I’ll start with the down part.

I didn’t get the mash-up genre gig, only because another writer offered to do it for free, which was ‘too good an offer to refuse.’  Can’t say that I blame him.  I was more interested in a co-writing credit, in case it advanced in any form or fashion.  Now I’ll have to look for it in the months to come.

And if it gets bought, or at least merits representation, I’ll kick myself.  Which isn’t as hard as you might think.

I suppose I’m a little disappointed.  It sounded like it would have been a fun project.  But I took the high road and offered the guy the best of luck and thanked him for what boiled down to a fun writing exercise.

Moving on…

Regarding the good portion, that applies to the fact that I have an outline for BABY LIKES JAZZ I was happy with.  Up to a point.

I think the story as it is solid, but something keeps nagging at me to punch it up.  Make it funnier. Have fun with it!

Part of that stems from the intro of the main character in the first scene.  He’s described as a ‘hotshot musician, ladies man and bad-boy rule-breaker.’  Or something like that.  I don’t have it right in front of me.  But you get the point.

So while the first act has been slightly reorganized, the rest of it has been trimmed down, but for the most part remains the same.  Do you see where I’m going with this?

I set up this character loaded with potential, and really didn’t change anything.  At least not drastically.  And that’s where I need to focus right now.

After seeing stuff like THE HANGOVER or HOT TUB TIME MACHINE, I really think I can make this kinda/sorta like those (but more PG-13); I just need to break this thing down and see how to put it back together in a funnier, more entertaining way.

But I’m also a firm believer in realism, more or less, and want to keep BABY pretty much along realistic lines.  No out-of-the-blue wackiness here.  Just funny situations based in what you’re seeing.

I can do that.  Of course I can.

I’m doing a lot of extra hours at work (which is nice, paycheck-wise), so my writing time may be a bit limited over the next couple of days.  If I can manage to squeeze in, say, 10 pages a day, then I should have an outline I’m really satisfied with by mid-to-late October, followed by steamrolling my way through actual pages, with a potential target date of December 31st.

What an awesome way to end the year.  Fingers are crossed, brain is percolating and I am ready to jump in.

And….go.