Project TROIKA
That was a debacle. The first weekly telephonic confab... did not go well. He asked me to lay the whole story out for him, and as I did he peppered me with questions. Perfectly natural, I suppose, but I found it infuriating. Every time I've sent him a detailed email about a certain facet of the story, he has complimented it as being thorough and well thought out; but on the phone, he lacked the patience for me to circle back and tie everything together. Ought I have been more patient? Almost certainly, but I wasn't. He derided an idea before I'd had the chance to explain it fully, but then declined the invitation to suggest a replacement. And with every single question, my anger grew and grew, until at the end I was kind of yelling at him. But, I did not abruptly hang up. I brusquely said goodbye and then hung up.

My finest hour? Certainly not. But here's the rub, why I will never breath a word of apology for today's disaster: I do all the work. The characters? I devised them, I gave them depth and dimension. The plot? I invented it (I am still in the process of inventing it), I went from point to point to check that it progressed coherently. The world in which these characters experience this plot? I built it, playing every role from architect to general contractor to cat-calling construction worker to municipal zoning commission stooge. I do ninety-nine percent of the work, yet I feel as if I have only forty-nine percent of the final say. And that is why I feel so grandly justified in my fury, in my indignation.

Alas, there's nothing for it now but to get back to work. Actually, I'm off to mow the lawn now and I should prefer not to dwell upon Project TROIKA for a little while, but the work will resume presently. I hope next week's confab goes more smoothly, but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Grow or die.

The Rebel Black Dot Song of the Day
Reel Big Fish, "Somebody Hates Me" from Why Do They Rock So Hard? (T.L.A.M.)

Samstag, 16 August
No Doubt, "Simple Kind of Life" from Return of Saturn (T.L.A.M.)

Commentary: I remember the days when I didn't hate Gwen Stefani. I liked those days.

"You seem like you'd be a good dad."