Eric James Stone

Last night, I mentioned to my writers’ group that I’ve been having difficulty writing without a hard deadline. I’ve been taking an online TV writing class, and I have to produce about 10 new pages every week by 8:00pm on Wednesday, and I generally end up writing most of those 10 pages on Wednesday, rather than doing them earlier.

But this week, I wanted to finish my spec script before going out to L.A., and that meant I had to write about 20 pages. So I set out to work on that Monday morning. And I just could not focus. By the time I left for writer’s group Tuesday, I had only finished writing part of one page.

So when I got up this morning, it meant I need to write nine pages by 8pm to fulfill my class assignment. I’ve written ten pages before 8pm in one day before, so that wasn’t an impossible task, but it required me to push myself.

At 7:45pm, I finished the script. I wrote 19.5 out of the total 51 today.

Having a day this productive is a great relief to me. If ten pages in one day were my top limit, I would have to push that limit almost every day to write a 50-page script in a week. Now I just need to learn to be more productive without a hard deadline.

And I need to get packed and on the road.

In 1920, Inspector Smythe from Scotland Yard visited the retired Sherlock Holmes at his home in Sussex Downs.

“Mr. Holmes,” said Smythe, “your assistance is required in resolving a threat to his majesty, King George.”

Holmes nodded. “Tell me of this threat.”

“We received word from an informant, telling us that an assassin had been hired by a foreign power, charged with killing the king. A few days later, a known foreign agent was arrested while attempting to bribe one of the servants at Buckingham Palace.”

“If you have arrested the man, why do you need my help?” asked Holmes.

“That’s just the thing,” said Smythe. “My superiors are convinced they have ended the threat to the king, but I’m not certain whether this man is the real assassin.”

“What is the man’s name?” asked Holmes.

“Klaus Ng — his father was a Chinese diplomat who married a German girl.”

Holmes frowned. “You said he was a known foreign agent. Certainly not for the Chinese?”

“No,” said Smyth, shaking his head. “He works for the Soviets. He is one of Lenin’s loyal followers — they met while Lenin lived in Munich.”

Holmes smiled. “Yes, it all makes sense now. He is not the real assassin — you must return to London and carry on the hunt.”

“But how can you know?” asked Smythe in astonishment.

“By simple deduction,” said Holmes. “From the information you’ve given me, it is obvious that the man you have captured is a Red Herr Ng.”

From Yahoo news:

Ty Pennington, host of ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” apologized to his fans and co-workers Monday after he was arrested for investigation of drunken driving. “I made an error in judgment,” Pennington said in a statement released through his publicist, Stan Rosenfield.

I remember when drunken driving was a crime. Now you can get arrested for investigating it?

I blame the Patriot Act.

On Saturday, I got an unexpected check from my previous employer. I thought they had paid me everything they were going to pay me, but I was wrong. So now I have to decide what to do with the extra money.

I know the usual advice when you get some unexpected money is “don’t spend it all in one place.” However, in this particular case, I don’t think that advice really applies. I really have no idea how I would go about spending $0.01 in more than one place.

Yes, you read that right. They mailed me a check for one penny. Now, since it’s possible to buy paper in bulk at less than a penny per sheet, the check is, in fact, worth more than the paper it’s printed on. Barely. But then there’s the envelope — and postage. They spent at least $0.40 to send me $0.01.

I just got back from a midnight showing of Spider-Man 3. It’s very good and a lot of fun to watch. I recommend it.

But… (You sensed there was a “but” coming, didn’t you?)

***Minor spoiler for people who haven’t seen the ads or the first two movies ***

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