fr. Lawrence well, but he seemed pretty cool for a priest and I think he of all people would appreciate that sentiment. Rest in peace, Father...
As for me, I had to give up tracking journal entries for now because it was just too difficult trying to do it in 15-30 minute bursts here and there. I'll get back to it when I can, of course. In lieu of that, I did start going through the libretto and marking passages that could potentially be edited out for timing purposes or just, as I've discovered, overall tightening. So far, we've had no idea exactly how long the show would be as written. It's meant to be a bit epic, and I tried hard to write things succinctly, but there's just no way of knowing until more of the songs are done and we can time those and then read through the scenes and time them. What's going to kill us, though, is the time needed to transition between each scene! I had written a lot of layers into the scenes, so I've been looking for places I can strip off a layer or two and shorten things down. Some places to make cuts are really obvious and other things are just impossible to cut at this point. I'll let you know as we go along!
I've still been feeling very frustrated about having to work and not being able to put much or any attention into the show (Leo needs me to make lyric revisions and I'm just so not there these days); however, there are a couple of exciting developments getting closer on the horizon that are helping me through. Of course, I can't divulge them at the moment...suspense suspense...but you know I will as soon as I'm able to.
All right, here's your video - I've got to get ready for work! *sniffle*
All right - finally, here's Part III, and sorry for taking so long to get it out there. It's almost old news at this point! Sort of.
Things are still bubbling along, at least from the music perspective. Leo had to go to San Antonio last week to do a Bugs Bunny on Broadway gig but took his scores with him and started in on Act II. We even discussed some ideas via cell phone when I went to pick him up from the airport and he was stuck on the runway after landing. It's come to a stop the last few days, though, because the relatively young Fr. Lawrence, a priest at the church where Leo is a music director, dropped dead over the weekend, so you can understand how Leo's attentions have had to go toward funerals and such. But the show must go on; I didn't know Fr. Lawrence well, but he seemed pretty cool for a priest and I think he of all people would appreciate that sentiment. Rest in peace, Father...
As for me, I had to give up tracking journal entries for now because it was just too difficult trying to do it in 15-30 minute bursts here and there. I'll get back to it when I can, of course. In lieu of that, I did start going through the libretto and marking passages that could potentially be edited out for timing purposes or just, as I've discovered, overall tightening. So far, we've had no idea exactly how long the show would be as written. It's meant to be a bit epic, and I tried hard to write things succinctly, but there's just no way of knowing until more of the songs are done and we can time those and then read through the scenes and time them. What's going to kill us, though, is the time needed to transition between each scene! I had written a lot of layers into the scenes, so I've been looking for places I can strip off a layer or two and shorten things down. Some places to make cuts are really obvious and other things are just impossible to cut at this point. I'll let you know as we go along!
I've still been feeling very frustrated about having to work and not being able to put much or any attention into the show (Leo needs me to make lyric revisions and I'm just so not there these days); however, there are a couple of exciting developments getting closer on the horizon that are helping me through. Of course, I can't divulge them at the moment...suspense suspense...but you know I will as soon as I'm able to.
All right, here's your video - I've got to get ready for work! *sniffle*
09 March 2007
08 March 2007
North Hollywood, California
I've lots to tell - sort of - although tonight I need to bust my you-know-what getting some new videos up. I borrowed a camcorder because I wanted to get some more video of Leo and his digital camera only holds 45 seconds of it. Of course, it means we rambled on quite a bit which now requires profuse editing! So it'll be coming in three parts, and here's the first. Stay tuned for the rest!
I've lots to tell - sort of - although tonight I need to bust my you-know-what getting some new videos up. I borrowed a camcorder because I wanted to get some more video of Leo and his digital camera only holds 45 seconds of it. Of course, it means we rambled on quite a bit which now requires profuse editing! So it'll be coming in three parts, and here's the first. Stay tuned for the rest!
18 February 2007
11 February 2007
North Hollywood, California
Aren't you glad you finally met Leo? I have to tell you, he's been working like a madman this week on the music for our show. At home especially, but even during the homily at his church! Of course, I can only gauge it by how it sounds on his piano, whereas I'm sure he hears the whole orchestra in his head, but there's some really good stuff coming out of it. I always feel a little bad when the direction he goes in differs from either what I heard in my head as I was writing the lyrics or it doesn't quite match the tone of the scene - because then I have to butt in. Still, this is a collaboration in every sense - we had agreed what scenes I'd write first before I ever wrote a word, and I always brought every scene to him for his approval before I moved on. So don't I have the right to have a say in the writing of the songs? :) The only real problem we keep running across is when he comes up with a melody and it turns out I've written too many syllables for what he has in mind. It just means I have to rewrite a line here and there and do my best to keep the syntax, tone, character, and/or intention intact.
He composes a good deal at his place, and often calls me in the middle of it to ask me what I think, playing me stuff over the phone. I'd love to be there for the whole process, but it's just not practical, and he wasn't breathing down my neck when I wrote the libretto at the office, was he? Just the same, I like being there when he's creating, not only so I can put in my two cents if need be but so I can help if necessary. Oftentimes he isn't clear on what I meant rhythmically when I wrote the lyrics, so it helps him for me to sort of time it out. Apparently I do a lot of starting on the downbeat, which initially throws him! But his music is going to be nothing less than brilliant, and, as I said, he's been quite prolific this week. I think it's safe to say that, even at this late hour, he's tinkling out ideas on his piano!
As for me...well, production's been a little slow on my end this week in comparison. It's not my fault. As you may recall, my job at the agency ended at the end of December, and then there was that trip to Toronto (and Florida before that for a long-overdue family visit) - so I went a good stretch without an income. Add to that a screw-up with the unemployment people, and you get a pretty tight situation. What I'm leading up to is that I had to take a job on Monday, and, as you may expect, there's no time to work on the musical when I'm there like there was at the agency. I'm doing data entry, and it's pretty constant. So it's left me little time to work on getting the journal quotes together - although you may be surprised to learn that I sacrificed a couple of lunch periods (30 minutes for lunch! Barbaric!) to immerse myself in the libretto and the journals, highlighting here and redlining there. (I ate during my second break, in case you're concerned!) But it's tough going. I put in an e-mail to the family for guidance but I haven't heard back from them yet, so I'm just going ahead as I have been. The problems come because, for the most part, I didn't just incorporate the quotes in full blocks - I've edited them for length, moved phrases around...Maud speaks in past tense and I have to change everything to present tense...stuff like that. So it's not very clear.
The other problem is...well, I spent a year reading all the journals and then combining the information I got from them with Maud's books, as well as literary analysis, interviews, books about Maud...and now I'm having to do the exact reverse by separating the journal information from everything else. It's like going back to the beginning of the research process - except that it was so long ago now I can't find the sections as immediately as I'd like to, and when I was writing the libretto I often found pieces that caught my eye and used them on the fly to give such-and-such scene added dimensions...and I certainly didn't keep track of what pages things were on in the journals. So to say it's a laborious process...I think I already used that word earlier, but it's the only word that describes it. I'll be doing more tomorrow...battle on, Xena!
I was a little hesitant back there to speak of my employment and financial woes. On the one hand, I feel like I'm supposed to be "Adam-Michael James, librettist, co-writer of The Nine Lives of Lucy Maud Montgomery", and it doesn't do to let people think I'm anything less! But, on the other hand, it doesn't do even more to be deceptive about who and what I am. I do find it the height of ironic that I'm working on this project which I know is going to be "blow'd up!", yet here I am struggling to pay rent, living off my credit cards, and taking a job entering names and addresses of people who have ordered ants! I mean, how wrong is that? But it's my life right now...and all I can do is keep working on this show and moving forward, even if things aren't all that pretty. I wrote the libretto and Leo's working on the music and the family is behind us and we're on our way, so I just keep hanging onto that. 9LoLMM - 20 JUNE 2008 OR BUST!
All right, that oughta give you something to chew on for a while...I will do my best to get some more video with Leo in the coming week. As for me, it will be more ants and tracking journal entries on the sly. I feel like Maud did when she snuck in her own writing between working at the newspaper...and when she squeezed it in between minister's wife visits! No one can say this all isn't appropriate somehow!
This show will be a huge success...and I won't have to do desk jobs ever ever again! I have spoken!
Aren't you glad you finally met Leo? I have to tell you, he's been working like a madman this week on the music for our show. At home especially, but even during the homily at his church! Of course, I can only gauge it by how it sounds on his piano, whereas I'm sure he hears the whole orchestra in his head, but there's some really good stuff coming out of it. I always feel a little bad when the direction he goes in differs from either what I heard in my head as I was writing the lyrics or it doesn't quite match the tone of the scene - because then I have to butt in. Still, this is a collaboration in every sense - we had agreed what scenes I'd write first before I ever wrote a word, and I always brought every scene to him for his approval before I moved on. So don't I have the right to have a say in the writing of the songs? :) The only real problem we keep running across is when he comes up with a melody and it turns out I've written too many syllables for what he has in mind. It just means I have to rewrite a line here and there and do my best to keep the syntax, tone, character, and/or intention intact.
He composes a good deal at his place, and often calls me in the middle of it to ask me what I think, playing me stuff over the phone. I'd love to be there for the whole process, but it's just not practical, and he wasn't breathing down my neck when I wrote the libretto at the office, was he? Just the same, I like being there when he's creating, not only so I can put in my two cents if need be but so I can help if necessary. Oftentimes he isn't clear on what I meant rhythmically when I wrote the lyrics, so it helps him for me to sort of time it out. Apparently I do a lot of starting on the downbeat, which initially throws him! But his music is going to be nothing less than brilliant, and, as I said, he's been quite prolific this week. I think it's safe to say that, even at this late hour, he's tinkling out ideas on his piano!
As for me...well, production's been a little slow on my end this week in comparison. It's not my fault. As you may recall, my job at the agency ended at the end of December, and then there was that trip to Toronto (and Florida before that for a long-overdue family visit) - so I went a good stretch without an income. Add to that a screw-up with the unemployment people, and you get a pretty tight situation. What I'm leading up to is that I had to take a job on Monday, and, as you may expect, there's no time to work on the musical when I'm there like there was at the agency. I'm doing data entry, and it's pretty constant. So it's left me little time to work on getting the journal quotes together - although you may be surprised to learn that I sacrificed a couple of lunch periods (30 minutes for lunch! Barbaric!) to immerse myself in the libretto and the journals, highlighting here and redlining there. (I ate during my second break, in case you're concerned!) But it's tough going. I put in an e-mail to the family for guidance but I haven't heard back from them yet, so I'm just going ahead as I have been. The problems come because, for the most part, I didn't just incorporate the quotes in full blocks - I've edited them for length, moved phrases around...Maud speaks in past tense and I have to change everything to present tense...stuff like that. So it's not very clear.
The other problem is...well, I spent a year reading all the journals and then combining the information I got from them with Maud's books, as well as literary analysis, interviews, books about Maud...and now I'm having to do the exact reverse by separating the journal information from everything else. It's like going back to the beginning of the research process - except that it was so long ago now I can't find the sections as immediately as I'd like to, and when I was writing the libretto I often found pieces that caught my eye and used them on the fly to give such-and-such scene added dimensions...and I certainly didn't keep track of what pages things were on in the journals. So to say it's a laborious process...I think I already used that word earlier, but it's the only word that describes it. I'll be doing more tomorrow...battle on, Xena!
I was a little hesitant back there to speak of my employment and financial woes. On the one hand, I feel like I'm supposed to be "Adam-Michael James, librettist, co-writer of The Nine Lives of Lucy Maud Montgomery", and it doesn't do to let people think I'm anything less! But, on the other hand, it doesn't do even more to be deceptive about who and what I am. I do find it the height of ironic that I'm working on this project which I know is going to be "blow'd up!", yet here I am struggling to pay rent, living off my credit cards, and taking a job entering names and addresses of people who have ordered ants! I mean, how wrong is that? But it's my life right now...and all I can do is keep working on this show and moving forward, even if things aren't all that pretty. I wrote the libretto and Leo's working on the music and the family is behind us and we're on our way, so I just keep hanging onto that. 9LoLMM - 20 JUNE 2008 OR BUST!
All right, that oughta give you something to chew on for a while...I will do my best to get some more video with Leo in the coming week. As for me, it will be more ants and tracking journal entries on the sly. I feel like Maud did when she snuck in her own writing between working at the newspaper...and when she squeezed it in between minister's wife visits! No one can say this all isn't appropriate somehow!
This show will be a huge success...and I won't have to do desk jobs ever ever again! I have spoken!
02 February 2007
30 January 2007
North Hollywood, California
Boy, I'm slipping! All I can really tell you right now is that Leo's slowly getting music written (like me, it's hard to be creative when real life keeps getting in the way) and that there's a new page to the Gallery with photos and commentary of our trip to Toronto. Enjoy!
As for me, it's time to stop putting off citing all the journal quotes I used. It's a behemoth task. Can you say "behemoth", boys and girls? I knew you could. But cite I must.
I went ahead and made the first round of changes to the libretto, as requested by Maud's family. I know there are some lyrical ones Leo wants me to make to accommodate the music he's creating (he told me he worked on some today), so I expect there'll soon be a second round...
Yes, video of Leo working on the music is coming soon...
Boy, I'm slipping! All I can really tell you right now is that Leo's slowly getting music written (like me, it's hard to be creative when real life keeps getting in the way) and that there's a new page to the Gallery with photos and commentary of our trip to Toronto. Enjoy!
As for me, it's time to stop putting off citing all the journal quotes I used. It's a behemoth task. Can you say "behemoth", boys and girls? I knew you could. But cite I must.
I went ahead and made the first round of changes to the libretto, as requested by Maud's family. I know there are some lyrical ones Leo wants me to make to accommodate the music he's creating (he told me he worked on some today), so I expect there'll soon be a second round...
Yes, video of Leo working on the music is coming soon...
24 January 2007
North Hollywood, California
Has it really been four weeks since I even posted on here? That gives you an idea of how busy I've been. I think that means we're overdue for a video update! And here it is!:
And stay tuned for a new page to the Gallery featuring our latest Canada trip coming in the next few days!
Has it really been four weeks since I even posted on here? That gives you an idea of how busy I've been. I think that means we're overdue for a video update! And here it is!:
And stay tuned for a new page to the Gallery featuring our latest Canada trip coming in the next few days!
27 December 2006
North Hollywood, California
Interesting how the week leading up to Christmas is usually the busy one, but for me the week after it is eclipsing it for sure! Hope everyone had a great Christmas - mine was actually mostly quiet and nice (we like this) except for getting sick. That I could have done without!
The past two days have been a blur. The agency where I work closes its doors in less than 48 hours, and there's been a zillion things to do. But 9LoLMM can no longer wait, so I am going to frantically try to make a few changes to the "finished" libretto so it can be submitted for approval by the end of the week. Just have to add Ephraim Weber in a few places, and add 2 more cats!
We'd seen these really cool "cats" in a shop on Prince Edward Island - not only do they look and feel real, but they seem like they're breathing! "Animatronic" would probably be a good way to describe them, although probably not entirely accurate. Anyhow, Leo and I had thought they would be cool to include in the show, since Maud loved cats (can't very well have real cats running around on stage, can we?) - and after Leo's mother came up with the title The Nine Lives of Lucy Maud Montgomery, I decided to further link into that title by making sure there are nine such "cats" within the show. Well, I counted them when I read through the libretto and I'd only come up with seven! So I went back through the final journal on the way home and I think I have a good way to put two more in. See, they can't just be props - they have to help move the story along a little wherever they appear. I may just have the way to do it.
I also have to finish the final stanza for the song 1917, but I may have to leave it blank and submit it with an explanation. Not only is my brain fried, but I haven't been in the 1917 mode for about two months!
Fortunately, Leo was quite complimentary of the much-ballyhooed finale. As I mentioned in the last video, I was afraid it might have been too avant garde, too unstructured - especially compared to everything else. But when he put his stamp of approval on it, I knew I'd done good. Which is a nice feeling!
Well, I'd better get to work...as if I haven't done enough work the past 2 days! But now it's time for 9LoLMM. If I don't get back on here again before then, have a safe and wonderful New Year's celebration, and let's all have a productive 2007 that involves making dreams come true!
Interesting how the week leading up to Christmas is usually the busy one, but for me the week after it is eclipsing it for sure! Hope everyone had a great Christmas - mine was actually mostly quiet and nice (we like this) except for getting sick. That I could have done without!
The past two days have been a blur. The agency where I work closes its doors in less than 48 hours, and there's been a zillion things to do. But 9LoLMM can no longer wait, so I am going to frantically try to make a few changes to the "finished" libretto so it can be submitted for approval by the end of the week. Just have to add Ephraim Weber in a few places, and add 2 more cats!
We'd seen these really cool "cats" in a shop on Prince Edward Island - not only do they look and feel real, but they seem like they're breathing! "Animatronic" would probably be a good way to describe them, although probably not entirely accurate. Anyhow, Leo and I had thought they would be cool to include in the show, since Maud loved cats (can't very well have real cats running around on stage, can we?) - and after Leo's mother came up with the title The Nine Lives of Lucy Maud Montgomery, I decided to further link into that title by making sure there are nine such "cats" within the show. Well, I counted them when I read through the libretto and I'd only come up with seven! So I went back through the final journal on the way home and I think I have a good way to put two more in. See, they can't just be props - they have to help move the story along a little wherever they appear. I may just have the way to do it.
I also have to finish the final stanza for the song 1917, but I may have to leave it blank and submit it with an explanation. Not only is my brain fried, but I haven't been in the 1917 mode for about two months!
Fortunately, Leo was quite complimentary of the much-ballyhooed finale. As I mentioned in the last video, I was afraid it might have been too avant garde, too unstructured - especially compared to everything else. But when he put his stamp of approval on it, I knew I'd done good. Which is a nice feeling!
Well, I'd better get to work...as if I haven't done enough work the past 2 days! But now it's time for 9LoLMM. If I don't get back on here again before then, have a safe and wonderful New Year's celebration, and let's all have a productive 2007 that involves making dreams come true!
17 December 2006
11 December 2006
North Hollywood, California
Sometimes not getting stuff written happens because work is busy. And sometimes it happens because of stuff going on in my own life. I've just been down for the past few days - and no, I"m not going to discuss it here. But I did do one thing today - I wrote the last scene I can possibly write at the office. Kind of a finale of sorts. There's a lot of that going around lately. The remaining two scenes will be done from right here at home.
I've been thinking of admitting this at some point, but many of us know what a downer Maud's journals became toward the end of her life, so why make this one a downer? But the thing is, I've felt all along that I'm a good candidate to write about Maud's life because I understand depression. I've struggled with it most of my life. I'm much better than I used to be, but I still have my days (like the last few) where I sink below a certain level and it's all I can do to be productive. Maud had a depressive nature, there's no mistaking that. I can relate to that. Which makes Maud all the more amazing, especially in the later years, for turning out books that radiated the "sunshine and optimism" she said she wanted to be a messenger of. Do I think a lot of her misery was self-inflicted, that her continuing negativity resulted in multiple self-fulfilling prophecies? Oh, yeah. That's one of the insidious things about depression - not only does it have the power to help you manifest more negativity and therefore more things to be depressed about, but it can also make you act in certain ways and cause situations that give you more reasons to be depressed. I've done it, certainly. And Maud did it. Not that she didn't have a lot to be genuinely depressed about - what few friends she had dying, Ewan's melancholia, and Chester didn't make it easy on her, no. But I think she got caught up in it, thereby contributing to her own misery. I know a little bit about that, too - although, unlike Maud, I've done enough self-examination over the years to where I'm aware of it! Maud "grumbled" about it in her journals, but...I wonder if she'd have been better off putting more of it into her work. I know she didn't want to bring other people down...but it can be very cathartic to work it out, well, through one's work. But enough about that for now.
The next thing for me to do (besides getting over myself) is to take the libretto and read through it from the very beginning, all the way to the current stopping place, in preparation for writing the final song, which is going to easily be the longest song in the show. A soliloquy (yes, I had to look that one up!), which we really haven't had so far. Maud needs to reflect over the whole of her life, and I have to make sure I reference enough of what's already happened in the show just to tie everything together. Only thing is, I'm tired...I didn't really sleep last night. But, if I'm going to get this done by 15 December...well, hopefully you'll all forgive me if it ends up being 16 or 17 December. But done it will be by this time next week. It needs to be.
And then on to the business of getting 9LoLMM off the page and onto the stage!
Sometimes not getting stuff written happens because work is busy. And sometimes it happens because of stuff going on in my own life. I've just been down for the past few days - and no, I"m not going to discuss it here. But I did do one thing today - I wrote the last scene I can possibly write at the office. Kind of a finale of sorts. There's a lot of that going around lately. The remaining two scenes will be done from right here at home.
I've been thinking of admitting this at some point, but many of us know what a downer Maud's journals became toward the end of her life, so why make this one a downer? But the thing is, I've felt all along that I'm a good candidate to write about Maud's life because I understand depression. I've struggled with it most of my life. I'm much better than I used to be, but I still have my days (like the last few) where I sink below a certain level and it's all I can do to be productive. Maud had a depressive nature, there's no mistaking that. I can relate to that. Which makes Maud all the more amazing, especially in the later years, for turning out books that radiated the "sunshine and optimism" she said she wanted to be a messenger of. Do I think a lot of her misery was self-inflicted, that her continuing negativity resulted in multiple self-fulfilling prophecies? Oh, yeah. That's one of the insidious things about depression - not only does it have the power to help you manifest more negativity and therefore more things to be depressed about, but it can also make you act in certain ways and cause situations that give you more reasons to be depressed. I've done it, certainly. And Maud did it. Not that she didn't have a lot to be genuinely depressed about - what few friends she had dying, Ewan's melancholia, and Chester didn't make it easy on her, no. But I think she got caught up in it, thereby contributing to her own misery. I know a little bit about that, too - although, unlike Maud, I've done enough self-examination over the years to where I'm aware of it! Maud "grumbled" about it in her journals, but...I wonder if she'd have been better off putting more of it into her work. I know she didn't want to bring other people down...but it can be very cathartic to work it out, well, through one's work. But enough about that for now.
The next thing for me to do (besides getting over myself) is to take the libretto and read through it from the very beginning, all the way to the current stopping place, in preparation for writing the final song, which is going to easily be the longest song in the show. A soliloquy (yes, I had to look that one up!), which we really haven't had so far. Maud needs to reflect over the whole of her life, and I have to make sure I reference enough of what's already happened in the show just to tie everything together. Only thing is, I'm tired...I didn't really sleep last night. But, if I'm going to get this done by 15 December...well, hopefully you'll all forgive me if it ends up being 16 or 17 December. But done it will be by this time next week. It needs to be.
And then on to the business of getting 9LoLMM off the page and onto the stage!
05 December 2006
04 December 2006
North Hollywood, California
All right, so I was supposed to write Anne's final scene today. Did it happen? No! And to say I was completely torqued about it would be the only "charitable" (as Anne would say) way to describe my feelings. It was just one thing after the other at the office today. I know I'm there to work, and I know how lucky I've been having so much time to write this summer and fall, but I had given myself a break after writing the big Maud/Chester scene 30 November, and not only was I looking forward to giving Anne her send-off, I even felt I needed to get back to writing. But it didn't happen. Put this fire out, put that fire out, fuel this one and stoke that one. I had a brief break in the action where I at least started the scene and got up to the point Anne appears in the scene; after that I skipped to the next, very short scene which I did finish. But by then I was just too fried to even attempt Anne's good-bye - and I just kept getting swamped with work, anyway. Believe me, when Maud complained in the journals about not being able to write because of obligations she didn't care about, I know where she was coming from.
I'm not going to make the 8 December finish date, but that's OK. It has to get pushed into next week, anyway, because I realized that, before I can write the big finale (which I'm not going to go into any details about; come see the show to see how Maud spends her final moments!), I'm going to need to go back and read over the entire libretto so I can make the best use of the material. Maud will need to compare and contrast her past and present. I know the history (and therefore, the "story"), but, to make this the most effective, I will need to reference certain lines and scenes just to really tie it all together. So, we'll try for 15 December. It might be before that. But I think the finale will have to be written right here at home. It's way too important a scene to have work-related things competing for my attention.
Anne will have her moment tomorrow, somehow. And I think you guys are gonna like it.
All right, so I was supposed to write Anne's final scene today. Did it happen? No! And to say I was completely torqued about it would be the only "charitable" (as Anne would say) way to describe my feelings. It was just one thing after the other at the office today. I know I'm there to work, and I know how lucky I've been having so much time to write this summer and fall, but I had given myself a break after writing the big Maud/Chester scene 30 November, and not only was I looking forward to giving Anne her send-off, I even felt I needed to get back to writing. But it didn't happen. Put this fire out, put that fire out, fuel this one and stoke that one. I had a brief break in the action where I at least started the scene and got up to the point Anne appears in the scene; after that I skipped to the next, very short scene which I did finish. But by then I was just too fried to even attempt Anne's good-bye - and I just kept getting swamped with work, anyway. Believe me, when Maud complained in the journals about not being able to write because of obligations she didn't care about, I know where she was coming from.
I'm not going to make the 8 December finish date, but that's OK. It has to get pushed into next week, anyway, because I realized that, before I can write the big finale (which I'm not going to go into any details about; come see the show to see how Maud spends her final moments!), I'm going to need to go back and read over the entire libretto so I can make the best use of the material. Maud will need to compare and contrast her past and present. I know the history (and therefore, the "story"), but, to make this the most effective, I will need to reference certain lines and scenes just to really tie it all together. So, we'll try for 15 December. It might be before that. But I think the finale will have to be written right here at home. It's way too important a scene to have work-related things competing for my attention.
Anne will have her moment tomorrow, somehow. And I think you guys are gonna like it.
30 November 2006
27 November 2006
26 November 2006
North Hollywood, California
Mikey's been a bad, bad boy. I haven't written boo all week!
There was just too much actual work at work to get distracted with Monday and Tuesday, although I did manage to go over some notes and put a bit of dialogue together (which will probably be promptly deleted when I get back to it today). Wednesday was a short day at work but I had stuff to do in the evening (OK, I went to the gym and then watched Madonna's Confessions Tour. But when I saw the tour live it inspired all kinds of things for the treatment, so I was hoping for the same infusion). Thursday, of course, was Thanksgiving over here; 'nuff said. Leo and I both needed to get out of the city for a day so we did that Friday. Yesterday my best friend was over 'cuz there's some music of our own we want to work on. That leaves today.
I intend to make up some time today. I may even skip the gym and just write. But this is the first time since I started writing the libretto 20 July that I've gone this long without writing anything, except for the necessary 3-week gap between acts. It just wasn't a good week for any kind of routine! In the meantime, Maud and Ewan are frozen in church as he's about ready to lose it! At any rate, this is definitely going to push my completion date beyond the 8 December I anticipated. Probably more like 15 December now. But let's keep in mind that, as the agency gets closer to shut-down, I'll have more to do for that, which is going to take time away from writing anything at work. Ugh. As long as it's done by the end of December, I guess. I think I knew 8 December was a little bit too ambitious - which makes me feel worse about not having written anything this week.
Thank God it's cold today finally (by Southern California standards, anyway) instead of being so blazing hot - somehow, I think that will help!
Well, time to eat something, stop yammering on here, and get to it. This stuff ain't gonna write itself!
_____________________________________________
Whoo-hoo! I think I've set some sort of record - I just wrote 4 scenes in one day! The first one was a combined one, but it was still technically two scenes. I just shut myself in my apartment and got to it. I guess that pretty well catches me up for losing last week and puts me back on schedule! I might just be done by 8 December yet...but let's not set that one in stone, shall we?
That brings us up to Maud and Ewan leaving Norval and moving to Toronto. Bring on Journey's End!
Mikey's been a bad, bad boy. I haven't written boo all week!
There was just too much actual work at work to get distracted with Monday and Tuesday, although I did manage to go over some notes and put a bit of dialogue together (which will probably be promptly deleted when I get back to it today). Wednesday was a short day at work but I had stuff to do in the evening (OK, I went to the gym and then watched Madonna's Confessions Tour. But when I saw the tour live it inspired all kinds of things for the treatment, so I was hoping for the same infusion). Thursday, of course, was Thanksgiving over here; 'nuff said. Leo and I both needed to get out of the city for a day so we did that Friday. Yesterday my best friend was over 'cuz there's some music of our own we want to work on. That leaves today.
I intend to make up some time today. I may even skip the gym and just write. But this is the first time since I started writing the libretto 20 July that I've gone this long without writing anything, except for the necessary 3-week gap between acts. It just wasn't a good week for any kind of routine! In the meantime, Maud and Ewan are frozen in church as he's about ready to lose it! At any rate, this is definitely going to push my completion date beyond the 8 December I anticipated. Probably more like 15 December now. But let's keep in mind that, as the agency gets closer to shut-down, I'll have more to do for that, which is going to take time away from writing anything at work. Ugh. As long as it's done by the end of December, I guess. I think I knew 8 December was a little bit too ambitious - which makes me feel worse about not having written anything this week.
Thank God it's cold today finally (by Southern California standards, anyway) instead of being so blazing hot - somehow, I think that will help!
Well, time to eat something, stop yammering on here, and get to it. This stuff ain't gonna write itself!
Whoo-hoo! I think I've set some sort of record - I just wrote 4 scenes in one day! The first one was a combined one, but it was still technically two scenes. I just shut myself in my apartment and got to it. I guess that pretty well catches me up for losing last week and puts me back on schedule! I might just be done by 8 December yet...but let's not set that one in stone, shall we?
That brings us up to Maud and Ewan leaving Norval and moving to Toronto. Bring on Journey's End!
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