Script Frenzy Award

Thanks & Hugs to Lifetime for....

Finding an author whose works I haven't read and showing her movies pretty much on repeat all day today...I appreciate it...not that I don't love Nora Roberts and not that I don't love Nora Roberts movies....but after seeing Eddie Cibrian and LeAnn Rimes get it on or Ivan Sergei and Emilie de Ravin get it on every time its Nora Roberts week on Lifetime....well, after a while it gets really old. Really.

So wooty hoo to the powers that be at Lifetime for hooking it up with Patricia Cornwell at her novel/movie At Risk.

On  another note my knee is killing me which means its either going to rain or I need to take an aspirin and I got to buy my favoritest stuff in the world today...YARN! lol...and I got to replace my worn out size 8 knitting needles. I am now the proud owner of a spiffy pair of purple needles...lol. AND the yarn department of Wal-Mart had the yarn I needed to finish Bree's camouflage blanket that is taking forever to crochet. I should probably take some pictures to document the progress...

Nothing much going on in my world today...how was YOUR Saturday?!

Paint With Me Thursday: Umbrellas

 

I like to draw umbrellas...they're easy..lol, so when I saw the focus this week was umbrellas I did a stupid little happy dance and sharpened my favorite drawing pencil....

Then I drew a blank (lol that's been happening a lot lately i.e. chapter 38 but really that's neither here nor there).

So I did two drawings, one was inspired by my daughter who kept singing some song about April showers and May flowers...

It says april showers bring may flowers (and mental note to self: FIX SCANNER!).

The next one I did was after I had pretty much the worst day/experience ever. I don't know what the point of it is, but it it follows the focus and made me feel better...soo...to each her (or his) own interpretation.

"It's something you can't change" is a line from a song, but for the life of me I can not find it or remember who it's by...so random artist whose lyrics I liked enough to write on my drawing, if you stumble upon this, sorry...

"You can stand under my umbrella" is by Rhianna (if you're early 20-something and don't know that you've been living under a rock...EVERYBODY re-did that song..and yes, I truly mean everybody, see: Manic Street Preachers, JLS, Bare Egil, Terra Naomi, Jamie Cullum, Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park, The Mint Chicks, McFly, Lillasyster, Plain White T's, Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban, OneRepublic, Sara Bareilles, Cláudia Leitte, Mandy Moore, My Chemical Romance, Tegan and Sara, Amanda Palmer, Syesha Mercado, Natalie Gauci, illScarlett, All Time Low, Taylor Swift, Bentley Jones, Boyce Avenue, and The Baseballs, Marié Digby, Biffy Clyro, Vanilla Sky, All Time Low....lol so see...everybody...)

To see more art check out Simply Feather

'Til next week blog-o-sphere!

And to answer the question about who are Sam & Dean and Stefan & Damon click here ;)

and a much later afternote...i found the song! It's called Something by Cary Brothers. Might have taken all day but I finally remembered :)

Chapter 38, oh Chapter 38 where ARE you???

It's been nine days, NINE DAYS since I wrote chapter 37 and in the days since then, chapter 38 has since eluded me. I've written several different versions, a page or so each, and scrapped each one because they suck. I'm working on it now, and it still sucks, but I'm so close to being done with this story that I'm ready to just write whatever because I'm sick of it.

If that makes sense....

Chapter 38, wherever you are, wherever you're floating around in creative space, it would be great if you could just come one down and visit my fingertips so I can write you...

When I was a kid...

My mom had an old Ford Grenada...at least I think that's what it was called..she had a name for it, but for the life of me I can't remember that either. Regardless...she had a lot of problems with her Ford and we made up acronyms for Ford. Found On Road Dead was the most popular one (I know we didn't create it, but hey at 13 I thought I did)...and I swore I'd never own a Ford and thus far have not. I've owned a crap ton of Chevy's, a Mazda, an Isuzu (for like fifteen minutes) but my current car is a Ford. Her name is Celia...like Mike Wazowski's girlfriend in Monsters Inc.

So far my sporty little Ford has been....well..trouble...it was great at first...then two days after I bought it the check engine light came on, it was missing majority of its lugnuts, my radiator had a leak and my back windows don't roll down...but at the end of the day it runs.

Meet Celia

Today Celia tried to kill me....I took my daughter to Wal-Mart and bought her a cute little outfit (pics coming later...) and some popsicles because its so hot outside. After we left Wal-Mart I stopped at Taco Bell to pick up some taco's for dinner. Well, my daughter and I go in and get our dinner, we come out and get in the car. I pull through the parking lot and onto the boulevard, heading home. I notice that the car is shaking kind of strangely.  I can hear it, so I figure I have a flat, so I see an Ace Hardware up ahead and pull into the parking lot to call my husband to come pick me up (I don't have a spare tire). So I slow down and now I can REALLY feel that something is wrong. My car skids and there is a loud THUNK! and my car slams into the ground and pulls forward, my tire flies off the car and goes bouncing across the parking lot.

I FREAKED OUT!

This is after the car stopped and my husband came to my rescue. I stood in the parking lot freaking out. I was shaking so bad I rooted through my purse looking for my phone and I was so wigged I couldn't see it. I dumped my purse out and was standing there yelling at my purse.

Luckily, though, the damage isn't severe and no one was hurt, plus my car is still drivable. The only sucktastic thing is that my side panel is trashed which makes me sad, but, life goes on. I'm thankful no one was hurt and that my car isn't ruined.

Yep, I'm talking about Script Frenzy....again

If you haven't noticed by now I'm slightly obsessive-compulsive with a strong emphasis on the obsessive part. Over the years I've had many obsessions ranging from Tinkerbell and cherries to Twilight and Harry Potter novels.

I can't help it, it's my nature. I find something interesting (and it might only be interesting to me...i.e. my obsession with knitting, then my later (and current) obsession with crocheting) and then I go NUTS! I eat, sleep, drink, BREATHE the obsession.

After a while it starts to fade and then I'm on to my next zany thing. This month, my obsession is script frenzy. Its challenging in an I've-never-done-this-before kind of way, but easy in a seriously-how-is-this-a-challenge- kind of way.

I like to write so its easy, but taking away all the details is the hard part...but, on the other hand it gives you more creative freedom. You can write a scene in a novel one way, but taking it from the page to the screen forces you to perhaps look at another way of doing it.

This is what happened to me yesterday. I got to a point where Beth, the main character, was recalling what happened to her parents, and the way its written in the book is like this:


Nick sidestepped a couple making out in the middle of the hallway. “Where are you from?”

I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “Jacksonville, Florida,” I told him.

“Did you like it there?”

“Yes,” I said, nodding my head. “It was my favorite place to live.”

“How many places have you lived?”

“Well,” I said, “There was Chicago, Tennessee, and most recently, Florida. I lived in Florida for almost seven years. ”

Nick’s eyes widened. “Damn, are your parents criminals or something?”

“No,” I laughed. “My dad is, I mean was, a football player.”

“Anyone I might know?”

“Pete Dwyer,” I said softly. Nick stopped in the middle of the hallway and stared at me.

“You’re Pete Dwyer’s daughter?” he said incredulously.

I nodded.

“Dude, he’s a God. What the hell are you doing here?”

I stared into Nick’s sky blue eyes. “I-uh, um, you don’t know?” I whispered.

“Know what?”

We were approaching the cafeteria. I saw Josh standing on his toes searching for me. He caught my gaze and waved. “Beth!” he called and proceeded to elbow his way through a group of seniors standing on the grass outside the cafeteria.

“Hey kid!” I called.

“I thought I missed you,” he said breathlessly.

“Nope, I’m a little late. Nick was showing me how to get here. Do you mind if he sits with us?”

“What’s up man,” he said to Nick. “No Beth, I don’t mind.”

“Alright, well c’mon then,” Nick said, leading the way into the cafeteria. After we’d gone though the line and sat down, he started asking about Pete.

“So what didn’t I hear about your dad?” he asked.

I glanced at Josh; he was deep in conversation with his girlfriend from next door.

“He died,” I said numbly.

“No freaking way,” Nick breathed, his eyes looked moist, like he was going to cry. “How? When?”
“A week ago. He killed himself.  Got drunk, and wheeled himself into the pool.” I dropped a greasy fry back onto my tray.

“Why?” Nick asked.

“No one really knows for sure,” I shrugged. “I think it had to do with my mom’s death.”

He set his Pepsi can down, “I heard something about an attack on an NFL star, but I didn’t really pay much attention. What happened?”

“Three weeks ago, my mom and dad were car jacked after leaving the Jacksonville Municipal Stadium. My dad was taking a short cut, trying to avoid traffic, well he stopped at a four way stop sign, and some guy comes up and shoves a gun in my mom’s face, ordering her to get out of the car.” I stopped and took a deep breath.

You can do this, I reminded myself.

“She refused to get out of the car so he shot her, then drug her out of the car and shot her five more times. She died in the street before the paramedics even had the chance to get there. When my dad got out, the guy shot him four times in the back, paralyzing him from the waist down. He blamed himself for my mom’s death and was depressed because he was still alive, because he was paralyzed, because he would never play football again.” I twisted the lid off my bottle of water. “But what do I know? I’m just a kid,” I said sarcastically.

Nick sat there staring at me from across the cafeteria table. “Wow, Beth, I had no idea. I don’t know what to say.”

I smiled sadly. “There’s nothing you can say. It sucks, but life goes on. At least that’s what my grandmother says.”

Nick looked uncomfortable. “How are you managing to cope so well?”
“I’m not coping; I’m heavily medicated,” I snorted.




It could be better (this is just the first draft) becasuse its more like Beth is telling Nick what happened...no feeling, no emotion, just facts.



The script version goes like this (which I personally like better) (and in case you don't know V.O. stands for voice over, its where a scene is shown and you see it happening and you hear the person speaking...)

nick

It’s not really that bad. Where are you from?

Beth tucks a strand of hair behind her ear and warily looks at Nick.

Beth

I’m from uh, Florida. Jacksonville.

nick

Did you like it there?

beth

(nodding)

Yeah, it was my favorite place to live.

nick

Have you lived a lot of places?

beth

Yeah. Chicago, Tennessee, Pittsburgh, and most recently Florida.

nick

Damn, what are you parents, criminals or something?

beth

(laughing)

No. at least I don’t think so. My dad, he um, he was a football player.

nick

Like an NFL player?

Beth nods, uncomfortable with the direction the conversation has gone in.

nick

Anyone I might know?

Beth wasn’t going to tell anyone about her father. But there’s something inviting about Nick’s demeanor, like he was the kind of guy you could tell anything to and he wouldn’t judge you.

beth

(softly)

Pete Dwyer

Nick stops in the middle of the sidewalk and stares incredulously down at Beth.

nick

You’re Pete Dwyer’s daughter.

Beth nods, tugging at a strand of hair before tucking it behind her ear.

nick

Are you for real?

Again, Beth nods.

nick

What the hell are you doing here then?

Beth stares at nick, unsure of what to say.

beth

I-uh, um, he – you didn’t hear?

nick

Hear what?

The pair approaches the cafeteria where Josh is still waiting. Josh is standing on his tip-toes waving at Beth. His appearance interrupts Nick and Beth’s conversation about her father.

josh

Beth!

Beth avoids Nick’s question and approaches Josh.

beth

Hey kid.

josh

I thought I missed you.

beth

Sorry, I was talking to Nick.

She points to Nick who joins them in front of the cafeteria.

josh

Hey Nick

beth

         (To Josh)

Do you mind if he sits with us?

josh

Nope I don’t care.

nick

Alright well c’mon then.

Nick leads the way into the cafeteria and the three get into line, quickly getting their lunch, and sitting at a half full table.

He unwraps his burger, setting the aluminum foil aside and bites into it. Beth picks up a packet of ketchup, tears it open, and squirts it onto an empty spot on her tray next to her fries.

nick

(To Beth, prodding)

So, you were telling me about your dad.

Beth glances over at Josh who is talking animated to Aubrey, waving a French fry around as he speaks. Beth realizes he isn’t paying attention to her or Nick, she turns back to Nick.

beth

(Without emotion)

He died.

Beth picks up a French fry and dips it into the ketchup on her tray, stares at it but does not eat it.

nick

(Eyes wide with disbelief)

No way! How? When?

beth

(without emotion)

He committed suicide a little over a week ago.  

Beth drops the fry onto the top of the pile of the fries on her tray and wipes her hand on a napkin.

nick

Why?

Beth shrugs and sips her soda.

nick

I heard about the attempted carjacking. The news said his wife was killed. That was your mom?

Beth takes a deep breath. Nicks line of questioning upsets her, but she steels herself, squaring her shoulders and answers his question.

beth

Yes, that was my mom. A month ago, my mom and dad were leaving the stadium and my dad decided to take a short cut through a not so kosher neighborhood.

The camera zooms in on Beth’s face as she begins to recount that fateful night.

beth

He had just won a game against San Francisco – a playoff game, and they were on their way to dinner.

The scene begins to fade, Beth’s face fades away CUT TO-

EXT. FOUR WAY INTERSECTION – EVENING

A navy blue Navigator slowly rolls to a stop at the stop sign in a rundown neighborhood. Houses line the street, their paint peeling and porches sagging. Dilapidated vehicles are parked in driveways. The nicest car on the street, aside from the Navigator is a brassy colored, 1979 Cadillac Eldorado. We see Pete and Rae Dwyer seated inside, both are happy, smiling. Rae is talking to Pete as the navigator comes to a complete stop.

beth

(V.O.)

My dad decided to take a short cut, like I said. The neighborhood he went through was dangerous. Kids are shot, people are killed there all the time, it’s just…bad.

A man comes running up to the car. He’s dressed in baggy, dark colored jeans and a oversized black hooded sweatshirt, a baseball cap pulled down low over his eyes. He breaks the passenger window with the butt of the gun and shoves it in Rae’s face.

Beth

(V.O.)

He ordered my mom and dad to get out of the car.

Beth pauses, taking a deep breath.

We see Rae refusing to get out of the car, she turns in her seat and yells something inaudible to Pete. The car jacker fires his gun, the black night lights up with gunfire.

beth

(V.O.)

He shot my mom then pulled her out of the car and shot her five more times.

The car jacker pulls open the car door and pulls a screaming Rae from the car. He throws her to the ground, she stumbles and falls onto the pavement, her arms shooting out to catch her fall. The car jacker stands over her, the gun aimed at Rae.

Zoom into the car jacker's face, he sneers and squeezes the trigger, flinching as each bullet is dispelled from the gun.

Pan wide to show Rae lying in the street, her body lifeless. Zoom around car to Pete quickly rushing toward Rae.

beth

(V.O.)

She died in the street before the paramedics had the chance to save her.

Pete is now at Rae’s side, he goes to kneel beside her to try to save her. The car jacker shoots at him as he runs toward the driver’s side of the car. Four bullets hit Pete, three in the upper back and shoulder, one in his lower back.

Beth

(V.O.)

When my dad went to help her the guy shot him four times. Three of the four bullets passed major arteries, he would have survived, but the last bullet severed his spinal cord.

The scene on the street fades and-

INT. CAFETERIA – LATE MORNING

beth

That was the end of life as I knew it. A month later Pete was dead, and here I am.

Nick fidgets uncomfortably in his seat across from Beth.

nick

I uh, wow I don’t know what to say.

beth

(shrugging)

There’s nothing you can say.

nick

How are you managing to cope so well?

beth

(snorting)

I’m not coping; I’m heavily medicated.

Full Circle – Script

As promised, the first few pages of the script for Full Circle. It's completely horrible and complete garbage….




Ext. INTERSTATE - LATE AFTERNOON

CATE and RYAN are sitting in a truck speeding down the interstate heading to Florida.

 

Cate

    (V.O.)

When I was seventeen my mother was murdered, my stepfather was left for dead, bleeding a paralyzed from the waist down. Two weeks after the incident Pete took his own life leaving, mine forever changed.

INT. TRUCK -LATE AFTERNOON.

CATE

(Turning to Ryan)

Are we going to stop soon, I'm tired and I need real food.

(Cate reaches into the cooler behind her digging out a dripping can of Mountain Dew. She holds the soda up, a look of disgust on her face.)

This stuff is going to put me into a diabetic coma.

(She opens the can of soda and takes a sip, irritated that the mountain dew is all there is to drink)

RYAN

(Glances at Cate out of the side of his eye)

We can stop once we get out of Jersey. I really want to make it to at least Delaware before we stop for the night.

Cate sighs and turns to stare out the window, irritated with Ryan, irritated that she's been in the car all day and irritated that he won't stop like she wants him too. Cate leans her head on the window, closing her eyes. 


The radio plays softly, a song by Mayday Parade, Ryan's favorite band. He hums along softly, careful not to disturb the now sleeping Cate.


A green sign illuminates ahead on the highway announcing that it's over 200 miles to Delaware. Another sign announces that there is lodging just off the next exit. 


Ryan sighs and signals even though there is no one else on the highway. He approaches the exit and slowly pulls off, following the loop around and coming out on a small town in the middle of New Jersey.


He follows the road down a bit and sees the motel 8, its sign flashing on and off. He pulls into the parking lot and shuts off the truck.


It's suddenly quiet in the cab, Cate jerks awake.

CATE

What's going on?

(She looks around at the run down motel, her gaze landing on Ryan.)

Why did we stop?

RYAN

It was too far to Delaware and I didn't want you sleeping in the car. You'd be evil in the morning.

Cate gently smacks his arm and the two of them get out of the car and walked toward the hotel office. They enter and Ryan leans toward the counter talking to the clerk as Cate leans against the counter.

CATE

    (V.O.)

The state of Florida sent me to live with my biological father, his new wife, and their two seemingly perfect kids. 

Cate pauses for a moment.

CATE

    (V.O.)

Life sucked for a little while, my stepsister hated me, I missed my parents, and I hated Massachusetts.

The pair collects their room key and walk up a set of concrete stairs. Two doors down they stop. Cate steps back, leaning against the metal rail as Ryan unlocks the door and goes in. The light flicks on and he walks toward the bathroom. A moment later, he comes back and Cate walks into the room.

CATE

    (V.O)

Then I met Ryan. Ryan saved me from…well, just about everything. 

In the room, Cate has changed into pajamas and she and Ryan climb into bed. He kisses her gently before the light goes out. 


EXT. COLLEGE DORM - MID-MORNING


The truck comes to a stop outside a college dorm. Ryan climbs out of the truck, shielding his eyes with his hand he glances up at the building.

  RYAN

    (To Cate)

Bet you wish you'd taken Brynn up on her offer to get an apartment off campus.

Cate turns to Ryan, a smile on her face.

CATE

What and miss out on the consummate college experience? I don't think so.

RYAN

Oh, consummate college experience, huh? What does that entail? Keg parties and streaking across campus?

CATE

(She shrugs and laughs softly)

I don't know what the consummate experience is. That's why I want to have it.

Cate walks towards Ryan and smacks him lightly on the chest. He grabs the belt loops of her shorts and pulls her toward him, kissing her.

RYAN

Yeah well, don't go having any consummate experiences with any drunken frat boys. I'd hate to have to kick some asses.

CATE

(Rolling her eyes)

Whatever. Come on, we should probably start getting this stuff inside.

The two of them make multiple trips to the car, carrying cate's stuff to her room. After they are done, Cate and Ryan are sitting in the center of her room surrounded with boxes. There's a knock at the door. Ryan rises to answer it and comes back with a red and white pizza box. He sets the box down in front of Cate and she flips the lid open.

CATE

(Reaching for a slice of pizza)

So, how is this going to work? I mean am I going to come down and see you every other weekend? Are you going to come up? What are we doing?

RYAN

I'll come see you, you come see me, we're only going to be two hours apart, it won't be that bad.

CATE

(Slightly emotional)

I know.

 
They sit in silence for a few minutes, each one eating their pizza, pensive looks on their faces. Ryan finishes his pizza and glances at his watch.

RYAN

  (To Cate)

It's getting late I should probably head out.

CATE

Okay. Promise you'll call me when you get there?

RYAN

Sure. Will you be okay?

Cate nods and the pair rise. She walks him to the dorm door and opens it. They walk down the hall and out to the parking lot.

RYAN

I'll see you this weekend.

CATE

Okay.

RYAN

We can do this.

Cate nods but doesn't say anything. She leans forward resting her head on Ryan's chest.

RYAN

I love you.

CATE

I love you too.

RYAN

I'll see you this weekend.

He kisses her and reaches into his pocket for his car keys. She hugs him and lets him go waving as he walks away. Flash between Cate's sad face watching Ryan walk away and Ryan walking away. He glances over his shoulder at Cate when he gets to his truck. With a sad smile, he gets in and starts the truck, the drives away.


 

 

Third time's a charm....or so they say

 
I feel like my name lately should be changey-mind-ey-Mary...lol...I heard about this (I'm taking off the big girl panties here, excuse the childish rant that will begin in...3...2...1) stupid script frenzy back in November and thought, eh, what the heck...I don't do the whole, over-indulgence on the details aspect when I write. I feel like it gives the reader the opportunity to see things they way they imagine it should be. My character, my setting, all that stuff...yeah I write a little that tells you the basics, but that's it. I hate it when an author tries to force you to see the story their way because 90% of the time, I see it my way regardless of what they write and it just throws me off. But back to my point, I figured okay, I could write a movie, no big deal.

HOW WRONG WAS I?!?!?

I started with Fall of the Fairytale, an idea I got a while back...still don't know the specifics, but whatever, it's saved in the back of my brain for a rainy day, exactly where I like my ideas to reside. I wrote an actual novel chapter for that then tried to make it work in script format. I got a page of scripted material and stared at the screen like "are you kidding me?" for twenty minutes; seriously contemplated giving up, but didn't.

Then I decided Full Circle, my current novel work-in-progress would make a great movie. OY VEY! The story is good, but when I tried to write it in movie form, it was so cheestastic that even the most horrid B-Rated actors and production companies wouldn't touch it with a ten-foot pole. Don't worry, I'll clean up the grammar & spelling errors and post it so you can giggle at its horridness.

So this morning, I gave serious consideration to just quitting. To admitting defeat and instead of saying I was defeated just saying I was too busy with school and finishing Full Circle and starting the re-write of Unattached to finish Script Frenzy.

So I closed the documents and walked away wondering what to do. I hate giving up, it's totally not in my nature. I may pout and throw a hissy fit (mentally) but I hate giving up - especially when it's something I know I can do.

So I sat down, scoured the internet for the scripts to my favorite movies (New Moon, Shakespeare in Love, P.S. I Love You, etc...The list goes on and on) and tried to find the secret to writing a movie...

I didn't find the secret, but I found an idea that might work. Back in September/October, I wrote a story called Disenchanted. It was supposed to be the prequel to Full Circle, but for whatever reason, it just wouldn't work..But, so not the point. I started skimming through Disenchanted and as I sat there reading it, I started to notice my problem. A lot of stuff goes on in my characters heads, and you can't really (or I can't) translate that to stuff viewers can see. Disenchanted isn't really like that. Beth, the main character, is very upfront about her feelings and emotions and has no problem telling you where to stick it. So I started writing Disenchanted in the screenplay format, looking at the novel and picking out what to keep and what to toss.

I've gotten further writing Disenchanted than I have with Fall of the Fairytale or Full Circle. Heck, I've gotten further writing Disenchanted than Fall of the Fairytale and Full Circle combined, lol. It's an interesting and challenging process. I definitely have loads more respect for people who write movies, it's not easy at all, but in all honesty, I think after this month and this script is finished it will conclude my venture into script writing.

So...there's my update about Script Frenzy