Small town run

6 months of running will culminate in the Mankato Marathon tomorrow. I'm ready to do it, but I have the usual trepidation. I've spent the day keeping busy in town at the Expo, signing in, eating dinner, and hanging at a coffee shop. Tomorrow I wake up and go for the long haul. Part of me is excited, and the other part is avoiding bedtime at the hotel because of it. I was upset before at the prospect of going alone here- the idea of being constantly the stranger is disheartening. But now I am accepting of the trip away. This started as my own endeavor, and will end my own. I will also try to keep up the blog more up to date, at least before the next one. Been a tough year. The marathon helps put that in perspective.

If you ain't First, you're Last...

The Nerd Herd came in third place in the People's Pilot contest.  Not too bad! http://tvwriter.net/?page_id=320

A small reward for a kick in the proverbial pants, and a nice affirmation for what I am up to lately.  There's still more I can do- I spy other contests where I didn't place, and it makes me want to do better.  I guess that's a good sign.

a long time a-comin'

After a nearly 9 month break from keeping a blog, I was reminded recently that if Googled, people will find your lifeless blog.  And will let you know they read your lifeless blog.  So, with that in mind, I thought that I'd do a little CPR and write a little on a so-far lazy Sunday afternoon.

Writing has been going well enough.  I took three 4-week sessions of Larry Brody's TV Writer class this year.  I came away with something each time.  In fact, my pilot titled "The Nerd Herd" was something I developed in his class.  It's now a finalist in the annual "People's Pilot" contest that the TVWriter.com website runs!  It's really a first confirmation of my writing merit, and I couldn't be happier.  Whether I place or not, I plan to solicit the script through various channels as I did with MechaWest (a project I'm not quite ready to call it quits on), so we'll see how it pans out.   

Just yesterday I finished a first draft of my "The Big Bang Theory" spec.  I think the structure is good, but it still needs shaping (as any first draft would).  This is my first attempt at a multi-camera script, and while I initially avoided it, I'm glad that I'm attempting it.  I'm not a fan of most contemporary laugh-track type episodes, but for an exercise/serious spec that I can submit for a variety I think I'm doing all right.  Three months from start to first draft finish seems like a long time, but since this was done over lunch hours and a few hours each weekend, I think I did all right for a new format.  Not a passion project by any means, but I'm having fun with these characters.

In May, I went to Los Angeles for the first time.  I visited with some new people and old friends.  Venice Beach, the J. Paul Getty Museum and Nickelodeon Studios were my main stops.  I got to visit with Karen Kirkland, the head of the Writing Fellowship there and had a great conversation about L.A., writing and what to do next.  The place had a fantastic energy that I won't soon forget (including celebrity spotting J.K. Simmons preparing to do a voiceover).  I can't wait until the next time. 

Other than that, I'm just plugging away at the day job.  New school year means plenty of room scheduling to do.     

Yanking my Yankee chain?

I sent a query to a UK distributor about a month ago.  The contact replied almost immediately and requested my pilot and "show bible".  Not wanting to scare her with an avalance of material, I sent the pilot and a synopsis.

She wanted even more.  She thanked me for the pilot, but again requested a show "bible" with any sketches I had.  So, I consulted with the artist I used previously for character designs and paid for a handful more.  A locomotive, a town sketch and a few more main characters.  I dotted my series concept with them, making it a bit more palatable and sent it off.

And just in time.  My contact emailed that she was leaving for vacation as of last Friday, but would be back in January.  She asked if we could "pick this up" when she got back. 

Amy and my internet friends at TVWriter.com seem optimistic at the progress, but I remain convinced that this is business as usual.  She's given me no words to the effect that she is overly impressed by my work.  Maybe the concept bible I sent her will help turn the tables in my favor, but I still fall back to the thought that my sci-fi western geared towards a 'tween audience may not be what a UK company would want to deal in.  Then again, sifting through 30 pages of concept is not something a busy professional in children's acquisitions would willingly participate in.

The advice now?  Send her a holiday card and get to work on something else.  Pronto. 

prolific prolific prolific prolific prolific

Has a great lunch with college friend Jason Hall yesterday.  I managed to sound competent in talking about life and writing well enough.  Jason just finished his MFA studies in Playwriting at Ohio University, and was teaching adjunct classes around the area.  It was refreshing to actually have a face-to-face conversation with someone about projects, structure, etc.  I was reminded, though, to keep writing; to pursue germinal ideas and not get lazy.  To join some sort of writing group to keep the conversation going.  When I feel lazy, or when I feel like playing a video game, I need to ask myself if I have fulfilled my obligation to my writing first.  Write a germinal idea, write on this blog, whatever.  There's no excuse not to be moving on this.

Oh, and to keep reading about writing.  Jason recommended great books about general writing and the craft.  I have a few books of my own to tackle as well.

There are no excuses.  And I don't just have one idea.  There's plenty to do.

Ruminations on the merits of domestic terrorism

I started back as a faculty secretary at the community college I work at yesterday. I came across a "strange" manilla envelope addressed to a faculty member that no longer taught there. Return address- the college. Contents- hard and crunchy. I called security to have them take a look.

The chain of events- threatening letter, targeting the faculty member's granddaughter. Evacuation of the building where I worked, police intervention and full investigation by a National Guard unit in cooperation with the FBI. Apparently, this was the third in several years of such letters. Washing of hands, laundering of clothes and shower when I got home. The contents?

Cat litter and cat shit. Someone has been angry for a long time. I have a feeling that this might be the last time- this letter went through the U.S. mail. Hell, even the anthrax guy got nailed (post-mortem, but still).

Similar scenario to the angry ex-military guy who lives across the street from me. He's vandalized our front garden twice now, thinking that we called the police on his family for possible late-night domestic violence (true the first time 2 years ago, not true the second 2 months ago). We can prove nothing, and the $2000 of damage done is only partially covered by insurance.

I mention these instances only because it's caused me to think about the lack of consequences propelling the unstable. It's nothing new, to be sure, but the very notion of causing damage to another person (physically, emotionally or otherwise) strikes me as something that would require a great will. Or unstable mind. Or both. They make it seem so easy. Better than taking responsibility for your own miserable life, I suppose.

I can't imagine the thought process of going through with sending repeated "karma's a bitch" letters with catshit in it, or being the neighborhood loud mouth, maybe knowing full well you're the shittiest parent in the metro. It might be entertaining to figure out said "thought-process" (if there's even thinking involved), but, yeah. That happened.

a new hope?

Huh. One teleplay contest didn't pass me on to their Quarterfinals. I'm not really pissed off about it or anything, but it was disappointing to wonder for a few weeks what it might be like to be a Quarter- or Semi-Finalist. Just need to remind myself that my writing does not hinge on a contest to make or break me.

It was nice on Friday, though, to get an email responding to my query from Alloy Entertainment (the company behind "Gossip Girl" and "Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants"). Not my cup of tea, but the company focus on young women and teens, along with acquiring properties of such books and media, makes me a little hopeful. One of their divisions, The Collective, requested the pilot of "MechaWest"- though it seems that this division has a focus more on taking stories and books, then converting these into television or film (and other related media). So, I guess that's nice. My premise must have been interesting enough to whet their whistle, or they just need to do their due diligence and look at anything that might sell. Either way, mission accomplished. The last 6 months of intermittent solicitation and education have culminated into something tangible. I added a BLUE color code category on my MechaWest Submission Spreadsheet. WHITE= no response yet, YELLOW= not sure about this one, RED= no unsolicited/ not interested, GREEN= Synopsis/Query sent. BLUE= pilot sent for consideration! Ding, ding, ding!

I'm proud of my pilot, and have worked really hard on it. I'm glad someone that has some power (and hopefully desire) to manifest a possible production this piece can really do so. The likelihood is slim, but we creative types always cling to that which seems impossible. If we gave up on the "impossible", nothing would ever get done.