Limes with Orange

Well, last night's screening went very well. Lots of people in attendance and they all seemed to be having a good time. My screening stations got a lot of use, which was rewarding (a huge thanks to Mitch and James... I couldn't have done it without your help!). "The Curse of the Piano" looks really good, so look for it at a festival near you. I'll be curious to find out how much money the silent auction raised, because the bidding wasn't exactly fast and furious. But I think bidding for these types of things only becomes fast and furious when you've got a bunch of oil execs in attendance. Artists tend to have a little less cash to throw around. But hopefully it will still add up to a reasonable amount.

I went down to the Wildwood for a bit afterwards because the Mocking Shadows were playing. Unfortunately, someone had spilt a drink on their sound board so they were in the middle of technical difficulties. They finally managed to get a board for the instruments and such to go through but I guess they couldn't get the mikes back up. So they ended up just jamming with no vocals, which was kind of cool. Their new CD is out and they'll be throwing a CD launch party shortly. Can't wait!

And now I'm exhausted. Unfortunately, I can't totally veg out until tomorrow because today is the very last day of my screenwriting workshop were we get to hear actors read sections of our script. The instructor is working with them as I type this and pretty soon I'm going to be heading down to the CSIF to see how my script translates to the spoken word. It's a little nerve wracking but I'm so tired that I don't think I'm capable of mustering up the energy for anxiety. Probably a good thing. Wish me luck.

Labels: film, music, writing

Yet another new blog, but this one involves a complete redesign of my business domain. The front page has a navigation menu directing you to the business site, but the majority of it is now devoted to Weirdgrrl's Words, a blog about writing, language and everything related to those topics. There are bound to be some glitches, some links that didn't get updated, etc. but I'll be ironing those out over the next week or so. I've decided that when Limes with Orange actually moves, it will be to a folder rather than the main page. Just because the Words blog is more relevant to the business and seems more appropriate to share the front page with the biz stuff.

Labels: blogging, language, writing

The lure of sites like Post Secret and Hidden Lives has made me realize that the way I project myself to others is somewhat misleading. I mean, I know we all keep parts of ourselves secret and I know we all feel like the world just doesn't understand us sometimes, and that's part of what I'm talking about but not all of it.

I write a lot of fluff on this blog. But if you read between the lines, especially my poetry and the music that I talk about, you might see that the fluff is simply a costume that I feel comfortable wearing in front of others.

No, I didn't write about Virginia Tech even though I'm working on a film to commemorate the Montreal Massacre that happened almost 20 years ago and that I still remember like it was yesterday. I don't write about a lot of what's going on in the world even though these issues are ever present in my mind and weigh heavily on me. I can't even bring myself to write about Canadian poltics much of the time because I get so frustrated that I become incoherent. I vent about President Bush's foreign policy by posting cartoons and clips from The Daily Show, not by offering up the deep political analysis that I know I'm capable of.

Why? I'm not entirely sure. I think it's partly because of my health. That I want to seem like a happy person because I really feel like a burden and I don't want to inflict my burdensome self on someone else. And I think it's partly because of my art. That when I talk about these things in every day life, I'm less likely to have passion to unleash when pen hits paper to write a poem or a script.

Since I've mentioned my health, I'd like to take a moment to talk about it. I've mentioned before that I have various health conditions: Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, secondary Sjögren’s Syndrome, Hashimoto's Thyroiditis with intermittent Hashitoxicosis and the occasional bout of IgA nephropathy. And let's not forget the migraines.

A lot of people compliment me on the positive attitude I have towards my life. Not to say that I don't actually possess a certain amount of optimism, but I feel anything but positive on the inside most of the time. It's not that I'm repressed or trying to be fake, I just can't stand talking about it anymore.

My rheumatologist likes to show me off to her residents as an example of someone whose lab results indicate that I should be non-functional and yet I "present like a well woman." What I can't bring myself to say to her is that I present that way because I have completely changed my diet, my lifestyle and my goals. I am incapable of holding down a job that requires regular hours. I need a minimum of nine hours of sleep a night which is very tricky as I am also an insomniac. It takes me at least one hour (if I'm lucky) to fall asleep. I'm thrilled if I sleep for four hours in a row; two and a half to three hours at a time is more likely. And then I have to try to fall asleep all over again.

I wake up in the morning feeling like I've been hit by a train and it takes a good hour for my morning meds to kick in, but because of the assortment and timing of my meds I can't actually take them all right away. So I'm not really functional until around two hours after I wake up. So there goes more than half of a 24-hour day. Then I need to take breaks every couple of hours so I don't hit the wall of mental and physical fatigue. Needless to say, this is very limiting.

I used to dream of competing in the Olympics as a member of the Canadian Three-Day Eventing Team until I developed my first autoimmune symptoms at the age of 19. I'd hoped that I would eventually figure out how to manage them and still compete, but unfortunately that didn't happen. Then I went to vet school. I figured if I couldn't compete, I could at least treat the top-level event horses. But in my third year of vet school, my Lupus took over my life and I needed to take a leave of absence. I was never able to go back.

Last year, I became involved in the film community here in Calgary. I was working as a freelance writer, text editor and graphic designer at the time and I come from a theatre background, so this wasn't much of a stretch for me. I threw myself into it with abandon because it had been so long since I'd felt such enthusiasm for something, anything. And I've recently realized that I have to accept that I will never be physically capable of directing the feature film that I'm writing. I'm not coping very well with that conclusion.

I hate it when people ask me how my health is because good days are very few and far between. Basically, I struggle with my symptoms every day but I get sick of hearing myself talk about being sick and I also get sick of lying and saying I'm fine.

I hope this doesn't sound like a pity party and I really didn't mean to go on about it for this long, but I guess seeing another dream elude me has been a little too much to bear.

Labels: film, health, odds and ends, writing

Whilst browsing through the Blogger's Choice Awards, I discovered that Jane Espenson has a blog! And it's not just a this-is-what-happened-to-me-today sort of blog, it's Jane's screenwriting advice. (Mentally clapping my hands with glee.)

And I just realized that not everyone knows who I'm talking about. (Sad but true, I guess.) Well, Jane Espenson is a TV writer extraordinaire. A Joss Whedon crony who worked on Angel, Firefly and Buffy (she wrote two of my favourite Buffy episodes, granted I have many favourite episodes but these are definitely amongst them: Earshot and Life Serial), I've recently noticed her name on Battlestar Galactica episodes! (Dirty Hands was hers... the one where I said that the Chief was Savio-like in his glory; I'm rather fond of that line of mine and I'm rather fond of that episode of hers.)

Now I just saw something on her blog that makes me want to imitate a girl I went to elementary school who would get so excited when she knew the answer to something that she didn't just raise her hand but she slapped her other hand under her raised hand (right around armpit level) saying: "oh, oh, oh!" So what's making me want to behave in this ridiculous fashion? Jane has a short story in "Flirting with Pride & Prejudice: Fresh Perspectives on the Original Chick-Lit Masterpiece." Must! have! that! book!

Labels: battlestar galactica, blogging, buffy, pop culture, tv, writing

I'm not very good at asking for favours. Fortunately, there's this new site that makes it a whole lot easier. Zakle.com — do favours, get favours from anyone in the world.

How does it work? By providing a website that allows members to post requests for favours and offers of favours to which other members can respond. Individuals can earn Points when they grant favours and spend Points to obtain favours.

So I decided to sign up and see what happens. (Just a heads up… there's $2 verification fee that they don't explicitly disclose. If you've already verified with PayPal, you might expect that you're going to get that fee back after Zakle verifies you through PayPal… but you won't. Another registration note: make sure you enter your address exactly as it's listed on your PayPal account or the verification won't work.)

These are the offers I submitted:

Title: Métis Card - Genealogy Lookup
Details: Would you like to apply for your Métis card but don't have the documentation that you need? I have access to the Glenbow Museum Archives that has a vast amount of Métis resources for Western Canada. And I have professional experience in utilizing those resources. So let me help you get your card.

Title: Short Story Editing
Details: I am a professional writer and editor. I would be willing to edit and provide feedback on your short story, up to 3000 words in length.

Title: Review your website
Details: I have several blogs, one of which is bound to suit your website. I also have some background in website design. My offer is to review your website, applaud what's good, suggest things that could be better, and provide a permanent link to your site.

And these are my requests:

Title: A photograph of the Ashbel Woodward Museum
Details: The former home of Dr. Ashbel Woodward, a Civil War surgeon, was turned into a museum a few years back in Franklin, CT. My ancestors lived in the house next door (which may or may not still be standing). I would love to have a photograph of the Woodward home. And, if the Mumford home beside it is still standing, I would love a photo of that as well.

Title: Link to my Film Blog
Details: I've started a Filmmaker's Blog on MySpace (blog.myspace.com/weirdgrrl). If you have a blog with some decent traffic, I would love to have you review my blog and provide a permanent link.

Title: Film Editor Needed
Details: I am in the process of editing a short film. I have basic knowledge of Final Cut Pro and Adobe After Effects and I have my rough cut done. But this short film requires sci-fi effects like wormholes which are somewhat beyond me. I would love to sit in with an experienced editor while they finish my film. Estimated time: one day.

So I did the Zakle. And you can do the Zakle, too!

Labels: blogging, cool sites, film, genealogy, odds and ends, writing

I was listening to Melissa McClelland's CD, "Stranded in Suburbia," the other day, laughing as usual at the line from Picture Postcard: "And he was crazy for her / As crazy as a crazy person could be." And I was reminded of this old email that circulated years ago but, for some reason, I still have hanging around. I think it's originally from a competition for bad analogies and not actually analogies that people wrote or published in all seriousness. At least I hope so.

Having said that, I think a writer like Douglas Adams could probably take some of these analogies and actually make them work...

ANALOGIES YOU PROBABLY WON'T FIND IN GREAT LITERATURE

"He spoke with the wisdom that can only come from experience, like a guy who went blind because he looked at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it and now goes around the country speaking at high schools about the dangers of looking at a solar eclipse without one of those boxes with a pinhole in it."
(Joseph Romm, Washington)

"She caught your eye like one of those pointy hook latches that used to dangle from screen doors and would fly up whenever you banged the door open again."
(Rich Murphy, Fairfax Station)

"The little boat gently drifted across the pond exactly the way a bowling ball wouldn't."
(Russell Beland, Springfield)

"McBride fell 12 stories, hitting the pavement like a Hefty Bag filled with vegetable soup."
(Paul Sabourin, Silver Spring)

"From the attic came an unearthly howl. The whole scene had an eerie, surreal quality, like when you're on vacation in another city and "Jeopardy" comes on at 7:00 p.m. instead of 7:30."
(Roy Ashley, Washington)

"Her hair glistened in the rain like nose hair after a sneeze."
(Chuck Smith, Woodbridge)

"Her eyes were like two brown circles with big black dots in the center."
(Russell Beland, Springfield)

"Bob was as perplexed as a hacker who means to access T:flw.quid55328.com\aaakk/ch@ung but gets T:\flw.quidaaakk/ch@ung by mistake."
(Ken Krattenmaker, Landover Hills)

"Her vocabulary was as bad as, like, whatever."
(Jack Bross, Chevy Chase)

"He was as tall as a six-foot-three-inch tree."
(Jack Bross, Chevy Chase)

"The hailstones leaped from the pavement, just like maggots when you fry them in hot grease."
(Gary F. Hevel, Silver Spring)

"Her date was pleasant enough, but she knew that if her life was a movie this guy would be buried in the credits as something like Second Tall Man."
(Russell Beland, Springfield)

"Long separated by cruel fate, the star-crossed lovers raced across the grassy field toward each other like two freight trains, one having left Cleveland at 6:36 p.m. traveling at 55 mph, the other from Topeka at 4:19 p.m. at a speed of 35 mph."
(Jennifer Hart, Arlington)

"The politician was gone but unnoticed, like the period after the Dr. on a Dr. Pepper can."
(Wayne Goode, Madison, Ala.)

"They lived in a typical suburban neighborhood with picket fences that resembled Nancy Kerrigan's teeth."
(Paul Kocak, Syracuse, N.Y.)

"John and Mary had never met. They were like two hummingbirds who had also never met."
(Russell Beland, Springfield)

"The thunder was ominous-sounding, much like the sound of a thin sheet of metal being shaken backstage during the storm scene in a play."
(Barbara Fetherolf, Alexandria)

"The red brick wall was the color of a brick-red Crayola crayon."
(Jennifer Frank and Jimmy Pontzer, Washington and Sterling)

Labels: humour, writing

While trying to research whether the Washington Post has done a neologism contest recently (see my 2005 Neologism Contest post), I discovered this site called Mental Floss Magazine: Where Knowledge Junkies Get Their Fix. They have a fairly recent post about neologisms, but they're ones that I've already seen. But I decided to have a browse around their blog and was quite delighted by their eclectic subject matter. I was ready to write a post based on the front page of their blog, "Not with a bang, but with a Winter"... where I would talk about the next wave of nuclear-based post-apocalyptic movies likely to come out of Hollywood based on that information, but decided to see if there was anything else I wanted to write about that was closer to my original subject.

That's when I noticed a post entitled "Weekend Word Wrap: Grammar Snobs Are Great Big Meanies." As someone who has been called not only a Grammar Snob but a Grammar Nazi, I was mentally clapping my hands with glee. It was a "review" of "Grammar Snobs Are Great Big Meanies: A Guide to Language for Fun and Spite," a book that the reviewer hasn't actually read yet but that he was eager to read. And so was I, until I read the reviews on Amazon.com. Now, I never judge a book entirely based on other people's reviews (or its cover... oh, I slay me), but when the bad reviews make more sense than the good reviews... well, it makes a grrl wary.

I have a feeling that I would fall into the author's category of Grammar Snobs. Which is rather laughable; I'm sooo not a Grammar Nazi OR Snob... as anybody who reads my blog can aver. I play fast and loose with the English language all the time, but I like to know the correct way of wording something so I can decide whether or not it suits me to write it the right way at that time. As R. Buckminster Fuller says, "If you know that I know how to say it all correctly (the exact meaning of which I have not yet learned) then I am entitled to say it all incorrectly."

Hmm, I feel like I should file this post under "malevolently well-informed."

Labels: books and literature, cool sites, language, writing

Now for the third and final installment of my writing exercise. This is the first person stuff, where all the breakthrough happens. In my case, it's a flashback for my character... possibly to be used in the script or maybe just backstory, don't know yet. But I learned a lot about my character while writing it:

I was fourteen when my brother died. When I watched him die in a car accident. I don’t really remember what happened. Not as a continuous memory. What I see in my mind is a series of jumbled images. His face tight with pain. Rain on the windshield. Broken glass. The dashboard wedged impossibly where his pelvis should have been. Blood. Mostly I remember the blood. And the moment when his face relaxed. Not unconscious. Dead. I knew it right away, even though there was no one there to tell me. Not yet, anyway. They all came later. The lights, noise, people. People taking me away from Bernon, who was long past feeling pain, telling me it would be okay even though I knew it would never be okay again. And I was right.

If my dad had been there... but he wasn’t. He’d won the big bronc belt buckle at the rodeo the day before so he’d stayed overnight to celebrate, leaving Bernon to drive me to the horse show. But Bernon was only sixteen and not used to hauling the horse trailer. We made it there all right, but coming home I guess I distracted him as I swung between joy and despair at my third place ribbon. I had so wanted to win but Elizabeth Bennet — Lizzie, my pony — had simply been outclassed. As if that matters now.

There is no sound in my memories. Except for Lizzie’s scream. They told me she died instantly but I don’t believe them. In my memory, the scream goes on and on. But maybe it was me. Memories are unreliable. Like my dad forgetting about the horse show. Unreliable.

I don’t remember much about the months afterwards either. Well, maybe I could if I tried but I don’t really want to try. Whenever I start down that path, the guilt and the heartache smack me in the face and I turn away again. I think maybe my parents feel the same way and that’s why they split up... so they wouldn’t have to look at each other and remember. I think it would have been easier for them if I could have disappeared. One less reminder.

But I didn’t disappear. I’m still here. And I’m okay. I’ve always been okay. Really. I never broke down and bawled like my mom. I never got blitzed drunk like my dad. My grades didn’t drop. I didn’t act out. Everyone told me I was such a good girl, a brave girl, a comfort. I was the only thing that wasn’t messed up back then. I was okay. I am okay. Really.

Labels: film, horses, writing

This post has been moved to: http://www.weirdgrrl.ca/2007/05/screenwriting-101-csif-workshop-part-ii.html. Please update your bookmarks.

For further posts about writing, please visit my new blog: Weirdgrrl's Words.

Labels: film, writing

This post has been moved to: http://www.weirdgrrl.ca/2007/05/screenwriting-101-csif-workshop-part-i.html. Please update your bookmarks.

For further posts about writing, check out my new blog: Weirdgrrl's Words.

Labels: film, writing

Okay, it's still National Novel Writing Month and I'm still writing away. One of the things that I like to do when I write is come up with a "soundtrack" for my story. Then I listen to certain songs from my soundtrack while I write certain scenes; it helps me visualize what I'm writing.

But my muse seems to be playing a sick joke on me at the moment. One of the songs from my soundtrack won't get out of my head. Whenever I turn off the TV, get off the phone, finish listening to a CD... whenever the silence falls, this one particular song starts playing in my head again without fail. I swear it's going to drive me insane (insaner?).

I'm hoping that maybe when I finish writing the story, my muse will release my mind from this musical torture. Kind of like Clarice and the lambs, right?

Hannibal Lecter: You still wake up sometimes, don't you? Wake up in the dark, and hear the screaming of the lambs?
Clarice: Yes.
Lecter: And you think if you save poor Catherine you could make them stop, don't you? You think if Catherine lives you won't wake up in the dark ever again to that awful screaming of the lambs.
...
So here's hoping that at the end of November, that creepy Hannibal Lecter voice will come back into my mind and ask: "Well, Cara, has the song stopped screaming?" And I can answer: "Yes!!!!!"

Labels: film, pop culture, writing

I've been re-reading Wild Mind: Living the Writer's Life by Natalie Goldberg in an effort to kick start my stalled writing. I know that writers must be vigilant about not letting the world interfere with their writing but, alas, that is exactly what has happened this summer. But my writing lament is not the focus of this post. Let me start with a passage in the book that caught my attention:

Punctuation had real significance. It signaled the beginning and the end of thought.

"And if punctuation is about thought," I thought, "then in order to punctuate, we have to know our mind, to know what we think, and when one thought stops and the other begins. We have to understand the journey of thought, how thought moves around in our mind."

Which made me think of the run-on sentences that so often pepper my writing. Is it because I don't know my own mind? Or because, in my overactive brain, one thought jumps to another to another and they all merge and morph and become impossible to distinguish from each other. I'll opt for the latter.

Postscript (only relevant to the title, not the content, of this post): If you're ending a sentence with "a.m." or "p.m." or initials such as "J.D." does the last period of the initial become the final period for the sentence? Or do you need an additional period (but wouldn't that look kinda odd)? My Globe & Mail Style Book does not address this issue at all. Phooey on them.

Labels: writing

And now for all the posts where I talk about writing:

Screenwriting 101 — CSIF Workshop, part III (6.20.2006)
Screenwriting 101 — CSIF Workshop, part II (6.16.2006)
Screenwriting 101 — CSIF Workshop, part I (6.14.2006)
The Screaming of The Lambs (11.19.2005)
Punctuation (8.11.2005)
More Idea Sparks (7.14.2005)
Idea Sparks (5.13.2005)
Screenwriting 101 — The Outline (5.02.2005)
Screenwriting 101 — Act I (4.22.2005)
My Personal Screenwriting Syllabus (4.12.2005)
NaNoWriMo, The Abridged Version (11.28.2004)
Killing Off a Character (11.26.2004)
Boring Blogging (11.17.2004)
Back on the NaNo Train (11.15.2004)
NaNo Characters (10.30.2004)
Fractals and Fiction (10.20.2004)
Writing Exercise - Visualization (9.27.2004)
NaNo Prep - Plot Cards (9.23.2004)
NaNoWriMo Prep (9.22.2004)
More EdMo (and a bit of harmless flirting) (3.08.2004)
Further updates from the EdMo front (3.06.2004)
EdMo Update (3.03.2004)
Wish List (3.01.2004)
NaNoEdMo (3.01.2004)
The Vocabulary of Myth (2.29.2004)

Labels: writing

One of the reasons I haven't posted in a little while is my preoccupation with the screenplay that I'm collaborating on. So I thought a little progress report might be in order.

We've finished our outline!

This was accomplished thanks to several brainstorming sessions and the guidance of a few books (see My Personal Screenwriting Syllabus), with a little help from Mary Shomon's Screenwriter's Master Chart, a scriptwriting software called Final Draft (not essential at this stage, but it's pretty cool) and the inspiration of long, long walks on warm, sunny days (I do my best thinking then... makes me kinda miss my dog walking days).

Our next steps:

1. Filling in the scenes in-between the highlights of our outline, focusing on the action of the scene not the dialogue (though obviously jotting down any brilliant dialogue that happens to pop into our heads).

2. Reading lots of screenplays (I haven't made much of a dent in those 50 screenplays that the experts recommend reading... though I did pick up some very inexpensive copies of the Buffy script books for Season 1... thanks for the heads up, Brian).

3. And just continuing the stuff we're already doing: brainstorming, filling in character charts (I like the Eclectic Writer's Character Chart), reading the many tomes I've collected on the screenwriting process and watching movies with an analytical frame of mind (it's a tough job, but somebody's gotta do it).

Labels: film, writing

Carrying on from my self-directed reading list in My Personal Screenwriting Syllabus post, I have been viewing some movies with certain concepts in mind. Namely, the "9 Minute Movie" described in How to Write Movie in 21 Days (shortened to 21Days for the rest of this post) and "The Hero's Journey" as outlined in The Writer's Journey, Second Edition: Mythic Structure for Writers (aka Journey). Or I should say that I've viewed the first 30 minutes or so (approximately to the end of Act I) of a couple of movies, so far.

Firstly, a very brief overview of the concepts. The "9 Minute Movie" is recommended as a way of approaching the initial outline of a screenplay. So you take nine index cards; on the first one you write about the opening scene of your script. On card 2, you write something about the movie's main theme that will appear on page 3 of your script (or minute 3 of your movie, since 1 page of script is usually equivalent to 1 minute of film). On card 3, you write a line of dialogue for page 10 that tells us whose story it is and what they want. On card 4, you write about some sort of curve thrown at your main character that they have to react to on page 30, which is typically the end of the first act. Since that's all I'm studying right now, I'll leave the rest of the cards for another "lesson."

As for "The Hero's Journey," it is in some ways far more complex being based on Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces, which sort of parallels Jung's universal archetypes, but it's all distilled down to practical advice for writers. The Hero's Journey worksheet has twelve stages, of which I'm only dealing with the first five at the moment: 1. Ordinary World; 2. Call to Adventure; 3. Refusal of the Call; 4. Mentor; 5. First Threshold. (Though I have to keep in mind that the order of the Hero's Journey can be somewhat flexible.)

So, in combining the two approaches, I'm examining:
1. The opening scene in the movie (minute 1, 21Days)
2. Ordinary World (Journey)
3. The theme (minute 3, 21Days)
4. Call to Adventure (Journey)
5. Whose story and what do they want? (minute 10, 21Days)
6. Refusal of the Call (Journey)
7. First Threshold (Journey), which should merge with the curve at the end of Act I (minute 30, 21Days)

Both Jerry Maguire and Pretty Woman were on TV tonight, so I opted to examine those. And it's amazing how well these things apply.

Jerry Maguire:
1. Jerry opens with a voice over and an image of the earth.
2. It quickly moves from the general to the specific and soon we're seeing a sports montage and learn that he's a sports agent in his Ordinary World.
3. Minute 3 has Jerry saying that he "handles lives and dreams" and that it's "what I do best." Would that be considered a theme? Works for me.
4. Jerry's Call to Adventure comes when he writes his mission statement at around the 8 or 9 minute mark.
5. He almost immediately Refuses the Call when he tries to stop the mission statement from being distributed. (I thought it was a nice touch having the character in the movie that he's watching say "Boom" as Jerry is realizing what a horrible mistake he might have made.)
6. At the 11 minute mark, after Jerry receives the applause from everyone at the office because of the mission statement, his voice over says, "I was 35. I had started my life." Which I think fits the 'whose story is it' bit of dialogue.
7. He gets fired at around the 22 minute mark and by minute 30 he's yelling "Show me the money!" into the phone to the Cuba Gooding Jr. character, missing calls with all of his other clients as he tries to convince this one. I think that episode qualifies as a curve and The First Threshold.

Pretty Woman: I didn't watch this one as carefully, but I was interested to notice that Julia Roberts' line to her hooker friend, Kit, "Don't you want to get out of here?" happened at the 10 minute mark... identifying the movie as her story and telling us that what she wants is a better life. She then gets hired to spend the whole week as Richard Gere's "beck and call girl" at minute 30. First Threshold, perhaps? Hmmm...

Labels: film, writing

Since I'm embarking on a screenwriting project with my new actress friend, I've decided it's high time to read a few of those books that have been moldering on my Amazon.com wish list for ages:

Story: Substance, Structure, Style and The Principles of Screenwriting
by Robert McKee

The Writer's Journey, Second Edition: Mythic Structure for Writers
by Christopher Vogler

Memento & Following
by Christopher Nolan

Four Screenplays: Studies in the American Screenplay
by Syd Field

How Not to Write a Screenplay: 101 Common Mistakes Most Screenwriters Make
by Denny Martin Flinn

And since none of those were at the library when I dropped into my local branch without checking the catalogue first, I got these books to get started with:

The Tools of Screenwriting: A Writer's Guide to the Craft and Elements of a Screenplay
by David Howard, Edward Mabley
(I've read everything except the film analyses, so far, and I'm really getting a lot out of it. Definitely not your paint-by-numbers screenwriting book but with plenty of practical fundamentals for the novice screenwriter.)

How to Write a Movie in 21 Days
by Viki King
(I've glanced through sections of this book before but would like to actually read the whole thing this time. Yes, it is more of a paint-by-numbers book, but it has that "get your ass in gear and just start writing already" motivation that some of us writers need.)

Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting; A step-by-step guide from concept to finished script
by Syd Field
(Looked interesting whilst I was thumbing through its pages at the library. We'll see if further reading upholds that first impression.)

How to Write a Selling Screenplay
by Christopher Keane
(Ditto my comments on the previous title.)

And a couple more titles that I might look for (based on Amazon Listmania recommendations):

The Screenwriter's Bible: A Complete Guide to Writing, Formatting, and Selling Your Script
by David Trottier

Adventures in the Screen Trade
by William Goldman

And since they say that a beginning screenwriter should read at least 50 scripts before writing one of her own, I think I'll head on over to Drew's Script-O-Rama and pick a few to get the ball rolling. (Hmm, let's see... I want early drafts, not shooting scripts... hey, they've got the first draft of Aliens! Being a self-professed James Cameron junkie, I think I'll start with that...)

Labels: film, writing

I've been struggling with my novel the last couple of days because I've had to kill off a character that I had become quite fond of. I finally did it. She's dead. The plot can move forward (after my main character wallows a little first). I've never killed off a character before. It's kinda sad. I was planning on writing that section to the Adagio of Bach's Sonata No. 3 for Cello and Piano (used in the movie Truly Madly Deeply in the scene where Nina is playing the piano, a piece that she and her lover used to play together before he died, and her lover's ghost begins to play his part on the cello). For some reason it wasn't right. It definitely evokes grief for me, but it's for a grief that's less raw. Instead, I wrote it to Barber's Adagio for Strings (used in The Elephant Man, Platoon, Lorenzo's Oil and Amélie). To me, it evokes a painfully controlled grief that eventually breaks down into shattering sobs. More what I was looking for here. Not to imply that I expect you to break down into sobs while reading this excerpt (that you can read while listening to Barber, if you so desire). It's a first draft and it's out of context so *shrug* feel free to have no emotional reaction at all (to the writing, not the music... if you have no emotional reaction to Barber's Adagio then you must be dead inside :-p):

Meg dipped her finger into the water and then dabbed the water onto the third eye chakra in the middle of her forehead, saying:

"May this water aid my power
And lend me magick in this hour."

She had placed the amethyst ring on the middle finger of her left hand. She now touched it to the same spot on her forehead and recited:

"May this stone aid me this night
And strengthen gifts of second sight."

She took a deep breath and looked into the water in the bowl and focused on thoughts of Skye. She finally saw an image start to form in the water. It was Skye, but Skye as she’d been in Meg’s apartment or when they’d gone for coffee. Generic Skye, as it were, not Skye tonight, her life possibly in danger.

She picked up Skye’s necklace and held it in her left hand, the one that bore the ring. She repeated:

"May this stone aid me this night
And strengthen gifts of second sight."

Then she plunged the necklace into the bowl of water and held it fast against the bottom, saying:

"May this water aid my power
And lend me magick in this hour."

She felt the stabbing pain over her left eye, the presentiment of her migraines that she’d come to associate with the magic working through her. She kept her hand in the water, clenching the necklace, fighting off the migraine. She wasn’t sure how long she sat this way. Her hand gradually growing numb in the water, her migraine increasing. And then she was somehow inside Skye’s mind.

Her senses were dulled. But she was aware of the sharp, little stones underneath her knees as she knelt on cold, wet, sticky concrete. She was leaning forward, chest resting on her upper thighs, forehead resting on the same uncomfortable surface as her knees. Her arms ached. They were stretched behind her. She didn’t seem able to change their position. Something was chaffing her wrists. Her hands must be tied behind her back. Her eyes were closed. Too much effort to open them.

Open your eyes, Skye! Meg yelled in her head.

Skye’s eyelids fluttered but didn’t open. There was a sharp pain in her scalp. Her hair was being pulled. Someone’s hand had grasped a hank of her hair and was pulling her up to a sitting position by it.

She felt something cold against her neck. Cold and sharp.

Skye!!! Meg’s thoughts reverberated through a transcendental plane, disturbing the thoughts of everyone in the city with any ounce of psychic power.

Wake up! Get out of there!

Skye’s eyelids fluttered again. Then opened briefly. Long enough to look in the eyes of the man who held the knife to her throat. His eyes widened in surprise at this display of consciousness. Then narrowed as if he sensed another presence behind them. Then, in a single swift motion, that felt like it lasted an eternity, the cold, thin steel sliced Skye’s throat and Meg was briefly aware of the hot, spurting blood, of Skye’s body falling to the ground in slow motion, and then a of final few weak heartbeats echoing in a void, pumping the last vestiges of life out of her body. And the connection was severed.

NaNoWriMo Word Count: 24,056 down ~ 25,944 to go

Labels: writing

Went to a small reception for Peter C. Newman last night. He's just published his memoirs, Here Be Dragons. I wouldn't mind reading it once all this NaNo madness is over. The man sure has some interesting stories. He spoke briefly at the reception, starting with a quote by Winston Churchill: "History will be kind to me for I intend to write it." Then he went on to relate fascinating stories about Diefenbaker, Trudeau and Conrad Black, to name but a few. And he wrapped it up with a Woody Allen anecdote: When asked if he hoped to achieve immortaility through his films, Woody Allen looked shocked and said, "Absolutely not. I want to achieve immortality through not dying."

NaNoWriMo Word Count: 12,207 down ~ 37,793 to go
(book reception ate into my writing time... that's my story and I'm sticking to it!)

Labels: writing

I think my blog is destined to be pretty boring until the end of November. I'm pretty much focusing on writing my NaNo novel to the exclusion of everything else. So unless something interesting comes up to me and hits me over the head, saying "write about me, dammit!" then I'm pretty much just going to be updating folks on the progress of the novel. Speaking of which, I've decided that I wouldn't mind having the apartment I described for one of my characters (minus the coffin, of course):

The first time she'd seen Skye's apartment had been a bit of a shock. The layout was identical to her own studio apartment, so she hadn't been prepared for how different it would look. In contrast to her own cheery apricot walls, Skye had painted hers a deep purple. Over the boring vertical blinds that covered the wall of windows facing the street, Skye had mounted drapes of black velvet. Wrought iron candle sconces, an ornate gilt framed oval mirror and a movie poster from the original Nosferatu adorned the walls. A fake fireplace (which actually had a TV in the opening that was hidden by an opaque fireplace screen when not in use) was the main focal point, with gargoyle statues on the mantle. Across from the fireplace was a moth eaten Art Deco sofa upholstered in an unexpected pink velvet. It stood in front of a medieval tapestry hung from the ceiling which acted as a divider to the bedroom area. When Meg had snuck a look behind the divider, she'd seen panels of black mosquito netting cascading down from a ceiling ring over the bed, draping the bed in a romantic canopy. Perhaps the most shocking piece of furniture was Skye's "bookcase" that was actually a coffin (Meg hoped it was a prop from a school play) leaning upright in the corner of the living room. A faux fur rug and several floor pillows in luxurious fabrics completed the look. When Meg compared it to her own conventional shabby chic apartment, she felt quite drab.

I can sympathize with Meg on that count. Aside from my orange entranceway, my apartment's feeling pretty drab by comparison. But interior decorating, like everything else in my life, will have to wait until after NaNo... *sigh*

NaNoWriMo Word Count: 8,744 down ~ 41,256 to go

Labels: blogging, decorating, writing

I'm afraid I've been rather lax this year about my NaNoWriMo writing schedule. My excuse is that life got in the way. But that's really no excuse because life will always get in the way. So I'm going to start posting my paltry word count so that friends and family can berate me for my lack of focus. Okay, that's the stick... now I just need to find the appropriate carrot.

NaNoWriMo Word Count: 3,958 down ~ only 46,042 to go (yikes!)

Music Note: Special Mocking Shadows performance on Wednesday, November 17 @ The Shamrock. $5 cover, all proceeds go to replace the gear that was stolen out of Mike Little's van: keyboards, vintage amps, monitors, etc. (Mike, one of two keyboard players for the Mocking Shadows, makes fabulous music on his Hammond B3 organ.)

Labels: music, writing

Should be writing my daily 2,000 words for NaNoWriMo, but am already lacking in motivation. Blame it on my multiple math tutoring sessions... yeah, that sounds like a good excuse. Anyway, as a form of semi-productive procrastination, I thought I would write about the rest of my weekend.

Went to the "Back From The Dead" all ages punk show that I ever-so-briefly mentioned in my previous post: The Everymen and Supersift Reunion Show with special guests Billy and the Lost Boys, FiJ and Knucklehead. Not that I got to see them all, because Greg (aka So Far Gone) and Brian had a BTG gig later that night and hanging out solo with a bunch of angsty 15-year-olds I don't know doesn't really fit my definition of a good time... no matter how much fun the music might be. So I just stayed long enough to get Supersift's Colt 45 running through my head for the rest of the night. (Theoretically, "Pair-a-Dice Casino" — the CD that features that song — is still available for purchase. But I did an internet search and couldn't find it anywhere, so I've uploaded the entire song as opposed to my usual song sample. And hey, if the song really rocks your boat, feel free to go into any HMV and try to place an order. Ya never know...)

Also rented Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Very good movie (assuming you appreciate the mind of Charlie Kaufman, which I certainly do). But I'm not quite ready to discuss it yet. Hmm, doesn't make for a very effective form of procrastination that way, does it. Ah well, c'est la vie... it's bedtime now, making further procrastination unnecessary anyway. G'night!

Labels: film, music, writing

There was a suggestion on one of the NaNo threads to aid with visualization of ones characters... head on over to Getty Images and search through the photos by the use of keywords such as "woman" "30-35" etc. So I found a few images there that I'm considering for my main characters:



Meg - main character, 28, author, shy & bookish, develops supernatural powers.
Jack - Meg's neighbour (and sort of romantic interest), 36, police detective, no-nonsense & kind of reserved, divorced, has a 12-year-old daughter. [Okay, so this is actually Christopher Meloni from Law & Order: SVU... I kind of have his character of Elliot Stabler in mind for Jack... that's my story and I'm sticking to it!]
Sophie - Meg's middle sister (Meg is the youngest), 33, mother of two (ages 2 & 4), lives in the burbs, friendly, casual & easy to get along with.
Claire - Meg's eldest sister, 35, stockbroker, ambitious, never has a hair out of place, single, almost seems to date for sport.
Danny - Jack's police partner, 37, bit of a womanizer, has a brief thing with Claire.

Any opinions on whether the pics seem to match the people?

Other things I've been working on for NaNo:

1. I have index cards on which I'm in the process of writing one line scene descriptions. I have around 30 so far. I was aiming for 75, but I have a fairly comprehensive timeline written out and I don't know that I want to pin it down too much ahead of time, so I'm feeling okay about not completing that task.

2. I have four exercise books: one for Plot, one for Characters, one for Writing Practice and one for Research. In the plot notebook I have a timeline of events along with some random plot notes and I'm planning to include the scenes from the index cards. In the character notebook, I've been writing descriptions using the Eclectics character chart. I think the other books are even more self explanatory.

3. I've started making a list of what songs I want to listen to when writing what scenes. For example, one of the spellcastings is done to Heather Nova's "Sugar" and the final scene wraps up with Gary Jules' "Mad World".

4. I've also been working on the killer's M.O. and victim selection, etc. but I know I need to also spend time developing his character. Have been shying away from that it seems, but I'm kinda running out of time. So maybe I should spend a little time this weekend focusing on that.

Other things I'm up to this weekend...

Went to Morgan's last night with Mandy, FFWD promised that New Butchers was playing... they lied. It was Mr. Sparkle instead. Still not a bad band, but I prefer the Butchers. Partly because of the vocals, partly because their drummer rocks (seriously rocks!), and partly because they recognize us and chat with us between sets (not that important, but a nice perk).

Am going to a punk show at MacEwan Hall tonight. Featuring a Supersift reunion, among other acts. Heading over with Greg and Brian (bass player and guitar player extraordinaire, respectively).

Then tomorrow is math tutoring (woohoo) and then, after midnight, I can start writing my NaNo novel. Whew... that all sounds like quite a lot... think it's time for a nap!

Labels: writing

Okay, this post isn't really about fractals, it's about The Snowflake Process for Writing a Novel. But since a snowflake (specifically the Koch snowflake) is an example of a fractal and is the metaphor being alluded to in the article (and my mind is still in mathematics mode), I stand by my title. Wow... two sentences into my post and I'm already digressing.

The article talks about ten steps of design to help you organize your creativity so that you're ready to write your novel. The first step is writing your one page story summary. And I'm thinking that my "Mary Higgins Clark meets Charmed" pitch ain't gonna cut it. So let's see... how 'bout:

"A career guide author writes a book about "How To Be A Witch" and ends up helping to solve a murder investigation."

Yawn. I wouldn't buy that book. Try again:

"An author writing a book about "How To Be A Witch" taps into supernatural powers when she becomes embroiled in a serial murder investigation."

Hmmm... not exactly a New York Times bestseller, but I guess I can live with it for now. (Any opinions?)

I'm not sure about the "three disasters plus an ending" approach suggested in the article, but it might still be a useful exercise in helping me organize my thoughts for my story. I'll let you know. And I'm also going to try the Outline Your Novel in Thirty Minutes technique.

I realize that this sounds like a lot of dabbling in a hodge podge of different approaches, but I'm still trying to figure out what will work for me as a novelist. I know what works for me for writing poetry, short stories and non-fiction... but not so much for novels. So last NaNoWriMo, I learned that my best writing hours are between 11pm and 3am, and that my best planning was in the couple of hours preceding that. I also learned that a dram of Scotch can help quell my inner editor, but more than that and I lose focus and get sleepy. This year, I'm trying to figure out how to organize my thoughts for writing. (Will save the details of what I've actually accomplished thus far for another post.)

Now for the audience participation... *cheers & applause*

I've decided to set this story in a fictional city with neighbouring fictional towns (long story), and I've been coming up with city names.

Poll: Which of the following sounds like the largest city in my fictional universe?
(a) New Franklin
(b) Logan
(c) West Haven
(d) Knightsbridge

Please, please, please vote via the comment feature. Thanks muchly.

Labels: writing

Okay, so I've been making a point of doing my timed writing practice every day. Unfortunately, the results read like the stream of consciousness transcription of a rambling, chaotic brain... which I suppose they are. But I seem to remember a time when I actually was able to get past that surface flotsam and achieve both focus and creativity (or perhaps I was just delusional). So I'm thinking that maybe I need a slightly more structured writing exercise to help me regain focus. To that end, I'm gonna try this visualization technique...

Holly Lisle talks about reading a book and feeling like "you're standing in the dark listening to someone muttering on the other side of a wall." I fear that my writing can get like that when I'm trying so hard to advance the plot that I lose sight of the moment. Holly's visualization exercise to overcome that problem starts with collecting various objects (jewelry, photos, food, etc.), placing them on a plain cloth, studying each one carefully in turn and memorizing their details, then writing at least 100 words describing each of them. So that's what I'm going to try today.

P.S. I'm sure you're all just dying to know how my plotting technique is working, aren't you? Well, it's harder to come up with scenes than you might think (or maybe I was just hopelessly naive to think it would be simple). Anyway, I have come up with only 20 out of the required 75 scenes... methinks one of those books about fiction plotting might be helpful right about now.

Labels: writing

I know I said that I would start on the character sheets today but, as often happens, I have been distracted by shiny objects. The shiny object in this case is Holly Lisle's Fast Plotting technique.

As part of my attempt to "plot the plot" I've broken down my book into 30 chapters, partly because that's the number of days in novel writing month (aka November) and partly because that's the approximate number of chapters in the thriller that I just finished reading (Acid Row by Minette Walters... a compelling read, two thumbs up). So I'm planning on writing a chapter a day. I generally aim to write 2000 words a day, rather than the 1667 words that satisfies the "50,000 words ÷ 30 days" equation; I like the luxurious feeling of a few extra words. If I anticipate 2 or 3 scenes per chapter, we're talking about something in the neighborhood of 750 words per scene. (Keep in mind, 50,000 words is far shorter than a finished novel. A NaNoWriMo "novel" is really a "half-draft" or a well padded outline. So I can either approach my breakdown — plot, not nervous — as having certain scenes omitted or as containing brief sketches of every scene. I'm opting for the latter. Otherwise, my scenes would average closer to 1500 words each.)

Total number of scenes = 67.

Now, using Holly Lisle's notecarding technique, I am going to write one line descriptions of scenes that I would like to include in the book. To give myself the option of tossing some scenes, I should come up with something like 75 scenes in total. Starting with the obvious "candy bar" scenes (the ones I'm itching to write, like the first spellcasting or the heroine's confrontation with the killer) and going from there. Once I have my 75 notecards, I can start putting them into some kind of order. And voila... I'll have a plot outline! (Gee, I make it sound so easy... now come the endless days of torment while I attempt to make this outline a reality.)

So off I go to buy index cards. And maybe I'll stop by the coffee shop on my way home and do some writing practice. (I can't do it at home because Emma, my youngest cat, tends to chase my pen... not very conducive to the writing effort.)

Labels: writing

I realize it's still over a month before National Novel Writing Month begins. But I've started giving some thought to my NaNoWriMo goals. The book that I want to write this year is more ambitious than the one I wrote last year, so some preparation might not be amiss. (This year's Hollywood-style pitch is "Mary Higgins Clark meets Charmed"... it's a supernatural thriller with a hint of romance; last year I described "Being Zoe" as "Bridget Jones' Diary for the intelligent woman.") Anyway, I thought I'd start with a list of things I want to do before November 1:

1. Getting to Know You: Write character descriptions for (a) main character (name yet to be determined... thinking she'd be played by Sandra Bullock in the movie), (b) romantic interest (cop... don't know yet who'd play him... maybe Dylan McDermott?), and (c) serial killer (need to determine his MO, among other things... possibly a Billy Bob type character, but not sure yet). Not sure if I'll bother with descriptions for any other supporting characters. I found a character chart that I think I'll try out this time 'round. I won't try to completely fill them out right away, just do the bare bones and add the other stuff as I get to know the characters better. Maybe tomorrow's project?

2. Plot the Plot: I know how the story starts and I know how it ends, with only the sketchiest idea of what happens in-between. Would like more of a plan to get started with it, even if I end up deviating from it once I start writing. There are some good suggestions in Zilpha Keatley Snyder's article on Being a Storyteller. Other sites I'll be using for reference are: Holly Lisle's Forward Motion for Writers and the Tameri Guide for Writers. I may even break down and read a book or two on the subject of plotting, since I feel like it's the weakest aspect of my writing. The Writer's Bookshop has some reasonable suggestions.

3. Keep the Pen Moving: I used to do daily timed writing practices à la Writing Down the Bones, but I've been remiss in the past several months. If I'm going to expect to write 2000 words a day in November, I'd better get used to writing every day again. Not to mention the fact that it will help prime the creativity pump.

4. Supernatural Romantic Thriller: I know that I can't really read fiction during NaNoWriMo because I too easily lose my voice and start writing like whomever I'm reading. But if I read a few books before November in the genre that I plan to be writing, I think it'll put me in the right mindset. Dream Man by Linda Howard looks like it might work and possibly something by Connie Willis, though I think she's more sci-fi than I'm looking for. Anybody have any suggestions?

5. Shopping, Occult Style: Since my story starts with a visit to an occult shop, I thought it was high time that I popped into a real one myself. I found a list of Alberta Pagan Shopping & Services that should give me a good place to start.

6. Susie Homemaker: Don't need to worry about this stuff until closer to November, but I intend to have cupboards full of groceries and clean dishes, a freezer full of nukeable food and a closet full of clean clothes before November 1st rolls around. Because laundry, dishes, groceries and cooking might not will not be happening in November. (Oh yeah, must not forget to stock up on Scotch, too... mmm, liquid inspiration...)

Oops... almost forgot...

7. For Your Listening Pleasure: Must make songlists to suit the moods of various scenes: quiet moments, action, spellcasting, love scenes, etc. (I already know that I'll be listening to Heather Nova's "Sugar" for the first spell cast... that's kinda how this whole ball got rolling. And hey, while we're talking about it, check out this video clip of "Sugar.")

Labels: writing

So much for finding the discipline to edit. One week later and I've only knocked off 3.5 more hours. So what the heck have I been doing with my time? Listening to live music, visiting with friends and family, posting my cult film guide (still a work in progress) and let's not forget those odds and ends that I try to pay the rent with (sometimes known as my job, a term that I use very loosely). Oh, and I've been hanging out at the EdMo website... theoretically for inspiration but we all know it's really about procrastination. And next weekend is going to be crazy, a veritable live music extravaganza: The Mocking Shadows at Wildwood on Friday, Burning the Ground at The Lounge on Saturday, Jasmine Whenham at Merlot on Sunday (download her demo of "Hallelujah" here) and my math tutee is dancing in the eko Dance Projects presentation of "Common Ground" (no website that I know of). Anyway, the upshot is that I should be editing my ass off right now rather than writing anymore in my poor neglected blog. So this is me signing off and editing!

EdMo Hours: 23 down ~ 27 to go

Labels: writing

Making a wee bit of progress with NaNoEdMo. Have finished reading my first draft (or zero draft, as someone called it... I rather like that description), filled out my storyboard cards and divvied up the manuscript into corresponding sections, rearranged the pages to fit the new order (and I'm not talking about white supremacists or new wave bands here... just the literal "order that is different from the old"), and cut out so much embarrassingly bad writing from my novel that it is now a novella.

So now I'm starting to retype the manuscript into the computer (as suggested by someone on the EdMo forum) so that I'm forced to reread each sentence as I type and can rework it if needed (hmm, that wording seems to erroneously imply that there are actually some sentences that don't need it). While I'm doing this, I plan to make notes about the additional scenes that I still need to write to fill in the plethora of gaps. Sounds pretty good, doesn't it? 'Cept for the fact that I'm only on page 2!

EdMo Hours: 3 down ~ 47 to go

Labels: writing

Things I wish I'd done before starting NaNoEdMo:

1. Written an ending - Although I reached the 50,000 word mark required for NaNoWriMo, the story doesn't actually reach a conclusion. It's a year-in-the-life book but October and November are pretty sketchy, I have practically nothing written for December, and the romantic story arc doesn't get wrapped up at all. I meant to write this in January... didn't happen... my bad.

2. Printed out the manuscript - I know this sounds ridiculously simple, but that's what I spent too much time doing today. For starters, I wanted to reformat it for easy reading and editing: easy to read font, sufficient margins for notes and enough space between lines to insert proofreading symbols. By now it's a 200-page manuscript... didn't have enough paper to print it out. So I had to go buy some. Then the actual printing. My printer only has room for around 75 pages in the paper tray, so I had to print it off in sections. Then, of course, there's the collating because the pages end up in reverse order. All in all, time that can't be counted as part of my NaNoEdMo hours. Time that could have been better spent actually revising.

3. Read the manuscript from start to finish - I haven't looked at my novel since November when I uploaded it to the NaNoWriMo website for word count verification. Planned on re-reading it in January before writing that ending I mentioned in point one. Didn't even manage that much... shame on me. But it must be done. And it must not be counted in my NaNoEdMo hours. *sigh*

The first three points were more or less essential. The final point would have been a bonus:

4. A plan - I haven't thought about what changes I might want to make, what story arcs I want to develop, what themes I want to see emerge. I haven't read any books or articles about how I should approach the revision and editing of an entire novel (something I've never done before). In short, I have no idea what I'm actually doing this month. So yeah, a plan would have been nice. *really big sigh*

Labels: writing

'Tis now the start of National Novel Editing Month (NaNoEdMo). You may be asking: What the heck is that? The short answer is that it's what you do after National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) in November. But that might not be a terribly illuminating response. Simply put, the goal of NaNoWriMo is to complete a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. The goal of NaNoEdMo is to spend 50 hours editing that novel in 31 days. Last November was my first stab at NaNoWriMo with my Chick Lit novel "Being Zoe." Final word count: 51,823. (Woohoo!) So now it's time to edit. 50 hours... yikes!

"Many people hear voices when no one is there. Some of them are called mad and are shut up in rooms where they stare at the walls all day. Others are called writers and they do pretty much the same thing." -- Margaret Chittenden

Labels: writing