3/23 Arthur, I mean Arnold, Zable

No quote. No song. No line. Saw a very (allegedly) famous writer talk about the craft of storytelling. It was interesting, though his Holocaust stories made me either uncomfortable or outright bored. Spent most of the day editing Banana Trees. I think it's much better, which is my only real concern, but I've lost the ability to tell at this point and the feedback I've gotten so far has been less than helpful. Martina is clamoring for a "darkness" that is far beyond the scope of a 2,500 word piece and beyond the ability of a first person narrative to adequately explain. She wants me to "free fall" into it emotionally, but that's the whole point: this character doesn't free fall. He takes no chances, so how the fuck do I get to the root of his "darkness"? He was probably beaten up viciously as a child. He lived in poverty and probably knows what it's like to starve. But he's sure as fuck not going to elaborate on that because it's scary and he avoids EVERYTHING scary. Which is why the very act of taking time off work (1), talking to a travel agent (2), and offering help to the new immigrant family (3) are such big steps for him. Maybe I just didn't express that adequately, I don't know. All I know is I'm going nuts over it, and meanwhile the cliche story is quickly becoming a piece of shit and I'm considering scrapping it completely and starting over. Meanwhile, I got rained on like a mother fucker and had to borrow Erin's jumper to keep from shivering. The picture is below-- dig the Alfalfa hair. I finished that box of wine tonight (4 liters in 7 days???), so either my estimations are a bit off this time or someone has been pinching wine. Oh well, a week's worth of drinking for $6USD isn't bad by anyone's standards.

I suppose I should pretend to know how to write some more before packing it in. Happy fucking friday everyone.

Drink Count: 5