Katherine Mankiller

Bleah!

Man, ScriptFrenzy was a bust. Final wordcount: 3407. Behold my shame. Then again, I haven't had two days off in a row in over a month, so... yeah.

I hereby rename the project "ScriptSloth," and I'll keep working on it.

Other projects include the NaNovel rewrite--it's in critique right now. I should probably be working on that right this second, but I'm tired.

Alas, poor Script Frenzy!

I don't think there's any way I'm going to be able to do Script Frenzy. I'm just going to be putting in too much overtime this month.

I'll keep working on the script, but I'm officially giving myself permission to not finish.

Um. Oops?

My creepy government conspiracy Script Frenzy script is coming out humor. Maybe it'll get creepy later. Maybe it's meant to be funny. If not, oops.

It's also going slowly, which is bad, because I'm supposed to write 20,000 words in June. And I should be writing now.

Kitty Legal

Because Brian double-triple-dog-cat dared me.

               EXT.BALCONY - EVENING


               DENNYCAT and ALANCAT are sitting on the balcony sniffing
               catnip and eating tuna.  AlanCat is also washing, with a smug
               air.  

                                     DENNYCAT 
                          That was a great trial.  We kicked their
                          mangy asses!

                                    ALANCAT
                         We certainly did, my friend. 

                                   DENNYCAT
                         Their attorney was so stupid.  I'm
                         going to go over to his office and
                         take a nice stinky dump.  It's the
                         only way I can think of to properly
                         express my contempt. 

               AlanCat looks over at DennyCat, paw raised in mid-wash.

                                   DENNYCAT (CONT'D)
                         What? 

                                   ALANCAT
                         You'll get arrested!

                                   DENNYCAT
                         Will not.  Mad cow.  

                                   ALANCAT
                         Another shocking scandal for the
                         pet food industry. 

                                   DENNYCAT
                         What's Kitty Legal without some
                         relevant, topical humor?  

                DennyCat scratches his ear.  

                                   DENNYCAT (CONT'D)
                         Want to come back to my place?  We
                         can sleep in a heap. 

                                   ALANCAT
                         How is this different from the TV
                         series again?

                                   DENNYCAT
                         Talking cats.  David E. Kelly needs
                         more talking cats on his show. 

Linky Goodness

I have bronchitis and have for two weeks, so in lieu of actual content, you get linky goodness.

Max Adams is reading for the Nicholl again. She has advice from the trenches that should be obvious (but obviously isn't) on brads, humor, and action.

Also, Script Frenzy is coming up and I need a script idea. Winging it is part of the fun of NaNoWriMo, but I don't want to sit down and stare blankly at my computer and finally write 20,000 words of "Kitty Legal," the cat-based Boston Legal parody. ;)

Another script query ready to go...

Yes, I'm still a slacker. But this is a really good query! Honest! Quality is better than quantity, although in an ideal world there would be both.

I'm also considering not bothering with the SASEs in my script queries. It would be different if they scribbled "No!" on my query and stuffed it into the SASE, but no. They're throwing my postage away. It's not like the $4.07 in SASEs that have already been thrown away is going to break me or anything, it's more that it's annoying. I mean, I could use that postage for short story SASEs instead.

In the case of one of my first queries, I pulled up the file and noticed a GINORMOUS TYPO OF D00M!!!!! in the query. I kept waiting for the recipient to get out a red pen and write, "GR, F," and drop it into my SASE, but apparently mocking me is not worth the effort. Alas.

I'm currently at 3 queries out and 4 contest entries. I'm done with the contest entries for this year, though. I meant to be done at 3. Blame Misha.

Is it June yet? I was going to try to use Celtx for Script Frenzy because the file format is subversion-friendly. Of course, I have no idea what I'm going to write...

Script Frenzy!

Script Frenzy's teaser site is up! I'm so there!

It's almost NaNoEdMo, but...

NaNoEdMo starts in two days. So why am I excited about Script Frenzy instead? I used to love editing and agonize over first drafts. I think NaNoWriMo cured me of the agonizing, so maybe that's part of it.

I have no idea what I'm going to do for Script Frenzy, by the way. It'll probably be genre so I can inflict it on Critters, but other than that... I suppose I have until June to figure it out. I'll poke around my idea file and see if anything comes up, too.

NaNoEdMo will be cool. Fifty hours of editing in a month! I'm still not sure whether I'll admit to this novel in public or not, though. I haven't read it since November. I wanted to get some distance first.

Yes, I'm editing the NaNoWriMo novel. I expect it to grow in revisions.

Oops.

I accidentally printed out the wrong script to go to Scriptapalooza. (Yeah, I've had a hard month at work.) Maybe I should send it to Austin after all. It's been rewritten since they saw it, after all.

Unless anyone can suggest someplace better. The floor is open! Where should I send "Double Feature"?

The Year of Getting Serious

My Hollywood Creative Directory is on its way. I received one of my two first script queries back in the mail as undeliverable. D'oh! Short fiction markets are all over the Internet, but this is not the case for the places I want to send scripts. (The online version of the Hollywood Creative Directory is $250 a year. Ulp. Maybe if I start selling or win the lottery.)

I'm running a little behind on the short story a month plan, but not badly. I still think I can crank out nine this year if I try. (No short stories during NaNoWriMo, NaNoEdMo, or Script Frenzy.) I may write a play instead of a short story one month, or for Script Frenzy. Or not, but it's an idea I've been vaguely contemplating for awhile. I just think it would be fun. I've improved the script reporting in my submissions tracker. I'm also not sure how I'm fitting Lizardfic into that plan, but I really need some short fiction. I don't have enough in circulation.

After NaNoEdMo comes Critters for the NaNoWriMo novel, unless I decide I hate it. ;) If I don't hate it, I'll have to do something with it. I've updated my submissions tracker to handle novel queries and submissions. (Fear me! my Geek-Fu is powerful.)

Screenplay Competition Season

I've started getting notifications about screenwriting competitions, which means I need to decide which ones I'm going to pelt with screenplays.

I'm considering blowing off Austin this year--I won't have anything new until Script Frenzy, and they've seen everything I've got. Maybe I'll try Scriptapalooza this year. And the Final Draft people have already emailed me to let me know that it's that time again. Looks like Final Draft offers more in the way of cash. I'm in it for the attention whoring industry attention rather than the cash, but the cash would be nice, too. Hmm.

Maybe this should be the year that I should get off my behind and send out script queries, like I should have been doing all along. I'm doing a good job marketing my short fiction. I'm doing a lousy job marketing my scripts.

I think part of the bad marketing is not knowing a lot of screenwriting people. Well, there's Bill and Misha, but we don't really talk screenwriting very often. Maybe I should go hang out on Max Adams' board; they're really friendly.

Part of it is that it's hard. It's easy to throw a short story into a slush pile. I'll need to write query letters for my novels eventually, anyway. I might as well start now.

New Year's Resolutions

Yes, it's the obligatory New Year's resolutions post! I'm sure you can hardly wash. Yay!

• Write more. I did poorly with the short story deadlines, but maybe they were too short. One short story a month, excepting March, June, and November, which I'm going to set aside for other writing.
• NaNoEdMo. It looks like the site is dead, Jim. That doesn't mean I can't set aside March for editing my NaNoWriMo novel.
• Script Frenzy! Rather than try to write a script for the Austin Film Festival, I'll do NaNoWriMo's new screenwriting challenge. That'll give me time to edit properly. I mean, I sent Double Feature off to Austin while it was still lying around the Critters queue. That's no good.
• NaNoWriMo. I probably want to do that again next year.
• I also want to finish Lizardfic and Hurricane Maria.

In other news, I just tossed a story into the Critters queue. A sample:

The Wasicu cities still exist, rising up out of the turf. When the buffalo herds run across the plain, the towers shake and glass falls out of them.

Kicking Horse walks between the towers. He knows that under the soft, tall grass lie the bones of Wasicu. He's not afraid of ghosts--helpful ancestors teach the children to hunt and fish, gather herbs, speak their own language--but the evil dead are another thing. Some of these Wasicu were women and children, but some of them were bad men. He wouldn't come at all if he weren't looking for Snow Deer.

Oh, yeah. And continue to shrink. (35 pounds so far; go me!)

Year in Review

Short stories completed: 1
Scripts completed: 1
Novel first drafts completed: 1
Short stories that somehow morphed into novels-in-progess: 2
Short stories that were pulled from circulation and completely rewritten: 1
Short story submissions: 32
Short story rejections: 28
Short story sales: 1
Short stories in circulation: 3

Lo, I am dissatisfied.

No love from Austin

I received my annual "Thanks, but no thanks!" letter from Austin today. A sample, for the curious:

Thank you for submitting your script, Double Feature, to the Austin Film Festival's 2006 Screenplay Competition. This year we received over 4,000 entries in both the Adult/Family and Comedy categories. We recognize there are numberous competitions available to you, and we value your decision to share your story with us.

Every year's submissions are different in some significant way. The high level of talent exhibited by the entrants this year was truly remarkable. Our readers were impressed with the overall quality of work and returned many positve evaluations, making the judging process extremely challenging.

Unfortunately, your screenplay did not advance to the second round in the Comedy category. Entering contests offers a great opportunity to bring attention to your work, and you should not be discouraged. Rather, we encourage you to pursue other avenues of recognition for your script. Please remember competition are subjective by nature.

Huh, they didn't mention the Sci-Fi Award. I wonder if I should expect a second letter. I mean, surely they received enough Spec Fic scripts that they wouldn't give it to someone who didn't advance to the semifinals, right?

I'm also glad that they ditched the phrasing, "We were really impressed with the quality of writing, and your hard work really shone through." That's just not something I want to hear in a form letter.

*hangs head*

I'm kind of...

...not writing.

I suspect I'm less well prepared for my novel than I thought I was--I've been opening the document file and staring at it and closing it without adding anything new. Perhaps making the outline a bit clearer would help.

Tonight, I'm meeting some other screenwriting people, which may end up in critiques! Cross your fingers!

Coping with novel anxiety.

I actually have... an outline. And the motivational spreadsheet of doom to track my wordcount. And... version control. Yes, version control, like programmers use. Why, yes, I am a geek. But I could have used version control sooner--I realized at one point that I'd been sending out copies of "Corporate Oversight" that had an error I'd corrected about six months previously, only I'd also overwritten the file with an old version. Ouch.

I wrote 500 words on Lizardfic the Novel today--well, some of those were pasted in from Lizardfic the short story, but... close enough. I just felt like it.

I also added some minor script tweaks the SO suggested. One word change and one short scene.

And now, bed.

On second thought...

...I don't think NaNoWriMo is what I'm looking for with Lizardfic the novel. NaNoWriMo still might be fun, but... not for Lizardfic.

Which means that I need to come up with an outline, and a daily wordcount goal. Otherwise it'll sit around my hard drive doing nothing.

I think my other "story" in progress is also a novel.

This might sound odd, but I'm slightly disgruntled that both my current ideas are novels. It's a lot easier to throw short fiction into a slush pile. I can think of three places off the top of my head that take novel slush. If those don't pan out, well, it'll be agent-seeking time.

In other news, my script is done. *throws confetti*

Yikes.

I may be writing a novel.

I received some crits for lizardfic today, and one of the critiquers agrees with Brian that the story might work better at novel-length. I suspect they may be right.

Of course, I don't have time right now. I need to finish this script. But after, I need to plan this one out. I'm considering doing it during NaNoWriMo, for the support. Which makes me wonder if they're doing NaNoFiMo again this year.

Speaking of the script, it's still going slow. And that's what I should be working on now.

Must. Finish. Script.

The last pages of my script are just grinding out like cement. I don't know if it's laptop death trama and the associated rebuild/migrate/etc., the distraction of the new Precious, being busy at work, all of the above, none of the above...

In short, I'm not writing. There must be writing. There needs to be script.

In other news, the cats ate my Navajo loom. In other, other news, fie on Quicken, for I have migrated to something that runs on linux.

Complications Ensue

Um. Yeah. Laptop died.

I kind of took the opportunity to go linux. Which means I had to import the script into Celtx, which I just don't love as much as Final Draft. I'll probably try to get Final Draft to work under wine as soon as I fix the video card, which is a bit cranky. Cranky video cards are common to my Debian experience. Everything else seems to work (well, I haven't tried the modem, but...), including wireless. Yay, wireless! MadWifi is my friend.

I managed to get the old laptop to boot enough to pull the last bit of data off, but I'd really rather not use that machine as a primary writing machine any more. It just isn't reliable.

I'd lost maybe a page or two of the script, but recovered that file as well. The question is whether or not I want to import that into Celtx as well. My first thought is, "*facepalm!*" so...

Unsticking myself.

I've been stuck at 75 pages for awhile on Double Feature. Thematically, there are two minor characters who need more to do, and I might need to pad out the end a little with a bit more denouement, so hopefully that'll do the unsticking trick.

I've been teaching myself to knit and started using my new Navajo loom. In fact, I had Final Draft read me my script while I knitted, which helped me decide what the script needs, so... that's of the good. The knitting is from this "teach yourself to knit" kit that proclaims that it has "high-quality yarn." Not to this yarn snob, but it's good enough for my beginning fumbles. The Navajo loom, on the other hand... I'm using good yarn for that.

I may try to use my backstrap loom again sometime, too. The backstrap has the advantage of being portable, like knitting. I took my knitting to a doctor's appointment and didn't even mind the waiting room.

Things I need to do this weekend.

Things I need to do this weekend:

• Work on script.
• Critters critique.
• Work on script some more.
• Buy groceries.
• Pay bills.
• Register for Dragoncon and Ann Crispin writing workshop.
• Work on script even more.
• Mow lawn.

Thing I might do for fun this weekend:

• Buy yarn for Navajo Loom.

Half a page.

That's how much script I wrote last night. I'm torn between, "Oh, that's pathetic!" and "Well, at least I wrote."

The answer is to let it go and write tonight. Like any other extended effort (diet, exercise, etc.), you can't let a setback be an excuse to quit. Forgiveness has to be part of any large project. Not in the sense of "Oh, I'm tired, I quit," but in the sense of letting it go and getting back to work if you don't do what you think you should have done.

And now, I should shut up and go do my actual job or something. ;)

Script progress

Twelve pages today, which just about makes up for all the slacking I did this last week. That puts me at sixty pages. Estimating a minimum length of ninety pages, that means I'm 66.7% through.

Getting some good advice helped. I may tweak on that 60 pages later.

I had one of those word meter things here for about two minutes. Not only are they not valid XHTML strict, they come out mangled on the page. Probably because they're not valid XHTML strict. ;)

The evil middles.

I seem to have a bad case of script middle blues. I'm left trying to figure out what else I can do to these poor characters. On the up side, I'm on page 48, so I'm well into it. I just need more. More more more.

A lightning strike appears to have taken out the cable modem, TV, DVD player, etc. I suggested, in a fit of reductivism, that we should just not have a TV and get cheap DSL and watch DVDs and Galactica on our laptops. Brian doesn't like that idea. Granted, it doesn't solve the new Doctor Who problem (we could get Galactica through iTunes), but TVs are expensive. My next suggestion of a cheap, tiny TV was met with horror and despair.

We'll figure something out.

Things I need to do today.

Things I need to do today:

• Critters critique.
• Work on script.

Things I should probably do, but suspect I won't:

• The dishes.
• Laundry.

Things I probably shouldn't do, but suspect I will:

• Go to Harry's and grab some vegetarian sushi for lunch. Current excuse: Boyfriend sacked out on couch. You wouldn't want me to wake him up with the microwave, would you?

This is me, working on my script.

No, really! You believe me, don't you?

Yeah, well. Maybe you shouldn't.

I'm tired, and stressed out, and have a headache, and, you know, insert a million more excuses to not write here.

I'm doing better with exercise, but exercise is easier than writing. Programming is easier than writing. I can write fairly difficult programs half-asleep, but I have to be awake and alert to write. Installing linux is easier than writing. It's just so tempting to unwind a bit by doing all these easier things instead of writing. But no, I have a script to write, and as soon as I stop whining I'll go do that. ;)

Okay. Three pages. If I'm really good, maybe I should treat myself after by installing linux on some of the spare hard drive space on my laptop.

There was indeed script last night.

I have thirty script pages.

Looking at the date, I need to write two pages a day to finish in time for the early Austin deadline. That sounds super-doable to me. In fact, I think I'll see what I can do this weekend in the way of putting a serious dent in this project.

In other news, I had a stressful week. Misbehaving hardware and the like. Allow me to say, "TGIF."

Script update

I'm now working completely out of sequence on "Double Feature." I wrote in the major beats of the end, because they were clear in my mind. I also tweaked the beginning to lay the foundation for the climax.

I think the beginning is pretty much done, by the way.

Next, I think, is the major beats of the middle. Just the high points. I can fill in the rest later.

It's almost an outline: Write the bones first.

Random cool link: Jessica Bendinger on How I Write, via the Austin Film Festival blog. (Jane Espenson has great writing stuff, too.)

D'oh!

I realized something about my script this morning.

That scene on page 13, that I intended to be the initial incident? That's a very good scene. It's exactly the way it should play out. I should be very pleased with it.

There's only one problem.

It should be on page 90, not page 13.

Need an outline, STAT!

I wrote as far as I had in my script, which was basically setting up the premise. Page 13 is a good page to introduce the villains, right?

Need an outline, STAT!

On the other hand, I'm hearing character voices quip, which is a good sign, script-wise. And the script is amusing me, which is a good sign for it amusing others.

I also made some progress on the former cliché story, which is currently codenamed Lizardfic. I think I've worked my way around the block, which is a good thing because there's somewhere I want to send it on April 15.

Hmmm...

I managed a super-rough outline (um, yeah, it's a description of the setup and a few minor plot beats) and wrote five pages of setting up the premise in Final Draft, so I suspect the movie script is a go. Although I really, really need to come up with a better outline than I had last time. I don't outline short fiction, so outlining is an underused skill for me, and one I don't think I'm good at. Sigh.

This is going to be a fun project. I giggled through much of the writing. Then I read it aloud to Brian and he giggled, too. It's particularly droll to make Final Draft read me my silly script in its dry robot voice. *Cackle!*

The working title is "Double Feature," by the way. (I almost typed "buy the way"--Freudian typo, anyone?) Two whole people besides me know why. Heh heh.

*looks at calendar, looks at deadline*

The Austin Film Festival is paying actual real money for their Sci-Fi award this year. Clearly, I should enter.

The only problem being that I don't currently have a Sci-Fi script.

*looks at calendar, looks at deadline*

May 15. Can I write a Sci-Fi script in two months? Tune in tomorrow! Same bat time, same bat channel... or something.

Wow.

Based on the latest crit for the nightmare story, the way my system of magic works was completely unclear. Every single question my reader had was about how the magic worked. And here I was worried that I was being all sledgehammery! Apparently, I needn't have worried. Snort.

In other news, no love from the Austin Film Festival. Feh.

Maybe?

I think I'm pleased with the revisions to Dot Com; a few sections are much more readable. I think. We'll see what the boyfriend thinks; I've asked him for a sanity check.

Where did my three day weekend go? Oh, yeah. I slept through most of it. Curses, foiled again!

*facepalm*

So, at the last possible minute--no, really, for me this is--I've decided to do the Austin Film Festival script competition again. I'm going to re-examine my formatting and such, in lieu of second-guessing content. I also think I'm going to submit it to Burnt Orange; I think it would make a fine independent film.

Guess what I'm doing for Memorial Day Weekend? I am such a nerd.

What I need.

What I really need right now is a Hollywood Creative Directory. I haven't done anything with Dot Com since I heard back from Austin Film Festival during the big move, and it's time I change that. Maybe this weekend I should cuddle up with Max Adams' book and come up with a strategy.

And, of course, write.

Apparently, I don't have to change my address for Austin...

I didn't make it into the second round of the screenwriting competition.

Which dampens my faith in that script not even slightly. Dot Com rocks. It's the best movie script ever. It's young, it's hip, it's screamingly funny, and someone should buy it. I have spoken.

In other news, packing is the suck. I just thought I would share that brilliant insight into the human condition with you.

various and sundry

Today is Brian's birthday! Happy birthday!

Today is also the closing for Austin Heart of Film, but I mailed my script and Sallya on the 13th. Woohoo! *crosses fingers*

I haven't really written stuff since I finished the screenplay. Things are percolating--the in-progress stuff--but it's not really translating into actual writing. And it likely won't tonight, because the printer was misbehaving and I managed to smash my finger in the paper tray. Ow! Printers are the bane of my existence.

Maybe I should soak and read. I have an F&SF I'm working on...

Scripty goodness!

Script printed out and bound in #5 Acco brads with cardstock covers as per script custom and Austin Heart of Film rules. I picked a tasteful speckled grey cardstock, for those who care.

Now I need to write a two sentence synopsis. Oh, the evil! I loathe summaries!

Maybe this is a Sign from God/Goddess/Fate that I should soak in the tub and reread Max Adams' chapter on loglines. Soaking in the tub makes everything better.

script status

The script is much improved, thanks to the divine Misha. It is, however, still a bit short. I plan to write more this weekend and go over the script format with Cole/Haag. I have a week, and am confident that I'll finish and have it in the mail by then.

I took the evening off to watch Van Helsing. I didn't recognize David Wenham, and did a double-take at the credits. Hee!

And now, I think it's bedtime. *yawn*

first draft of script finished

I'm pretty sure the first draft is finished--I've tied up the pressing loose ends--but it's short. I've sent it to my friend Misha for comments, because she is a generous, rocking kind of person and volunteered.

I'm pretty sure I can find plenty more to say in the next 12 days. No, really. Probably not an issue.

I reread it, and I still think it's funny. Since it's a comedy, that's a good sign. Hopefully it will continue to be funny throughout the revision process. I found bits I want to tweak, especially at the beginning, but for the most part I think it's consistently funny throughout. *crossing fingers that I'm right*

66 pages

I had a bit of an air-conditioning-related setback. Okay, I really think I had mid-project blues. Anyway, I've been behind on my page counts for a few days, but I just did five and feel back on track. That's what matters, right?

I'm really feeling ready to go on short fiction. I expect that I will write much of it once I finish the script.

May 15?

I swear the Austin Heart of Film site said May 7 last week, but now I have an extra week to write my script. This is good, because it gives me extra revision room. The more revision room I get, the happier I am.

Go ahead. Call me a weirdo. I can take it.

And I'm procrastinating. Must write!

Yay, me!

I managed six script pages in an hour last night, followed by a couple of paragraphs puttering on the recalcitrant nightmare story. I have therefore tentatively decided that four pages a day in hopes of finishing the movie script for Austin is doable.

I'm trying to give myself lots of wiggle room, and permission to stop, on the grounds that there's a bunch of stressful other stuff going on in my life right now. On the other hand, a deadline might be just what I need to get myself to finish this puppy. Soooo... hopefully my script is going to Austin.

I wouldn't mind going to Austin myself. Austin rocks.

Austin Film Festival

Austin Film Festival's screenwriting competition closes on May 7.

The movie script is currently 32 pages long. The average film comedy is 90-110 pages long. May 7 is 18 days away. Assuming I would need to write about 60 more pages, that's a little over 3 pages a day. Say 4 pages a day and get revision room.

I think I'll see if I can write 4 pages. That should tell me how doable the deadline is.

playing scripts off short fiction

I got several funny pages done on the movie script. Hooray! On the other hand, I read a bit of draft for the nightmare story I wrote last week, and it is the suck. Not first draft suck, either. Worse.

Woe.

Ah well, this is the whole reason to have multiple projects in progress, right? to have something to work on when other somethings aren't cooperating?

I wonder if I would have better luck with "Grandfather Paradox." Maybe I should try that. Although I'm tempted to try to go for a quick run first. That sounds like a plan, actually. Run--well, trot, more like--then write more. Running may clear my head, and if it doesn't, well... maybe I'm supposed to rest instead.

In other news, I found a copy of Tiptree's Brightness Falls From the Air in a used bookstore. Why isn't anything of hers aside from Meet Me At Infinity in print? She should be in print. I have spoken.

Scripts R Us

I've been writing scripts today. Go figure! I suspect it's because I wrote the script submission tracker yesterday. Now I need some scripts to put into it. :)

I worked on both the movie script and a new TV script. I think they're both going well. Final Draft is my friend, by the way. I just wanted to mention that.

Fun with software (not adventures in procrastination!)

Several months ago, I got a cheap copy of Dragon Naturally Speaking, but then my computer died. I installed it today. In fact, I'm using it now. I thought it would be fun to use with Final Draft to write scripts, but it doesn't really recognize my voice very well yet. Which is a shame, because theoretically speaking would be a very natural way to write a script.

On the other hand, it's making it easier to keep one of my New Year's resolutions: trying to write every day. Well, OK, it makes me more likely to try it for fun. I hadn't written in two days, and I did work on my script a little today. Not that the software supports Final Draft, but it seems to work--slowly. I hear it takes awhile to learn your speech patterns. I got frustrated and ended up typing.

It had me read Lewis Carroll and Arthur C. Clark to learn my voice. I probably need to read some more, because right now it can't tell the difference between "some more" and "somewhere."

Anyway, must go forth and work on my science fiction story. I have no idea if I'm going to attempt to use the software or not. Looking back at how it just translated that sentence, probably not.

New Year's Resolutions

I'd really like to post something like, "This year I will get published, sell my movie script, and win the Georgia Lottery," but none of those things are under my control, so there's no point in having them in a New Year's Resolutions post. The following are items I think are reasonable New Year's resolutions for me:

1. Try to write every day.
2. Send fiction to markets, and leave it on the market until sold.
3. Finish movie script (vital first step to selling movie script).
4. Exercise.
5. Henna my hair more often--maybe every Saturday. I'm getting surprisingly grey for my age, in my opinion. I blame working in IT for too many years.
6. Spend more time petting kitties.

And, the script answer is...

No. It's a form no, too.

Dear Katherine,

Thank you for your Dead Zone script submission. Unfortunately, we did not think "Ethos Anthropos Daimon" was right for us at the time, but we wish you luck in your writing career.

Ah well.

On the wishful thinking side, they said it would be 30 days until they got back to me and instead it was 89 days (12.7 weeks), calculated by the date on the letter, not the day I received it (today). (My submissions spreadsheet is a beautiful thing.)

Do I need a "First writing rejection celebration beer"? ;)

Oops. :)

So, we left this morning and I remembered my script to mail... and forgot breakfast and lunch. Oops! Mm, yummy snack machine! ;P

Brads

You know, there aren't Acco #5 brads to be had anywhere in Atlanta. I had to cannibalize some scripts I bought off ebay.

Script Squee!

The Dead Zone people wrote back and told me where to send the script. *twitch twitch twitch*

Must... go... Kinko's... print... on... laser... printer... Squee!

I've, um, heard of the agency where they're having me send it. It's a famous one. I'm duly intimidated. ;)

Sibling Writing Exchange

I called my sister and asked her where her short story was. :) She said she hadn't checked her email since before we spoke on Mother's Day because of the spam she gets pissing her off.

Well, tonight I got her short story. Yay! She said she would read my script tonight. It doesn't seem fair, though. She sent me a 1,000 word young adult short story and I sent her a 54 page television script. Poor Cynthia!