Leaving Raton, NM on a cloudy, cold morning. The thermometer in the car says 28 degrees, but it feels colder than that because it’s more humid than we’re used to now than we’ve spent a week in Colorado. But this is a pretty town with some interesting history, and I hope we can come back this summer, maybe around July 4th when they have a big balloon festival with the mountains in the background.
We stopped here on our way to Denver, and in fact, stayed in the same hotel. They remembered us because of our dog. Not everybody comes with a big black dog with pointed ears. There wasn’t much of a place to walk her, but more than the other places we saw when we came through this town the first time. A frozen creek ran behind and below the hotel parking lot, but there was really no grass to speak of. She didn’t care. She finds something to interest her everywhere she goes. Great dog. She really is.
Last night, we asked the hotel clerk where to eat and he gave us a good suggestion. The restaurant used to be a candy factory and they had vintage photos on the walls. The chandeliers were made of old taffy paddles. Pretty unique. I had grilled Rocky Mountain brook trout and my SO was hungry for pasta. Both of us were full as ticks when we left, and then had a lazy evening at the hotel. He watched TV and I started a new book I’d brought to read. That was at about 6:30. By 9:30 I had finished it. Wonderful true story, and it inspired me, made me tear up a little at the end. I had the desire to jump up and start working on something. Been thinking about my WWII novel -- the endless novel -- an awful lot on this trip.
Before I went to bed I opened my email. Lo and behold, an email came from the filmmaker in response to my long and detailed criticism of her script. She was very positive about my objections to the changes and explained why she had made some of them, but was generous in offering to make new changes that would incorporate my suggestions. The only thing she was not able to accommodate me about was the location changes. That’s due to the fact that they’ll be filming in Alberta, and the mountains there are going to be very hard to disguise. So I get that and even have a few ideas myself about how to make that work better than it does in the present version.
So I’m feeling better about the whole deal and am prepared to sign a new contract with her. I have already expressed that I want this one to have a definite time limit. We’ve been at this for almost ten years now, and enough is enough. I still want to try to write a screenplay myself, think I could be good at it, although there’s nothing that says a screenplay, just because it's written, will make it onto the screen. I understand how hard it to get something produced. But it still would be fun to try to write one all the way through to the end, and I’m thinking could be a good writing exercise if nothing else. I will go ahead and buy that Final Draft software after we get home.
We’re on our way to Cimarron, New Mexico as I write this. The SO has a customer there, and an appointment to see them at 9:30 this morning, so we had to dash out of the hotel. If I get home with all I brought it will be a miracle.
Onward ....
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