Wow, it's been awhile...

Well, a lot has happened in the last two weeks. My roommate moved out so I'm in the process of reorganizing my office and reclaiming my writing space. I wrote up a letter for a marketing campaign for our business and the return already has been 15% so we've been busy busy busy and we expect to get even busier with the start of the new quarter. Friends have gone out of town and have asked me to house sit (or more preciously kitty-sit) but the first full day they were gone I was hit with another bout of food poisoning. "But I'm feeling muuuuuch better now." (Tell me where I reference that from and you win todays grand prize.)          

So I'm settling in to the big house with the big tv that's calling my name, with the exercise equipment that's appealing, a dsl high speed connection that's addictive and all the other distractions and I keep reminding myself I have a screenplay to write. But tonight I have a date. First one in awhile and the first one I'm meeting from craigslist. Wish me luck.          

I've finally decided how to go about introducing the romantic interest in the first third of the screenplay. Originally he didn't have a very big part at all until about half way through but it's better that it be a little more established by that point. Of course Mattie is fit to be tied. He didn't necessarily profess his profound love for her while he was drunk, just the next morning after he had passed out. While he was drunk though, he did make an ass of himself and totally disrespected her. But now they're suspicious of each other. He's not sure that she's an assassin but assumes that she is. He's a cop who may not have total loyalty to his family at heart. His father, who is Mattie's contact, doesn't trust him and Mattie is beginning to understand why. Fun. Fun. Fun.          

It's a holiday week and business will be slow for a couple of days, so I plan to roll out several more scenes before my friends return from vacation. I'm shooting for completion but we'll see. Gotta go get ready for my date.          

TTFN

 

first sex scene

Well, I just wrote my first sex scene in the screenplay and boy did this room ever get so hot and stuffy.          

It wasn't much of a sex scene, just a little unwanted groping but I've come to realize (pardon the pun) that Mattie, my main character, is still a virgin at age 25. Being a hit man doesn't lend itself to getting close to too many people but her romantic history has been so skewed that she just isn't interested in developing a romantic relationship. Though there is a romantic interest if only on his part so far. I envision someone like Michael Imperioli, Christopher from The Soprano's, playing the love interest. Now that gets my panties in a wad.          

Mattie has taken on a side job and invited the unwanted groping but now that she's taken care of that problem, she's gotten herself into a heap of trouble and everything has been blasted across the front page of the New York Times. Everyone's pointing the finger at everyone else and a whole lot of dirty deals are surfacing which implicates the Mayor's Office and the Deputy-Mayor himself. Tune in next time for another exciting installment          

of It's a WRITER'S LIFE.           

Same bat time. Same bat channel.           

(Okay I admit it, I have a weird sense of humor.)

------- 

Don't get it right, get it written!

 

another incredible day

How'd everyone fare through 06/06/06?          

I've completely broken through the writers block and spent the night last night writing. I was crawling into bed as my roommate was getting up for work. Of course, nighttime is the best time for me to work since I've been a vampire for as long as I can remember. (Check out the time stamp on this blog.) Even as a child, I was up under the covers with the flashlight reading a book. I even once burnt the pillow with a light bulb from a lamp (sorry mom). When I spent the weekend at my grandparents, I would be up until 2, 3, or 4 am reading or writing. Grams always wondered why I slept late all the time.  No matter how much sleep I get or don't get, I'm usually wide awake when the sun goes down. Everyone seems to think there's something wrong with me but my rhythm just seems to be that of a night person. That's one reason why I'm so excited about going to France. I want to see if I'm still a night person when I'm on the other side of the world or if my rhythm changes.          

I'm planning a trip with three of my girl friends to New York City this fall. I'm really excited about it. The four of us painting the town red. We've only been out to dinner once in the last 16 years. We were little hellions in college so it will be great to get in touch with that side of ourselves again. No husbands. No kids. Just the four of us out on the town. Anyone out there willing to bail our asses out of jail if we get into trouble?          

It probably won't be as bad as all that. I want to scout out locations for the screenplay and see the Guggenheim and go ice skating at Rockefeller Center and maybe even a carriage ride through Central Park, all those romantic things I had planned to do someday with a romantic interest but since all the guys I know are sitting on their asses, I'll just plan to do all this with the girls. Eat your heart out men.          

Anyway, during my writing session last night, I found out that Mattie, my main character, has a dog. Who knew? I hadn't planned for it since I intend for her to be out of touch with her emotional side. Usually when someone owns a pet, the animal tends to bring out the warm, fuzzy side so it was a surprise for me to hear the growling of a Doberman on the other side of her apartment door. I also learned that since she spends so much time at her Uncle's restaurant, she hates cooking for herself (or should I say, she hates cooking for one) so her freezer is filled with tv dinners while the dog has gourmet meals every night. I even named the dog Emmett (as in Emmett Kelley) and I've worked in the name Weary Willy (reference:  Barney & Bailey). Here's my salute to you AJH. Love ya.           TTFN

 

Just a little note...

I wanted to send out my eternal thanks to my cousin for his help with my computers. As some of you know, my laptop crashed after I lugged it to Disney; eight hours in the Orlando airport with this dead weight on my shoulders, I wasn't a happy camper when it crashed. I ended up losing 150 pictures from my digital because I couldn't download to the computer and the camera doesn't have a memory card. I really wanted to pitch the laptop out of the plane instead of lugging it through the airport again on the return trip (an then having security search the entire bag too, it's lucky to have made it back to Atlanta.) But anyway, all data was first thought to be lost but my cousin is a wiz at computers. Everything has been retrieved, including the first part of my screenplay (of which that was the only copy. I know. I know. Back-up. Always back-up. I won't be lazy about it anymore.)

So I was making technical changes on part one last night and just glancing at the material, there seemed to be such an energy about what I'd written that it's sparked a writing marathon. No more writers block for me. I'm still in conversation with Mattie cause there's still something she wants me to know but at least I'm working on the screenplay again. Hip Hip Hooray!!! Double kudos go out to my cousin!

--------

AJH commented:
 
Wanted to let you know I am cheering your progress.

-----

Mandan commented:

 This is a great website Cheyenne! I'd love to see some of your screenplay!

Have a great evening. =)

Manda

-----

 Cheyenne commented:
 

Thanks Manda. I'm just about at the point where I'll be needed input and you're at the top of my list. Look forward to it. 

-----

Back to the Monday Morning Routine

As most of you know, I have no set schedule or routine. Everything I do is rather spontaneous, including work. Unfortunately my work schedule is ruled by someone else's spontaneity. But that leaves me time to write, sporadically. (Maybe I'm more sporadic than spontaneous but spontaneous sounds better.)          

So anyway, I went to bed rather late for most of you but early for me, around 2 am, figuring I'd sleep til at least 10 but nooooo! I was up shortly after 7 am, my mind racing. It hit me that I wanted to write an article for the Writer's Digest on this years upcoming National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo for short. For those of you who don't know, the NaNoWriMo writing contest takes place in November, every November, where those of us who actively (and voluntarily)participate crucify ourselves upon the pen and let our blood intermix with the ink and commit 50,000 words of a new novel onto paper (or computer memory, as the case may be).

The deadline for publishing in an October or November issue of a magazine looms overhead at this very moment so the first thing I do this morning is... you guessed it, jump on the bouncer with my hand weights listening to Bob Marley and the Wailers. (My neighbors just love me.)          

I have no idea where the motivation for that came from. I'm not a morning person. My day starts around 3 pm. If I'm awake to see the sun rise it's because I've been up all night. For the last week or so, I've been waking up just after 7 and not always by choice. Seems the landscaping crew feels that it is necessary to wake the neighborhood early with their make-shift alarm clocks; mowers, weed-eaters, trimmers and blowers. And they do not give you a chance to go back to sleep. Seems that it takes an entire eight hours to trim the property here. And they can't do all the work in one day. The next day is for the mowers and the next is for the weed-eaters, etc. etc. etc.. And of course, there are the guys on the roof repairing the storm damage from April 8th. Arrruuuuuggg!!!!! It's a good thing I don't have a shotgun! Though I could learn first hand what my character Mattie, would go through as a sniper. Hmmmmmm. Anyone got a shot gun for sale, reasonably priced? After all, I am a starving artist.          

Well, after the bouncy thing, I rummaged through several years of Writer's Digest magazines, looking for the article that first piqued my interest in NaNoWriMo. Then scourged the WD website and finally the NaNo website and found no mention of the damn thing. I printed a bunch of info regarding the writing contest and checked my email. I wrote to Chris Baty, the founder of NaNoWriMo, yesterday with the intent of designing NaNo products to sell through their website to raise money for charity. No word yet, but of course, he's in California. It's only 8 am here in Atlanta and 5 am in the sunshine state; he's not even awake yet.          

Then I fight with the computer. Dial-up kicks me off-line 6 times and I finally give up chatting with a friend on Yahoo! IM. So, now, here it is 11:10 am and I'm blogging. Not a word written on my screenplay, though I can hear Mattie calling me from my notebook. Guess it's time to get something to eat. Then maybe tackle my journal and chat with Mattie. I still have just under 13 hours to write today, minus two hours for the 24 season finale. Busy. Busy. Busy. TTFN.

;)

In The Beginning

It's funny. I have a section in my book "God Doesn't Ask Why" entitled "In the Beginning." I've been noticing lately that things tend to come around again and again.          

Anyway, saw "The DaVinci Code" at the theater yesterday and was surprised to see Jean Reno playing the part of Captain Bezu Fache. Jean Reno is the star of the original movie of which I'm writing a sequel. Of course, his character is killed in the first movie, and no I'm not resurrecting him from the dead, but I do have a fantasy of inviting him to the set of my movie while it's being shot. That fantasy consists of me actually being the on-site writer while it's being filmed, which means that I'll be going to Paris, France and New York City. It's very motivating to fantasize about visiting two cities I've always dreamed about, and on someone else's dime too (or Euro as the case may be).          

My short stint as an extra on the film "Warm Springs" (out on DVD already, for those of you who missed the HBO release) and the tv show "Blue Collar TV" (out on DVD this August) gave me incredible insights into the world behind-the-scene of the movie/tv industry. I also went to Disney last month for the first time and was amazed while visiting Universal Studios and MGM Studios. I could have spent the entire week at theses two parks and not have gotten bored. We did seven parks in seven days and had a blast. Kudos go out to my brother Bill for making the trip possible. I learned so much about the movie biz. I recommend the trip to all writers out there, if only to get in touch with your inner child. While there, I picked up an official old time chalk Clap-Board at the Universal Studio Back Lot Tour ride. It's been a great visual motivator while I'm writing a new scene.          

I currently have several scenes under my belt. My intention is to have the first draft done by the end of the summer and the final draft before the end of the year. Just last week I decided that the movie will be set in the Fall and early Winter in New York City so I hope to be filming just before Christmas next year. Christmas in NYC. How exciting!!! Skating at Rockefeller Center, horse-drawn carriage rides in Central Park, window shopping. Another dream come true.           

Yesterday, I was microwaving my dinner when a Chinese Fortune stuck to the front of my refrigerator caught my eye: "You have the power to write your own fortune." That little slip of paper has been there for nearly two years and I've never noticed the dual meaning until yesterday. And I'm the one who stuck it there on the refrigerator. I really believe that in writing this screenplay, I'm about to completely transform my future and my fortune. Isn't life utterly amazing? There are signs everywhere. We just have to be aware of them.          

I've been dealing with writer's block for a little while now but I think I've found a way to break through it. I'm having a conversation in my journal with the main character of the movie. I'm learning a lot about my character and everything that's happened since the first movie. Mattie is now 25 and she owns a plant nursery in NYC. She's single and works part-time at her "adopted" family's restaurant. But all of that is a cover. She's actually a hit-man for the mob and pretty damn good at it. No one suspects that a little ol' girl could do such a thing. So follow along as I explore Mattie's world.