Today I write

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I got up this morning, made a cup of coffee, and sat down at my computer with my anticipation level off the charts.

You see, today I will write.

My program so far has been filled to the brim with prep work. Story arcs, character development, pacing, plot, etc. I have been soaking in the elements of a good story, totally immersed to the point that at times I thought I might drown.

Oh, I’ve done writing of course. Plenty of it. But it was homework writing. Writing for a professor to grade. Writing to prove I understood a concept. Writing to show I had grasped the latest lesson.

I don’t consider that real writing. Real writing raises my endorphins, fills me with joy, and makes me feel that the world is a glorious and wonderful place.

As I sit here prolonging the suspense, stretching out that first moment when I put fingers to keyboard, I realize just how much I have missed my regular writing sessions. It feels like I am coming home.

Darn it! I’m out of coffee. I guess I’ve stretched out the anticipation a tad too long. I need to go make another cup.

And then I write.

My bully story

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I was bullied in fifth grade.

Every day for most of the school year, this group of 5 girls would surround me during recess and punch me, pull my hair, pinch me, and tell me what a horrible person I was. I was new to the school, so I felt alone, vulnerable, and afraid.

Finally, in tears, I gathered my courage and told my mom about it. I remember feeling embarrassed, thinking I must have done something horrible to bring this on myself.

My mother was great! She explained to me that I was not to blame, that the bullies were the ones in the wrong.

She told me to look in the mirror, and that what I saw there was a wonderful person who was strong. She said that the girls who were picking on me probably saw that strength and were intimidated, that that was why they were being bullies. They were afraid of me!

She then went on to say that those horrible girls, the ones who tortured me on a daily basis, probably really wanted to be my friends, but didn’t know how.

That was a long time ago. I cannot remember exactly what I said, or what I did. What I do know is that my view of the girls changed and my attitude toward them changed right along with it.  They lost their power over me.

Since I no longer reacted like a victim they gradually lost interest in me and began to leave me alone. So my mom was right, I was a strong girl who could handle it. But she was wrong, the girls never became my friends.

Or so I thought until a couple of years later. We had a large group of new students move into our school, and for whatever reason several of them decided I was the perfect person to bully.

Before I had a chance to react to these new attacks I found myself surrounded by the very same girls who had once been my tormentors.

Only this time, they were there to protect me.

A bad script is read

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Each week for class, we are required to post to a discussion board. What we post depends on what we are studying at the moment.

For this week, we were given a “bad” script to read and evaluate. In previous classes we’ve evaluated mini-scripts written by classmates, but never before have we been given a full length script, reminded that the writer of the script has no access to our comments, and told to rip it to shreds.

It sounds easy, doesn’t it? After all, we humans are very critical beings, and we often enjoy finding the bad in things more than we like finding the good. Complaining is one of our common hobbies.

But this script was such a mess that it was difficult to know where to start. The formatting was all wrong, there were whole scenes that made no sense, and spelling and grammar errors abounded. What a horror to read!

But worst of all, it was hard to tell exactly who was supposed to be the main character! Can you imagine?

Amazingly, ladies and gentlemen, this script was made into a movie. I remember seeing it advertised in the theaters.

It did not get very good reviews.

Hmmm. I guess the old saying that the apple doesn’t fall very far from the tree works for movies too!

Would they, could they, write a script?

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The time to visit my husband’s school to talk to the students about writing is just around the corner. As a matter of fact, I bet if I blink fast a few dozen times it will be here!

So I won’t blink, not even slowly, because I’m not ready.

I want to really motivate the kids. I want them to understand why good writing is important, and how they can become better writers.

The problem is, how?

Right now I am totally fascinated with screenwriting (I wonder why?), and would like to teach a screenwriting lesson to the kids. It seems like it would be a wonderful way for them to get a grasp of the necessary parts of a story–character, plot, scene, etc.

But I don’t think time is on my side. Whatever lesson I teach needs to be able to be completed in about 45 minutes. 45 minutes to explain the parts of a script (simplified for 5th graders, of course), to stress the importance of strong plot and characters, and to get them to write?

I don’t know. I just don’t know. It might be possible….

A present of sun

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Today is a good day.

I cannot remember a single birthday when it wasn’t rainy. That’s not to say that it didn’t happen, I just don’t remember it.

I first began noticing the raininess of my birthday in my teen years, and I’ve been kinda keeping track ever since. I’ve had birthdays where the day before and the day after are sunny, but my actual birthday, well, it seems to bring the rain.

I suppose it is only to be expected, having a birthday that falls directly after Groundhog Day.

But today is a good day because this birthday is different. I look outside and I am amazed at the beauty I see there. So much sun! It could be Spring! On February 3rd!

I think I’ll take it as a good omen.  And go outside.

We ain’t equal yet, sister!

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The world is not an equal place. Especially for women.

I came across the Writers Guild of America’s list of 101 best screenplays of all time. It was done in 2005, and it is a very interesting list. (Entire list can be found at here on the WGA site.) 

According to the US Census Bureau, 50.8% of the US population is female (2010 statistic). That’s to be expected, since we all know pretty much half of the population is female, and usually has been.
Yet of the 101 screenplays deemed “best” by the WGA, only 6 of them were written, or co-written, by women.

It’s a Wonderful Life: Co-written by Frances Goodrich & Albert Hackett & Frank Capra.


Wizard of Oz: Co-written by Noel Langley and Florence Ryerson and Edgar Allan Woolf.

Singin’ in the Rain: Co-written by Betty Comden & Adolph Green.


Thelma & Louise:  Written by Callie Khouri

When Harry Met Sally:  Written by Nora Ephron

E.T.:  Written by Melissa Mathison
 
§        It made me wonder. I know there are a lot of fabulous female writers, so why are they not evident in the entertainment business? And could that explain why there seemed to be a lot more good male roles available than there are female ones?
 I did further research and came across a 2011 article titled “Female Filmmakers Need Not Apply: USC Study Reveals Staggering Hollywood Gender Gap — Response by Screenwriter Cheryl McKay Price.“
You should read the article. It talks about a study done in 2008 that found that men outnumbered women 5 to 1 among the 5,000 most influential roles. It goes on to say that only “8% of directors, 13.6% of writers, and 19.1% of producers are female.”
 
Yet, women make up more than half of the population. It makes you think, doesn’t it?
 

ABNA

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I did it. I entered Gray Zone into the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest.

Wish me luck, and send Gray Zone all the good thoughts you can spare. It is a Young Adult contemporary fiction about cyberbullying, so the topic is topical.

I finished it ages ago (at least 6 months) and I’ve been just waiting for this contest.

There are 2 categories, general fiction and young adult fiction. Each category will have 5,000 entries.

On February 23rd Amazon editors will narrow it down to 1,000 entries per category, based simply on the book’s pitch.

It makes me nervous to enter my book in a contest like this, but it is also exciting!

Again, wish me luck!

Snowstorm 2012

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The news reports say that it is one of the top five biggest snowstorms our area has had in history. They’ve called it Winter Extreme, Winter Wallop, and even good old Snowstorm.

All I know is that it is cold, beautiful, it transforms my neighborhood into a winter wonderland, and that I’m glad I have a cozy house to save me from its wonderfulness.

Obfuscation

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The best writers focus on what is important–communication. They keep their writing simple, clear, and concise.

They don’t get caught up in complicated sentence structures.

They resist the urge to show off their superior vocabulary.
They lay out their argument in an easy to understand manner, one that does not require a flow chart to understand.

I recently encountered the quintessence of the bad style of writing when I was forced to peruse a book that tenaciously used obfuscating verbiage to make the substance arduous to comprehend, and therefore sleep-inducing.

Yep. That’s how I felt about it too.

 

Slipping into villainosity

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I have been studying what makes a villain, and I find it rather interesting. I am especially fascinated by the fact that a wrong step, usually into that self-centered world of me-dom, can turn a hero into a villain.

Think about it. Villains and heroes are closer than might be expected. A hero, to protect himself or his loved ones, often has to keep himself apart from others. He is different than the average person, and more powerful.

A villain is also different and more powerful, and like the hero, he also puts himself apart from the rest of the world. But where the hero uses his power to help others, the villain uses it to force others to bend to his will, so that he can have his own way. He believes it is his right, since he is better and more important than everyone else.

Wait a minute. I seem to recall a story I heard, just this morning, about someone who displayed these villainous characteristics. Now who was it? Who was it that hopped off the hero pedestal to take a stroll down the path of villainy?

Oh, yes. Now I remember, it was Beyonce!

Paying to have everyone else kicked to the curb so that an entire floor of the hospital could be turned into her own private haven is truly the mark of a person who has stepped onto that road to villainy. Talk about lack of consideration for your fellow human beings! Next we will hear that she has bought a private island, or even a small country.

Turn back, Beyonce! Quick, before the pull of the self-centered life catches you fully in its gravitational pull and you are no longer able to recognize the path you have taken, the path that takes you away from humanity.

Drop the black cape, stop being a bully, and rejoin the real world.

You won’t regret it. From what I hear, me-dom is really a very lonely place.