More Words. Neil Gaiman. Yesterday's Post.

[mmerriam]

As it turns out, I managed to write another 650 words last night while we waited around for the "An Evening with Neil Gaiman" event to start. The doors opened at 6:00, so we paid our admission, went inside and took our seats. Neil was not scheduled to start until 7:00, so I pulled out the notebook and set to work while careswen read. This morning I typed it into the laptop while I ate breakfast.

So yesterday's actual word count is 1150 words on "Untitled #41" (which really needs a working titled at this point).

The good stuff about last night:
Neil is always entertaining and one of the best readers around.
The stories and the poem he read was highly enjoyable.
The venue (The Riverview Theater) was excellent. Much better than crowding everyone into DreamHaven books.
They showed "Mirrormask" while Neil was signing in the lobby.
Popcorn with real butter!

The not so good stuff:
It took an hour to get from our home to the theater.
Slightly narrow seats.
Sitting for a long stretch.
The poor woman with the nasal problems behind and to my right.

Other thoughts:
While we were sitting in our seats waiting for Neil to come on, careswen leaned over and read to me a lovely passage from "Stardust." She looked at me and whispered in an awed kind of voice, "The man can really write." I agreed and allowed that I would be perfectly happy to write like that when I grow-up. Then I realized that I will never write like that. Ever. And that's okay, I'm perfectly contented to write like me, as long as I continue to grow and progress as a writer.

Neil told a story about how, early in his career, he showed a story to an editor friend and asked for their opinion. The editor friend called the piece, "Facetious twaddle." Neil trunked it, then pulled it out twenty years later, reread it, realized there was nothing wrong with it a second draft couldn't fix, fixed it, sold it, and promptly won an award for it.

There's a moral to that story.

"Mirrormask" was pretty to look at and entertaining. I'm glad I finally saw it.

Finally, in my post yesterday I wrote: I'm enjoying writing it (Untitled #41). I hope this doesn't mean it's going to suck.

To which careswen replied: Why on earth would you think it would work *that* way?

Simple. Every time I write something and I feel it’s going well and I've got a good story and I'm happy with the work and process, it gets slammed, smashed, and torn to little bitty bits during the workshop process. Any time I hate the piece, struggle to get it down, and genuinely believe it's trash and needs to be trunked or even deleted, it does well in workshop and everyone loves it.

Though I will admit it is about an even split between them among the stories I've published and sold.

I'm off to make some phone calls and clean house.

In Peace,
Michael

Comments

[songwind.livejournal.com]

Wow, I am sorry I missed that, but grown up stuff kept me away. There was simply too many things to be done at the house and not enough people to do them. Thank goodness Neil lives in the Twin Cities and I'm sure I'll get several more opportunities.

I liked what you said about not writing like Neil even if you might like to. He's one of the authors that inspires me to write just by reading his work. And yeah, I'm incredibly impressed by his skill, but am not trying to copy his style myself.

[mmerriam.livejournal.com]

I think one of the hardest things for new writers and neo-pros to do is find their own voice. It's perfectly reasonable to be inspired by and to want to emulate a certain auther you admire. It's even okay to write a pastiche or two along the way. But in the end, each writer needs to find that something that makes him unique, and that's usually a function of voice and tone.

[wordswoman.livejournal.com]

Ahhh, I'm envious of the Gaiman outing. I saw him at a Talking Volumes reading for Coraline, and he's a fabulous reader.

I get prose envy, reading him. And I find that whenever I read an author whose style I envy, it influences my own style for a couple of weeks. It's an unconscious mimicry, and rarely a good fit for my own style, but it fades after a time and I get my own voice back.

[mmerriam.livejournal.com]

Which I find amusing, because I get prose envy when I read your work!

I do the same thing when I hear a particularly good author reading. It usually lasts for about one short story project, then I get over it.

[jsgbits.livejournal.com]

Simple. Every time I write something and I feel it’s going well and I've got a good story and I'm happy with the work and process, it gets slammed, smashed, and torn to little bitty bits during the workshop process. Any time I hate the piece, struggle to get it down, and genuinely believe it's trash and needs to be trunked or even deleted, it does well in workshop and everyone loves it.

I've heard this from so many people, I'm beginning to wonder if this is some sort of thermometer. ;-)

[mmerriam.livejournal.com]

hehe. I don't know if it is a thermometer or not, but I do know it gets rather tiresome after awhile. :-)

[pezwitch.livejournal.com]

AND, your wifey got immortalized (well, as much as an ever transient blog can immortalize) here: http://www.birdchick.com/2006/10/must-pack.html

[mmerriam.livejournal.com]

I saw that! I saved the picture to disc.

[careswen.livejournal.com]

Hee, she was sitting right in front of me, and I saw her taking several photos, including this one, though I was so close to her, I didn't think I'd be in it. I'm so famous. I bet you were amused when you recognized me!

[pezwitch.livejournal.com]

Rather! Plus, it's a much more flattering picture of you than the one that I was in when she blogged about the raptor panel at CONvergence... smirk.

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

Every time I write something and I feel it’s going well and I've got a good story and I'm happy with the work and process, it gets slammed, smashed, and torn to little bitty bits during the workshop process.

Been there! Been on the flip-side too. I wonder why everyone can't just think like I do.

[cricketshay.livejournal.com]

I can only hope to see Neil one day. He is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. (and definitely the hottest)

His writing is beautiful. I'm reading Anansi Boys and loving it. I like everything he writes. He has a way with description and creating "real" characters.