Category Archives: Art, Theatre, & Film

NaNo 2003, Day 1

I wrote 1,035 words before bed last night. Not bad for forty-five minutes of work. Of course, everyone’s word counts leapfrogged past me today while I was teaching and rehearsing. My revenge is to write while they’re all off at a Hallowe’en party tonight. Muah-hah-hah-hah.

The Elgar Variations are dizzyingly difficult. The Puccini seems to be intuitive, but Elgar constantly changes tempo and rhythm, and thinks accidentals are integral, which sort of defeats the purpose of an accidental. And he obviously wasn’t a cellist – or, if he was, he was a virtuoso who thinks all celli ought to be able to play treble clef at high speed.

Emily, my noble foe, already it begins. Your 3,072 words mock me. Fear my psychic ferret.

Current word count of Balsamic Moon: 1,035

NaNo Noodling

Other NaNo folk keep asking what I’m going to write about. If I knew…

Seriously, though, I was much further along in my pre-production development last year. This year I have a couple of character names, a psychic ferret, and an opening scene.

And that’s about it.

This year will be an interesting experiment in a stream-of-consciousness style of writing. I’ve done this with the Great Canadian Novel (and more academic papers than I care to remember; how I maintained an A- average, I will never know), and countless short stories; even a certain amount of last year’s NaNo success And By Many Other Names used the technique. This year will be quite different, though.

I’m finally reaching a point where I’m becoming interested in actively writing once again. After the amount of editing and work-for-hire writing I’ve been doing, and my aversion to the computer, the idea of creating an entire inclusive fictional work is appealing. I still think I might write a lot of it longhand, which is a huge departure for me; it will make verification difficult, though, and I don’t want to waste time retyping when I could be creating. I’ve enjoyed writing longhand this fall so far, but it might not be practical for November.

I think I’ll take some time this afternoon with my notebook and brainstorm some ideas. Along the way I’ll make notes on what kind of research books I’ll need at my side. For example, last year I had a stack of reference books on Isis by my computer (thereby commencing a lifelong connection with Her). For the Great Canadian Novel, I found travel books on Paris. This year, I need books on ferrets and Hecate.

Yes. Ferrets and Hecate. You read that right. Two words you never expected to see together. It isn’t, alas, a GoogleWhack.

Still Alive

The first rehearsal went rather well for someone sight-reading dramatic tempo changes and key changes all over the map.

We played the Puccini Credo, which always gives me weak knees. To play it was an incredible experience. I’m going to have to put in a lot of focused rehearsal time over the next two and a half weeks in order to catch up. It will be wonderfully worth it, though.

Cello Stuff

It’s official – I’m playing in Cantabile’s November 15 concert. Details are below on the left in the Performing box. If you’re a fan of vocals or choral music, this is the one to go to; Puccini’s Messa di Gloria is something else again.

And look what I found: photos from the LCO Canada Day concert! This is a beautiful shot of my back:

Yes, that’s the lovely black linen dress I found for summer concerts. Too bad you can’t see the shoes I found to go with it…

Ego Boost

I was offered a place in a second orchestra last night. Nothing says “You’re more talented than you think you are” like someone else asking you to come in to support a weak cello section, let me tell you. Autumn to the rescue!

Interestingly enough, Cantabile was founded by my current LCO conductor, Douglas Knight, though it’s been led by Peter Willsher for a few years now. Go figure.

Cantabile is a choral group with a full orchestra. On November 15 in a Lachine they’re performing Puccini’s Messa di Gloria and Elgar’s Enigma Variations. Since this is rescue operation, I don’t know whether I’ll stay on full-time, especially as rehearsals overlap a bit with the class I teach on Sundays. However, for the three weeks until the concert, I can be flexible.

The odd part is that the choir is peppered with people I used to sing with about ten years ago. It’s going to be a bit awkward, I think. I’m a very different person, I use a different name, and, well, I’m not as mousy and tremblingly polite as I used to be. I probably still be polite, of course. It won’t be the same, though. Am I making sense? I’m a whole decade older; I like to think I’ll be comfortable enough to walk away and enjoy being by myself as opposed to empowering others by being a patronised audience.

In all likelihood l’m being very uncharitable, and they’ll all probably be delighted to see me. Besides, I’m focusing more on the fact that this is going to be an excellent test of my sight-reading; there are only three regular rehearsals before the concert, after all.

Just People

I just received news that the annual Hallowe’en party for which I create my costume has been cancelled this year. On one hand, this is bad news; I love this party. On the other hand, it’s just fine, because the only investment I’ve made in my costume this year so far is make-up. It also means I can tuck this idea away and use it next year. Voila! I am so prepared for 2004!

I had a wonderul weekend with Trish Telesco, our most recent visiting author. It’s always a good sign when the first thing an author says after she’s introduced to you is, “She’s wonderful! Can I take her home?” Turns out she’s done work under a pen name in the past for the US publisher I’ve signed on with, so we ended up talking business about potential titles over dinner on Saturday night. (Further proof that it is, indeed, a Very Small World.) There was a moment over dessert that made me freeze up under a coolness wave, when I realised that if she writes a title for this new series, I’ll be writing a two-page preface for it.

Having worked in the book business for twelve years means that I’ve met more than my share of authors, and have discovered that they’re Just People. More than that, being a writer myself, I know that creating books is Work, Hard Work. So when I hang out with authors, they’re just people who do the same thing I do. Of course, there’s a tiny part of my brain screaming that they’re Famous People Who Do What I Do, but that’s the fangirl part of me which is kept firmly under control. (At least, gods, I hope so! I don’t remember ever gushing to any of the authors I’ve hosted…)