Kyle Michel Sullivan's Blog: https://www.myirishnovel.com/, page 252

At the airport...and already my flight's late...

Good ol' Southwest; lately they've been the champions of late flights, and they're proving it with me. I'm still good to make my connection in Las Vegas, and if that one's not late, I'm slated to arrive at 9:45 pm. By the time I get my car and to the hotel, it'll be close to 2am my time. And I'm slated to start work tomorrow morning at 7am (10 am my time, thankfully).

Maybe I should stay on NY time...meaning 9am for lunch and 3pm for dinner. Yeah, that's gonna happen. I'm too self-indulgently in the moment.

I brought the printout of OT with me to make notes on, but I doubt I'll get much writing done. Not that I mind. Right now handling my blog and journal will be enough, after the fun I had getting this draft completed before I left.

I know it doesn't quite hold together, yet; too many aspects going on and I'm still not happy with how the reveal is working. But...there are parts I''m very happy with, actually proud. And the relationship between Jake and Tone does expand through the book. I think my characters are even more individual; I just need to keep them from speaking the same way. I've already worked on that and it's getting better,  but improvement wouldn't hurt.

Hell, improvement never hurts...unless you're working on your tummy and strain your back...

Another rewrite down...

...And only 47 more to go. Jeeps. I printed it up and my book is now 5.5 lbs of anything but light reading (punning here; I hope it's not too heavy a read...pun intended, again). 515 pages. I'd break my back just carting it around. But now I can get back to wondering what the hell I'm doing here instead of just trying to finish something I've lost control of.

Tomorrow I head for LA...and today I got my schedule...and I'm in use every day except the 30th and 31st. Labor Day Saturday and Sunday. This is going to be interesting. Good thing is, I've got my evenings free to either meet with friends for dinner or just collapse in a heap. I'll need a vacation from my vacation.

Fortunately, I don't leave for the airport till 2:30 -- I'm cabbing it -- so I can pack in the morning. At least I got my laundry done. Hmm...I may need do jaunt down to my sister's just to use the washing machine. Like a college kid. Well, an uncle of mine always said I'd never be anything more than a student.

And I'm damn proud that he was right, because that's what helps my writing.

Not a polish...it's a rewrite...

As I input all the changes I've made to OT, I'm finally having to say this is really a second draft. The first draft was rough but there enough to matter. I was thinking all I'd do is smooth it up to make it into something presentable, but it's been shifted a lot and rearranging is still ongoing. As are cutting and occasional pasting...so it's all new, now. And I need to do another one to make sure all my bases are covered.

At least Jake's voice is clearer in this draft. In fact, each character is beginning to alter his or her speech patterns, a bit, to make them distinctive from each other. Some have pulled back from the foul language Jake uses. Antony, I had no problem with because he's a continuation of his character in "Rape in Holding Cell 6". Matt's become too one-note, so he needs more attention. Everyone else is new, so their verbal revelations are still coming together.

I've got 70 pages left to input. I'm trying to build the story so it's not necessary to read the first book, but I don't know how successful I've been. I may only be confusing the issue. Still, this ain't gonna be no Agatha Christie mystery, with cardboard characters and as shallow as of a puddle of water. I got a friggin' Great Lake going here.

Guess that comes from being in proximity to 2 of them.

Lauren Bacall hits it out of the park

Hard to believe she's only 19 in this. I've seen 35 year old actresses with dozens of films under their belts unable to get even a tenth as much gravity and focus.

Guess it really does depend on who's in the saddle...

Inputting, again...

Time to polish up my first draft of ...Owen Taylor and print it up so I can take it with me to LA on Saturday. All 500+ pages. Or thereabouts. To do another red pen, if I have the time. I've input the first two chapters and already dropped 3 pages. That may not last, however. When I redid the last 20 pages, I added in more of a summation about what happened to people.

It was a fun little war, getting to this point. Jake and I are both well-bloodied. He's still fighting my tendency to soften the entry into moments or comments; he wants it straight and clean and sharp as a knife. And he's winning, as he should, since he's telling the story.

But he's had to give me something, in exchange. He can't just sit down and say he wasn't thinking about anything, he was so wrecked by what's happened. He's got to share his meaning on the page, not just in the shadows.

Right now, I think the final reveal is still too easy...and yet, confusing. And surprisingly amoral. I'm letting one character get away with murder. Literally. That's going to be interesting.

I just heard Lauren Bacall died. She wasn't a great actress but she had a sassiness to her that worked in the right project. Her showing she could be just as insolent and independent as Bogie in To Have and Have Not and The Big Sleep is reason enough to mourn her passing.

That's two, this week, and these things come in threes...

The last 20 pages...

I had so much red pen going on the last 20 pages of OT, I had no idea what was new or had been redone after having been redone. So I input what I had, last night, then printed it up and started going through it, again. Yeah...I was missing a couple of things...like how did one character know another character was gay when it's not obvious, he's straight and has no gaydar? Has to be addressed because it plays into the reveal.

Then I learned that Robin Williams died, and it jolted me out of OT. Apparently, he committed suicide after battling severe depression. I can see where that would have been a problem with him. When he was on, he went like a rocket headed straight for to the moon. Coming back to Earth must have been a vicious fall.

I met him, when I worked at Heritage Book Shop. I gift-wrapped a book for him, and he loved the bow I'd done, so I showed him the ribbons we used -- rich colored silks and satins with light wires threaded into them for shaping. He talked about how material was the most important thing, whether it be ribbons or comedy.

I heard a story about him that only proved to me just how giving he was. Stephen Spielberg was in Poland shooting Schindler's List and the hideous nature of the film finally got to him. So he called Robin in the middle of the night and asked if he'd just make him laugh, for a bit, so he could deal with it. Robin kept him in stitches for an hour.

Over the years I've heard of many fine actors dying from one cause or another, but this is the first one to hurt.

Non, je ne regrette rien...

Peut-être...cela dépend de Jake et Tone...et mademoiselle Edith Piaf...

Progressing...

So far, I know The Vanishing of Owen Taylor will be in four parts spread over about 500 typed pages. I still have between 180-190 pages to rework, then comes the inputting...and another polish. Jake keeps adding dimensions to himself as we go along...or should I say, revealing aspects of himself that I hadn't figured on. Secrets and needs that factor into this. Who knows? By the time I get done with all the rewriting, I may actually have a decent story on my hands.

I'd really like to use this image as part of the cover, or one like it. But I don't know where it came from. Of course, that's assuming I'll self-publish the book. I'm halfway thinking of sending it to the people who published The Lyons' Den, to give it better access to readers...and yet I'm not sure that's the right way to go. They haven't done much in the way of publicity for it, so its sales have tanked. I wish I could get more reviews on it, but don't know how to do that short of paying people.

I've been downloading ideas on how to better promote my books, but I have to admit -- my first 3 titles are for a very specialized audience, and I seem to be hitting them, well enough. Bobby Carapisi is more mainstream, just not by much. LD could use some careful handling since it's so off-the-wall, but I'm not sure what.

So far nothing I've done has helped David Martin get anywhere. I even did a giveaway with the understanding the people would review the book, and only one has done so. Dammit. So maybe I should work with a more experienced publisher.

I'll think about it more, once I'm close to finishing this book...if I ever get finished.

New dog tries new trick...

I have ordered pants online for the first time in my life. I've ordered shirts, plenty of times, even undies and all sorts of other things. And I did buy some cabana loungers with a drawstring waist, years and years ago. But I can't find cargo pants in Buffalo, in my size, so I ordered two pair from Old Navy. I should have them in a few days.

Damn things ain't cheap -- $30 each, on special -- but I need new clothes. I'm down to 1 truly decent pair of pants and 3 so-so ones. Gotta try to at least appear to be neat.

I'm leery of doing this because I've found such wide discrepancies in sizes. One brand will fit me while another doesn't even come close, both in the exact same size and basic style. I don't do slim-cut; it feels like they're binding my legs even though there's still space in them. And I like cargo pants because they have pockets in the legs, so I don't have to put my wallet in my butt pocket. So we'll see how these do when they come. I went a bit large, just to be safe.

Of course, this is how I think I look when I'm in them -- very Joe Cool...sans cigarette since I've never smoked. But even when I was young and weighted 145, I didn't look like that. My body's not built for abs and my face was never meant for a James Dean frown.
This is closer to my reality...sans beard, since I can't grow one. The goofy style of my own, but with a satchel slung around my neck instead of a scarf.

I have to admit, there are times I look in the mirror and am shocked at what I see. Still...my hair is more red than not, as is my mustache. And I haven't gained any weight in the last three years, but neither have I lost any. Dammit.

I wonder if I can blame Zyrtek for that?

Imaging myself...

This is how I think I look when I'm writing -- intense, focused, buff and beautiful.

This is how I really look, I'm sure -- hunched over my laptop, horrified at what I'm reading and wondering, "Did I really write that crap?"

Because I'm still finding aspects of OT that need delving into and inconsistencies which have to be addressed. Like the timeframe for the last time Jake saw his mother -- I had it down as being 10 years then added a bit, in an earlier rewrite, where she took care of her mother's (his grandmother's) funeral in a cold and casual manner. But that was only about two years earlier, so one aspect of the story fell apart, as regards estrangement...because the funeral stays.

Oh, well...that's why I rewrite my rewritten rewrites that have been rewritten.