Writer's Fatigue

I started re-writing Act Three of Mockingbird this morning at 5:00 am. I took a 20-minute break for breakfast and a bath, but ate lunch at my desk. Warren came at three and stayed until eight. We have four pages to go. Then I have to do a bit of translating of some scenes and we'll be done.  I feel like I have submitted Mount Everest.

Me and Warren

My new favourite song is "Demons" by a band called Imagine Dragons. It is an anthem for the hurting, but what a great tune!

Yesterday Warren came to my place to work at 3:00. He stayed until eight and we are now two-thirds of the way through the draft we will send to the competition.

Warren leaves for Italy on the 24th so I have a week to deal with final tweaks and to get the script printed for the application after he leaves. But we have done it and I am thrilled and amazed. And we not only have finished (almost) our script, we have finished a winning script.

And dare I say it: We are going to win. (Winning means being one of eight scripts selected for development.) And, yes I know I am inviting disappointment by thinking that way. But I believe it and I believe passionately in our work. Besides, one doesn't win the Praxis competition by producing a perfect script, one wins by presenting a great script with room for improvement.

Me and Pierre

Pierre Trudeau opened the theatre I built in 1975, and when he came, we had this amazingly detailed itinerary that Pierre blew all to Hell when he broke protocol to ask me if I knew renowned local singer Ann Mortifee.  I said we had worked together for months and although I revered her talent and loved her as a performer, I couldn't say I knew her. But I said I knew someone who did and so he asked me to get hold of my friend and get him Ann's number.



I can't believe it, it was so long ago. But that happened and I have been telling people for decades that I pimped for the PM. But, I never knew if they got together, so I wrote to Ann's sister Jane and she forwarded my request to know how the story ends to Ann. Now, Ann and I are getting together this coming week so I can include the ending in my play, HoMe.

I am working to bring other voices into my script.

It's a Boy

Mockingbird is born. The stats:  98 pages and 21,300 words. And he looks really, really good because he was delivered in Final Draft software.  And what an ordeal because I delivered twins: Mockingbird and HoMe. HoMe was born about two weeks ago at 62 pages and 18,100 words.

Labour involved writing HoMe twice and Mockingbird three times. So, in the past month I have typed 100,100 words plus had a diagnosis of bronchiectasis and had a lung biopsy and its side effects. Yes, that is correct: In a month — 100,000 words. It's amazing what you can do when you get up at 4:00 am every morning and stay focused until from noon to 2:00 pm.

What you see above is one page of my script. Final Draft software forces you into the standard format of scripts. It is such a complete rush to see it. I love the sense of accomplishing something that has involved learning new skills.

Tonight, I party with friends.

Orphans

I am posting this video that Warren and I made of my song Orphans for the convenience of Praxis jurors. We have mentioned it in our application to the Praxis / Whistler Screenwriters Lab competition.

Bounce…

Fever

Boy, was I thinking of Peggy Lee last night.

John picked me up at the hospital at 4:00 late yesterday afternoon. I felt absolutely fine and we joked on the way home. But twice on the way home, I told John I was cold.

At around 6:00, my friends Ryan came by and I met him in the lane because he wanted to drop something off for me. Waiting in the sunshine was lovely. I was hyper-aware of the wonderful warmth.

Everything was normal. I was thrilled to have the procedure over and behind me, so I decided to get comfortable on the couch with Leon. We love cuddling and watching TV together. But at 7:20 I started trembling. By 7:30 I could not hold onto anything in my hands and breathing was really hard. I felt so cold I could not stop shaking uncontrollably.

Get this: I live in a commercial building so our hot water is scalding. Last night, as the shaking got worse and worse, I got into a scalding bath. and found relief. I had the phone with me so I called 411 and the nurse said I had the fever that often accompanies the procedure I had. I may never forget the fear and shaking of the walk from the bathtub to my bed where my winter comforter held in all the heat in my flesh from the bath.

I woke up at 10:30 in a soaking wet bed. Now I was burning up. The nurse asked me to take my temperature but I was too cold too get out of bed and go back to the bathroom to get the thermometer. I went back to sleep at 10:30 and slept deeply until 5:00 am this morning.

Now… back to work on my script. But f-ck. What a night.