02.21.2008
So once a week, my client likes to see me. Don't ask me why. Anyway, it's usually pretty pointless. I have to go in, hobnob with the people funding my lifestyle and spend the rest of the day in meetings.
It is, without a doubt, the most pointless day of my week.
Yesterday, I went in except the guy I usually work with was out taking care of his sick kids. And my partner was coming down with something so he wasn't his usual self. So that left me with two thirty minute meetings to attend and four or five hours to burn.
Yeah, I could have done some work, but what fun is that. I didn't even want to be there and I never get anything done anyway.
So instead I wrote.
The advantage to being a writer over a filmmaker or musician is that Microsoft Word looks like Microsoft Word and Word is actually a part of my job.
I resolved myself to cranking out a piece for spudWorks. You know, just a quick piece that had nothing to do with anything. Ideally about a thousand words.
What I ended up with was Long Distance Relationship at about twenty-seven hundred words. It's a nice little ditty about a NASA astronaut on the ground dealing with his cheating girlfriend in orbit.
Here's an excerpt:
Everything seemed fine until two months before launch. That was when Cavaness replaced a team member who came down with sarcoidosis. Cavaness was the kind of ass that referred to himself as "doctor" even when in a room full of them. But I could tell Sarah liked him. And even if I couldn't, the time she called me "Georgie" in bed would have been a sufficient clue.
So yeah... I'm really happy with it, strangely. It has nothing to do with my sci-fi world but it was a kick to write and I hope it's fun to read. And, more importantly, I finally finished a piece this year. I hope this breaks the wall I've been feeling.
Have you ever been in a spot where you put so much pressure on yourself to accomplish your creative project that you find yourself at a total standstill? Well... welcome to my world. I literally feel scared when I look at my story spreadsheet. I haven't been able to finish any of the approximately thirty ideas I've got jotted down.
Sucks... right?
So now I have a choice. I still need to finish the line edits and maybe make a small change to the ending, but then... then do I post it to spudWorks or do I try submitting it? Again, it's not really "sci-fi" but it's science based enough that it might slip in.
I don't know... I don't know...