Trying to be a bookie

It's like me'n' term papers in college, in a way. Doing them was this big hurdle I eventually had to jump, but, I'd delay. Delay. And delay.

Concurrently with writing this blog, I am writing my first book. Or I should add "attempted book." I find, to my dismay, that I would rather write ABOUT writing the book than writing it. Or trying to write it. I've usually been praised for my writing over the years but this is the marathon run of writing. And I still have no real plot, 35 pages deep. I've also placed my story on a sailboat, so there's not a lot to turn to for distraction.

But hopefully, if I ever finish and sell the thing, I can write off a vacation as research.

What's interesting is, when I can focus, the characters pretty much do their own thing and I report on it. This may be with a shout out to the lead based paint where I grew up, working on my synapses years later. If you are old enough, you've seen the cartoon where the pen draws the character which then animates itself to 'life' and off it goes - it's like that.

I sometimes try to picture these people as actors I've seen (and who wouldn't love to sell a book to both bookers and filmers?) and then their behavior is easier to follow. It'd be incredible to see a movie based on your book that actually had some of the ways you imagined it'd BE onscreen!

Years ago, I had the mighty strange experience of seeing a movie which fictionalized a real person while SITTING NEXT TO THE REAL PERSON (my close friend) who hadn't seen the movie yet. His movie self was on screen for what I'd estimate to be an hour, and he was just savaged by the writer and star of the movie, Howard Stern.