My screenwriting friend Marc sent me a link to an article by Lawrence Konner, writer for a gazillion projects including Planet of the Apes (!) and multiple upcoming movies that sound blockbuster-ish. There's a lot of good bits in this article, so much so that you could take any one of Konner's pronouncements and expand […]
Everybody left today. Our house party began a week ago, when the snow started falling and didn't stop for days. There's still snow on the streets, but now it is accompanied by deep tire ruts filled with water, because it is raining. Hooray! We Oregonians love the rain. At least this Oregonian does. Regretfully, I […]
Or greetings of the season and whatever holiday tradition you celebrate. I'm told that, astrologically, this moment in time is about letting go of the old and outdated, whatever no longer suits us. Since none of my Christmas presents have been delivered, I'm letting go of my old expectations of the holidays and celebrating the […]
Its been snowing in Portland since Saturday and now we have about a foot on the ground. I know that most of you consider Oregon a northern state and you thus assume that we always get a lot of snow, but such is not the case. Its been five years since we've gotten an appreciable […]
We interrupt regular programming to bring you this guest post by Roy Burkhead, as Charlotte is beating her head against the wall at the snowstorm blanketing the city, repeating over and over, "Why, oh why, did I wait until the last minute to shop?" Enjoy! And cheer her up by commenting. Do you agree with […]
A theme is emerging as we near the official start of winter. A friend emails that she's tired, depressed and depleted, the end result of consistent beating herself up for not writing. Never mind that a beloved friend of hers recently died, her business, like so many others, is rapidly changing, and she suddenly finds […]
Please forgive the long absence (well, its only been a week and a half or so. But that's an eon in blog years.) I have not been blogging for two good reasons: 1. I was out of town. 2. I have been having Thoughts, of a deep nature. Thoughts about what, you might ask? Well, […]
Well, its not that far, really. I'm heading up to the Washington coast to visit my Nashville friend Sue at her father's place. What makes it feel far, far away is that there is no internet service and no cell phone service. No blogging! No Twitter! No text messaging! However, I'm only going to be […]
This is the third post in a series on scenes, and specifically, flat scenes. You can find part one of the series here, and part two, here. What is a flat scene? It is one in which the emotional tenor is the same all the way through. For instance your heroine may start out the […]
We interrupt the current series on scene to bring you this post on writing, fear, and creativity. I was having breakfast with my wonderful Nashville friend Sue (wait, should I say she's from Nashville if she is originally from Portland?) this morning and we started talking about feeling skittish and being nervous and anxious. (Did […]
