Ed Gorman kindly posted a Q&A with me on his Pro-File this weekend. In it I talk about the novel in progress, my experience selling my first book, pleasures and displeasures of a writing career, and I offer a little bit of advice to writers, too.
Speaking of the novel in progress, I found some shelf space that would hold a six-foot sheet of paper so I can plot out the book. I have the main plotline up, and now it’s a matter of weaving in the two main subplots. I’m still working out the details of a “new” character, too. She was dispatched in the first pages of the original manuscript, so I didn’t really know much about her. Now that her head is off the chopping block (almost literally), I have to figure out who she is and how she relates to the main character.
This morning, I did a radio interview with Tania Moody from KLVT in Levelland, TX. I called in five minutes before my scheduled slot, was told the correct pronunciation of the host’s name (tawn-yuh), and put on hold. Two commercials played, and then I heard the host introducing the segment. I’d thought there might be some off-air prep, but all of a sudden I was being introduced and away we went. The whole piece was about five minutes long. Stay on the message, I kept reminding myself mentally, which is especially important with short interviews, I think.
A little over a month ago, the world’s shortest man, He Pingping, died. He was only 21 years old and 29 inches tall. He was featured during the Shanghai installment of the Amazing Race this week. I’m not sure exactly when they filmed the episode, but they dedicated it to him in the closing credits.
I could feel the frustration of the two teams that were plagued by the wind during the puzzle-solving challenge at the stadium. Can you imagine being almost done with a difficult puzzle only to have all your work blow across the field? With a million dollars at stake? The detectives had trouble with this challenge and might have been eliminated. Phil screwed with them by saying they were “out” when they reached the mat, but he didn’t use the word “eliminated.” After giving them time to react, he continued “…in the cold. You’re out in the cold.” Ballsy thing to do to a guy who probably knows ten ways to kill you!
The weatherman is threatening us with the possibility of our first 90° days this week. We’re going to have to turn on the A/C soon. I just know it. We’ll have a brief reprieve when we’re in NY later on this week for the Edgars, because it’s only supposed to be high sixties/low seventies. I checked out my tux this weekend to make sure it still fit and that I had all the parts. Still have to take an iron to the shirt. Should probably get my hair cut, too, since no doubt there will be photographs taken.
We’ve reached the mid-point of the third series of Ashes to Ashes. This one has a different feel to the others. The guy from D&C alludes to some terrible secret from Gene Hunt’s past, and there are implications that he had something to do with Sam Tyler’s death, but mostly they go about solving the crime of the week without much forward progress in Alex’s quest to return to her daughter (who is scarcely mentioned) or in ferreting out the truth about what happened to Sam. Time’s pressing onwards, folks. They’ll have to get busy wrapping things up soon.
The fourth episode of Doctor Who is one for the ages.
Speaking of Amy Pond–she’s in the running for Best. Companion. Ever. She’s saucy and pert and smart, vulnerable and strong, and astute. She understands immediately that the Doctor’s visit to the museum is his way of keeping score. She and River take to each other quickly, and River identifies her as, perhaps, a kindred spirit. The actress has terrific delivery on lines like “Anybody need me? Nobody?” and especially “Are you all Mr. Grumpy Face today?”
And speaking of delivery, I loved Matt Smith’s emulation of the noise the TARDIS makes when it lands, only to be told by River that it’s not meant to make that sound and it only happens because he leaves the brakes on. “Yeah, well, it’s a brilliant noise,” he responds. “I love that noise.” River is a master of TARDIS operation, showing him that it actually has stabilizers. “They don’t do anything–they’re just blue,” he says after River points out the controls. “Yes, they’re blue stabilizers.”
It’s a fascinating relationship–she’s in his future and he’s in her past, since she died during her first appearance on the series. “We keep meeting in the wrong order,” he says. He knows she’s going to be a professor (“Spoilers!” she yells after he lets that detail slip, which she didn’t know yet on this episode) and she knows…what? Quite a lot, but we won’t find out for a while, probably. A brief reference (“I have no intention of going back to prison,” she says to the armed Bishop), that’s all.
And what to say about the villains of the week other than that they’re as brilliant as when we first encountered them, and perhaps even more ominous. I wonder if Amy’s symptoms will recur or if her momentary hallucination will be the end of it. I loved her reaction to the Doctor’s solution to her dilemma. Not “oh thank you for saving my life” but “that made a mark.” I wasn’t prepared for the way the episode ended, though. Argh!
Funny line of the show. When Amy says that a certain person is dead, the Doctor replies, “So is Virginia Woolf, but I’m on her bowling team.”
