Ketchup

I know! I know! It has been entirely too long since I've updated this blog! I have no excuse, and I can only offer my humble apologies and deepest regret.

Thank you. I forgive you. (Figured since nobody seems to be reading, I'd better forgive myself).

So... due to the enourmous gap in between updates, this particular entry is aptly titled "Ketchup". Here is where I will attempt to update, in 30 minutes or less, on everthing going on in my life... here goes nothin!

Let's just get the good news out of the way first, shall we? I got my grades back from my first semester in "big girl school"! My first official college semester - and I scored a 4.0 GPA! Yeehaw, yippee, woohoo .. etc. etc. etc. The only bummer is... due to my unfinished class two years ago - my overall GPA is only 1.6... cause when you don't drop the class, they give you an F! Rude, huh? I thought so. Well - no sense crying over it now. Just better make good with the 4.0 for the rest of my college career, I suppose.

Script Frenzy update - not such good news here. I've got the beginnings of a decent script, but I'm afraid I don't look like a contender for finishing up in time for the June 30 deadline. Perhaps if I spend this entire weekend doing nothing but writing... Well, I'd at least be able to type 20,000 words. Whether or not they'd be worth reading - now that's the real question! Still, I will plough on, because it's still a project worth finishing. And, who knows, with the completion of this script - perhaps the floodgates will open! It's certainly worth a thought or two!

El Cajon Video and Film Festival - This one is new to most people, I think. I have recently found myself on the board for the upcoming El Cajon Video and Film Festival. This festival is a contest that will be held in August of this year and it encourages young film makers to break into the biz. Amateur film makers, and script writers, submit their works to a panel for judging, and prizes will be awarded in various categories. Do feel free to read all about it at http://www.elcajonvideoandfilmfestival.com/ won't you?

Air Show - had a blast at this year's Wings Over Gillespie air show. I was sort of the head of parking for the weekend. I say sort of because I really didn't have to organize anything other than getting bodies there to take in the money and point the cars where to park... the hard part was pretty much done for me. I just had to show up and make sure all went smoothly for the event. In my opinion everything went very well! No major back-ups at the gate. No screaming motorists, angered at the way we were dealing with things. Okay, there was one rather irate individual who screamed "you gonna pay to get my car washed?!" as he drove menacingly away. And there was the nice man who snapped a rapid series of salutes as he drove out... even though I'm not military. I made sure my smile was extra big as I waved him on. "Have a nice day!"

All in all, things went fairly well. We had a little help on Saturday from some volunteers snagged from other duties throughout the show, but for the most part Sam, Heather and I held down the fort. Didn't get a break to go into the show at all - but at least we were to spell each other occasionally so we could sit in the shade and rehydrate a bit! Got home that night - tired, sunburned and just about as dusty as PigPen himself! Still - other commitments, so it was off to the shower for me (trust me, my dinner companions were VERY pleased that I took the time) then on to dinner with friends. John was so pleased to be hosting the dinner party (the first of many I'm told). It was a wonderful evening with good friends, food and laughter. Can't really ask for a better end to the day.

Sunday was equally as long and hot and dusty as Saturday had been, but the kids from the El Cajon Valley Players were on hand for some much needed back-up, so Sam and I were actually able to assume our supervisory roles for the larger portion of the day. The kids worked in shifts and while one shift did their time in the parking lot, the other shift was able to go into the air show to enjoy the exhibits and booths. They were a great bunch of kids and they helped to make the day go much smoother than it could have been had they not been there! Check out their club site at http://www.elcajonvalleyplayers.org/ - and be sure to get out to see one of their perfomances soon!

I'm sure there's loads more I can blather on about, but as is evidenced by the rough edges on the blog above, my brain is going into meltdown for the night. I'll sign off for now with a promise to update sooner next time. Please post comments - they are most welcome!

Script Frenzy

I was cruising the internet last night, checking out different kinds of software for my script writing aspirations, when I came across a very interesting comment. Well, the comment wasn’t so much as was to what it led… Let me explain. After opening a search engine and typing in “scriptwriting software”, a number of possible leads popped up in my browser. Reading through these, and clicking on the links to the ones that sounded promising, one of the listings caught my eye. Someone had posted a comment in a blog forum or thread of some sort, and they said -more or less- “----- is the scriptwriting software I’ll be using during Script Frenzy…”

Huh. “Script Frenzy?” I said to myself. “What’s a ‘Script Frenzy’?” Intrigued, I clicked on the link…

Oh, the world I found myself now inhabiting! ScriptFrenzy.org is a site that is hosting one of the most incredible “contests” I’ve had the fortune (or some might say misfortune) to participate in. This contest, for lack of a better word, is basically a challenge to all writers. It is a meeting place for some 7,000+ writers world-wide who are all striving toward a singular goal. The goal - Blast out a 20,000 word screenplay in 31 days. The challenge was issued some weeks ago by a group at the Office of Letters and Light. http://www.lettersandlight.org In the past 9 years they have held the National Novel Writers Month, or NaNoWriMo…. Now, they’ve turned their sites toward the Scripting world.

The challenge to write any completed work in 31 days is difficult enough. Let that piece of work be a 120 page, 20,000 word screenplay, and the difficulty goes up a notch. It seems completely impossible to a person such as myself who has found it difficult to finish anything but a term paper in more years than I care to count. There’s no prize to be won, no wealthy benefactor waiting to snatch up your soon-to-be Oscar-winning bit of fiction. There is, in fact, nothing monetary whatsoever to be gained. No critical acclaim either as near as I can tell. Even still, the satisfaction of a job completed, and the bragging rights to such an accomplishment, seem to be impetus enough.

The benefits of an all-out word orgy such as this are numerous, and vary in degrees of importance, dependent upon to whom you are speaking. To start: who doesn’t just love a challenge? It is certainly motivational to set a goal such as this and then work frenetically to bring about a satisfactory conclusion. Then there is the community into which you become thoroughly entrenched. The website offers not only the rules of engagement, but a safe haven for the writers to compare notes, bemoan plot bombs, brainstorm character quirks, and yes, brag about their progress thus far. Everyone is furiously typing (or scribbling) away at a story, with no time to stop for finesse, eager to get those words on the page. Everyone is in the same boat - though some are quite a bit more prolific than others. Even still, there is such a sense of kinship and camaraderie - you’re never too busy to stop to help someone out. Having problems figuring out which poison best suits the intentions of your would-be-murderer? Not sure how a character should react to a given situation? Troubles with the logistics of wormhole physics? Not a problem! Simply post a query in the forums, and with luck, your fellow Frenzies will inundate you with advice and suggestions. There are even local regions of writers who are gathering - live - to have what are commonly referred to as “write-ins”. “We’s all goin’ tuh meet at the water-hole. Bring yer laptop er pencils and join us fer a spell. Grab something to drink, plop yer bum down, and - write!”

How could I resist? I just had to sign up! Though I hadn’t even heard about any of this craziness until June 1st (pencils up day), I had to throw my hat into the ring nonetheless. So, now, here I am on day two, and I have to admit that I’m having a blast! This being the first screenplay I’ve ever penned, I’ve been a bit hampered by the formatting - and the fact that I have to be more “dialogue-centric” and less “internal monologue / descriptive”. I’ve still managed to end day one with over 1400 words, so not a bad start I’d say. There are those who are able to claim over 10,000 words already, and to them I say - “Whuh? Holy cow!” Still, I will take my puny 1400 words and be happy with them. And I will congratulate those who have found the muse burning so strongly as to allow them to go trippingly along at such lightning speeds. I will catch up - eventually. And, in the end, we will have all won!

I’m looking forward to this month of pandemonium, and I shall attempt to update here as often as possible. I won’t promise, however, just in case I find myself stepping through the hole in the page that leads me to the wonderful story that my imagination wants to tell. Should that happen, of course, I will be much too busy to bother with a simple blog entry. You’ll understand, won’t you? For now, I will bid you good-day. I must get cracking or I will fall short of my word objective for the day.

And, just to give you an idea of what we’re all up against… this blog has been a mere 907 words. Multiply by 10 then add a thousand! Yeah. That’s what I thought… And, we’re writing, we’re writing…