Opening paragraphs

Today, camp started. It was very fun, teaching drama to 5-10 year olds. They have a boundless sense of creativity, a great appreciation for the absurd, and the ability to laugh at themselves. What a better world this would be if those great qualities were not stifled by adulthood.

The following are the opening few paragraphs of the book. Enjoy.

There was no Symphony rehearsal the first week of school at Ralston University due to auditions for seat placements. During the second week of classes, the Monday afternoon rehearsal time was reserved for principal chair auditions, and Wednesday afternoon was the first rehearsal. The oldest University in Los Angeles, Ralston was nestled in a hilly area, halfway up a thousand foot hill, overlooking the city. The school had always been known for its artistic departments, and many a Hollywood wannabe got their start here in their fine drama and filmmaking departments. But, the school’s strongest course of study was the music department. Made up of nearly five hundred internationally ranked students, the school graduated more successful film composers, arrangers, contractors and studio musicians than any other school in the nation. Amongst the music performance majors, the string players at Ralston were especially favored, and students from all over the world competed for coveted spots in its six orchestras, led by the 97-member Ralston University Symphony. This group was regularly featured on National Public Radio and released recordings once every three years which garnered enough money and attention to sustain a very generous endowment for the music department. This endowment provided scholarships, a very fine collection of nearly fifty world-class and often historically valued instruments, and a music student resident frat house on campus affiliated with the professional music fraternity of Mu Phi Epsilon. Together with the University Chorale, they’d provided hundreds of soundtracks for films from around the world. Because their members weren’t paid, they were accessible to low-budget production companies, and the funds raised from these projects contributed to the very healthy endowment fund. These students, many of whom were already world-class musicians, were called upon often to play or sing for special projects.
Elizabeth Hennessey soon learned that seat placement in the Ralston Symphony was quite a big deal to anyone who played in it. She went to the rehearsal room and ran into her good friend, Sophie Sachs, whom she held completely responsible for Elizabeth’s returning to cello playing after a three-year parentally-imposed absence. Sophie greeted Elizabeth with a bear hug, as her size made it impossible for her to give any other kind of embrace. She was nearly as wide as she was tall. She sported short, spiky dark hair and several tattoos; one of a bass clef on her right ankle, and another, a sun on the back of her left hand. Elizabeth suspected there were more tattoos hidden under her clothes.
She and Sophie met in a common area the previous spring when Elizabeth, who was sitting on a half-wall waiting for one of her writing classes to begin, noticed Sophie standing nearby with her cello, smoking a cigarette. “I used to play the cello. In fact I’d like to play again someday.”
“Cool,” Sophie replied. “What’s your name?”
Elizabeth extended her hand. “Elizabeth Hennessey. Everyone calls me Liz or Lizzie though.”
Sophie, who was occasionally attracted to girls, regarded her with interest. Elizabeth was striking; she had a classic, understated and very natural, ethereal beauty. Long, wavy dark hair, pulled back into a loose ponytail, pale skin, bright green eyes, no make-up, and sporting dark jeans and a plain white t-shirt above her cocoa brown flip-flops. She wore only amethyst stud earrings and no other jewelry, and none of her nails were painted. She wasn’t exactly Sophie’s type (when she was attracted to girls, it was the Pamela Anderson type), but she still found Elizabeth beautiful. “Sophie Sachs. I’m starting my second year on my master’s in performance.”
Elizabeth smiled in awe, wishing she were in Sophie’s shoes. “I wanted to major in music, but I couldn’t convince my parents to go for it.” She brushed it off modestly, but at the time, it was devastating. Since then, she’d just learned to live with it and hoped that someday she could play on a limited basis, at least. It had helped that for the past three years at Ralston, she’d forced herself to stay clear of the music building. She hadn’t been to any of the concerts on campus; she steered herself away from friendships with any music students, and she had even kept herself from attending any concerts off campus. The only music she had allowed in her life was tinkering with her roommate’s small keyboard in their apartment. Here, when she was stressed out, she allowed herself to get away from her life by dipping her feet back into the world she left behind and missed like a part of her soul had been stolen from her. This little piece-of-shit keyboard was her only link to that beautiful world.
“Are you any good?” Sophie asked, with a smirk.

Cure for writer's block

The best cure for writer's block is to write a steamy sex scene. It's so easy to do, you know? Gets you back on track quickly and easily and those thoughts are always so accessible in our minds. Okay, well maybe not yours, but they are in mine.

I start teaching at Mr. and Ms. Aimee's Homespun Arts Camp tomorrow. I'm teaching drama every morning for the next 3 weeks, which will make my schedule much fuller and I will have less time to write. I'm looking forward to it, but have to be careful not to lose momentum on the book, so I will take journals and write in the afternoons between students, sketching out ideas and such. That should keep me going.

This is Maggie, the last of the 4 big characters. I love her combination of quirkiness and wisdom.

Margaret Ann Sovada, 23
Started viola at age 10 in her school music program.
1st year grad student – viola performance. She teaches through a program at Ralston for grad students to earn money by giving incoming freshmen a 30 minute lesson each week. This is where she makes the bulk of her living during school. She also occasionally plays gigs off campus.
Principal violist in Ralston Symphony for 3rd year straight.
Grew up on a dairy farm in Iowa with 6 siblings (3rd oldest)-6 girls, 1 boy.
Dad is farmer, mother is rural postal carrier.
Primarily lesbian, but admits to crushing on Jack (and Lizzie).
Very wise, old soul. Smart ass. Short and chubby.
Incredibly intuitive romantic advisor and matchmaker. Very kind and loyal friend and sincerely wants her friends to be happy.
Likes to party and will do so with anybody. She has a truly unprejudiced heart and is open and benevolent to people of all walks of life. Cultural and social diversity fascinates her.
Changes the color of her spiky hair once every week or two. Has several tattoos.
Has financed her college education with student loans, but also gets a bunch of financial aid because her family is so big. Will only owe about $20,000 when finished.
Wants to be studio musician and will teach violin/viola too.
Afraid to tell parents she’s gay because they're so conservative and religious, but three of her sisters know.
Parents are very supportive of her music but very poor. They manage to send her $50/month to help her. It’s all they can afford.
Lost her virginity to a boy in her barn at age 18. He’s the only boy she ever had sex with; she’s been with girls ever since.
She doesn't have a car, and usually has to take the Greyhound to Iowa to visit her family during breaks. She often can't afford to go and sometimes has to bunk with friends during the summer breaks because she can't afford to live on campus either. Jack will often put her up in his spare bedroom in the summer when she can't find anywhere else to stay.

What to do, what to do?

Just got out of the pool. I can never live in another place without a pool. I appreciate it so much on hot days and there's something about being submerged that does my soul good.

I love it when kids make breakthroughs. I have a wonderful little 10 year old violin student (with a very nice supportive family, yay!) who I know practices fairly regularly, but doesn't seem to pay attention to anything she plays when she practices. Last week, I told her (as gently as possible) that it appeared she hadn't practiced at all and she got tears in her eyes when she swore she did (and I believe her). I explained that you can't just play haphazardly and not pay attention to what you're playing. At today's lesson, she made more progress than I've seen her make in months and I was so proud of her, but most importantly, she was very proud of herself, because she could hear the difference! I love it when stuff like this happens!

So far my plan to revise book 1 is not going as well as I'd hoped. I think I'm going to have to re-write completely. Only the first 3 chapters or so are salvageable, then bits and pieces of the rest, but I find I'm doing more complete re-writing than tweaking.

This is the "other" guy. He's a good egg:

Christopher James O’Neil, 21
Started Suzuki violin at age 5.
Grew up in San Francisco – parents divorced at age 3; only child.
In close contact with his father, who is a businessman in San Francisco, but grew up with his mother. His dad never remarried, and Chris suspects he’s gay.
Mother is a math professor at Berkeley. She remarried once but only for about 1 year, when Chris was 12.
Jack's best friend. He admires Jack for his loyalty as a friend, his kindness and it also inflates his ego to be friends with the "superstar violinst". Also has a great admiration for Jack's musical prowess and learns a lot from him. Jack is a bit of a mentor to him. However, at times he is jealous of Jack.
Fairly immature. Loves to party and often gets in trouble for joking around too much.
Adores Lizzie like a best friend - they are kindred spirits and understand each other's senses of humor, idiosyncracies and they have a blast together. He admires Lizzie for her willingness to engage in unabashed mayhem, yet knows she will keep everything just enough in control to stay out of trouble.
Likes fat girls. Not very attracted to Lizzie (although he appreciates that she is gorgeous), but slightly attracted to Maggie.
Goes out with Lizzie because Avery, Ari, Stefano & Quinn all say they want her. He is friends with her and seizes his opportunity to be in the limelight.
Thinks he’s much better in bed than he actually is.
Likes to practice in the middle of the night. He will lock himself in a practice room at the end of the day and hide when security comes around, then stay in the building all night to practice. As a result, he is rarely in the practice rooms during the day with everyone else.
Works at the security desk in the student union.
Doesn’t have a car.
Smokes and is almost addicted to internet porn.

Not so much

Not that much to say this time, except that I wrote about 10 pages last night, but am not sure they'll make the final cut.

Here's the next character breakdown. This is the male lead. I adore him! I wish he was real!
Jack Stewart Robert John Franklin, 22
Attended private schools in Reading area outside London. Was sent to a nasty boarding school in Scotland from age 13-15.
Began playing violin at age 4 when Mom invited several pros to demonstrate for him. Was at major concerto level at 9. First solo recital at 10, then again at 17, 18. First solo concerto performance at age 7 (Bach A Minor)
Did not play from age 11-15 (his father wouldn't let him).
Accepted into the RAM Junior Academy at 15. Lived in London during the week with a “caretaker” so he could attend Westminster and the RAM Junior Academy. Played in the London Philharmonic Youth Orchestra from 15-18 and was principal second violin final year.
Took 7th in Menuhin competition at age 17 and 4th at age 18.
Auditioned and was accepted into many music schools in Europe and the US. Came to Ralston because he hit it off with the violin teacher best and was interested in film music.
Was a daredevil as a kid, broke left arm, rib, leg, concussion doing “stunts” around the estate.
His mother taught him piano from age 6 to 11 to supplement his violin playing.
Attended a concert every weekend (during the school year) with his mother until he was 10.
Insisted on attending the birth of his nieces when he was 9 and passed out in the delivery room.
Plays a violin labeled Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesu 1712 from Beare in London. It was a gift from his mother given to him 3 days before her death.
First kiss was with Hailey. When Jack was ten years old, he befriended a girl at school named Hailey, whom he invited over after school almost every day for several months, developing a huge first crush. He plucked up the courage and asked her if she’d marry him when they turned eighteen and when she said yes, he tried to kiss her. She started to cry and ran away home and never spoke to him again.

Thoughts...

It's 1:34am and I've been writing for about 6 hours now, although I did take a short break to watch Spooks (MI-5 in America) Series 1, Episodes 1 & 2 (fast-forwarding through the non-Tom Quinn parts). Now I'm happy :-)

I've revised the first 30 pages and have had some disappointments about things I really liked that had to be cut, but it's going well anyway.

I play in an orchestra in the summers and we do 2 concerts - I think I've decided not to play the first concert, which is July 8th. It's all Bizet this concert (blech). I blew off rehearsal tonight to go home and write. Much more enjoyable than Bizet (blech). I should play though, because I only get to play in the summer and I miss it the rest of the year. I just wish we played better music. It's always patriotic, cheesey, crappy stuff like Bizet. What to do, what to do?

I've decided to include some character sketches as teasers for the book in my blogs. The first is the female main character:

Elizabeth Jane Hennessey, 22
Prodigy, cello
Attended Bev Hills schools, auditioned and accepted to LACHSA music department in 9th grade, where she was valedictorian.
Began playing cello at age 6 after 2 years of begging. Was at concerto level at age 10.
First solo performance at 12. First solo recital at 14.

Auditioned and accepted into American Youth Philharmonic (not a real group) (for 14-22) at 11, principal (youngest ever) at 16.
Auditioned and accepted into music conservatories all over the US. Intended to go to Curtis.

Is a creative writing major at Ralston University (not a real school). Her mother wouldn't pay for her college if she majored in music.
Had an ear infection at age 3, her mother beat her until she passed out so she’d be quiet, but she doesn’t remember it. That was the first beating of many.
First kiss was at age 13 behind a tree at Horace Mann. Didn’t kiss another boy until she kissed Ian, whom she met at LACHSA. Didn’t like Ian in 9th or 10th grade, but he won her over at the beginning of 11th grade and she kissed him first at a school dance. The next day, he bought her a chocolate rose from 7-11 and they were “going steady”.

When Elizabeth tried to explain to her mother what it felt like to play in an orchestra, her mother told her she should seek help for her addiction and wantonness.
Dating Chris O'Neil (the 2nd violinist in her quartet), but is in love with Jack Franklin (the 1st violinist in her quartet), who is Chris's best friend.

Digging in

Yesterday, in between lessons, I sat in my car and started to outline the book. I finished the breakdown on the whole first section, which is 100 pages (out of 315). Then, I started making notes on the new sequence of events. It seems to be working. I'm less apprehensive about hacking it all up now.

On Monday, a 9 year old student of mine who is very sassy, giggly, funny, cute and likes to argue with me, got grounded for 2 weeks in the middle of her lesson for doing just that. I felt bad for her, although I have to say it nipped her arguing in the bud and made our lesson more productive.

There are so many kids who have such great potential and whose parents don't realize or won't accept that they have to MAKE their kids practice. In 17 years of private teaching, I think I've only had 4 or 5 kids who chose to practice of their own volition before the age of about 12.

I digress...

My book

So, I finished the first draft of my book "Strings Attached" in December, and the second draft in May. I've been researching agent submissions and it's quite intimidating, but what I'm discovering, most importantly, is that my book is way too long to be taken seriously by any agent for a first-time writer. And yes, I've been writing for a long time, but never been published, so that still makes me a first-time writer.

Agents all recommend that your manuscript be between 80,000 and 100,000 words. Sure, longer books get published, but not by first-time writers. I imagine an agent, when given a choice, is going to read the shorter submission, even if the long one might be better. I would too.

The book is a love story and what I've decided I'm going to have to do is split it into 2 books. The first book will be essentially a romance about how the 2 main characters get together. The second book will be about how they fall apart.

So, last night, I was up late brooding about how the first book is going to work and how much it'll change. After discussing with Mom, my closest confidante, the first book will need a much stronger antagonist, which will change the story quite dramatically from what it is now. I really love the story and how it plays out right now, and I'm having pangs of distress that I have to change so much. I'm sure it will be a stronger story and will make it marketable, but it's hard to let go. There are a lot of really sweet little scenes between the two lead characters that will have to be cut.

So, this is my dilemma. Here is my plan. I need to flesh out a third character quite a bit more than he is right now, so I'll start by enhancing his character sketch. Then, I'm going to make a chapter-by-chapter synopsis to decide what stays and what will have to go. Then, I'll incorporate the changes into the synopsis, and lastly, write the damn thing.

Oh, did that sound bitter? I'm laughing right now. Like I said, it's hard to let go. ;-)

Can't Decide What I Want to Be When I Grow Up

My first ever blog post.
The gist of this blog is that I can't decide what to be when I grow up, so I dabble in lots of things. The problem is, I'm decent at a lot of things and (depending on the day), love to do them all equally.
Here's what I've been so far:
Professional cellist.
Music teacher of cello, voice, piano, violin, viola, bass, guitar and for a minute at the beginning of my teaching career, flute & sax.
Stringed instrument sales person.
Office manager.
Word processor.
Actress.
Singer.
Director & producer of theatre in Los Angeles. I know, not much to boast about, but most of the work I did where I had some creative control and was not just acting was quite good. I wrote/produced/starred in my own show in 2002 that was very good (got nominated for an award, but didn't win), and directed/produced a show in 2004 that was also very good and won the award the first show was only nominated for.
Amateur writer. The first book was about 10 years ago and wasn't something I ever tried to get published. This last book I wrote will be a large element of this blogging expedition. It's twice too long for any agent to take seriously for an unpublished writer (222,000 words) and I'm trying to decide what to do with it.

All of these endeavors have made me poor. I've filed bankruptcy once, am in debt again, and have never been able to live more than paycheck-to-paycheck, even in my most prosperous times. Thank god we now have democrats back in office. Now if I could just win the lottery...or get my book published.

At the moment, I make my full-time living teaching private music lessons to 35 different kids on 5 different instruments. It's fun, fulfilling and I'm very grateful that I'm able to do something I genuinely like and am good at, especially when I see my friends around me who aren't so fortunate.

I've never been married, have no kids, and haven't been on a date since 1996. In the process of life's trials and tribulations, I have discovered that I am not cut out for romantic relationships. My friends and family think that's insane, and keep trying to encourage me, but it's a waste of time. Love is a natural part of life for most people, but it's something I've accepted is not supposed to be a part of my life. In the meantime, I do have a huge crush on a certain very talented British actor who I will talk about later.

I think I'll leave my introduction here. Tomorrow, I'll talk about my book some more.