Michael Cordell here, aka SoCalVillaGuy … back at you with another exciting blog post about my life as a writer-in-residence (okay, at my house) and more importantly, a writer who would like to be able to make a few bucks doing it so eventually I can quit my current day job.
This Week
Due to my cold, I didn't write as much this week as I hoped. I definitely was lethargic most of the time and by the time I got home from work, I just wanted to rest, usually going to sleep extra early.
I did make some progress on "The Cage Door Swings," my fifth short story. I also outlined a novel that Leia and I came up with that I hope will come to fruition some day.
In the coming week, I need to make strides in editing "Prized Possession," the fourth short story and A Perfect Tenant, my new screenplay. Also, On A Gelding's Trail, my new novel, has been sitting and waiting a bit impatiently for me to return, too.
So much to write and so little time!
Writing Sites
I've been spending quite a bit of time on a couple of writing sites, notably Writing.com and EditRed.com, and I've come away with a much deeper respect for those of an artistic bent. I've had the pleasure of "meeting" some very interesting people who are quite talented and inspire me to try to be like them.
On these sites, folks submit their works for public review and critique. As a writer - especially a fledgling one - you are deathly afraid of anyone reading your work for fear of ridicule. The thought of letting a perfect stranger pick apart your scribblings line by line goes against what all of us fear from birth - rejection.
And yet, it's not so bad. I was surprised to find myself so ready to embrace this type of environment because (1) I'm sensitive and fear criticism (2) I'm a perfectionist who hates be caught in a mistake. In the end, the feedback I've gotten has been kind, considerate and helpful and I've abandoned the idea that I have to be perfect before I let anyone else read my work.
How liberating!
So, I send an enthusiastic shout-out to all my friends on both sites and thank all of you for taking the time to give me your input. I hope that my feedback on your work has been equally helpful. I can honestly say I look forward to reading all of your contributions because to see such creative people so diligent about their craft gives my own work a lift.
Epilogue on the Rebuttals
No onslaught of emails came since the rebuttals to my article were published. I'm quite surprised, actually. I would've thought that the anti brigade would've come out in full force once they saw they weren't alone in their decrying of my somewhat heretical stance.
I haven't been motivated to write another article for this magazine, though. I've just been so busy with my fiction, that the non-fiction side has taken a backseat. One of the reasons I chose to start writing the latter was to get my name "out there" and find a stream of income I could add to my regular one. As it turns out, I'm using a pseudonym for my fiction and the magazine I'm writing pays nothing except additional print copies.
The Cone of Silence (Part 2)
Speaking of pseudonyms, one of my writing site friends teased me about using a nom de plume. I wasn't sure if I explained this before, so I apologize if this is a repeat.
I'm using a pseudonym because I work in a small industry, I'm not anonymous amongst my peers. Anything I write, whether it's fiction or a blog, can be used against me. The industry I work in is rife with wonderful and strange anecdotes that will be too tempting for me not to use them in a screenplay or other work someday.
Besides, folks, the reality is people have been fired for blogging about their job and even though I don't really talk much about that aspect of my real life - paranoia can be your friend - I don't want anyone to find an excuse to terminate me. Bottom line, until I'm ready to retire and write, I can't tick anybody off.
Movies of Note
In the last few weeks, I've seen a couple of somewhat obscure movies I'd like to describe here.
"Pi" is a thriller filmed in black and white and it's quite stark in its visuals. It's about a mathematician who is trying to find the right numeric pattern to crack the stock market. In the process, he is pursued by a ruthless Wall Street investment company and zealous Hassidic cabalists who want the secret for their own devices.
"Haiku Tunnel" is to law firms what "Office Space" is to regular office work. This movie is told from the perspective of a neurotic legal secretary who is hired as a permanent employee only to find he is working for attorney that many consider to be Satan incarnate. His inability to complete one of his first major assignments - the mailing of seventeen very important letters - becomes the centerpiece for the shenanigans.
Another Lost Novel
Every time I write about my first lost novel, the next one that followed pops into my brain. Yes, there is a second lost novel out there, again, the electronic and paper copies have gone the way of the four winds. This one was a thriller (the plot of which I won't give away here because I have a suspicion I'll eventually start over again), but the circumstances around why I was writing about it will be briefly described here.
Back in the day, AOL was a hobby of mine. I was newly divorce and not ready to start dating yet. Instead, I would go into chat rooms - very respectable ones, not those that were dedicated to getting folks "hooked up," as the kids say.
In one of the chat rooms, I met a young woman who was a nurse somewhere in Michigan. She had a child out of wedlock (while still in high school) and was living with her mother and her baby. She decided she wanted to become a doctor, so she would do her nursing during the day and go to medical school at night … and still had time for AOL. I admired her for her effort and even though I had no romantic leanings toward her, we became friends, even talking on the phone sometimes.
Anyway, for whatever reason, I started writing a novel - probably to kill time during those nights alone - and decided to integrate her into the plot line. The book was based on a fairly complex mystery with the "I" character being the center of the intrigue.
Long story short, my Internet friend (let's call her Meg) was oddly weirded out by my story - not because she was a character, she actually was flattered by that - but because the story was so true to life (to her, anyway), that she wondered whether I had direct experience with this kind of intrigue.
Needless to say, despite my convincing her otherwise, our friendship sort of went south, mostly because I realized how naïve she was (and figured her attempt to go to medical school was a pipe dream, if anything). To end the story - true enough - she flew to LA with her sister (unexpectedly) and tried to find me. She knew I lived around LAX and had my phone number and kept calling me the whole week she was here, but I ably screened my phone calls throughout after picking up the first time.
Next time
I tell people that is my only Internet stalking experience. However, it's not my only experience with meeting people from the Internet. Next time, I'll discuss two others … one whom I married.
Also, in my next post, I'll discuss writing contests and my direct experience with them.
So, may you all have a creative week and thanks for reading.
Michael
http://www.editred.com/socalvillaguy
http://www.writing.com/main/view_item/user_id/socalvillaguy
http://myspace.com/socalvillaguy
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