April Fool’s Day ought to be renamed to Liar’s Day, because that’s pretty much what it boils down to. One day where you can say anything you want and get away with it scot free. It’s a shame, though, because you start to lose context after about twenty minutes of conversation with anyone who thrives in mendacity. Who knows what good stories are lost on April 1 because the lies simply overwhelm everyone and every place? It’s as if the blanket protections offered by “Fool’s Day” smother every good thing.
As you might know, I completed Zero Sum last week, in time to submit to the Progeny Festival of Motion Pictures and the LA Inspiration Film Festival. This past Saturday evening I held a screening for it. It was, by most counts, a success, both in attendance and reception. Most people approached me afterward to ask questions about “what it meant”. In the indie world, you know you’ve “made it” when people ask those kinds of questions. I was somewhat nervous about the event, given that I have never done a screening before, but it was remarkably stress-free. Except for a few pre-viewing jitters, the atmosphere was relaxed and enjoyable.
Now that the work of completing the film is over, I’m back to a regular schedule of working and writing. I’ve begun my final push to complete Turnpike Blues, my detective novel of dubious wit and mystery. It’s been over a year since I wrote the bulk of the manuscript, though I’ve tinkered here and there, writing around 15,000 words (40 pages, give or take) since then. I’m about 10,000 words away from completion, and with nothing creative on my plate for the next four months, I would like to put this sucker away for good. I know, I’ve written of goals before, but my intention here is not to set goals, but hopeful expectations. I’m not writing it for money, though I would jump at the chance to be published/make money. I’m writing it for me. And for you, even if you’re not reading it.
To wit, I’ve published the latest excerpt from Chapter 19 below this entry. If you’ve not been keeping up with the story, I’d recommend not reading this now. Either start from the beginning or wait until the novel is finished.
There is a certain convention in detective novels, a progression of story and character that is specific to the genre. We’re coming to the place where the detective finds himself in a jam and must use only his wits and a bit of luck to escape the trap. It’s also where he must reconcile his past, an especially sore subject for our friend Ferret-Eye Jack. I’m looking forward to seeing where events take Mr. Jack, for there are some things even the writer doesn’t know until he writes them down as they occur. Call it transcription of the imagination.
In other news, Greg Piper writes that thanks to the deaths of Terri Schiavo and the Pope, Americans can refocus their attention on the really important issues like “gay marriage”. Greg’s not only got the wit (“I can’t tell if she’s saying gay couples will put their souls in jeopardy by marrying, or marriage itself is hell. Either way she needs some remedial theology.”), but the substance as well:

The seemingly unstoppable wave of state marriage amendments should be welcomed by both sides, in my view, as the best they can get. For gay-marriage supporters, the passage of state amendments takes the steam out of efforts to pass a federal amendment. For gay-marriage opponents, who are mad at President Bush for making a halfhearted effort at stopping gay marriage, the statewide bans are about all they can get. Bush is too smart to risk his second term on a federal ban when he has the opportunity to guide the development of democracies and free markets in some of the most autocratic parts of the world.

That’s pretty insightful, an observation I don’t think I’ve seen expressed anywhere else. Props to Piper too for noting that Bush should keep his finger on the pulse of social conservative work in Africa and Asia, melding it with his “democracy agitation” agenda. I’m in agreement, once again, with one smart blogger from DC.
Also in the pipe for later today: a Sin City review that will explore the more aggressive social undertones of the film, its morality and how that relates to its violence and sexuality, and the dark seeds of noir that drives the film’s construction. Oh yes, and I think I owe you a Zen Musing.
Keep checking back here for these updates throughout the day.