A Word Out for Some Friends

While I have been avoiding much writing as of late (it's soccer season, after all, and school is back in session for me and the kids - no excuse, I know, so let's get back on topic!), a couple of writing friends have been busy getting published! If you want to check out their work, check out the links below:

Dawn Chapman is a sci fi writer who pens her work in the form of novels, shorts, scripts and even poetry. Check out her latest short story in the anthology Sci-Fi Almanac 2010: An Anthology of Short Stories (Volume 2).

Starr Reina is a mystery, thriller writer who has just published her latest work, In the Name of Revenge for e-books at a price that's hard to beat!

Congrats to both, and keep writing!

The out of the loop writer's dilemma

Today was not a good day to be an occasional writer, full time mother. As I caught up on the news posted in the latest edition of The Hollywood Reporter, an article about the new Miramax caught my eye. One of the first productions to be released under the (re)new Miramax banner will be an animated gnome picture called GNOMEO AND JULIET.

Oh, please no! You have got to be kidding me! That animated piece that I just finished, that I've been excited about all summer long has just been blown out of the water. How I sooooo wish I could claim plagiarism, but it's obvious I can't. It's just another example of a great idea drifting through the ether that multiple people 'discovered' at the same time. And I'm kicking myself because I missed the news. With a 2011 planned release, GNOMEO AND JULIET must have been in the works for, at minimum, a full year.

There are differences. The multiple writers of the piece used Shakespeare as a template. I didn't. My only hope is that mine (titled TURF WAR) would have been better. As far as pitching the material? I already know it's a lost cause, because all of Hollywood will compare it to GNOMEO AND JULIET just from the logline. No one is going to want to put forth effort on a script whose idea alone is so close to a new release, no matter how good that other script might be.

But this is one of many dilemmas for a writer in such a high turnover industry. Am I sorry I wrote TURF WAR? Do I chalk it up to wasted time? No! I'm proud of my work, and hope it will, at the very least, showcase my talent. I guess what I'm saying is, don't stop writing! How many times can they remake Romeo and Juliet? Apparently, too many. How many times can we see battles between Vampires and Werewolves? I know, they're on the decline, but they'll return again. They always do.

So, for me, I hope that TURF WAR will at least do well in competition. And in the mean time, I'm off to write that next great idea that seems impossible to have not been tackled by someone else. Wish me luck! And keep writing!

Summer 2010

Well, we're well into Summer and there's not much new to report. The first draft of that animated feature I've been writing is finished! Now it's time to wait for the criticisms before tackling draft #2.

I like the draft. It's got potential. And who knew that I could write a script without a single swear word in it?

If you want to check out the potential of an up and coming young writer, check out www.liveawritelife.blogspot.com.

Happy Summer, everyone! And keep writing.

Spring 2010

Wow, not much to report as the year slips away. The first third of 2010 has been peppered with baseball games, civil war reenactments, school for me and the entire family, scouting events... In a nutshell, not much time to write.

But I have set aside some time to keep on that animation idea. As a participant of this year's script frenzy (write 100 pages of a script - or anything else- within in the month of April), I foresee myself failing miserably - with just 14 pages short of the goal. But hey, that's 86 pages to my credit, so I'll take it.

Don't beat yourself up over the words you didn't type. Praise yourself for what you got done! Right? Who's with me?

Of course, I have wasted a lot of writing time on learning MS Powerpoint for class. Now that I know how to use it, it's really cool! I've wasted a lot of time trolling the internet for links to my heritage too. I'm proud to say that I've traced our family line all the way back to 15th Century France, and to the first settlers of Montreal, Quebec, and with some measure of certainty to Pre-Revolutionary War America. That seems like a worthwhile waste of time.

And now, I've succeeded in keeping this blog page up to date. Yay, me!

Keep writing, everyone!

January is Here, and We're Off!

January 2010 is halfway over, and already I feel like I'm behind... But I can check off at least one thing on my 'To Do' list - "update blog." Check.

Let's see, my library class from last year ended with an A. This year I will be learning how to use Microsoft Office without pulling my hair out! Wish me luck!

I'm sad to say that Spike didn't advance to the top spots of the Writers Place competition, but it was an honor to be a finalist. I've gotten some pretty good feedback on my redraft of The Schoharie, so my next step is to pitch and submit it.

I'm continuing to work on that animated feature idea, and as long as the page count grows I'm temporarily satisfied with its progress.

That's where I'm at. Keep writing, everyone!