Goals and Such

It's nearing the end of January, which means I get to check some things off of my 2020 list. I've been working to get a better draft of my TV pilot, but most of that time has been spent working up the show bible, not writing those extra scenes that I need. For coverage, I don't need the show bible, but it does help me see where it could go if the project had a future.

I can also check off the first contest entry of the year. I took a chance on a story I've never sent out before, so I hope I didn't waste the entry fee. Now I'm prepping an application for a residency. The work I'm sending is poetry, but for this particular contest, I have to have a good cover letter to go along with it. Although I think I write a good cover letter, I know how rarely they are read, so I find going through the motions a bit pointless. Maybe that's why all my job applications go unnoticed...

Coming Up in February

I'm dedicated the shortest month of the year for the most frustrating part of my professional life--meeting goals that depend on the actions of others. What does that include? Getting more book sales, acquiring more patrons on Patreon, getting more paid views on Medium, having more reviews on Amazon and elsewhere. I know I haven't tried every possible way to boost these numbers yet, but I do think I'm running out of the most cost-effective (=free) options.

The only other goal for February is to get my Book Spotlight gig back up on Fiverr. Since the posts will now appear here, I need to craft two or three samples before I relaunch. I've been putting it off because I thought I would have moved this blog to its own domain by now, but that's not the case. I'll revisit the idea of moving to a new domain in June. For now, I'm staying put on Blogger.

News and Notes from the Writing Desk: January Edition

January tends to be the time when everyone has that push to do more and find a new rhythm. I'm no different, so there are a lot of plans that have been put into place.

The Cost of Publication

As I've talked about before, I don't really like paying people to read my work. But there are occasions where contest fees and application fees are necessary. I try to keep these costs low. Because there are some great opportunities right now, I'm going to be spending my entry fee budget for the next three months split over three opportunities: two short story contests and one residency application. I carefully considered the fees against the opportunity, the top prize, and confidence in my work. I'm happy with my decisions and can't wait to get these entries turned in. The only hiccup? One of the short stories I want to enter is still technically being considered by another publication. But they've had it since September, so I don't know whether I'm going to get a rejection/acceptance in time, or whether I'm going to have to finally finish one of my other stories that I have been neglecting.

Recent Publications

As promised, I'm starting to write reviews for movies that I watch when I know I should be spending that time doing more productive things. I plan on continuing to review at least two movies a week, so I should be generating plenty of content for Medium this year. So far, I've published "From Cornfields to the Edge of Cool", a review of a 1957 James Dean documentary. I'm still in the process of writing the review for Jenny, a TV movie starring Marlo Thomas and Alan Alda. I will continue to stick to those odd, rare, and vintage titles because I don't watch a lot of modern movies, and those titles have plenty of people out there to review them anyway. I'm using Pluto TV, Tubi, and YouTube to find them, and there are plenty I can't wait to get to, including some light horror. But I'm not taking any chances--I will be watching those titles during the day, even if they are super cheesy when it comes to the scare factor.

In Process

I'm still working on my pilot script. It's going... okay. I'm having a hard time coming up with new scenes to meet my page count, so I may work on the show bible this weekend instead of those scenes. Also, I should finish a new short story to have it on deck, ready to go. I have at least six half-finished, so I have plenty to choose from. Aside from the residency application, poetry is taking a backseat for the rest of the month. I feel creative and energized, so the rest of January should go smoothly.

Deep in Camp NaNo Territory

It's Day 11. Normally when writing a novel, this would be the time where I'm either playing catch up to meet a word count or already throwing in the towel because I'm stuck. But this is a script project counted in minutes rather than words. So far there are 27 pages of a first draft, and thankfully I'm right at the start of a natural ending that both satisfies the specific script and easily leads into an episode two.

Two days ago I thought it was the end of the project. I got stuck trying to think of what act three would look like, and I didn't have a clue. So I moved from working on the script itself to working on the show bible, which I want to have ready even before I send this in for script coverage. It's fascinating to me how easy it was to get into creating the show bible, even though I don't really know what I'm doing. Before starting, I tried to get advice about it from articles and examples, but I quickly found out that the one example I looked at (Freaks and Geeks) was actually not the norm. So I'm winging it and making it short and sweet. I thought it would be hard to not only write synopses for the rest of the first season, but also a quick overview of potential seasons 2-5, but it was easy. Which leads me to being really attached to my characters and this story line.

Since I'm so attached right now, I didn't think I could see the obvious fatal flaws in the script. Nope. They are there and they are glaring. First, my writer character loves to over-explain the writing industry to the non-writer character. This kind of has to be done in a way, but it needs to be done in a more humorous way. That leads to the second fatal flaw--the script is not immediately funny. Reading through it, it doesn't lend itself to laughter. Of course if you picture an actor delivering the lines in a specific way, it is funny. However, no one is in my brain (thank goodness) and can't see it the way I do. I have to make the page lend itself to my vision. That's a headscratcher right now.

The last element I'm struggling with is the balance of swearing and adult content. Right now I'm on the fence with it, making it easy to sell to either network or streaming. Personally I would prefer it to be on a streaming service so the characters can get as wild and carefree as they want. But am I supposed to be thinking about this? I don't know what kind of influence or involvement a writer has beyond getting someone to take a chance and optioning the finished script. If I cater the writing to one type or another, am I setting myself up for failure? I don't know, and I can work this out during revisions, but I just want to get this one right.

So that's where I am at the moment. We shall see what the next few weeks brings. 

Excuses? I've Got a Few...

Recently I signed up for another email list. Most of the time, I'm trying to exit them, but this was an additional list from Stage 32. It's a list that provides updates on the opportunities for writers at the site, including script coverage, consulting, pitch sessions and more. Even though there are a lot of emails coming at me from this list, it made me realize that my favorite excuse for feeling guilty when working on scripts (and then not finishing them) has been proven false--there is a way for me to break into scriptwriting.

While these opportunities are great, they do also come with costs. The costs seem reasonable, so I wouldn't mind indulging with one of my scripts--if I could get one finished to the point that I'm ready to share. That, and the fee would come out of a tiny portion of my budget that currently serves to pay for fiction and poetry contest entries. So I would have to give up contest entries for other projects for a couple of months, but really, who's winning contests around here anyway?  (not me, I assure you...)

That leads me to Camp NaNoWriMo. I'm going to do it, and I'm going to measure April's session in minutes. I will be dedicating 1800 minutes of the month to writing a pilot I haven't started, but have plenty of notes for. It's a strong female-driven comedy. I hope I can pull it off. Then I can start thinking about where I'm going to take it next.

This week's post wouldn't be complete without a plug for my latest project, now would it? Remember that my latest collection of poetry, If It Was New York, Summer 2009, is coming out on MARCH 26. You can PREORDER it now from Amazon and other retailers worldwide. Paperback will be available for purchase on March 26, as will copies through subscription services such as Playster and Scribd.

What's on the Plate for February

It's February, which for writers with monthly goals means that you have to cram more words in a short amount of time. After the January I've had, I feel like it's totally doable.

The year 2018 will go down as the year I finally got back on track. I spent January releasing Melody's Valentine, finishing up the first draft of the diamond thief novel (title still TBD), launched Pieces on Wattpad, submitted a wide range of poetry and short stories to lit journals and magazines, and I even managed to finish up the first draft of a television pilot. The script is pretty terrible right now, but I'll fix that. All of this progress puts me halfway to my goal of having four works published in 2018. It's a pretty awesome place to be. 

This month I have planned to work on three separate projects. First, I'm going to finish the first draft of Avery Night, P.I. It's been a really fun story to write so far, and I already have the plot outlines for the next five books with these characters--I'm in a good place with this one.

For my revision project, 277 Miles is getting the full treatment (thanks to everyone who voted in my Patreon poll and chose this as my next revision project). Like almost every other first draft I've finished, it comes up short in the word count to be labeled a novel. The fix for that is to get into more of the character's heads and dig into their backgrounds. It'll still lead to the same conclusion, just with a wider understanding of where all the characters are coming from.

I will also be working on a brand new poetry project that I have a title for, but not much else. That's a strange place for me to be in because I almost never have titles first. I'm taking the plunge into the modern style with this collection--not what poetry professors label as modern, which is something like a century old by now, but what's going on in contemporary poetry right this minute. I know I've scoffed at it a little before, and it is taking a big hit by critics calling it consumer-driven and populist drivel. I clearly don't want to mimic a style, but instead take the same accessibility to readers that these poets have had and put my own twist on it. Simple, but deep. I guess that's what all poetry is supposed to be, but you know how taste can range.

I'm in the middle of reading some new releases of these poets, so I'll have to be careful that I'm not overly influenced by their style or subject matter. I have quite a few ideas. I'll just have to see where the pen and paper takes me.

What are you planning to work on February?