I was watching a promo for a new show on ABC the other day and the promo suggested that there is a theory where in New York City, on Manhattan Island, with a population somewhere above 8 million people, you will walk past the person you will marry three (3) times before you meet him/her. Truth told, without any effort on my part, I would love to have the written report or statistics that this is based off of. However, the idea that in a city of 8 million people you will walk, unknowingly, past the same person three times and then meet that person is rather interesting. What makes this even more interesting is to adapt the concept for some place like Salt Lake City, UT or Provo, UT where you can spend years of your life and then, seemingly by coincidence, meet someone, fall in love, marry that individual, and live rather rockilly-ever-after. There are no perfect marriages.

So: I was reading a blog this morning and the owner of the blog, Tim Pratt, was outlining his writing process for sitting down and writing a novel. He uses a rather interesting approach, one that I think is a part of my mental cycle, where he gets an idea based off of what is interesting him at the moment, then he collects other ideas, collects the characters that seem to fit the basic premise of the book, then he finds out what plot he wants to use before sitting down and writing the novel. After all of that is together, he then tosses a bunch of the ideas (original and new) into a pot and starts to write the first idea which leads him to the second idea which leads him to the third idea until he’s gotten all the way through the book. What is interesting about this is that Robert Jordan, author of the Wheel of Time series of books, printed by Tor in the United States, sits down and writes out a series of events he would like to see take place in the novel he is currently working on and then he works his way through the list. As far as I know (and I don’t surf the web on him anymore) he follows a similar pattern. Another author, I am currently reading his blog on the subject, tells first time authors to just sit down and write and don’t worry about outlining. The objective is to see what happens, fly by the seat of the pants, don’t worry so much about anything else, and ultimately find out what works for you as you work on the process.

Leading to: I spent about $200.00 for my books for this semester. Granted, I have one or two more to buy. But they are odds and ends and the professors were pretty ambiguous about when they wanted us to get them outside of saying, “Order them from Amazon.com.” So, I haven’t ordered them yet, but this next week I probably will.

And: I received two e-mails from two different people that I know as a result of Crimes of the Heart at Stageright Theatre Company who sent me copies of the same e-mail. In essence, Stageright is doing a one act playwriting competition for the majority of the western half of the United States. The entry fee is $10.00 and you can submit as many one act plays as you want ($10.00 each). They want traditional stage play material as that is the direction that Stageright is trying to pursue. There will be two winners and the prize is that the plays will be produced by Stageright in September of 2007. The deadline for the plays is March 1, 2007 with winners announced on June 1, 2007. I have been encouraged by the director of my current play to submit a one act to this competition.

Moving on: Okay, I think that’s about it. I was going to write something else but after writing it really didn’t like the outcome so I deleted it and now I am sitting here writing this because I don’t know if this is really the end of what I am writing or merely a pretext to the end of what I am writing today.

And then: So, Anne of Green Gables is a book set for children. Sometime in my teenage years my mother, who is fond of handing me books to read, even though I am not always positive on the other side of the reading about what I just read (if you’re not a native American speaker this sentence might give you trouble), handed me a copy of that book and suggested that I read it. I read it. Then I read most of the rest of the books. That was something like, I don’t know, twenty years ago. Anyway, on campus, BYU that is, the theatre department has a club. The Mask Club. Anyway, they produce plays that are student directed and as a result of this club they are putting on a thirty minute version of Anne of Green Gables the play. I tried out. I botched the auditions. And then I decided, as I was walking out of the room, to entertain the two students who will, most likely, be directing and stage managing the production. Both girls. Anyway, I as I was trying to decide how serious I was about auditioning I noticed a line of what I thought were girls. Listening to them, passively, I noted that they all sounded like girls, but the outcome was that the one wearing the most pink and sounding the most feminine, was in actuality a boy who is old enough to have actually served a mission. That was rather frightening to me; though not in the sense that I was thinking, “Oh lord, oh lord, how am I going to get out of this,” but rather in the sense that I was thinking, “And you expect people to take you seriously with that haircut, that voice, and that appearance. Like I said, glancing at the dude, listening to him, and even watching him interact with the chicks around him I would’ve bet money that he was a very butch looking woman. Scary.

Dealing with: So, I started outlining the Water Rights story. I’m several pages into it. Not really in outline form, more bulleted (numbered) items that offer a structure and consistency to a book that I hope to bring in at, or around, 50,000 words. That is, for you non-educated in word counts, about 150 pages in length. Short novel. After I finish outlining I plan to write a treatment (as though I were writing a movie) for the outline. Transfer treatment and outline to a dialogue script. Then rewrite the script into a novel using the dialogue as the backbone for the short novel. As I am working on this my mind is beginning to search the LDS orientated ideas for something I can begin outlining (when this outline is done) for the second of three planned books; and I am also looking for a project I am willing to work on very slowly for the Philosophy class I am taking that will, most likely, be written in the same fashion and format.

Since we’re: And then, after these are done, I plan to leap into (I think) one of two different ideas. It will be either a) the first of the Alicia Grey stories; or b) the first of the Seven Veils stories. Both of them, I think, will also be a series of short novels. The former designed for young adults and dealing with some pretty cool fantasy elements. The latter for adults and dealing with some wickedly cool science fiction elements. In either case, that is the current book writing plan for the next year to year and a half. I believe the short novels can mostly be done and submitted during the school year – depending on school work and homework deadlines.

Which really does lead to: I came up with a concept for an Indie movie. I am tentatively titling it Pizza Wars. I’d give more information than that, but I am still working out the finer details of a) movie financing, b) plot details, c) outline and treatment, and d) just how serious I am about this. The basic premise, I think I can give that, is two competing pizza stores.

Let me think. Let me think. Yup. I am pretty certain that is about it. Well, it’s not. There are a lot more things I could write about. But that would cross into the details of John’s life John doesn’t share on his blog area and I wouldn’t want to do that as John might get mad at me for doing it. And yes, the drop into the third person was intended and was funny so you should laugh.

John Hattaway (Denny Crane)

Which then leads to my desire to come out in a Google search in the top ten when you type in Denny Crane as a search term. Last I checked I went in about forty or fifty pages and still never found my website and that was a real bother. Heck, I got past most of the entertainment sites and started hitting the personal websites of people who actually have the name of Denny Crane. Boston Legal, Denny Crane. Part of me wants to add that to every post, once a day, and sometimes the only thing I am posting, just to increase my chances of having the search return my site much higher. I’ll let you know, probably through my actions, if I decide I want to do that.

I am at school. Yes. At school. I spend my life at school. In fact, I spend so much time here that I think it is time to begin looking at my options. What does that mean? Well, I think it is time to start looking for something else that allows me to make money. Granted, I am in a job that allows me a great deal of flexibility, but the outcome of the job, compared to the nature of the job, is that I don’t think I want to remain on for much longer. However, I don’t have immediate plans to leave. The reason: Because I have to have a job that gives me the flexibility to work around a school schedule, to be in plays (and ideally movies) to write, and to do other things that I hope will be coming up in the near future. Part of being in school means the latitude to do study sessions, to go to various media events (yes, I have a class that requires that) and to be available for tests and other course-related activities that are coming up. As I am working, pretty dominantly, on my major course work, it seems that the class loads are lighter, but the expectations for performing are a lot higher. Mix that with new and growing interests and the outcome is, and will be, that I have a lot on my plate and need a financial solution.

There are some financial options available to me. Some of them are not optimal. I would prefer not to go down that road. At the same time as I was considering one of the financial options it occurred to me that the last time I was in a similar situation I chose to quit a job without the written guarantee of another job and that caused a spiral effect in my life. I am not willing to do that. Working is always better than not working. However, with that said, I would prefer to be working as a researcher for real where I am given assignments and deadlines and asked to collect as much information and material as possible. The current position does not allow that to take place in my life. I am rather verklempt about it. If my life were in a different place I think I’d say something derogatory about my job and walk away, never to return. I cannot do that. I know my limitations and I know that having a job is a good thing. Plus, we are in a new semester, Gary is trying to finish his book, he has a million assignments for me (not the problem) and his assignments combined with my needs don’t really seem to mesh at the moment.

Financial options. That is the next step. One of those, that I will share, is a current and new goal to write three short novels. About 50,000 words apiece. For the LDS market. Three different stories dealing with three different interests. All short novels. All written for a specific market. This is not above what is required for one of the classes I am taking. This takes into account the work that needs to be done for that. I’ve not decided what I am going to be doing for that particular class; and at the same time the professors (yes, plural) seem to want to take it very slowly and very methodically as they present material step-by-step. I am currently outlining Water Rights, a story set in south-west Colorado and dealing with two families and their feud over water and the economic implications it’s had on their lives through the succession of draughts that have happened in Colorado over the past century. Colorado water law gives first right of water to the person or organization with the oldest right or call on the water. That is why, in case people needed to know, you continue to pay for water rights in years when no water will be coming down the ditch. Colorado has a court system specifically for water rights and water disputes. It is Colorado’s Water Court.

Let’s see. There are always options out there you, sometimes, just have to know where to look for them. I think, at the moment, that’s where I am at. Looking for where the “in school” options lie. I can’t quit. Not at this stage. And what more I don’t want to quit. So, let’s see what happens.

I have to admit to y’all that I have been quite remiss about updating lately. I’ve been remiss because I’ve been reticent because… well… I don’t know why.

It’s not like there isn’t fodder for communication. For example, when you stumble upon a group of freshman girls all gawking and squawking at a new diamond on another freshman girls finger… well, there’s room for comment. Sure, the diamond looked nice, and the girl was cute, but at what point do you step back from reality and say, “I am too young to get married.” I mean, come on people, the number of divorces in the world isn’t leveling off, it’s getting higher; and the number of people in this church who got married at 19 and 21 respectively that end in divorce is also getting larger. Not smart.

This is in lieu of being sent home (not really) to read an article that Elder Dallin H. Oaks wrote for the June Ensign on dating. In that he admonishes young men and women to stop hanging out and to start dating seriously. Hanging out implies no commitment and no need for commitment; whereas dating, reasonably, implies that you are willing to and trying to commit. We have a generation of kids that are in limbo because the men are allegedly afraid of the success the women have. Elder Oaks went on to share his wife’s experience, in her words, and then asked that people not send him letters about being an exception to the principle he taught.

I should back out of this.

Like I said, there is fodder to be written about. The problem, I think, is that I am tired and getting my body used to a new schedule isn’t all that easy. It’s not impossible. I am functioning. It’s also not that easy. Makes sense! I am sure.

I can also talk about the classes I am in. I think I will save that for another day. I just didn’t want to let another day or two go by without my updating you all. That’s it. Denny Crane. (John Hattaway.)