Piano

We finally reached the last song in book one in my piano class. I imagine we'll spend a couple weeks on it, then on to book two. I don't have it down yet but getting closer.

We are supposed to get some warmer sunny weather on Monday. I really need to get outside to do some chores, so I hope the good weather arrives. Rake leaves while listening to a football game on the radio and such. Raking leaves is so mellow. My neighbors, alas, use those noise-polluting blowers, even for a very small lawn. With my push mower and rake, I embrace the glories of old-fashioned lawn care! I mean, in a production of OUR TOWN, what a nice moment to hear the push mower, right? I have a vintage Scotts and love it. Abandoning my gas mower a number of years back is one of those good decisions I've made. Aren't all that many so I treasure them. (And I have a bigger, hillier lawn than my neighbors!)

Peeked at the opening of the first story in COFFIN ... on the right track, I think. Need to get some writing done this weekend!

Tuesday I spend the day in conferences with students. I like to do a one-on-one early on just to make sure they understand what they are doing wrong. It's a very rare student indeed who doesn't come to screenwriting with the common disease of over-writing. Screenwriting is the only form of writing about which you can say, "Don't let your writing get in the way of your story." It's story driven, and that's why it is the easiest form of writing to teach. There is a clear subject matter.