Business Hydra 1, Jazz Cat Manuscript 0

I've listened to a lot of grousing from artists and writers alike about craft versus commerce, but for me as a newbie, it's a no-brainer. My family cannot exist on Top Ramen alone, I have no skill in the area of "suffering" for my art, and I would like to have something published before I have to depend on Depends. Writing in a vacuum and ignoring the market would kill my budding career.

I have been debating which of my projects get my time and which will sit. A NaNoWriMo novel whose first page garnered an "I'd read more" from both an agent and an editor at the SCBWI Spring Conference gets top billing, but I need something else to work on in between marathon bouts with the novel.

I ran most of my more interesting works past both of my critique groups to gauge reactions, and all met with positive interest, so it comes down to the reality of marketability.

My inner business geek reared her misshapen many-headed hydra self from the dark recesses of my mind, and snapped teeth at my jazz cat story. The heads hissed, "It's taking up precious time that could be spent on a more marketable work!" "Maybe later when you are actually published!" and "Feed me Seymour- Hey! Is that Brendan Fraser?"

After wiping the drool off of the floor from head number three, I have put the jazz cat to bed for now.

RIP

Jazz for the eyes: Round Midnight and Ballard Jazz Festival 2009

One of the recommendations from Mr. Origin Records (and AllAboutJazz.com) for learning about this musical genre was to watch some movies. I already mentioned Straight, No Chaser, and this week the library line finally coughed-up the other title suggested: 'Round Midnight, from 1986 (not the same as 'Round Midnight, 2005)

This movie is total fiction as opposed to documentary, but it captures the essence of the post-war scene of bebop jazz in France versus New York, led by Americans. This movie shuffles along at a slower pace, and like the aging alcoholic musician it portrays, forgets itself in some places but is brilliant in others. Luckily, a good portion of the film is spent on the music scenes, which (among many, many other awards nominated or bestowed) won Herbie Hancock an Oscar for Best Music, Original Score. Real life tenor saxophonist, Dexter Gordon, plays the lead in this film, and does a credible job, given that parts of the character's life are parallel to his own.

I can't help but wonder if my reaction to the pacing of this film is due to the fact that I have been conditioned over time to inhale media quickly and expect a tight, zippy plot and to have everything revealed and dealt with in short order.

Maybe jazz is all about shrugging off that pace and hitting the pause button.

Anyone local who is interested in pressing that pause button should indulge in the offerings from the Ballard Jazz Festival here in Seattle this week.

Virus straight, with a chaser of jazz

Today, while I worked on finding ways to help my laptop avoid the Conficker virus, I started my jazz journey with a DVD documentary on Thelonius Monk titled Thelonius Monk: Straight No Chaser.

Too cool for words. What a fascinating individual, and although I was interested in the man behind the percussion-like piano style ("Melodius Thunk" as his wife called it) that gave him a reputation in jazz history, I found myself especially taken by the footage of his many pet cats in one scene, eating carefully diced raw meat. I looked among them for a match to the feline character in my "jazzman cat" story, because the cat told my main character he had hung around a jazz musician, but I'm not sure that I saw him in this crowd.

I think I am going to like this stuff.

Jury duty + jazz = writing research

Writing sure seems to involve a whole lot of stuff that isn't writing.

At the SCBWI Western Washington Fall Retreat in 2008, I started a story that includes a feline who is all about jazz, as the protagonist's best friend. And what do I know about jazz?


Very, very little.


After receiving positive feedback from multiple sources on the work, I owe the story some quality time. This cat's voice won't be ignored--he keeps talking in my head (what? you didn't know that writing is the only profession where people are actually encouraged to adopt multiple personalities and hear voices in their heads?) and the idea of finding oneself through music is taking over the story, so I need to know what I'm writing about.

In fact, I REALLY have no excuse to not work on it, because when fate drops the founder of one of the top independent jazz labels, Origin Records, right into your lap (well, next to me - in a jury box at a criminal trial) you have no right to ignore the story that begs for the help sitting right next to you. The universe has spoken in a big way.

And that means more research. But research leads to writing, yes? Yes! And I can think of a lot more painful ways to spend my writing-less writing time.

So, recommendations in hand from my new favorite source, I embark on the jazz journey. If you are a jazz newbie, come along with me, and together, we can admire new musical territory with my main character. If you are a jazz...oldie?, you can laugh and shake your head at my pathetic stumbles through the genre. Either way, enjoy yourself! I intend to.