Absence

I suppose I should write up something quick for today.

I am leaving today to fly to Cleveland, OH, to see my Mom...and then drive her back here to California. I'll be gone for about a week. So I thought I'd just quickly update my blog so that it's not too long between posts.

Turns out I have a lot of mixed feelings about this move my Mom's making. Sure, I'm really, really happy to be having her back and local so that I can see her often, but at the same time I'm feeling a pang of sadness for Cleveland itself. I've mentioned it before, how attached to that city I am. It used to be somewhere we'd go every couple of years or so for Christmas in order to visit my Grandma...and therefore was something special. I grew to love the city and the atmosphere (and the snow!). As I got older, I attached myself in other ways. The Cleveland Indians became my favorite sports team. I'd check out the music scene and hit up the Rock Hall.

When my Mom moved out there a few years ago, I was happy for her...because she felt it was something she had to do. I was losing her to Cleveland, but she was gaining happiness from it. Mind you, this is the person I've lived with my whole life. It felt like opposite empty nest anxiety. So we made it a point to get me out there once every year to hang out and spend time together. Hasn't happened in a while, so that's a little bit of a bummer. But, hey, I'm seeing her tomorrow morning. So, happy ending.

So this is, basically, one of the last times I'm going to see Cleveland. My Grandma moved to Tampa, Florida, and my Mom is coming back out here to stay. I now only have one relative in Ohio, my cousin (of whom I've mentioned on this blog before). So we'll see if that ever turns into a return trip. It's difficult to think that I won't need to be returning to Cleveland anytime soon. I love that city. It's always felt like a home away from home. I go, and I always think to myself how I don't want to go back to California. I always want to stay. It's the location and setting of the screenplay I'm writing right now. So it's definitely important to me.

But nothing beats my Mom. She's absolutely fantastic, and incredibly more important to me than a city. So I'll take that over Cleveland any day.

Speaking of my screenplay...

I'M MAKING PROGRESS!!

I'm super happy with how it's going. During the last blog post, fate decided that I should just try to rewrite the script I started (that's currently stuck in limbo), instead of moving on to another project. And holy crap did that work out GREAT. So, knowing how I wanted the story to go, I just sat down and started it right back up at the beginning. Already, I could tell a major difference - an improvement - over the last version. I was doing a much better job of visualizing the scene, seeing everything in this world, and relaying the important information down in the script.

The scene description is better.

The dialog is better.

The characterizations are better.

The pacing is better.

The scene structure is better.

The relationships are better.

This revision is just 100% improved over the last. I'm extremely pleased with how it's going. Interestingly, it also took a very...adult twist. I'm talking in terms of language and graphic content. Sure, there was language before, but I'm not holding back this time. My desire for realness and sincerity in the scenes and dialog is preventing me from sugar-coating anything in this story.

My flame is rekindled in this story, and I'm hard at work. I'm definitely not as far as I was before, even though I feel like I'm working on it more often than I had before, and I'm taking that as a very good thing. It shows I'm taking my time with, focusing on more minute details and working on polishing each little blemish instead of bulldozing entire sections of the screenplay at a time for the sake of timeliness. It really shows.

I cannot wait to post some new scenes up on this blog...which I feel more confident about now...to give an example of what I've been working on, and the improvements it's made. In the meantime, I have to drive my Mom home from Cleveland...and so I'll be taking a little break. Who knows, maybe I'll do some writing during our stops. We'll see.

Have a great week, everyone!