Month: November 2010

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Daily Process

What is your morning process as a writer?  What steps do you take upon waking to get started?  I’m always curious how writers do what they do to get on the horse that day.  It can various day to day, but my process is pretty solid from day to day. I’m not sure if it speaks to me more as a person than a writer, but here it goes:

1) Wake up. Simple right?  If I want to sleep in, it is imperative that I do not touch my glasses.  Even if I want to get up and use the facilities, my dog will think it’s time to start the day if I put on my glasses. Weird. I’m not sure who owns who at this point.  I’m a night owl, so on an average day is waking up at 10 am but I’m usually up until 2 am.

2) Dress (in my finest sweats) and walk the dog. Nothing will happen until the dog gets walked. Again, who owns who?

3) Put away the bed. I’m in a studio and if I want to walk without tripping, the sofa bed has to be reset.  I’ve got it down to a system so it’s not so much of a delay to my day but more of a meditation exercise of squeezing bedding, pillows and sheets in to their respective places.

4) Email. Looking for fires, I screen my emails to see if I need to answer any right away.

5) Coffee.

6) Surf news before work, which includes answering miscellaneous emails.

  • cnn.com, consumerist.com, variety headlines, la craigslist writer’s categories, digg.com, twitter, then facebook.

7) Work begins. This is about an hour after I wake up. Whether I’m writing, researching or web design, I still take less time to get “ready” for work than your typical nine to fiver.  I usually stop two hours in from work to eat. I’m rarely hungry upon waking and this is one reason I’m happy to work at home. The flexibility is there to do what you want, when you want to do it.

I naturally end work about 8 or 10 hours later depending on any side trips I make to my business mailbox or to grab lunch.

What sites do you visit on a daily basis as a writer? Not the occasional sites, I have a million of those, but every day?

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2 Months in the Suck.

The title is a bit cheeky because I’m actually getting use to Los Angeles.  I spend a lot of time in my little hamster cage writing and researching which is exactly what I did in Dallas, so Los Angeles offends me less often than it use to. Maybe I’m on a roll, but I really enjoy the people above all else. There’s so much white bread in suburban America that it’s nice to try a little pumpernickel or Korean sweet bread every so often. I’m in the minority in this neighborhood and that suits me just fine. I love talking to people culturally and physically different from myself when they’re open to talking. I’ve stated before that most people run around very self-centered here, but a few are willing to open up.

So right now, Los Angeles gets a C+ from an F two months ago.    I feel a part of the community and that’s probably a good adjustment.  Some of the things I’ve seen that have upped that grade and might make another writer want to move.

  • The Hollywood Reservoir. You can walk around this beautiful lake right up in the Hollywood Hills. Even fatties like yours truly can make it around because there’s a flat sidewalk around the lake.  Writers need their exercise too, so go… often.
  • Free Screenings. If you’re below the line, there’s a group for you here. I couldn’t get in as a writer (even if you’re poor like me, you won’t get in), but I have friends that are below the line and they invite me to various free screenings. Dallas has them too, but in LA, they hold them at the DGA or other union held theater. (cha-ching for networking)
  • The Paley Center. Where else can you study media from a research point of view. This center holds affordable reunions with your favorite old school television series casts as well as delving into the importance of television on culture as a whole…and it’s smack dab in Beverly Hills.  Bev Hills is also a place to ogle rich locals as they bypass the homeless begging on Rodeo drive for a cup of joe. (I bought dinner for a homeless guy the evening I was there)
  • A grocery store on every corner. They aren’t the cheapest places to get your groceries, but I have two stores near me. If I fancy Asian, I walk to the local Thai store, and if Mexican is in the stars, there’s a bodega just down the street in the other direction.  You think people don’t walk in LA? They definitely don’t walk in Garland.
  • The library system here. I’m sure Dallas has a great library system, but I find myself using the LA library system more often. Maybe it’s because there’s one that’s a long walk away, but let’s just say the closeness of everything makes me want to use it. They have a wealth of books on any topic you want to study.
  • Oddness. It’s everywhere. It’s the single best thing about LA.

And what keeps Los Angeles from breaking the C+ barrier to a B?

  • ice cream trucks at 7:30pm that play Turkey in the Straw for 45 STRAIGHT minutes.
  • ice cream trucks at 7:30pm that play Turkey in the Straw for 45 STRAIGHT minutes.
  • ice cream trucks at 7:30pm that play Turkey in the Straw for 45 STRAIGHT minutes.
  • ice cream trucks at 7:30pm that play Turkey in the Straw for 45 STRAIGHT minutes.

2010-11-03 19.47.58_Los Angeles_California_US

Yeah. A big F to the folks over at Avalon Ice Cream & Candy Distribution Company aka DIANA’S  ice cream. You suck. Your callous disregard for the neighborhoods your insipid trucks slither through is enough to make one writer INSANE.  They break the laws around here by not turning off their brain worm music when they stop, and they continue to trawl the poor neighborhoods of Koreatown for that last buyer late at night when city laws clearly state they aren’t allowed to sell anything after 5:30pm in the winter months.

This one instance, this one company, this one situation is the ONLY thing that keeps me personally from enjoying this fair city. I hate you more than clowns and unicorns (and I hate them more than meat). I view this particular company’s ice cream vendor/truck as a cancer upon this city. I loathe you with ever fiber of my being.

So back to work I go. I wasn’t planning on a diatribe about vended soft serve from a vehicle that doesn’t have the same state required standards as a restaurant, but what can I say? When I’m passionate, I write about that passion.