Moving

This has nothing to do with positive thinking or publishing even. It's more like I completely forgot it was my night to blog until right before bedtime and then I went, well, I don't think I can post that. :) The only thing I could think of was moving. Moving is a pain. The end result is great, but while it's happening, not so good. The DH is stressed out and I have no clue about finances, which means I'm no good at helping him with most stuff.

Did you guys know books attract dust? I've been wondering why there is so little dust downstairs, it's b/c it floated upstairs to the bookcase and attacked the poor books. Excuse me while I go get a Kleenex. ha!

So we're trying to keep the house neat and the dogs go outside and one comes back (it would be the one we just bathed) sopping wet with his feet covered in mud. Since it hasn't been raining I stick my head outside and realize that the dog decided to take on a mission to kill the neighbor's sprinkler head. This sprinkler head comes up right underneath the fence. Go figure. For years the neighbors have been saying that they will move the sprinkler. Uh-huh. Now it's spraying in our yard, creating mud that no good dog can resist, which in turn makes muddy floors. So much for a clean house.

That's what's going on in my life. What's up with you?

The Universe is Your Magnet

Do you believe in the power of positive thinking? I'm reading this book and that's the main premise: Thoughts have a magnetic power so whatever you think about and send into the universe is what you draw to you. Good and positive thoughts draw good and positive things to you, and bad, negative stuff - well, you get the picture...
It's an interesting concept and the book is written in a very positive way. It instructs the reader to think about what they want in life. What would make them really happy. Then send those thoughts into the universe - for example someone might say: I want to be wealthy and successful. So at some point the universe would deliver whatever you need to be wealthy and successful. But don't ask for a bacon cheese burger because it doesn't work that fast. And don't ask for The Rock to have a flat tire in front of your house and need to use the telephone and then decide to stay. That would be a misuse of the universes magnet and besides that's what I'm asking for. Get your own wish.
What will you ask the universe to deliver to you?

Tree Huggin' Trinity

Okay, I freely admit to being a tree hugger. I recycle everything I can, drive a small, fuel efficient car (I'll get a hybrid when I can afford one) and every single light bulb in my house
has been changed to those super long-life fluorescent bulbs that last for years. At one time I even owned a small recycling business.

Personally, I strive to be one of those people who lives in a tree for a month just to keep big bad corporate America from chopping it down to make another parking lot. (But I wouldn't last fifteen minutes without Internet access.)

So what does this have to do with writing? Recently, I decided to enter a contest, and I had my choices narrowed down to two. Both contests had good reputations, offered feedback and had terrific editors as final judges. So which one did I enter? One contest was traditional in that you made three copies and sent them in the mail along with a check and a SASE. The other was completely done through email and PayPal.

Let's see. Print copies, write a check, find an envelope large enough, schlep off to the post office, wait in line, pay ten bucks or more for postage or use PayPal and email your entry.

Hmmm...didn't have to think too much on that one. It amazes me that the publishing industry hasn't caught on to this. With the exception of epublishers, most publishing houses still require paper copies of submissions. I can't imagine why an editor would prefer to wade through mountains of paper versus using email.

In my opinion, it's time for publishers to leave the dark ages behind and join the modern world.

And for goodness sakes, save a tree while you're at it.

my name is christie and i'm a writerholic.

coolest things about the oscars last night: the clip of barb rockin' a choker; the clip of barb with mr. robert redford; the clip of barb winning an oscar in 1968.

so, i plan on going to see the other boleyn girl, which opens this friday. i bet robin bana already has a ticket. anyway, i read philippa gregory's book and really enjoyed it. i have a trade arc of tobg that is 661 pages, so considering a two-hour film is is a 120-page screenplay, i will be interested to see what makes it into the film, and what doesn't.

i'm as much a film critic as i am a book critic. that's because i'm a screenwriter too. in college i took every film class offered, including screenwriting. for class we were only required to write the first act, but my professor fancied my idea, so he encouraged me to complete it and enter it in this little contest. my professor (Dr. Hillwig, hi ... if you're reading the Spanksters blog:) had 9 screenplays under his belt, an agent, and he'd optioned a few (option means you get paid a lot of money just to have your idea considered), so heck yes i was excited and finished - Amelia - in 10 months (that's while going to school and working a full-time summer job). i placed as a quarterfinalist in the american screenwriters association international screenplay competition, and my name is actually still listed on the asa website. barb, if you're reading the Spanksters blog too, i would be honored if you'd direct and produce my film. we can even share a trailer. that would be fun, right? your agent, marty, can call me anytime to get this ball rolling.

so, i noticed philippa gregory was not the screenwriter for the movie. hmm. dan brown was not the screenwriter for davinci code (i did not like the movie at all - yuck). jack engelhard also was not the screenwriter for indecent proposal. ok, that was a good thing. indecent proposal, IMO, was a better movie than book. could you have seen robert redford as an arab? or woody harrelson as a speech writer? or demi moore named joan - joan for gosh sakes?

anyway, i can only dream of being a fraction of barb, who directs, produces, acts, sings, writes, and lands hot older man ... so in dreaming out loud, i would love to write a book (done that) AND write the screenplay for a movie of a book written by me. however, right now, my baby's just lookin' for a cradle, so i'll take that first and worry about the day bed later.

what about you? what books did you like better than the movie? movie better than the book? what big dreams do you have ... in addition to writing and finding a home for your book?

Dry Spells, Pigeons and A Bottle of Wine…

So, yeah, February has been a slow, sloooow month for me. Up until last night, I could have counted on one hand the number of words that I’d added to anything related to fulfilling my dreams of being the greatest writer in the world. I know, I aim high but a girl’s gotta dream, right? ;-)

This current Dry Spell? It was killing me. Every night I looked at my files, then I would open my internet browser and that would be the end of my ‘work’ for the night. Even my Special Forces class was boring me to tears. And that’s saying something.

Last night, I’d had enough. Work has been entirely too stressful lately and being in the mist of this ‘dry spell’ wasn’t helping matters at all. So I pulled out the big guns. I bought some lottery tickets and a bottle of wine. I wrapped it in a brown paper bag and drank that shit right there in the parking lot while sitting next to a homeless man with a pigeon on his head.

Just kidding.

I waited until I got home and I drank it from a mason jar.

And then I wrote the opening scene for a story I’ve been rolling around in my head for a while now. Just like that – out of the mind and onto the page - the Dry Spell was over. Thank you very much.

I’d like to think it was the wine, just so I can keep a bottle of Boones Farm on hand, but more than likely it was the simple fact that my subconscious (SC) knew it was time to relax. Decompress. Refocus. SC is just really smart and knows that for me to listen, it needs to liquor me up a bit first…

So, tell us what your Dry Spells are like. Do you know the triggers? How do you pull out of the funk? Or are you that rare breed that can crank out a story no matter what else is going on in your life? How is that even possible?

P.S. I might already be Texas’ newest millionaire…If I could just find that damn tickets….

Eureka

Do you remember the moment you first had a thought that you could write? I'm talking as an adult. :) For me it was this moment at work several years ago where I looked around my little cube and thought, what am I doing here? I'd rather be home. Bringing this up to the DH was not a good idea b/c he reminded me that I was all for equality among men and women and that meant me in the workplace b/c he wanted to stay home too. But he decided to be generous and said that I was more than welcome to stay home if I met one of two conditions:
1) if I pop one out
2) become independently wealthy
Ha. At the time I didn't care to pop one out and it's not in my destiny to win with a lottery or gambling. Seeing the chance of Robert Redford offering DH a million for a night with me was very slim I had to think of another way to become independently wealthy.

Well, sitting in my cube that day I realized that I had all these stories in my head and my 6th grade English teacher had said that she would be surprised if I didn't become an author so I had no choice. Authorland it was. I figured I could write a story, send it to an agent and seeing how it was obviously the greatest thing she'd ever read I'd be offered a half a million to publish and someone might even want the rights to a movie.

Stop laughing.

That book is hiding in the closet, fearful of seeing the light of day. It was so bad that I actually fell asleep reading it. I've since learned that I can't become rich in this field, at least not monetarily. However, I feel rich for all the things I've learned about the writing world and all the friends I've made. (Aww, do you have warm fuzzies now???)

What's your eureka moment?

Voices and Ginsu knives...sorry, no sex

Writers have different ways of approaching a new story. Ideas come from everywhere if we take the time to see them. Some writers talk about ‘the voices talking to them’ and stuff like that. Nothing wrong with that I guess as long as they don’t instruct the writer to pick up a stapler or extra-sharp No. 2 and go all Ginsu on somebody.
I don’t hear voices and I’m pretty sure it would freak me out if I did. But ideas and phrases come to me when I take the time to recognize them. It’s usually in the quieter moments, like folding laundry or when I’m driving. Most of the time I leave the radio off in the car because the constant chatter keeps me from thinking about anything other than the daily radio topic.
And I love those moments when an interesting way to say something just pops in from….somewhere. Maybe the subconscious.
Because I think for writers, even when we’re not concentrating on our story the subconscious is still mulling it over and thrashing it about, trying to work out the plot, the many subplots, and all the other aspects that tend to drive us slightly nuts.
Hmmmm….probably explains some of the voices.
So how do you approach a story? Do you start with a small idea and expand it until it grows into a full fledged story? Do voices tell you what to write? What’s your method for getting the words down on paper?