November 16, 2007
Finally came into Prescott and civilization this morning. Been up at Ed Mell's cabin with the Top Secret Writer, working almost nonstop for three days on The Top Secret Project.

Got up here at five on Wednesday and met at the Palace Bar for beers. The TSW drove in from Albuquerque. Had dinner at Murphy's ($45, plus $9 tip, biz account) and went right to work on "the story." Our goal is to nail the plot points once and for all in this rambling epic. Hard work. Worked all day yesterday and this morning. Nailed down 34 scenes. Now we need to prune it down and make them work with reversals and negative charges, with a believable arc and resolution, etc. (all screenwriting jingo from McKee). Much harder than it seems. Back and forth. Scratch that. This creates a problem in Act II, can't have that.

Can't dilly dally. Need to go back up the hill. Cabin is tucked in under Thumb Butte.

"We're either going to have a manuscript, or someone's coming out of here in a body bag."
—Paul Andrew Hutton