Script Frenzy!

The funny thing is, I wasn't planning on writing a script in April. I have no idea what I'm doing. I always thought it would be cool to do Script Frenzy, another of those crazy Office of Letters and Light programs (like NaNoWriMo, for example), but I didn't think I would do it THIS year. It just happened that I recently found out about a short film contest that Minnesota libraries are having, and I decided that I wanted to enter. 

The only problem was, I didn't have a script.

So, I decided to take the leap and do Script Frenzy. I'm starting with a "practice" script, a crazy, seat-of-the-pants adventure about an 18-year-old girl who is named, strangely enough, Author Gal. *cough* I'm learning how to format a screenplay, and waiting until I have more information about the contest before I start my REAL project-- "Secrets at the Library." More on this later...

A New Song

To my Grandfather, who went to be with Jesus

On this earth you no more roam

I know that you are home

Where it is always day

Where the sky is never gray

This life is not the end

I'll see you once again-

my grandpa,

my friend.

The King is there to greet you

At his table he will seat you

I know that you'll be blessed

With joyous, song-filled rest

This life is not the end

I'll see you once again-

my grandpa,

my friend.

Spring Song #2

Spring Song 2

It's fun to watch snow

melt

melt

m

    e

l

   t

down, down

into the ground

like a shrinking island

like Atlantis

like a vanishing cloud

poof

poof

plop.

The snow is no more

I can't wait to see

what spring has

in store.

more

puddles?

plop

plop

SPLAT.

Snow is wetter

on days

no better

than a haze

of clouds.

melt

melt

m

    e

l

    t

down, down

into the ground.

Tiny stranded islands

like white white sands

soon they will 

melt

melt

m

    e

l

   t

down, down

into the ground

icicles fall

and hit people

on the 

head-

like that

plink

plink

-smack-

The sun laughs at me

I jump over a snowdrift

it will

melt

melt

m

    e

l

   t

down, down

into the ground

where the gophers dig

where the worms hum

where life

stirs

stirs

stirs...

Spring Songs

The stirring of spring has urged me to write poetry about March and Spring. Here is the first of my  "Spring Songs."

Spring Song 1

March

snow marches

Fall

snow falls

Spring

snow springs

March.

March

lion marches

Blow

lion blows

Sleep

lion sleeps

March.

March

flowers come dancing in like a song,

like a robin-bird,

dancing, singing, blooming flowers

March

birds come in flocks from warm places,

coconut beaches,

winging, singing, gliding birds

March.

NaNoEdMo: March 1-31

I have finally decided to try my hand at editing. I recently signed up for National Novel Editing Month, a program inspired by NaNoWriMo, but with the goal of completing 50 hours of serious editing during the month of March. It's a big goal, and something I've never tried before. I did some editing on my novel The Shadow of Greed before I self-published it, but it was mostly to correct spelling errors and little things like that. I didn't really get my hands dirty.

But now I have a hefty rough draft waiting around--the sequel, The Shadow of Rebellion, and I know that this book will require a lot more attention... yeah. It's almost frightening to read the thing. 

That's why I put "Edit my novel" on my Big, Fun, Scary Adventures list for 2009. I know it's important to learn how to self-edit, so right now I'm reading a very helpful book titled Self-Editing for Fiction Writers: How to edit yourself into print, by Renni Browne and Dave King. I plan to use the checklists at the end of each chapter as I'm going through my draft in March.

This is all very new to me, but I'm eager to learn as much as I can through this project. Self-editing is one of the "courses" that I need to take in order to become a successful, published author, and I'm ready to start learning.

More trees...

I went to a used bookstore on Saturday, and I got a new book!

Actually, it's an old book, Trees: Yearbook of Agriculture 1949. It caught my eye because I was looking for a good book to alter, and the cover with the leaves and the title seemed just perfect. It has some great illustrations in it that I can highlight on my pages, and it has maps of the US inside the covers. I'll use it for a nature or tree theme. I can't wait to get to work on it!

Oddities and Trees

More altered book pictures! I completed two more pages. Yay! 

This one is titled "Whims and Oddities," and it's supposed to be a collection of odds and ends... and a vain dude admiring his reflection in the little mirror. (The vain dude is actually a picture of Lord Byron that was already in the old history book I altered). I used gold thread to stitch around the mirror to add some elegance to the page. I put in a gold leaf, and the gold squares are pieces of a credit card. :) I also put in a photocopy of a skeleton key. This page didn't turn

 out as good as how I imagined it, but I'm just having fun and learning. This is my first altered book project, after all!

Enter the Forest! This is the very last page of my altered book. I wanted to do more pages, but I'm afraid the binding is going to fall apart if I do any more. I painted the trees on the pages, fleshed them out a little with colored pencil, attached a paper butterfly and some leaves, and finished it off with some larger gold and

 green leaves (they didn't show up very well in the picture). I might do a repeat of this theme in other books, because nature is one of my favorite themes.

On to new altered books! I have ideas for about 8 different themes I could expand on, but I haven't come to a final decision yet. I'll let you know what I decide.  I got some cool papers and inks with my Christmas money, and I can't wait to try them out on a new project!