Different kinds of blah blah blah

This is Nelson.  We went there recently.

I know, I know.  I've got a project to finish.  And I'm getting it done.  I swear.  I have about 90 pages left to edit-- cut, revise, improve, karatechop, annihilate-- and I feel pretty okay about all that.  Let me tell you, finishing a book is a lot harder than starting it.  Or, outlining it.  Or writing it.  I've got a completely arbitrary deadline to meet though and thank god for my completely obsessive belief that I'm absolutely worthless if I don't do exactly as I tell myself to.  Yay me!

But for the last two weeks, I've jumped into a couple other projects.  One: I met a nice person with a killer idea for a children's educational series.  We met and brainstormed and now I'm on the case.  Which is really to say, I took notes and stuck it on the back-burner because obsessives are pretty good at prioritizing.  The very nice person knows my priorities and she's willing to wait.  That's only part of the reason why she's so nice.

Two: I decided to write a starter chapter for this chainbooks, a project that strikes me as abysmally sad and ridiculously entertaining and head-poundingly frustrating, all at the same time!  Some venture capitalist from Australia wants to make books out of dubious online collaborations between writers. It's sort of like the drawing game.  I make the head, you make the torso and you give it to the drunk guy in the corner to do the legs.  Inevitably, the drunk guy draws two penises balanced on rolling balls.  Yep.  In that spirit, I wrote a first chapter that could handle a couple of penis legs.  Penis legs might actually improve it.  If anyone considering contribution is reading this, hey!  Penis legs!

Three, and this one is Craaazy, although probably only to me and not you since you likely could give a shit what I'm actually doing with my rapidly darkening winter days: I wrote a screenplay.  It's almost done, even!  In January, I set a goal to write a screenplay by June 15.  That wasn't so arbitrary a deadline because it actually coincides with the late submission date for a contest in LA.  So, as a good obsessive does, I threw everything else to the wind to punch out a screenplay that might be worthy of submission.  Screenplays are interesting.  Screenplays are like outlines with dialogue.  Screenplays are like watching a movie in your head and writing it down at the same time.  I haven't minded this screenplay writing fun.

I heard on the radio today that everyday in Yemen is like Thanksgiving.  Really?  Sort of makes me reconsider the whole abaya thing.  Maybe I wouldn't mind covering up a little if I could stuffing everyday.