Thursday, January 25, 2007

Time Enough, At Last

What's better than a library card? Not much. But, my friends gave me Barnes and Noble gift cards for Christmas. Lots of them. And, that means books for keeps.

I have a king's ransom to spend because what else do you give a writer who pretty much loathes the holidays and already has everything her heart desires? Books. It's pretty awesome, really. And Barnes and Noble online delivers to my front door in two days, FREE.

Now, I can make guilt-free purchases of every screenwriting book I don't already have so Robert McKee, Syd Field, Christopher Vogler, Ron Suppa, and David Trottier, among others, can point their accusing fingers at me in new ways and make me second guess myself more than I already do.

Yippee.

So, what to do with all these gift cards? I feel like that near sighted guy, Mr. Beamis, in the Twilight Zone. He was the sole survivor after a nuclear holocaust and stumbled on his heart's desire, a library, and for the first time in his busy banking life, he had time enough to read. Alas, just as he put his books in order, his glasses slid off his face and shattered.

Circumstances of late have isolated me in a similar way. I have my health and my job but there are some temporary restrictions pending resolution of a couple of things and I'm somewhat sick of being looked at like a spore in a petri dish. Sometimes, I think doctors just get their jollies hooking me up to electronic stuff and poking at me.

The blessing here is that we are finally, at long last, finding a cause and prevention for the incessant migraines that have plagued me for so very long.

Unlike Mr. Beamis, I have a computer and Barnes and Noble cards which equate to limitless books, videos and cd's at my disposal. And, lucky me, I have contact lenses and two pair of glasses.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I recommend Karl Iglesias's Writing For Emotional Impact (can't remember if you had this one or not)... best book on the topic I have read since I first started gobbling them up... also Writing The Comedy Film by Stuart Voytilla

MaryAn Batchellor said...

"Writing for Emotional Impact" - don't have that one but I'm VERY selective about what screenwriting books I buy. Is this one I'm gonna read over and over or one that's gonna gather dust because... wait... Karl Iglesias.. yeah, okay, I'll buy it.

Anonymous said...

well, I got it for Christmas and I am on my third pass through, so... burn the McKee and get this one