NaNoWriMo daily update
13,727/50,000
Words
Words
The goal tonight was 13,336. I wrote just to be writing. I'm sorta tired, and I think what I ended up adding to the thicket was (a) unnecessary and should be deleted, (b) in the wrong part of the book, or (c) both.
The idea was that Stewart goes to see his old band play--they're still using his name, remember--and he thinks they suck. But then he sees all these reviews and they're rave reviews of the show. At first he thinks the reviewers are all crazy, but the positive reviews keep coming, even from fans.
There were two other rock anecdotes that I sort of wanted to work in, both Pink Floyd stories. The first is the one about how Syd Barrett would show up at Floyd gigs, back in '68 after he got kicked out of the band, and would stand in the front row, glaring at his replacement, David Gilmour. Which is a kind of funny and sad image, if you think about it. "Hi. You replaced me. You suck. I hate you." In Cream And Bastards the joke would be that Stewart thinks he's studying Brian Weldon's playing--Weldon being the band's other guitarist, the junkie who was going to be fired--and then Weldon goes and tells a rock journalist about how Stewart would pathetically show up at gigs and give him the evil eye. The joke being, at least partly, about how history is the interpretation of events, not the events themselves. Stewart stares at Brian: that's the underlying incident. But in his head, he's studying Brian's screw-ups, and in Brian's head he's glaring at him and wishing he would die.
(As far as the inspirational reality goes, who knows what Barrett was thinking when he showed up at Pink Floyd gigs; probably hateful things, but he'd kinda gone crazy at that point, so who knows....)
The second anecdote would simply be Roger Waters' description of the post-'86 Floyd as being "a pretty fair forgery." I'd love to have Stewart say the same thing about the touring Stewart Spalding Situation, but I think it would be just too obvious a reference. Still, I find a certain amount of humor in it--not in the words themselves, but in the circumstances. Waters' comment might be an accurate or inaccurate critique coming from anyone else (depending on whether you agreed with it), but coming from Waters, it's just such obvious sour grapes as to be laughable. It's like when Sammy Hagar and David Lee Roth go after each other--who the hell do they think they're kidding? They're just pissed about who's in or out of Van Halen at the particular moment.
So, anyway, that's where I am--with some additional text that will probably get cut. I'm especially concerned with my word count right now because I've realized that I probably be doing any real writing this coming Tuesday--I'm seeing Tori Amos (hooray!), so I either need to be a day ahead come Wednesday, or I'm going to have to catch up. I'd rather be ahead.
Why did I do this to myself, again?
Oh yeah: because, as the old joke goes, it will feel so good when I stop. Heh.
The idea was that Stewart goes to see his old band play--they're still using his name, remember--and he thinks they suck. But then he sees all these reviews and they're rave reviews of the show. At first he thinks the reviewers are all crazy, but the positive reviews keep coming, even from fans.
There were two other rock anecdotes that I sort of wanted to work in, both Pink Floyd stories. The first is the one about how Syd Barrett would show up at Floyd gigs, back in '68 after he got kicked out of the band, and would stand in the front row, glaring at his replacement, David Gilmour. Which is a kind of funny and sad image, if you think about it. "Hi. You replaced me. You suck. I hate you." In Cream And Bastards the joke would be that Stewart thinks he's studying Brian Weldon's playing--Weldon being the band's other guitarist, the junkie who was going to be fired--and then Weldon goes and tells a rock journalist about how Stewart would pathetically show up at gigs and give him the evil eye. The joke being, at least partly, about how history is the interpretation of events, not the events themselves. Stewart stares at Brian: that's the underlying incident. But in his head, he's studying Brian's screw-ups, and in Brian's head he's glaring at him and wishing he would die.
(As far as the inspirational reality goes, who knows what Barrett was thinking when he showed up at Pink Floyd gigs; probably hateful things, but he'd kinda gone crazy at that point, so who knows....)
The second anecdote would simply be Roger Waters' description of the post-'86 Floyd as being "a pretty fair forgery." I'd love to have Stewart say the same thing about the touring Stewart Spalding Situation, but I think it would be just too obvious a reference. Still, I find a certain amount of humor in it--not in the words themselves, but in the circumstances. Waters' comment might be an accurate or inaccurate critique coming from anyone else (depending on whether you agreed with it), but coming from Waters, it's just such obvious sour grapes as to be laughable. It's like when Sammy Hagar and David Lee Roth go after each other--who the hell do they think they're kidding? They're just pissed about who's in or out of Van Halen at the particular moment.
So, anyway, that's where I am--with some additional text that will probably get cut. I'm especially concerned with my word count right now because I've realized that I probably be doing any real writing this coming Tuesday--I'm seeing Tori Amos (hooray!), so I either need to be a day ahead come Wednesday, or I'm going to have to catch up. I'd rather be ahead.
Why did I do this to myself, again?
Oh yeah: because, as the old joke goes, it will feel so good when I stop. Heh.
Comments
She's not listening.
But I laughed to imagine the poor exile standing front row centre, staring...you're right, funny and sad. I think if I'd been playing on stage then, I'd've 'accidentally' dropped a guitar on him.
All of it sounds fantastic, by the way!
Happy writing, from a fellow Wrimo--