Hm, where have the last four months gone? Mostly I've had the fortune to focus on a new, healthy, darling daughter who joined us in late August.

Writing efforts continue; I've been working on a new spec with Jennise (a Cold Case) that FINALLY has a first draft, and we're now poring over it for the rewrite/polish. So far, the script looks solid, so I think we're in for more of a polish than a rewrite.

In other (not-so-happy) news, the manager who had our scripts at The It Company (and who was their primary 1-hour drama person) decided to quit and puruse his own writing career. Leaving TIC hanging, and with too many clients. Long story short, we're essentially hip-pocketed with them on the one-hour side. Sheree has my Spacetime, Inc. feature and I've asked her to set aside a few minutes so I can call her and chat about it -- I'm hoping that they'll be able to push my feature side. The Warner Bros. workshop wasn't sufficiently enamoured with our Joan of Arcadia and the Disney fellowshop committee hasn't said anything about our Without a Trace yet (so that possibility's fading).

As you've probably noticed, I generally don't gripe or bemoan the eddies I find myself in, career-wise. Trust me, I do often feel like I'm stuck in a strong one; the river is right there, and I keep swirling around and around, sometimes closer, sometimes farther away from actually getting into that river. I've learned a while ago that griping really does nothing -- don't grouse, just do something about it.

Even I, eternal optimist with a dash of Pollyanna thrown in for flavor, can't be upbeat all the time. Since this journal is about all my adventures, not just the good ones, today I'm grousing.

It's one of those times where I have the overwhelming frustration of having a plethora of talent (quite possibly more talent than some people currently paid to write), and a dearth of contacts. I've managed to pick a career where the skill doesn't dictate getting or keeping a job. This same career needs skills that I never cultivated. Skills that are extremely hard for me to learn; networking, cold-calling -- analytical, aggressive, sales-type skills.

I can't keep spinning my wheels. I can't keep living in LA when it's not my first choice of locations, and probably Ken's last choice, and really do I want my daughter to grow up in this school system and area? I miss being nearer to my family, I miss space and green and clean air.

But I can't give up my dreams. I want to be a writer. I've been writing for twenty-one years. I am fortunate to be one of the few who absolutely, postitively *knows* what I want to do with my life.

The obvious solution to my issue is to go out and sell something. Which is what I will be trying to do. Either I establish a career so that we can relocate to someplace happy, or do my best now, relocate to someplace happy, and keep working from a distance. Because if proximity to LA doesn't do the trick, then distance can't be any worse. Timetable? At most five years. I'd rather start my girl in school where she can stay, and not yank her out when she's just starting to make friends. Practically speaking, at least through October so I can vest in my Time Warner pension, which will give me an additional boost of income in my dotage.

I won't quit writing. It's too much a part of me to do that. But next fall, what I will do is sit down and seriously measure my progress. Look at how staffing season went, see if my features got sufficient attention. It gives me a tangible goal, a realistic point where we then re-evaulate our situation, look at our options, incorporate life's changes, and decide what to do.

Herein ends my venting. (Even when I grouse, I'm trying to figure out solutions, it seems.) Now that that's out of my system, it's time to go forth and try to fix my problems. On the calendar (in no particular order):

• holiday parties this Saturday (one of which is thrown by my managers, and has many industry people coming, the other by my boxing instructor, with again many industry people there);
  
• testing the waters on a project I'm tentatively calling "Ice Cream Sundays" where I invite a showrunner, network exec, or other industry person to come have ice cream (or hot chocolate or whatever) with a small group of friends and we can talk about industry/career-related stuff. I'm not sure if I can get anyone to come, but I've been assured by someone who should know that I can, and it's a good way to meet people with whom we hope to find gainful employment;
  
• calling John to get a meeting with a potential new manager;
  
• nailing Sheree down on her feelings about Spacetime, then calling around for Spacetime reads;
  
• contest entry;
  
• finishing the Cold Case;
  
• making a wish-list of agents with Jennise, then calling them to try to get representation;
  
• possibly attending a UCLA short film festival the night a director friend exhibits his short for networking.
  

The next entries should return to their normal, upbeat, optimistic tone.