i just wrote a script, start to finish today. It is about 9 pages in length. I haven’t done anything too crazy to it editing wise yet, but I have proofread it. It is for the screenplay c9mpeition I signed up for. I had a page max of 12 pages, and even if I had to, I could add more into the middle of the beginning of the story. If I had to. I like it the way it is, but if someone tells me to add something here or there, I have plenty of space to make that happen. I am super duper proud of myself. I started in the morning but did most of it during nap time and before dinner. My kids were as well behaved as can be expected, my oldest had what we call “grandma day,” where she goes and hangs out with my mom and dad and does arts,crafts, McDonalds, shopping or movie dates. It really gives her a one on one sort of attention, and they all love it. It allows us to breathe a little easier too, when there are less fights happening between her and my middle child. Phew! Those fights can get so crazy. I honestly don’t know how to handle it sometimes as one of them is on the sprecturm. Anyhoo! Back on topic. The script. It’s a horror, scary story and I really hope I didn’t miss the mark as far as the assignment part goes. We shall see! I’ve got 6 more days to perfect it!
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Alright! It’s time for the creative juices to start flowing! I need an idea about: Horror genre and an extortionist widow. I have an idea but I don’t like it. I want to do more than the usual horror story, people we think are innocent and good turn out to be real assholes in life and it’s no surprise the evil entities kill them by the end of the movie. I think I will go a more fantasy route, per my expertise.
Yeah, I have an idea.... it’s coming to me. I think I will take the day to think on that and still work on some writing for the book. I know we have 8 days, but I think I can do that in like a day or two and then leave the rest of the time for editing. So many projects but I have it all worked out, so no one freak out. If you freak out, I’ll freak out. LOL For now, I think I got this. The challenge isn’t that big a deal, it would be nice to move up in the three rounds they have over the next couple months, but if it doesn’t happen no big deal. The projects I’m working on now are bid deals to me. The books (writing and editing) the Feature screenplay.... and now I think I would like to do one last polish on Summons. I know I said I would retire it, but instead I think I want to perfect it to where I can use it for Fellowships and pitch it more. Not the usual contests that it’s already won or been through the rounds with, but bigger competitions where they look at it and just know what kind of writer I am, that sort of thing. Wish me luck with all your creative juju that you can spare thrown my way, pretty please! Have yourselves a fantastic Saturday, too! I’m having a morning, y’all. This morning I slept in just a little because my kiddos kept me up from about 3-4:30. Which meant I was running a little behind and when I’m attached to the pump I can’t do too much in the way of preventing disasters. So my son proceeded to pour water all over the hallway tile floor and himself. My oldest needs constant reminding to eat and she was also working on her homework at this time. I managed to get everyone ready and out the door on time for buses, only to find that both buses were running behind. Call the bus depot to double check, they are on the way. Ok, cool. Daughter’s bus arrives first, she’s good to go. Then we wait for my son’s and he’s already sad that his sister has gotten on her bus without him. And we wait. 20 min past pick up time I call again. Oh, um, the driver forgot him. Well, that’s fantastic, I wont be telling my three year old that he was forgotten. She came right over to pick him up, but by that time I had the baby with me because she was sad I had left her for so long in the house with just the dog to play with (don’t worry I checked on her regularly).
Finally settle in to put the baby down for her morning nap, take a break to fool around with instagram and then ran over to see my daughter’s spring concert with her class. I was happy to finally make one. I am usually so busy I don’t always make them which stinks. My parents watched the baby while I did that too. 😊 I get home, feed the baby and then wait forever for the bus to drop my son off. Again, late. 🙄Anyways, everyone at lunch, had their milk and is now in their rooms napping. Thank goodness, because I have GOT to get some shit done today. I might have to stay up late tonight to do it too. I need to get at least 4 pages written, 8 would be better. I’ve got my coffee and I’m ready to get this started. Oh, yeah, I forgot to mention that I signed up for a writing competition that is more like a cooking show competition. I get a writing assignment and only X amount of days to write it. That goes three rounds and it starts today. Wish me luck! When they arrived outside her door, Fallon just took her hand and gave it a small squeeze before releasing her to say, “I shall see you at last meal.”
“Okay,” she said. “Oh, wait!” As he turned back around she dodged into her room, returning a few seconds later to hand him something white. “My shirt,” he said, confused. Those dark brows furrowing as he looked at her questioningly. “Yeah, the dress I was wearing was just a little too worse for wear and I needed something to cover up with,” she explained. Suddenly feeling a little embarrassed at having taken the liberty to go through his things without his knowledge. She rushed on to say, “I hope that was okay.” “No, it’s fine.” He smiled reassuringly at her. She shyly returned the smile. “I’ll see you later,” he said, turning to walk away, shirt in hand. It’s here!!! Ascending Into Light is finally available on Amazon Kindle to download and read! It released yesterday and I didn’t get around to announcing it on here, so here it is today! Ascending Into Light After being kidnapped, the race to unlock Jess’ magical powers is even more dire. She must travel to Unseelie to help her learn about them. While there she learns even more about herself and her family. Letting her go is the hardest thing Fallon has ever had to do, but he stays busy by working the plan to save his people. The Fomorians and Unseelie must work together in order to move forward with the next step in overthrowing the Seelie King. New players will enter the game from both sides. The tricky part is weeding out for which team they are on. Ascending Into Light is the second book in the Descending Into Darkness series. You must read the first book in order to follow the characters in this part of their journey. Download and Read Today on Amazon Kindle!
Wow. It was such a busy weekend at the Screencraft Writers Summit in Atlanta. I left the hotel most mornings bay 8:30AM to get to the first event/panel/social event being held and didn’t get back to the hotel until midnight. That first night, Friday, I was back at the hotel at 9PM and that was the last time I was back before midnight. Lol It was such an AWESOME experience.
If you’re not interested in writing or doing anything like this, then feel free to read the next entry I will post later today. If you are looking to some insight on this event and others like it, please keep reading. I am going to give you the full 4-1-1. I will do this by day, that way it’s not too confusing. Friday: Since I arrived Thursday night, I was able to do some tourist stuff on Friday. I collected my badge for the event, nothing special from that, then checked out the Georgia Aquarium. It was the largest aquarium until 2016 when Singapore built theirs. It also has whale sharks. As I am a freak for whale sharks, I had to see this place. I’ve always wanted to see it since it opened probably 15 years ago. It was so cool. Next, up was the Summit Opening Reception. I had no idea what to expect, but I figure it would be more of an intro, a little more talking, about what you were going to get out of the summit, but instead it was your first networking while at the summit. There was an open bar of wine and beer, some juice, too. I got myself a glass of Pinot and walked around. I met one of the staff members who is also a screenwriters herself. I also met a fellow book writer who was doing a screenplay on his already published work, and later that night there was another mixer, basically a continuing, at the bar in the hotel. It was a little more comfortable as there were tables and it was dark. The environment kind of loosened people up, too, I think. Maybe a mental thing. I met another screenwriter who also directs. And before I headed back to the hotel, a young man stood up on his stool at the bar and made a toast for the weekend. That we were going to have the experience of a lifetime and that we were going to meet wonderful people and be successful. When he was done, I, of course had to meet him. HIs name was Chris. His writing partner, Corbin and friend Trey, were also there and they are all wonderful people. We exchanged cards, chatted, said goodbyes. Addendum: I met Belle and Trudi before the bar scene. Ms. Belle is John’s, the co-founder of Screencraft and creator of WeScreenplay, mother. She was/is so sweet! The three of us chatted for a good while before I headed to the bar. Throughout the weekend we all saw each other and said hi when we could. Such wonderful women! 😊 Saturday: Danny Manus, a script collaborator, writer and editor, I believe, gave us a briefing on how to do a good pitch for the Screencraft Summit pitch completion. I got some great notes and tips as well as some coffee from that session. Following that was the main talk open session. Everyone listened to life lesson sort of stories reagarding their industry career. A lot of morals to their stories at the end to learn and take in. It was while listening to this, that I met now good friends, Verena and Jonathan, a married power couple.. We shared notes during the weekend and got to be really great friends, I feel. They are good peoples, in my book. Verena is not just a writer and director, but she has some acting experience, is someone you want in your corner. Lol Her networking skills are so on point. I got to hear from Meg LeFauve, writer of Inside Out and Captain Marvel on the sciences in entertainment as well as other writers, including Doug Jung, a writer of Star Trek Beyond. More about this later. After this, I went to do my pitch for the summit competition. I didn’t practice at all. Let me tell you why. I am NOT one to practice because I learned in high school that it just makes things worse for me. I used to do the whole prep work with notes, index cards, practice in front of the mirror and in front of my parents or a friend and here what usually happened: I would trip up frying to stay on track of the cards/notes. I would have a panic attack from all the stressing in the days/hours prior with practicing and I would make myself sick. When I actually gave my speech or presentation, I would have a panic attack DURING said talk. I would have to force myself to breath, try desperately not to pass out or hyperventilate. I almost always cried afterwards because of the pent up nerves and stress releasing at the end. So I stopped prepping. I would run it in my head once or twice or in this case, read the log line and know my story and that’s it. This go I didn’t practice whatsoever until I had lunch prior and a stranger sitting next to me got to talking with me and asked to hear the pitch. It was super simple, easy, fluid and natural. So that’s exactly what I did when it was my turn to pitch. I had two minutes and I was done in until a minute and a half and the notes I got back were two things I forgot to do but wont forget next time. They loved the story concept though and told me my ease and knowledge of my story was great. Those are all things you want to hear. If you don’t know your story, you can’t answer questions for what’s to happen in the series if it’s a pilot. People want to know that you are the only one who can write this and that you could be a potential showrunner. Then we had a VIP only mixer with Elite badge holders (that’s me) and Paneists. We got to chat with everyone, professional or not, drink, share, exchange business cards. I met more new people, exchanged infos/cards. I was so glad I made new business cards before going. I think I passed out about 50 cards and exchanged social media contacts with at least 20 more. I had the courage to give cards to professionals/panelists. Later that night we had another mixer at the bar across the street. It was packed! To be honest, the venue/location could probably have been somewhere else larger with how crowded it was. But I know this event is still rather new to Screencraft, so that might be something they adjust next year. I sat with Verena and Jonathan, we met so many people that night, and squeezed between so many asses and elbows to make our way through the sea of people to talk to others. More professional hand shaking, cards/info exchanging. The greatest thing about this event was how many opportunities we all had to chat, shake hands, exchange info and do it a few times in hopes they remember your name and face at this summit. It was so personable. Sunday: That morning there was a last minute panel added. Meg LeFauve spoke more in depth about social science and stuff when building your story and the emotional journey your character must go through and the steps throughout said journey. It was sooooo good. I had to leave before she finished the 3rd Act part because I was starving and went to the Mimosa’s VIP Brunch. There I met even more people. Our table had some new and interesting people, both writers and directors of their own films. More cards and info were exchanged, I made another new friend I will be keeping in contact with for a long while, I’m sure. Next up, we split up to head to the panels of our choices and promised to take notes for one another for those we would miss. As I headed for my panel, I ran into (not literally) the talented Ms. Julie Plec (writer/producer/showrunner: Legacies, Vampire Diaries, The Originals and MORE). I introduced myself, did my fan girl thing, she commented on how pretty my name was, and we parted ways. When I was in the Fellowship/Competitions panel I realized she was speaking at the opposite panel so I ran over there and caught the tail end of her panel when she started answering questions. She spoke at another panel about cable/streaming networks which was so great. The way she and Ben Cory Jones discussed needing to write a Spec script and why, made so much sense. It’s been on my list to write this year, but only when all my other projects are out of the way so I can really focus on it. I’m sure, like I’ve been saying, it will be my biggest challenge as a writer. Afterwards, I managed to introduce myself again. Talk to her about an idea she had about bringing in a writers room program to Atlanta, maybe something along the lines of a writers lab or internship/apprenticeship. I hope she does that. I don’t live in Atlanta, but the idea of spreading the love that Hollywood has and offers for writers there into another state that is quickly building in the industry would really help other writers. Any progress outside of Hollywood helps us all. It means that you don’t have to limit yourself to JUST Hollywood. I probably wont ever move to Hollywood and therefore wont ever work in a writers room until I’m able to pull myself away from my family for months at a time. But I’m okay with that. I don’t think I’m ready to work in a writers room. I would love to, don’t get me wrong! But the way I need to plan my career from where I’m at in Washington state, it works out, the time I will need to find my way from here and not from within the industry in Los Angeles working from the ground up. I will have to work on networking from afar and travel to do in person networking a couple times a year, of course, but I’m able to plan, meet new people and be sure to keep in contact with people I meet and talk to along the way for when that day comes that I am ready. Back to the summit. After that we had another panel, I honestly can’t remember when all the panels were, I may have even mixed them up day wise but it doesn’t effect the storyline, I promise. LOL Then we had a small break where I had to run to CVS for some Advil for a migraine and then a small group of us went to dinner at Mary Mac’s Tea Room for dinner. That place was so very very packed with people I couldn’t believe it. Imagine the busiest night at Chilis or Red Lobster and multiply it be ten. That’s the LINE outside of Mary Mac’s. They must have had seats for those waiting for tables for about 50 people inside too, lining the lobby area and the halls throughout the place. As our party had reservations, we didn’t have to wait, thank goodness. The food and people were soooooo good. I have never had macaroni and cheese like that before in my life. It had scrambled egg in it, which I’m sure sounds typical to some, but coming from So. Cal, it wasn’t for me. Very new experience. Met more people there. Exchanged more contacts and cards. We all walked over to where they were holding the Pitch Finals in a bar. The walk was good after such a heavy meal. At the bar I met up with Chris, the gentleman who did the toast that first night. He was a finalist. I told him not to have another drink, he was debating it already, in case it effected his pitch and promised to do a shot with him afterwards. I haven’t ever heard so many talented and brave people speak like that in my life. It was like like nothing else. So many great ideas from creative minds. There were a lot of really good ideas. When Chris won, everyone went berserk! I congratulated his partner, Corbin, who co-wrote the screenplay and we all went up to congratulate Chris. Pictures were taken, hugs were had and Chris got handshakes from the judges, particularly Ben Cory Jones, who gave him his phone number. 😮 I know it sounds weird but I was proud of him, and I hadn’t even known him for more than a full 48 hours. Now a man who makes shows along Chris’ story just gave him his personal contact info, it was so exciting! No shots, but drinks were had. My next drink was bought by a founder of Coverfly, including a round of beers, shared by a good number of other men, enjoying a successful writers summit. I met more people, more professionals, gave more people my card. One even asked for my cell number, friend reasons, not hitting on. If we had time, we were thinking of going to the aquarium again together. That was the most fun I’ve had in quite a while. I actually allowed myself to be silly, happy, enjoy being stupid, kicking the shit, making friends. I know I can sometimes be stiff at these things because I’m afraid to let loose. But I wasn’t that night and I was really proud of myself. It doesn’t stop there! When I finally said my goodbyes, by the way, it was when the bar kicked us all out, I did go back to the hotel and sleep, but the next morning on MONDAY, I met with a group of women from the summit and had brunch, coffee and shared good convo about writing, movies, tv and babies. More cards and info was exchanged. I shared a Lyft with another writer to the airport and I barely made it there on time. That’s a horror story, but I won’t share it here because I don’t want to wreck how great the weekend was. I full FOUR days (Thanks to my husband convincing me to go early and stay late) of making friends, learning the craft and networking. I honestly can not thank Screencraft, all of their people, staff, volunteers, Coverfly, SAGindie and I know there were more, for the wonderful experience. I will definitely be going to next years summit. I also feel like I’m ready to take on bigger events that are like strictly for networking, film festivals for instance. I wont wonder how to approach people and such. I am off to get a couple more things done, I wanted to get it all writen down for anyone curious what the weekend was like in case they wanted to go to one in the future. Hope you all have a fantastic Wednesday! Here I am Atlanta! I arrived late last night. It was tricky, but I was able to locate my Lyft driver, he was a sweetheart and patiently waited while I walk a complete circle around construction to get to him. The hotel is AWESOME! If I wasn’t so dang tired, I would have gotten pics of my room before I cluttered it. After eating dinner, having a fridge delivered to the room for milk storage, I finally passed out around 1:30AM EST. I was so beat. I woke up at 9AM refreshed but a little sluggish BUT BUT BUT!!! My cold is feeling so much better! So yay! As a cup of coffee is $8 at my hotel, that’s before cream and sugar, I walked around the corner for Starbucks. There’s more constructions around it so I literally had to follow a cup of women who were walking in front of me who looked like they were after the same thing I was, and lucky would have it, I was right! They took a turn before I saw even a hint of coffee and I blindly followed them into the devils lair where they sell coffee and all it’s sweet sweet treats and breakfast sandwiches, STARBUCKS!☕️🍪😋
That just goes to show that sterotyping can work for your benefit every now and then. LOL Speaking of Sterotypes, I want to open up and talk real with you all. In light of a LOT of bad stuff going on in the world regarding color, I’ve found myself even more cautious about what I say. I actually think to myself, would I say that to someone who was white? Could that be construed in a racist manner. I started to think, wow, have I been a racist all this time? But then I realized, that no, I’m being a responsible part of my society. If I wouldn’t dare say something to a white person, then why would I say it to someone who was of color. And vice versa, come to think of it! Now, I honestly don’t have an example for you, because, well, I guess I’m doing better than I thought. But you know, I don’t think that will stop me. Like I don’t want to ask or say something that is inappropriate simply because I THINK I’m not racist. I want to NOT BE racist. Even if it’s subconsciously. Does this all make sense? It’s so easy for people to be influenced on a subconsious level, that some things become just NORMAL, when it shouldn’t be. Take the whole “locker room” talk. People tried to justify the whole trash talking a woman, no matter who is doing the talking, and say that’s just how boys are. That may be true, but that’s not how boys/men SHOULD BE! As a society, even strangers on the street, have to take responsibility for one another. If you hear someone calling a woman a bad word, maybe give another suggestion. No woman likes to be called “cunt.” Call us a bitch, crazy, dirty, annoying, anything but the C word. 🙅♀️ Guys, think of the C word as one of those words you never say. Like the N word. I hear it, even from men and women of color and I think, how could you be ok with calling yourself or that person you’re referring too, in such a derogatory way? If a word could burn in hell for just it’s meaning, the N word would be it. Though I am NOT of color, so I brush it off as something I just don’t understand. It’s not my culture, not my history. I’m sure my ancestors were on the opposite end of that part of history. I don’t even have to look at my genealogy to assume that my great great something or other probably owned slaves. It’s sad, but probably true. 😞 Alright, enough of the heavy stuff. I am going to eat my breakfast/lunch and sip my coffee as I check Twitter before collecting my Screencraft Writers Summit badge about a mile away. I just started a new race with Yes.fit app. My sister, bro-in-law and mother all do the same race together. It’s perfect timing since I will be doing a lot of walking this weekend. I just hope I don’t kill my hip, it hates walking. 🙄 My village got me here! And that’s so much the truth! I wouldn’t be able to take this trip, be in this airport, ready to have the time of my life as a writer, without my little village. My parents are watching my three sick kids today while my husband works. They will have to watch them part of tomorrow as well, until he can get off from work, and I know that’s not easy. The kids, bless them, even though they don’t feel well have been real troopers. The baby seems to be feeling better even though she’s snotty, and my big kid is handling her illness better than expected. My parents and husband are awesome. I know it’s not easy to watch my kids, they each have some sort of special need, the baby, being a baby, comes with wanting mommy a lot, not sleeping through the night, my son with his speech delay and my daughter with ADHD. Parenting is already not for the faint of heart. It’s not meant for everyone in this world, this is for sure.
I know my kids will be happy and loved while I’m gone, and my daughter actually told me she would miss me. Which I didn’t think was possible, honestly. She’s such a daddy’s girl. Thank you, mom and dad and hubby! I love you bunches! I promise to sleep in, stay up late. Make friends, learn things and get work done while I’m gone. Business talk: I plan to start the third series book while I’m away and to get a good chunk of films watched for review/judging while traveling too. I am currently at the terminal Starbucks having my breakfast and third cup (decaf this time) of coffee. I got my huge bottle of water and realized I forgot my makeup and probably could use a new shirt that says Washington on it, but I might wait until Denver for a bigger selection. Lol So, yeah, distractions. I promise I’m going to work! Hahaha...ha....ha. 😬 Today is packing day! I collected a few things, charged up some stuff, like back up battery packs and cords and such, including my FitBit watch, yesterday. This day is for laundry and packing, prepping the house for my husband to do things solo and my parents to watch them while he works tomorrow and Friday. That means a lot of laundry, grocery shopping (Thank you, Instacart) and cleaning. I hate leaving a mess of anything for my parents to start with. That way they don’t feel too overwhelmed when they first walk in. It also makes me feel better that I left a clean slate behind when I leave. The kids are all still sick, including myself and the husband. I hope us adults are able to stay somewhat well enough to manage this weekend. I want to socialize and yet still not scare people off by looking like death. If I have to, I will take meds but as a nursing mom, its really taboo on the supply. TMI probably. Anyways, best of luck to my husband and parents. The kids, though sick, have been pretty good considering it’s also spring break.
Now, I don’t fit much since I’m still trying to lose weight from my last baby I am really apprehensive with my wardrobe. It’s going to be warmer in Atlanta and I hope I just don’t look too frumpy. I refuse to get new clothes because we just bought a really good cardio machine and it kicks my butt everytime I’m on it. I know I will lose that weight in the next couple weeks. So, I’m stuck with the slim selection of clothes that fit me for this trip. Though, it may not make a difference if I’m too sick to go out and socialize much after the actual summit activities. 🤷♀️ In other news, I just found that there’s a phone app for Microsoft Word and my mind is officially blown. This means I can now write with my kids around. They don’t let me sit much in front of my iPad, even when I think they are preoccupied doing their own thing. At this very moment I had to bribe my son with pudding to sit down for five minutes while I write this. And the baby is crying, so off I go! More to come tomorrow! Have a great hump day, everyone! I am getting so pumped up for this weekend. I leave Thursday and will spend the day traveling and then Friday I have all to myself. Sleep in, pick up my badge, visit the aquarium with it’s whale sharks, eeek!, and get some writing in before the evening open recession.
The weekend will be really busy, including meals with everyone there. Mingling, making friends, networking. I have my business cards ready! I will also be pumping in between classes and panels. This will be my first time traveling as a nursing mom. The reality of it is, that I will probably be spending some time in a bathroom somewhere, pumping. Or, if the hotel is awesome enough, it maybe have a designated powder sitting area where I can do it. If I absolutely have to, I will bring a cover that I can sit in the corner somewhere. I’m familiar with nursing descretly, it’s the pumping that will be a new thing for me. Believe me when I say it’s just as uncomfortable for me to do it outside of my own home as it is for other people to discover/see me doing it. Unfortunately my hotel room is not in the same hotel as the summit’s venue, so traveling back to my room between panels and such is not possible. And no, I can’t just NOT pump. My baby doesn’t formula feed and it’s bad enough I may have to force her to take formula while I’m away because of lack of stored supply. I’m trying so hard to bump up that supply before I leave, but it’s looking grim. 😞 Anyways, THAT’S the reality of a nursing, traveling writer. And this week all three of my children are sick. I hope, if I get sick, that it’s just a head cold and I can make it out of the hotel room for all the summit things and that my kids aren’t too awful for my husband and mom while I’m away. Right now I need to pack and do finishing touches on the book outline. I leave in two days and I am STOKED! |
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