Dirty Laundry

Rituals

Every writer has his or her rituals.  A time of day.  A bathrobe.  A Diet Coke.  Meditation.  I’ve had my share over the years as well.  A hockey jersey, a few Playstation games before settling down, a giant pot of coffee, super hero dolls scattered about to remind me to have a sense of play.  I think it gives the whole process a sacredness or a path down into the imagination.  There are so many distractions about, so many things to steal one’s attention away from the work, that you need touchstones, I think, little bits of magic to hypnotize yourself, get away from the daily life that is constantly calling. 

These days my ritual consists of a shot of espresso, followed by a mug of English Breakfast tea (though, last book it was Yerbe Mate), a quick check of last night’s hockey scores, a glance at my emails, and then headphones with music from my high school years.  Music I probably wouldn’t blast out of my car window (not that I blast any music out of my car window) but songs that bring me back to those feelings I had as a teenager.  Even songs I hated when I was growing up but now have a kind of soft spot for just because they were playing constantly on the radio, on MTV, out of other peoples stereos.  Music that sort of becomes white noise in the background but gets me into the headspace I need to daydream about my characters and what they will be doing.

Somedays the magic works.  Somedays it doesn’t.  But I keep the pattern the same because I worry that if I change it too much the story will evaporate into thin air and characters will disappear like steam through the fingers.

Anyway, that’s what I was thinking about this morning while I wait for my mother (who’s visiting from New York) to come downstairs.  She has to catch a plane today and so I will push the writing into the afternoon (already part of the ritual scratched today - though time of day doesn’t seem to affect me much).  Maybe we’ll have one last game of Scrabble (current score Me: 5 games, Mom: 4 games) because she’ll want to try and tie it up before she leaves.  It’s been a nice, cozy visit and she was kind enough not to complain about the fact that I needed to keep my writing schedule intact while she was here.

On another note, the Oscars last night were sort of fun.  Even though I have some films to catch up on.  Usually I find them quite boring.  But I sort of liked Hugh Jackman as the host.  And I LOVED Ben Stiller as Joaquin Phoenix.  It was nice how they had 5 previous winners of the actor categories give out the awards this year.  Though clearly some of the actors were more comfortable talking directly to the nominees than others. 

Well, I think I hear my mom stirring.  Bye for now.

Posted by Don Calame on 2.23.09 at 08:36 am in Prattlings. (0) Comments

Ovechkin’s Amazing Goal

It’s hard to say who’s the best player in the NHL these days (Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin or Alexander Ovechkin) but this goal by Ovechkin is definitely one of the best of the year so far.  Totally ridiculous.  This is why I love hockey!

Posted by Don Calame on 2.19.09 at 11:16 am in Hockey. (1) Comments

iPhone Addiction, Procrastination, & The Writing Life

Don’t tell my editor but I’m spending too much time playing with my iPhone.  My wife bought me an iPhone for Christmas and it’s infernally addicting.  I have my website designer Susie Gardner to thank for introducing me to Touch Physics which is this amazingly fun but impossible to put down game.  The object is simple.  You just have to draw shapes to push a little ball into a little star.  It sounds childish but the puzzles are maddening.  I recommend it with a warning.  You won’t be able to stop.

Despite this new game in my life (and the fact that there are a million things on my plate these days) I am managing to make good progress on the new book.  And I’m not just saying that because I probably have scared my editor silly with the last paragraph.  Seriously, though, about a month ago I took a nasty detour in the story and woke up one day and said, “How the hell did I get here?  Why are these characters doing this?”  Now, some people will say that you should let your characters guide the story but I have found that I can’t work that way.  Sure, they can guide it a bit, surprise with what they say or do, as long as they stay on the road, but my characters were going off-roading without the proper vehicle or tires or anything.  And we all got stuck in a deep ditch together until I hauled out the tow truck and pulled us back on course.

So, although I hesitate to say it, I am cruising along at a high-page-count-a-day speed and feel really good about the novel once again. 

These are the pitfalls of writing, I guess.  Nobody is telling you where to go or what to write and so you have infinite choice.  Which can sometimes make things very difficult.  But the days that the pages just come out easy and almost effortlessly are the days you live for.  And when they do you don’t feel nearly as guilty spending a few minutes (or a bit more) playing iPhone games.

Posted by Don Calame on 2.13.09 at 05:27 pm in Prattlings. (1) Comments

The Milk Bone Incident

Scooter stars in his very first noir film!

Posted by Don Calame on 2.7.09 at 07:25 pm in Nonsense. (0) Comments