That clicking sound
Posted on | September 21, 2006 | 2 Comments
I turned in a 3000-word essay that I’d been asked to contribute to an upcoming project. I worked on it for a couple of weeks off and on, and I ended up with something that served the purpose, provided the information, and was about as dry as unbuttered toast. Then, a couple of mornings ago, I came up with a different approach. It entailed weaving a wraparound motif into the existing material. Once that idea clicked in my mind—the sound was almost audible—the entire article took on new life for me and I was very pleased with the final product. Last night I set up my camera on a tripod, learned how to use the automatic timer, and snapped off a batch of candid photos to try to get an “author photo” that captured the tone of the piece. I sent a few off to the editor to see what he thinks, but he was pleased with the essay. I’ll let you know more about it when I can.
My day job has been very demanding lately, and will be for the next ten days or so as a major deadline approaches, so I haven’t been accomplishing much during my morning writing sessions. I did start a new short story yesterday morning. Wrote about 750 words. I’m not sure any of them will survive into the final story as I’m still trying to figure out where the tale begins, but at least I’m writing and I’m exploring the setting and characters along the way, so it’s not a lost effort even if those words all end up on the cutting room floor.
I watched the premiere of Jericho last night. The previews seemed promising, but I’m not hooked. I’ll give it another week or two to see if it takes off, but the premise is a little restrictive unless the residents of the town start eating each other. The biggest difference between Jericho and LOST is that the mysteries in Jericho aren’t very interesting. If we assume that most of America has been nuked, we don’t really care who did it. At present, we’re not very curious about whether other American towns survived. And most of the characters already know each other, so there’s little chance for real character intrigue among them, with a few exceptions. We’ll see. I’m not sure I need another serial to take up my time.
During rerun season this summer I watched a few episodes of House, enough to carry through the first few shows of the new season, but I think I’ll drop that one, too. It’s too one-trick-pony for me. Mystery ailment of the week. I also watched a few episodes of Criminal Intent and watched last night’s resolution to the cliff hanger, but I’m not going out of my way to watch the show in the future, either. It’s okay, but the characters are all too stiff and formal and neurotic. I’ll also peek at Boston Legal every now and then, but it’s not must-see TV for me. Just light entertainment. It’s a little too self-referential (as in the preview for next week’s show where Shatner’s character comments that new characters can’t be important because they weren’t in the season premiere, and Alan’s comments last night that he feels like a character in a weekly TV show).
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About
Bev Vincent is the author of The Road to the Dark Tower, the Bram Stoker Award nominated companion to Stephen King's Dark Tower series, and The Stephen King Illustrated Companion, which was nominated for a 2010 Edgar® Award and a 2009 Bram Stoker Award.
His short fiction has appeared in places like Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, From the Borderlands and The Blue Religion. He is a contributing editor with Cemetery Dance magazine and a member of the Storytellers Unplugged blogging community. He also writes book reviews for Onyx Reviews.
September 21st, 2006 @ 3:26 pm
Yay for the clicking sound. I’m missing all the good tv these days, but am dying to see William Shattner’s roast.
September 21st, 2006 @ 4:09 pm
I don’t get cable, so I doubt I’ll ever get to see the roast.