Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Needed Time

I'm sorry that I haven't been posting as regularly lately as I have been in the past. These last two months have been overwhelming, and now that I have some breathing room...well, I'm taking advantage of it!

I had a book deadline for late March/early April, and that book was one of the most difficult projects I have ever worked on. I cannot go into any detail about the book, but I believe that it is going to do extremely well. I am very proud of the way it turned out, and even though there were times when I thought that I just could not make it out of the abyss, I was able to get through it.

Interestingly enough, the person who hired me to do the book was more of a collaborator than anyone I've worked for in the past. He was very hands-on, and I have to admit that he had to be due to the complexity of the subject. I am not used to having someone so involved in a project, but because it was necessary, I was able to adapt. And not only did I adapt, but I ended up enjoying the collaboration.

Collaboration is great when you're working on a creative project that you're creating together. In ghostwriting, though, it tends to be a hassle because the people who hire me are not writers, or they would be writing the book themselves! But, for this particular project, it turned out well, and I enjoyed the friendship that I developed with my client.

Oddly, this project really took me to depths that I haven't been to in a long time. I believe that I turned out to be a better writer as a result. His voice was very difficult to mimic, and it took me a long time and a lot of practice to really nail it down. After I pinned the voice down, the subject material was the next mountain to conquer. Although I still can't say that I'm an expert in his field of expertise, I feel that I am one of a few people who actually understand his message in detail. The book, of course, is going to grow that number exponentially, and I suppose that was part of the difficulty in writing it -- taking something very complex and whittling it down to something that everyone can understand. Needless to say, it was taxing on me, and it slowed down my blogging.

I finished the book last week, so you would think that I would have all the time in the world to blog, wouldn't you? Well, I have other projects that I'm scheduled to work on, but I'm also taking a couple of weeks to work on my own project, and I'm very excited about that. I spend all of my time writing for other people, and, while I love the fact that I'm a full-time writer, I really despise not writing for myself because the only way to truly break through in the writing world is to publish in your own name.

So, I'm doing just that. Did I mention that I'm excited?! A couple of weeks ago, I was accepted as a guild member of the Dramatist Guild of America. It's a "juried" process, and I am honored to have been selected. The Dramatist Guild is for playwrights, librettists, composers, and lyricists. Because of my acceptance into the Guild, and because I've had a play brewing in my heart for a long time now, I've decided to write a play. I love writing plays. Not only does it give me a break from writing books, but it also allows me to play with dialogue in ways that you can't in a book. I love crafting stories, and I have a good story to write, so this is the perfect genre to write it in.

My goal is to have something very artistic -- something extremely poetic throughout. I've thought and thought about ways to bring poetry back to the stage, and this is the only way that I could think of to do just that. I want this play to be remembered for its beauty of language and the poetic devices throughout. In addition, I want it to be very colorful with an artistic set design, costumes, etc.

I'm not going through the story now. I really have a fear of telling a story before it is written. Not only do stories take on a life of their own and can change at the drop of a hat, but they are very vulnerable to being taken at this early stage of the process, and I cannot copyright the idea. So, I've decided not to go into much detail about it in such a public forum where anyone can read the blog. Forgive me for being such a prude, but I feel strongly about this story. I'll share it once I'm done and after I have it registered and copyrighted.

So, for the next couple of weeks, I will continue to blog, but my main focus will be on this play. The writing process and research is sure to make me want to share things with you, and I will make sure that I do so as I'm inspired.

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