Less is more

I sent the full draft of Missing Person to my agent on Saturday to await his verdict on my rewrite of the ending. After that, maybe another polish pass and it might be ready to go to market. Woo-hee.

With that off my desk for a while, I returned to some suspended projects. I started with one story that I had half-written, but when I checked the guidelines I realized the deadline was March 1^st instead of the 15^th as I had noted. Crap. So I pulled out a story that I thought was pretty much finished. Tore it to shreds. Three passes later, its 300 words shorter (out of 3400), and yet it contains more than it did originally. I recently read a book on self-editing for fiction writers and it made me scrutinize some of my passages differently. One of the authors’ big bug-bears was repetition, stating the same thing two or three different ways and not trusting the reader to understand what you meant the first time (sorta like this sentence).

Absurd example:

Ed thought Jenny looked frightened.
“I’m scared,” Jenny said.

Okay, that’s over the top, but there are more subtle, pernicious examples. Not to mention that the first line above is telling instead of showing. The story, called “Silvery Moon,” feels a lot stronger to me than when I started revising it Saturday.

I re-watched the first two discs of the Firefly TV series this weekend, and I enjoyed it as much as the first time I saw it a few months ago. I get the biggest kick out of Jayne’s character and some of his off-hand comments. Even the whimsical episodes are well constructed and written.

You know, I think of myself as being fairly well connected in terms of Internet information. So, how the hell did I miss the fact that Mike Oldfield has had a new album out since last fall? A double CD, no less, called Light and Shade. At least I was able to use my Internet savvy to find a new copy for $16 with free shipping! I’m currently enjoying Speak for Yourself by Imogen Heap, who my daughter tells me is part of a group called Fru Fru. One of her songs (Hide and Seek) was offered for CBC’s National Playlist. It didn’t make the list, but I dug the song, and it’s not even the best track on the album. At times she sounds like Sarah McLaughlin. And now I have to track down David (Pink Floyd) Gilmour’s new album, which is out this week. I haven’t bought so much new music in a long time.

Yes, I watched the Oscars. I felt bad for poor Betty Bacall, who seemed to be in the midst of either a teleprompter meltdown or an Alzheimers moment. Jon Stewart was okay. His gig had a few bust-a-gut laughs and a few tee-hees, but not as relentlessly funny as some hosts. The gay cowboy montage was amusing. What the hell did Charlize Theron have growing on her shoulder? Jessica Alba looked smashing, as did Keira Knightly. A commentator in the LA Times suggested that Michelle Williams’ gown inexplicably made them crave a Kraft macaroni dinner.