On Recent Blogs, the Dish on My Roof, and Writing

It’s been a weird, time-consuming span of weeks here at the casa. An unfortunate side-effect of this has been a recent reduction in blog posts. What can I say except that I hope the end result will be worth it…but more on that in a bit.

For us here at the casa, the major news in January was switching our mode of delivery for things televisiony from cable to satellite. Since the myriad tastes here mandate that I subscribe to almost everything, combined with the number of sets to be supplied, the fact is that the cable bill was ginormous. Seriously. When I see people complain about their cable bills and that they are less than half than mine…well….

Anyway, the cost had gotten to a point where something had to give. Then something gave: the stability of our signal. Whenever we’d have weather such as wind (wind, ha!…breeze), cold, or whatever, the signal would degrade. If we were lucky, it would just pixelate several times an hour. For some channels the result was just a persistent black screen. Service calls didn’t fix it. It was clearly time for a change.

We’ve only had DirecTV for a few weeks, but already the TV-stress level in the house has returned to normal levels. Only a couple of days after the (8-hour!) installation we got hit by snow, wind, and record low temps. Except for an hour of glitching due to wet snow, the new setup came through like a champ. Recent experience taught us that, under the same conditions, our cable would have been problematic at best. So far the service is a very noticeable improvement and, for the year, will be less expensive. So, until/unless they disappoint me, kudos to DirecTV.

(The irony is that I don’t watch a lot of TV yet I’m the one who has to manage all this fun stuff. C’est la vie.)

But that was just a distraction. The main reason my blogging has temporarily decreased is that I’m working on a couple of writing projects. One is me getting my 2006 novel, Que Sera Serees, Kindle-ized. Normally, this would only take a day or so, but I decided to smooth out a few rough edges that have been a burr in my saddle since I put the manuscript to bed (if Lucas can do it with a cinematic icon, I can surely do it to a completely obscure not-in-print tome). Since this is going to be the last time I tinker with it, I’d like to get some of the bright-work polished up a bit. I’m tackling it as time allows, not rushing. I’m hoping the end result is something y’all will enjoy. Certainly, readers of The Connor Wars will find where I borrowed some things from the novel for the script.

More exciting for me is that I’ve been developing a pilot script. I’m not telling any details for this arc-framed episodic, but the couple of (non-industry) people I’ve pitched it to got really excited about it. In a rarity for me, I actually have an actress in mind for the lead–in fact, she was a big part of the inspirational flash that started me thinking about this story. (This is the same sort of flash I got after the TSCC season-2 finale that led to The Connor Wars. Whatever that means.) Most of the backstory is finished. Right now I’m working on the outline for the first ep, the loglines for several eps afterward, as well as the larger story arcs. The trick is making sure I can keep it episodic–so far, so good.

I’m hoping to get back to blogging more regularly, soon. Since I’m trying to regain a more hopeful attitude, I’m probably going to back off, a least a little, from the griping about the government. Others do it better, and I don’t like the foul mood it puts me in. That’s not to say it’s all going to be fluffy around here, but just that I’m trying to knock a few corners off the harshness. Like I said, it’s more for my own frame of mind than anything anyone’s said.

I’m hopeful that the pace 2011 started with will slow to something a little more relaxing. (Of course, one person’s relaxing is another’s ulcer-causing stressor.) I could also do with fewer major joint injuries than I had in 2010. Those aren’t nearly as much fun as you’d think.