Life is getting so extraordinary, isn't it, gang? Not only this whole new publishing adventure in France (which delights me beyond measure & improves my French at lightning speed), and the early responses from people who are reading my new novel about early Hollywood are very, very gratifying to hear, but next week is when I'm going to be seeing my Senior Prom friend from 30 years ago (see some sort of post either below or archived) and I just can't wait. We've talked on the phone again a couple times this week, firming up the plans for next week, and he makes me laugh so hard that my stomach starts hurting. It's been ages since I've laughed that hard with anybody. Just reminiscing about those really wild old days. None of which are days that I have any desire to re-live or re-visit, but he makes me remember the less-than-fortunate things about life that are really, really funny.

Then the following week will be my birthday -- the Christopher Plummer memoir arrived yesterday (see some other post below somewhere), so technically, we're already inching into the birthday zone around here.

And now this unbelievably exciting trip to Chicago with Mark in early September. Wow. I am one of those people who loves hotels. I am not as interested in the cities they're actually in as I am in the hotels themselves. I wake up in the morning now, my little eyes open and I try to reacquaint myself with life as we know it -- what was going on when I went to sleep last night, etc. And then it comes back to me: I'm going to the Palmer House with Mark! And I get so fucking excited. What am I going to wear? Which shoes should I bring? So far, Mark and I have spent time in San Francisco, New York City, and London. We usually do museums, which I love doing with him, but I also just love being in a darn hotel. (Plus he has a really staggering imagination. And that's all I'll say about that!)

I am also getting ready to force myself to begin reading the user's manual for Final Draft version 8. I am definitely not one of those folks who is fond of reading user manuals. I want everything to be indescribably user friendly. But every time I open the program, I stare at it and once more come to the unhappy conclusion that I'm going to have to read the darn user's manual. Crap. But later this summer, I am going to begin working with a film/tv producer in L.A. and I need to get back into screenwriter head-mode. Anyone who knows me well, knows that I am seriously not screenwriter-gal. I love reading screenplays and it goes without saying (but I'll say it anyway) that I love movies. But creating them (or adapting them, as the case may be) requires a whole different focus that I am not usually comfortable in.

In the late 90s, I learned how to write screenplays and it was one of those trials by fire situations. A woman I was very close with was a line producer, 1st AD, location scout, etc., etc., and she really wanted me to work in the movies, too, and she knew a production company that needed somebody to write a screenplay for them, like, "we need it yesterday." She said, "You're a writer; you can do this. They're going to pay you. Come on!" The catch, of course, was that it was for a project for HBO. And the producers at the production company had to approve it daily, while the producers at HBO had to approve the script at various junctures, and I was like, "I don't know what the fuck I'm doing!!!" But I was doing it anyway. And it was all about "change this, change that, change this, no put it back like it was, change that over here, no wait forget about that, do it this way and do it NOW already! We need it by fucking Friday, come on!"

And that, for me, was the birth of my anxiety disorder. And I am so not kidding you. Sometimes I was actually in tears, it was so fucking stressful. What the hell do you people want? kind of thing. We burned through several writers very quickly until only I was left and I was suddenly the "head writer." Too weird, right? But it was an adventure and a learning experience and it wound up on HBO where millions of people saw it and responded very, very well to it. And I got to experience that awesome feeling where these actors that you don't even know are saying these words that you totally made up out of thin air and they are nailing it. They are totally getting it. And I was sitting on my bed in my apartment in NYC and watching it and going, "oh my god, oh my god, this is so good!"

It was very exciting. But what I tend to recall more is the stuff that caused the anxiety disorder that I still suffer from, 10 or 12 years later. So, hence, my reluctance to jump back in even though I really, really do want to. And when I was having dinner with my agent in L.A., she made a comment about how I should start adapting some of my stuff into screenplays and get it out there (primarily for women's television), and I said, "Yes, I'm going to do that" because, as you know, I'm one of those "say Yes! to life gals" but later, I'm going, "what the hell have I said yes to this time???" And now this producer has been very, very kind to offer to help me, "I do that kind of stuff all the time. I'd be happy to help you" and he'd just sold, like, 2 projects to women's television in about 2 days.

I'm thinking, "Really? And you don't suffer from acute anxiety disorder?" So I am trying. And I guess I'll begin by reading the user's manual because people do things so differently now. It's all about software. Well, on that happy trip down memory lane, gang, I am gonna scoot! I hope you have a wonderful weekend! Thanks for visiting. See ya!