3 Days Till SCRIPT FRENZY 2008!!!

Tuesday, 12:00 am, I get to type "FADE IN:" on my screenplay!!! And hopefully, by 11:59 pm Wednesday, April 30th I will have finished it!!! :D

I just COULD NOT be more excited about April, and I'll tell you why:

I feel like this screenplay marks the actual beginning of my career as a writer! All the study and practice I've been doing for the last decade and a half has culminated into THIS script! This beginning!

It took me a while, but I finally GET the old axiom "Writers WRITE." Before now, I might have added to that quote "Yeah, unless they don't know what to write." But events have fallen into such a place that I now know -- KNOW -- that once I begin writing April 1st, I won't quit until I retire or die!

When this screenplay is finished, I'm immediately going to begin another. When that is done, I'll return to this one and rewrite it (probably as a novel, but that would still give be a good Second Draft because I'll be changing things as I go), then if enough time has passed I'll go back and rewrite the second script, then I'll come back to this story and adapt my novel back into screenplay form, then I'll start on a 3rd screenplay, and so on and so on until I am a published novelist, a working screenwriter, or BOTH! :D

If I have to write 20 screenplays and 20 novels before I start making money as a writer, so be it. That's simply the way it goes. That just means that it took 20 screenplays/novels to actually get great at it. I'm cool with that. :)

My plan is 3 screenplays finish and ready to send to Hollywood before 2008 is gone.

But that's all in the future.

If my Gnomey and I are finally united and I have to take a 2nd job to keep a roof over our head or something, obviously the model will shift. But I suspect I WILL be writing during that, too! (Just a slower output than my current plan.)

So I don't want to jinx myself, but... :D (There's a great quote from DUMA KEY "God always punishes us for what we can't imagine," lol.)

As far as the Script Frenzy goes, my strategy is simple: 25 pages a week. I can't count on sticking to a daily page-count, but I've discovered over the last 4 months that a weekly page-count is AMAZINGLY do-able! :D And even though 25 pages in, essentially, 3 days is A LOT of work, I've already taken care of the hardest part...

I've completely broken my movie! :D I have every single scene outlined and structured, so all I have to do is look at the outline, see what scene is next, AND WRITE THAT MUTHA!!! :D

Then every Tuesday I take count: Have I finished 25 pages? If I fall behind, then I know I'll have to find some extra writing time during the work week. If I get ahead, groovy. And if I only just make my schedule, I'm finished a full day before deadline!!! :D

And here's the beauty part...

Even if I don't make it this year (last year I made the deadline, but the script I wrote was crap and I could feel it long before I finished it) I STILL WIN!!! Not the Frenzy, but... you know... LIFE in general, lol. Because my real goal is to finish the first draft of this script and get started on my next story.

Because I've finally figured out which game I'm playing!

LIFE!

What I mean is that I believe our lives are a lot like SecondLife... You can do anything you want with certain limitations. So you familiarize yourself with the limitations, familiarize yourself with what's fun, then you basically create your own game!

Every time you enter SecondLife, you do so with an agenda. "I want to hang out with So-and-So." "I want to build this." "I want to experience that." Or maybe just "I want to go sailing." If you don't have an agenda, you usually just don't log in.

Same, I believe, with Life.

I don't wake up every day because my alarm goes off. Maybe I wake up because I have to go to work, yeah, but I go to work to pay my bills and (occasionally) buy neat stuff. On my days off, I get to figure out for myself why I'm waking up. "Want to see if my baby is online." "Got some writing to do." "Wanna get to the next level in Tomb Raider." "Want to watch such-and-such dvd."

But we create our own agenda. (Or we allow someone to create it for us, but that's another blog entirely, lol.)

And I believe we do so with Life, as well. I see Life as a physical-reality videogame and us as the spirit-beings playing it, and the way we win the game is to simply PLAY THE HELL OUT OF IT!!! :D We get EVERY OUNCE of enjoyment and wisdom and understanding that we can find until the game is over!

And after searching (blindly, it now seems in hindsight) for almost 20 years, I finally figure out my game...

Tell some stories that make some people happy so I can get some money so I can get the hotty. Then I tell more stories that make more people happy so I can get more money while hanging with the hotty. Then I tell some more stories that make more people happy so I can get more money while I'm raising a family with the hotty. Then I tell some more stories that make some more people happy and make me some more money while the hotty and our family laugh a lot and love each other and have lots and lots of fun together. And then one day it'll all be over for me and I'll die with a huge-ass smile on my face!

That's not a bad game plan, yeah? ;P

And although, at 37, I feel it has taken me FOREVER to figure this all out, I suspect that at 87 it will seem like no time at all! ;)

But first... the Frenzy!

This is the starter's gun. This is when the game begins, and doesn't end for years and years and years! :) One month of frenzied writing, followed by a lifetime of frenzied writing... broken up by laughs and love and Life.

Is there ANY way I could make Script Frenzy 2008 more grandiose? lol

Oh yeah, and for this Frenzy I'm starting a Frenzy beard, lol. Just an idea that occurred to me. I remember being impressed by Conan O'Brien's strike beard, so I thought I might try a Frenzy beard.

I don't know how much it'll grow in a month (not much, I'm sure) but it might be fun watching it grow! (Maybe, lol.)

As of 8:36 am Saturday, March 29, 2008 I have maybe 2 days' growth and this is what it looks like...



Okay, I'd like to start off with the observation that this lighting doesn't do me any favors. :( It seems to give me a yellow-ish tint, which I don't have. I'm much more "pasty white" than "jaundiced yellow". And my teeth are not NEARLY as caffeine-/nicotine-stained, lol. ;P

But this is about 2 days' growth on me.

If you're having trouble spotting the new growth, here's a closer view...



There ya go. Now you can almost see it, lol.

The goatee and soul patch, naturally, have been growing for years now. But that thin smattering of darkness on top of my pasty jaw is the Frenzy beard doing its thing.

See all that white (or yellow, as the case may be) between those pencil-thin streaks of hair? No hair is going to grow there. Over the coming weeks, the hair that is there will simply grow longer. So what I believe you will witness over the next month is the phenomenon of how thin, baby-fine hair can actually refuse to create a beard.

It should be riveting. ;P

But be back here next Tuesday to see if I've made my page-count for the first week of Script frenzy 2008, and to see if maybe it might be possible I can grow a full, manly beard.

In the meantime, ENJOY YOUR LIFE!!! For all we know, we only get THIS ONE! :D

Finished DUMA KEY!!! :D

I put it up there with THE STAND and SALEMS' LOT and INSOMNIA!!! This is one of King's best books ever!!!

I also put it up there with some Koontz novels: FROM THE CORNER OF HIS EYE, ONE DOOR AWAY FROM HEAVEN, and THE TAKEN!!!

The year before last I read CELL and was pleased to see than King was still rough and raw. But having read DUMA KEY, I really appreciate that King has matured, and can tell a story that is just a joy to read in and of itself!

I usually read King because I want him to scare me. But the scares mostly come late in the game in DUMA KEY. What you're left with is people that you LOVE hanging out with in a place you love inhabiting! If King didn't write horror stories, if he jst wrote fictitious drama, you'd still love his work! :D

I suspect I'll be revisiting DUMA KEY frequently, lol! :)

VERY good book!!!

Otherwise, I'm waiting for April 1st, when I'll begin the Script Frenzy and finish my current screenplay. (I've broken the story, so I just have the actual pages to write now.)

Okay, I have food cooking, so I'm going to go for now.

PEACE!!! :D

Lost In 2 Great Books...

I'm almost finished reading Eckhart Tolle's A NEW EARTH: AWAKENING TO YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE, which is probably the first Oprah Book Club recommendation that I've ever read, lol. But my friend Traci told me about the free 10-week online class, which is available for download on iTunes the next day.

So I watched the first 2 classes (Chapters 1 & 2) on my iPod, and bought the book. It's good reading! :)

Also, since I've seen the cover of Stephen King's current novel, DUMA KEY, I've been obsessing over it. So this morning, after I bought a money order for this month's rent, I treated myself to the unabridged audiobook version ($35 at Audible.com, $32 at iTunes!) and fell asleep listening to it. Then I listened to it on the drive to work, and have been listening to for the past 2 and 1/2 hours at work. (I have all my heavy-duty Friday stuff done, so the rest of my shift is babysitting the technology and keeping the beast fed. Plus, I keep the iPod audio quiet enough that I can easily hear all three of my stations, in case something went wrong.)

I paused in my listening because my iPod was almost out of juice, lol. I'm recharging it (AND watching/listening to my stations) as I write this.

I think DUMA KEY may turn out to be one of my favorite King novels! :D

I'm LOVING the book so far!

I should explain: One of the big reasons I started obsessing over the book after I saw the cover art is because, for whatever reason beyond the ridiculously obvious, the cover art and the blurb reminded me of the weekend I spent in Florida at my friend Chuck's wedding. (Chuck just happens to be as devoted to King's writing as I am to Michael Crichton's. So there's that, as well.)

I remember obsessing over the book INSOMNIA when I was living a fairly solitary life in Georgetown. The book is about an older guy and his life after his beloved wife passes away. I've read the book a few times now. I really enjoy just being in that world. (Chaos and supernatural murder not withstanding.)

I dug on CELL a couple of years ago, and it's definitely up there as one of my favorites, if for no other reason that it's King and it's (more or less) zombies. Oh, AND it's post-apocalyptic. (Got a weakness for fictitious apocalypses...)

But I've only returned to hang out in that world once, so far.

But Duma Key...

I'm kind of digging being there! :)

And the relationship between the guy (in his 50s) and his adult daughter... There's definitely something very "me" about this story so far! :D I'm really relating to it!

The audiobook is divided into 9 2.5-hour chunks (21.5 hours total running time), and I'm about 4 hours into it. So I'm really in "Act I", if you thought of King's work in screenwriting terms. I've seen glimpses of the supernatural evil lurking somewhere in the darkness, but it hasn't really sprung just yet.

But that's fine by me! :)

I'm just living on a Key right now!!!

Awww MANNN...!

I just noticed that we're airing one of those trashy "Laugh At Videos Where People Get Hurt And/Or Die" shows for the next hour! :( NOW is the time I REALLY need Mr. King to divert my attention, only the iPod's recharging!

There's no work I can be doing to distract myself for the next hour, so I could really use a distraction.

I LOATHE watching people get injured. It sickens me. And it sickens me even more to know that there are enough people out there who aren't bothered watching their fellow humans suffer.

More than that, wasn't FACES OF DEATH supposedly banned in several countries 20 years ago? How come we can show stuff worse than that on TV now? What the hell?

Blah.

Okay... Smoke break, then I'll see how much the iPod has charged. I only have 2 more hours left of my shift, so maybe I don't need it to recharge all the way.

Hope you've got some fun shiny objects with which to distract yourself, too! :)

And happy Easter!!! :D

WOO-HOO!!! :D

I just finished outlining my screenplay!!! :D

What that means is that the next step is JUST WRITING IT!!!

The writing-pages part doesn't take NEARLY as long as the figuring-out-what-happens-and-making-sure-it's-something-good part!

I got an email that Screenwriting Frenzy starts April 1st. Last year the rules stipulated that the project had to be begun and completed within the alloted 30 days. (I think.) So I need to check to see if a movie that's already outlined is admissible. I hope so, cause I think that would be a cool, participating again this year! (I believe last year was the first year of the contest, so it would be REALLY cool to keep going with it!)

I'll let you know after I look into that...

I also need to hear back from my friend (the one who keeps me to my weekly deadlines). Technically, as per our agreement -- which has been INVALUABLE for keeping me productive and not letting me slack until I loose the creative enthusiasm for a project -- I would be taking some time off until April 1st if I sign up for Screenwriting Frenzy.

So if my friend (my Producer, really; in fact, I think I'll start referring to her as that from now on) doesn't go for it, I won't be joining anyway. Which would be fine from a Big Picture standpoint: This script is about getting my career started, not about competitions that don't actually have cash- or production-prizes. Screenwriting Frenzy is more about providing writers with an excuse to do some work and make it more exciting -- which is indescribably valuable! (Often, screenwriting feels like thankless work when you're not getting any recognition -- like a paycheck -- from it.)

However, if my Producer feels like the script is best served just by getting it done now, striking while the iron is hot, so to speak, then that's cool, too! Who knows, if we went that way, I might possibly be done BEFORE April 30th! One never knows...

Also, BIG DAY TODAY!

The reason I completed my scene breakdown this morning -- rather than procrastinating until tomorrow and finishing it then, since Tuesdays are my weekly deadline -- is that TISHA'S IN TOWN!!! She's spending Spring Break in Austin, and tomorrow is my day with her! If Brian's not too worn-out from work, he'll be joining us, too!

And if all that weren't sweet enough, I HEARD FROM MY GORGEOUS GNOMEY GODDESS TODAY!!! :D She didn't have long to chat, she just wanted to tell me she loves me! :D How lucky am I!!! xoxoxo

So two bad-ass days in a row for me!!! :D


Hope your day -- your whole WEEK -- is bad-ass, too!!! :D

Cruisin' Along...

Sorry I haven't really been blogging lately.

The screenplay I'm working on is coming along nicely... Not super-fast, but not slowly at all. Just this nice, even pace! :) I think this may be the first one I finish that I'm actually proud of! :D

At this moment, I'm trying to avoid the living area, where Brian is watching yesterday's episode of LOST online. I have to get ready for work soon, so I'll watch it later.

THE INTERNET RULES!!! :D

I've also been following TERMINATOR: THE SARAH CONNER CHRONICLES thanks to Hulu.com, and that's fun! They've also got the first 3 seasons of NEWS RADIO and the series THE CROW: STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN!

HULU RULES!!!

Um... What else?

Haven't heard much from my sweetheart, so I'm guessing she's really, really busy lately. :( Poor hotty!

OOH! Brian & I are all caught up on ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT, which (you guessed it) RULES!!! And I've watched the first 2 discs of Season One of ALIAS. (Another RULEr)

And I suppose that's kind of it.

Basically, I find myself thinking "I am finally sort of living the life I imagined for myself" a lot with this screenplay, as well as the Zencasts I've been listening to lately.

For example, this past Tuesday (a few days before payday) I scrounged some change and the couple of bills I had in my wallet and went to the store. Only, my gas was way low, and it was a nice evening, so I walked.

It was one of the most gorgeous walks ever! :)

The gold and violet twilight cast this golden glow over the apartments and trees, the odd family out enjoying the dusk and each other, the odd fellow walker taking their dog out.

On my path to the store I pass this old movie theater that has been closed down for maybe a decade now, but it's the same theater wherein I saw INDIANA JONES AND THE TEMPLE OF DOOM the Thanksgiving after I turned 14, and where I saw myself (or, rather, failed to see myself, as I was an extra in a sea of extras) in STAR TREK VI: THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY in 1991. I always wish the theater was still open, but I am always reassured somehow by the fact that it hasn't been torn down and replaced with something else.

Every step of the walk was rich and textured and beautiful!

And on my way home from the store I, once again, realized that I am living the life I imagined for myself so many years ago! That day I woke up, checked my email, worked on the script, took this gorgeous walk, and was on my way home to watch a mini-marathon of ALIAS!

THAT is LIVING! :D

The only thing missing was my Gnomey Goddess. The walk would have been indescribably more beautiful with her, and ALIAS marathon would have been more fun. (If she's into ALIAS. I haven't gotten a chance to ask her yet.)

I mean, obviously I don't make the money I hope to one day make, but that's just money. And I rent an apartment rather than owning a home, but that's not REALLY a big deal, either. The only thing missing from that perfect Tuesday was my Gnomey.

But if I just imagine she was out of town on a business trip or something and would be back home soon, that day was PERFECT.

So life is groovy! :)

And I hope you can say the same, too!!! :D