Winding Down the Year

I think I might have fixed the terrible problem with A DEATH IN THE FAMILY. I have been working on this play for about 5 months now, and I am feeling like I am ready to be done with this round of editing. I know it can still be tighter and work better in a lot of sections, but I feel like it might ready to send out again. I already have a couple theatres and things lined up to send it to before the end of the year.

As I have been looking through the submission opportunities, I am noticing that I don't have much in the way of new work to send out--or even older work that is in better shape to send out. This year was a bit of a blur for me (new job, three huge trips, married, new house, new state) so perhaps 2012 will be my year for new works.

I hope that everyone has a wonderful Holiday of choice and I will see you all next year!

Deus Ex Machina needed

So, I have been working on A DEATH IN THE FAMILY for what feels like forever. If I am going to submit it to Last Frontier, I need to get the darn thing done SOON. So I have been working on it feverishly. Last night I realized that something very important in the script that a large portion of it hangs on doesn't make a damn bit of sense.

This resulted in a small freak out at Panera last night. Bill suggested NINJAS. I guess Ninjas are the new Deus Ex Machina.

I actually think that I might have fixed it. I will have to go back and look. So far, of everyone who has read it, NO ONE caught it. I don't know if anyone would catch it (they will now, now that they know what to look for). So I wonder how much trouble I should take to fix this. It bothers me, so I will fix it.

Ninjas are tempting.

But Ninjas are lazy writing.

So I will continue to work through things on the play. Being involved with the last show at the community theatre really helped me put some things in perspective with A DEATH IN THE FAMILY, specifically, when it comes to cutting things. The show was a good idea in theory, not so much in execution. The actors were great, but there were some parts of the play that just didn't work. There were some really overwritten and over thought jokes that would work better if they weren't so labored over. Sometimes the funniest stuff, at least for me, just comes out of no where and is spontaneous. So working on the light board for the show really assisted my writing, for which I am very glad.

Ninjas. I wish they weren't lazy writing and they actually made sense in the play!