A Little Golden Book

I am happy to announce that my Golden Fingers trilogy will soon be published as A Little Golden Book for children. While it will be condensed and the story line slightly changed to accommodate children's sensibilities, it is still an exciting moment for me to see it finally in print. I'm especially pleased with the artwork. More details at http://onlygoldenfingers.com

NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo 2008 is over. I failed to blog anything during the month of November, choosing to devote my creative juices to writing that 50,000 word novel. You can see my daily progress at http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/402542. For a bit, it looked like an impossible task to complete, but I cranked it up in the final two weeks to make my goal.

As revealed there, I was a winner my first time out. Whether or not I do it again next year is up for debate. My wife hated my devoting so much time to it, but it was fun and rewarding nonetheless.

I will be posting chapter by chapter (there are a little more than fifty of them) as I go through them and fix obvious typos. I don't plan on changing the structure of significant text. It's the first draft, so expect a bit of crap. Look for the tag OGFNovel.

The Outline

A brief note. I drafted this back in October, then never posted it. I guess its time to do so, for historical purposes.


I guess it's time to get started on an outline and plan for NaNoWriMo, which starts this Saturday.

My basic plan to develop a complete back story for all of the events in Only Golden Fingers Could Play So Heavy, including other family members and events that occur outside of the play. The scope will cover at least 75 years, possibly more.

I'll probably start in 1948, with the meeting of I Mall's parents. In my original play, I dies at 75 years old. I may want to extend his lifetime as well.

I need to come up with additional names, and since "Spike" is probably a nickname, I need to come up with a real name and a reason for the name "Spike." I'll cover why Spike disappeared from the scene for a while in the early 70's.

New song for Only Golden Fingers

With my workshop reading only a day away, I was inspired to write a new song for my rock opera called "Today" (coincidentally the same title as a new Todd Rundgren song, but otherwise totally unrelated.)

http://onlygoldenfingers.com/song.php/25

If you've heard any of the other stuff, you'll recognize the tune from "Presidential Proclamation" and later adapted to "Holy Week Overture" in 40 Days: Resurrection to Ascension.

OGF 2nd reading

My rock opera/play, Only Golden Fingers Could Play So Heavy, is scheduled for its 2nd workshop reading on August 25 at the Thistle Dew.

New domain

Created http://OnlyGoldenFingers.com/

Time to get serious!

Only Golden Fingers Could Play in Two Acts

I've begun the restructuring of Only Golden Fingers Could Play So Heavy into a two-act play, in the hopes that it will eventually get produced. So far, all I've done is to move the initial scenes of the original Act II (dealing with I's childhood) to the end of Act I. Then moving the whole of Act III to the end of the truncated Act II. This makes it more of an Act I (Childhood) and Act II (Adulthood). There are still a lot of dialogue changes and possible plot changes to incorporate, but at least it's a first step.

Only Golden Fingers

Here's the latest on Only Golden Finger Could Play So Heavy. On November 12, 2007, Act 3 was read by the Thistle Dew Workshop. From the original work, I move a couple of scenes from Act 2 into Act 3 to lengthen it, and restored the previously cut Todd Rundgren scene, at least for the reading. I read the part of "I" and Cece even read a small part as Rocky's Mother.

A fairly extensive critique session followed, with a lot of good comments. As I've always known, Act 3 is the weakest, and it was pointed out that there really isn't any drama within the Act. Some also pointed out that the character "I" was not despicable enough in Act 2, and perhaps that aspect should be strengthened. I got some very positive comments about the music as well. I turned over a copy of the play to Tom at the playhouse for their library.

As for the music, I may be working with my long-time friend Jeff to do a more professionally produced job on the music. Time will tell on that, but it was his suggestion to get together.

Golden Fingers Update

Tonight, the Thistle Dew players will read Act 2 of my play. As I've been thinking about it this past week, I've come to the conclusion that Act 2 is too long, so I shifted some of the end of Act 2 into Act 3, which was way too short. Act 2 focuses on the Rise and Fall of I and then went into the rise again. By deferring the second coming of I into Act 3, I think it makes it a bit better. I also canned the Todd Rundgren scene, which is so out of context with everything else.

The dialog is still pretty stupid in places, but I'm not yet ready to make those changes.

OGF

Cece and I attended the workshop at the Thistle Dew Dessert Theater last night, and Act One of my play was read to the group. I also played one selection ("Presidential Proclamation") from my iPod. The group seemed to enjoy it, and we enjoyed the friendly atmosphere. Next week, I'll be presenting Act Two, and some of the accompanying music. I may even be persuaded to sing some of the selections. We shall see.

Only Golden Fingers Could Play So Heavy

Back in 1974 I wrote a rock opera called "Only Golden Fingers Could Play So Heavy" and followed on with a play incorporating the songs. On my walk@lunch last week, I discovered the Thistle Dew Dessert Theatre and upon subsequent investigation, discovered they produce original works. I'm taking my play to their workshop tonight.

I know that it needs a lot of work, and I hope they can help me and encourage me. Who knows? This thing could actually see the light of day someday.