On being critical

I've ordered a couple of books that should serve as an introduction to film and literary criticism.

This is in keeping with my decision to educate myself with the language of filmmaking, to fill the gaps in my knowledge of the art and practice of writing and making movies. It should be interesting, and give me some needed perspective on my own efforts to write screenplays.

We'll see. At the very least I will have learned something. In the mean time I'm still working through my two volume biography of Orson Welles, fascinating in and of itself. Welles is still a young man at this point--I'm still pre-Citizen Kane--and I bet he was an exhausting little scamp to associate with when he was that age.

My first draft for Yod-17 is still coming along. I'm almost halfway through it now. When I finish it I'll put it aside for a while, and work on another project I'm pretty excited about. The new project is a novel I'll be co-writing with my best friend. She's crazy busy but hopefully she'll be able to find the time to contribute to the project. She's a very good writer herself, and she's also a forensic psychologist, so hopefully this will turn into something we can convince someone to publish.

We'll see. In the mean time I'm going to keep reading, writing, and watching. And hoping.