Back from Mississippi...

I'm back from Mississippi, and although I tend to have a love/hate feeling with being in the state,because of all of the bloody history, there's one thing I can never dispute: The people of Mississippi I've met are the nicest anywhere. Seriously. Just plain nice. I spoke at the University of Southern Mississippi last night, and it was the second time I'd been there. I spoke there about seven years ago, and had a great time then too. But I've been up since 4:30am, so I'm bushed.

Got home, and picked up the kiddo. He did his poem beautifully, and received two awards-one for citizenship and the honor roll. The Citizenship one was curious since Langston decked that kid for bad use of sarcasm, but it's Catholic school, so it must have been forgiven.

Both April and Langston have a cold now. April is really f*ed up with a head cold, and Langston is beginning. Didn't mean to spread my sickness, but for once, I wasn't the last to get it.

The USC script is FINALLY clicking! Here was the problem. I tend to write a very passive first draft. My characters are passive, the action is passive, etc. I know this going in. What I always have to do is look at it again, and then figure out how to rearrange the puzzle pieces so that things are more active. It takes time, and so I asked Krystal for a bit more time until Saturday. Now, my main character is there, where she was sort of an observer, which makes her very boring. So this second draft will be much better than the first one.

For now, that's what I'm going to work on. I'll slip her the draft on Saturday, and then try to knock out my fiction manuscript copyedit by the end of the weekend. Two birds with one stone. After that, finish the non-fiction manuscript and get Free Love to the second act by the end of next week.

In Atlanta on my way to Mississippi

Right now, I'm sitting in Atlanta Hartsfield airport, waiting for a flight to Jackson, Mississippi, so that I can drive 100 miles to the University of Southern Mississippi. I left LAX at 11pm after having been flisked so thoroughly that I should have received a dozen red roses from my frisker.

What's cool about this trip however, is that I can do a little Icono research. It just so happens that I have a call on Friday with a client based in the Gulf Coast. So I'm going to do a bit of field research while in Hattiesburg.

My USC script will be ready this Saturday. Funny, but my projects (which are overwhelming at this point) are "knock on wood" falling one by one. I'm getting sleep so the brain is working more efficiently. Let me tell you: NEVER get in the habit of doing all nighters. It will wreck your health and your writing. Just go to sleep and start again in the morning.

My girl Donna's going to be out at least another ten days, so I have that added weight at Icono, but so far, it hasn't been too bad. We'll see as the ten days continue.

So I creep along to my March 15th D-Day. By that date, everything on my table should be done. And I do mean everything.

I was going to my 434 class two days ago (by the way, I'm fighting a massive head cold that I conveniently gave to April) and I realized that two years at UCLA flew by. I've had a ball, and while I'll be sad to not have the day to day interaction with my fellow students, it's time to finish up and fly. I came to UCLA to get the tools, and while I'm not anywhere near creating anything except a first draft, I feel I can use the tools to ultimately craft a script that sells.

Alright, I'm looking for more plugs so that my battery won't die. Check y'all later.