awakeNothing was written on the "Onion" screenplay last night. I had an acute attack of ohmygodsI'mscrewingthisup and e-mailed the first four pages to producer D*, who reassured me that no, I am on exactly the right track. As tonight is Kid Night (and I believe we may have Byron to keep us company), I will resume work on the screenplay tomorrow.
My thanks to Chris Walsh for the marvelous care package that arrived yesterday. And to David Kirkpatrick for the overview of cell population growth curves, etc., even though I have not yet gotten around to reading it. I will soon. Also, I wanted to echo something that Poppy said in her blog yesterday, that I should have said sooner. I have no aversion to receiving used copies of the books on that wish list thing. The pre-read words read just as well. Also also, I need to write replies to several folks who have written me via MySpace, and I'll get to that soon, promise.
Yesterday, as she was proofreading Murder of Angels, Spooky discovered that Walter already had a last name. This is what happens, I suppose, when one has written five or six novels (depending whether I'm in the mood to count The Five of Cups). You forget shit. Going into the recent revision of Silk, I was absolutely convinced that I'd never given Walter a last name, and it's true that it's never mentioned in Silk. However, in MoA, he's Walter Ayers. In the recent Silk revision, I twice give his surname as Walter Lowe. So, now I have to e-mail the production manager at Roc and hope it's not to late to fix this in Silk. I should think it's not, as the mmp won't be released until December. By the way, Spooky has reached page 249 (in the MoA tpb).
Another good walk yesterday, down to Springdale Park and then Virgilee Park, both along Ponce de Leon. These parks are among Atlanta's lesser known gems, designed just after the end of the 19th Century by Frederick Law Olmsted, the same landscape architect who co-designed Central Park in Manhattan. If you're traveling east down Ponce, the parks are on your right (south), just after the intersection with Moreland Avenue, and after Virgilee Park, there are three more: Brightwood Park, Shady Side Park, and Dellwood Park — all designed by Olmsted. Atlanta's large Piedmont Park is also an Olmsted creation.
Last night, we watched Robert Altman's Thieves Like Us (1974), and then read another chapter of The Children of Húrin. I'm doing my best to be asleep by 2:30 a.m. every night, as I have discovered that I cannot allow myself to stay up until 4 a.m., then get up at 10 a.m., and still manage to write as much as I'm writing. Not even with coffee and Red Bull. And I seem entirely incapable of sleeping any later than 10 or 10:30, no matter how late I get to sleep. And when I don't sleep enough, Spooky doesn't sleep enough, and when Spooky doesn't sleep enough, she gets dangerous. Like a zombie.
* Note added 4 June 2019: Drew Crevello