Monthly Archives: November 2017

yes, the house-hunting is going splendidly (not)

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There are two theories about trying to buy a house as winter approaches. One is that the competition among buyers is lower and you might even get a better price.

And the other, more astoundingly accurate theory, is that no one bothers to put their house up for sale as winter approaches because they don’t believe anyone out there is actually looking to buy a house and then be crazy enough to move in the dead of winter. (A fool such as I…)

It has been so frustrating. The couple of houses that were left on the market by the time I finally got my pre-approval in hand for the mortgage, got snatched up so fast it would — yes — make your head spin. All those houses that were in my price range in late summer and early fall are all gone. Sold. Or just plain off the market.

But I remain hopeful. Each night before I go to bed, I pray that some old person somewhere — in this county or even the next one over — will transition to the sweet hereafter by morning and that the perfect house for me, right in my pre-approval range, will suddenly spring onto the market and I can go grab it. (And of course I pray that this random old person already had a rich and deeply rewarding life…)

I have looked at a few houses and it just gets exhausting because they don’t work out for one reason or another (the worst being that it could be a great house but the owners didn’t take care of it and now no one in their right mind, who isn’t a house flipper, would attempt to buy it). Pretty much every day now, I’m exhausted because of the housing search.

This means, I’m getting no writing done. And the more I get no writing done, the less happier and more exhausted-er I am! (Actually, you’ve gotta be one helluva great writer to even come up with a great convoluted sentence such as that!)

It takes a lot of focus to find reasons to stay cheerful, to stay hopeful, to just keep going until I find the perfect house, especially when I’m trying to do this nonsense all by myself. (Although I have an amazingly great & patient realtor.) But I’m so tired of living out of boxes. So tired of not having access to my stuff. So tired of not being able to really celebrate any of the holidays. So tired of living in a few hundred square feet with 8 constantly shedding cats…(can you say “sinus condition”?)

I want a home again!

Yes, like this one, but without those people in it…(the dog can stay)

 

Okay. The seriously good news is that I am actually starting to make real friends out here in the Hinterlands.  Really nice, authentic people, who use a lot of four-letter words and who all seem to own guns. However, they’re just good, honest people. I really like them.

And even a really nice guy has sort of come into my life. It’s way too soon to know what might come of it, but he sure is nice. And funny. On the outside, he’s seems like just a grumpy, half-deaf, slow-moving older guy who always looks either pissed-off or bewildered; he always seems a million miles away. But on the inside, he is just the nicest person, with a sharp wit.  And very direct.  I like that.

All righty. I guess I should get something done around here today, since yet another house I was interested in looking at has been reported to be a sort of “handyman’s special.” And I am decidedly not handy. So now I suddenly have the whole day free and to myself. So I should make some use of that.

Before I close, though, I regale you with this! A few of my cuties transfixed by some sparrows outside the living room window this morning:

Huckleberry, Lucie, and Weenie at the window.

 

Thanks for visiting, gang, and I hope you have a wonderful Wednesday, wherever you are and with whatever you’re gazing at and getting transfixed by! I leave you with this wonderful ditty that I’m currently playing nonstop in the Honda Fit as I go tootling around the Hinterlands!

See ya!

Still Alive!

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I know; you’d never know it by how long it’s been since I’ve posted here!

BTW, thanks to everyone who sent comments to Iris re: her new book of flash fiction (post below), and also to those of you who bought it! She is a great writer. (And a good friend of mine.) Even if you don’t buy her book, you can find a whole lot of her flash fiction (and poetry) all over the Internet.

I won’t go into detail about all that has been going on here. Nothing terrible; just intense. Pace never stopping.  But last night, I got a great night’s sleep, and today I feel energized again. So, onward.

First and foremost: Here’s where I’m going either Tuesday or Wednesday of this coming week!

I can’t wait! I haven’t been to an actual movie theater in months. Nearly a year, in fact.

Loyal readers of this lofty blog no doubt recall that I am a huge fan of Johnny Depp‘s. And one thing I really love about him is that he doesn’t bleach his teeth. And I’m not talking about his hideous Jack Sparrow teeth, but just his regular old teeth — just like movie stars  from days of yore who simply had teeth.

Once, a few years ago, I tried watching the much-acclaimed movie, Mud, starring Matthew McConaughey.  From the start, it reminded me, for some odd reason, of Tender Mercies (which I liked a lot better), but I stuck with it, until McConaughey, a hermit on a deserted island in the middle of (sort of) nowhere, hiding from the law, etc., opens his mouth and reveals a set of stunningly blinding, bright, white teeth.

What kind of lone-hermit-fugitive, living on crumbs of food brought to him by a couple of rogue boys,  is that??!! I lost all interest in the film from that moment forward, because I could no longer believe in any of it. It all just became Matthew McConaughey with a set of artificially gleaming teeth. I could not focus on a single other thing, so I gave up watching it. And came away thinking, Wow, Tender Mercies was such a great little movie. Where did the years go?

Anyway!

Yes. I am officially incredibly behind schedule on the theatrical adaptation of my teleplay, Tell My Bones. Only because way too much has been going on in my life (which I’ll discuss in detail at some later date), that I cannot seem to: a.) find enough time to get enough writing done; and b.) concentrate when I do have enough time to get enough writing done.

Just this past week, I went through that ridiculous thing where I took some very decent writing and decided it needed to be revised, yet again, only to discover that I was completely out of my mind! Not the best frame of mind in which to undertake anything! So, now, I gotta go back and re-do the redo-ing! Arrrgh.

I decided that what I must do, if I hope to achieve anything at all with this adaptation, is channel Jean Toomer. So that’s next on my list. Channeling Jean Toomer. If you hear weird incantations and smell strange wafting aromas coming from my corner of the world, that’s what’ll be going on. I’ll be channeling Jean Toomer.

On a similar, less silly note, however; I spoke with Sandra yesterday and in no uncertain terms, she informed me that there will be a staged reading in NYC for one of our other theater projects this coming February or March, and not only must I absolutely attend this time (loyal readers of this lofty blog will no doubt recall that, even though I’d bought 2 brand new dresses, I never made it to NYC this past September to attend the opening night of Charm, in which Sandra had the lead, and to which many  important casting people and theater investors were going, because I was trapped in this “have to buy a new house” nonsense out here in the Hinterlands). And not only am I going to have to absolutely be there this time, I absolutely have to have the revisions of Tell My Bones done and ready to go and right there with me.

An additional arrrgh… and a bit of a grumble, grumble; crap, I’ve got to get this done already!

So I anticipate being completely crazy for the next few months.  But, after THAT, the TV pilot-shopping season begins in L.A., and as most of you know so well by now, my pilot (once known as Cleveland’s Burning but now called Untitled Cleveland Drama) is on the slate to be shopped and all of us involved could not be more excited! So, you know, exhausted as I am, things are looking super-duper UP.

And that said, I gotta scoot and tackle that channeling of Jean Toomer around here. I hope you have a really sublime Saturday, wherever you are and with whatever you’re tackling. I leave you fondly with this . I’m currently playing it nonstop in my swinging little Honda Fit all over the Hinterlands. So sit back, relax, dream, and keep swinging, gang!

Thanks for visiting! See ya!