To the end of the Road…

Hey folks… and today’s monday… not just any monday but the last monday of 2012!

Well, I had hoped things would be better this year but sadly they weren’t. In fact, this was one of the worst years I’ve had in a long time. But as always here’s the highlights of how things went for me in 2012. Some good and… not so good.

January: Spent some time in L.A. enjoying the change of scenary.

February: Found out my dog and friend of 5 years was adopted out illegally! my year pretty much went down hill from there. Attended the Vegas Pet Expo for the first time and met Pitboss star, Shorty Rossi and his service dog Hercules.

March: Listened to a new teleconference, went down to L.A. twice.

April: More teleconferences , participated in Script Frenzy, Bentley gets a new roommate and little ‘sister’, Stella.

May: Parents’ 31st anniversary, stilling looking for Rudy, Champion Screenwriting entry sadly did not make the final cut.

June: Entered the Fresh Voices Pitch contest, summer vacation begins!

July: Went to L.A. , had a good weekend dispite missing Comic-Con.

August: Back in L.A. again, got to enjoy a change of pace and get some writing done. Fresh Voices pitch contest entry comes in 4th place among the top 10!

September: Summer ends, thought of one of my favorite writers, Earl Kress and my best friend, Sienna.

October: Fall is in full swing, spent a saturday feeling lonely with Rudy. October 6th of this year marks the 6th anniversary of when I brought her home.

November: Attended the Vegas Valley Comicbook festival, throughly enjoyed myself. Participated in National Novel Writing Month for the 4th year in a row !

December: Went down to California, had a great time and entered Script Pipline’s great idea contest.

Overall, while I had some good moments this year, I’ve had some sad ones. However I’m determined to get my dog back, enter more writing contests, attend comic-con and accomplish the things on my to do list next year.

Will post how things go.

See ya next year!

Read Full Post »

Last friday…

Hey folks,

Well this marks the last friday of 2012…

It’s been a rough year so I’m looking forward to a fresh start. Will post my plans for 2013 at some point.

Right now I could really use some sleep.

See ya on Monday!

Read Full Post »

Back to the grind

Hey all,

Well the long winter break is almost over… then it’s back to the grind.

Will be getting things back up and running as soon as possible.

So stay tuned!

See ya on Friday!

Read Full Post »

Sleepin’ on it…

Hey folks,

Due to having a long weekend, I’ve planned to catch up on writing and getting some much-needed sleep.

So today’s post will be delayed.

Just need some rest.

So sorry, see ya on Wednesday!

Read Full Post »

Fall Fridays #12

Hey folks…

Well, it’s friday.

Overall this fall has been pretty nice.

Got some great photos of migrating butterflies, leaves changing colors on the trees and spending a weekend in California.

Yesterday was the last day of fall. Making this post the season finale of Fall Fridays.

Fall is also a time when favorite TV shows return, usually beginning in late August and ending in November. Pilot episodes also premiere.

Most Fall TV shows such as Last Man Standing and others have what’s called a midseason finale. After a certain number of new episodes air there’s usually a 2 week break with new episodes continuing to air in January. In the meantime, networks show reruns. This gives viewers and fans alike a chance to catch up or for those that want to watch a certain episode but forgot to set the DVR, they get to watch it a second time.

Trust me, watching a tv show episode a second time is great.

So, during the first two weeks of winter, depending on what’s on TV, I mostly watch movies or reruns or whatever is on my DVR.

Great for nights when there’s simply nothing good on TV.

Will upload my fall photos at some point.

See ya on Monday!

 

Read Full Post »

Long weekends…

Hey folks,

And we’re back to Wednesday… again.

Hard to believe this year ends in 2 weeks.

I’m looking forward to a fresh start though. With the long weekend coming up I hope to get things mapped out so when winter break ends I’ll have my to do list finished.

Will post how things go.

See ya on Friday!

 

Read Full Post »

Monday, got to love it.

Hey y’all it’s monday!

I have to say this weekend was pleasant.

The snow on the mountains was gorgeous!

Saw some red-tailed hawks too.

Got to see a few old friends, felt good to laugh and talk.

Enjoyed some great barbecue for  dinner  from Famous Dave’s and got to really enjoy staying in a hotel room.

Woke up the next day after a good night’s sleep and grabbed breakfast. Sometimes it pays to get up in the morning.

Grabbed the luggage and some coffee and checked out.

While loading up the car I managed to get some good photos before leaving.

The drive was overall pleasant.

Saw a beautiful female coyote while passing through some farm land.

Managed to get some great pictures, still overall I really enjoyed myself and look forward to coming back to California.

Will upload my photos from the trip so stay tuned!

See ya on Wednesday!

 

Read Full Post »

Fall Fridays # 11

Hey folks,

And it’s friday.

This season of Fall Fridays will be short, sorry for the inconvenience.

One thing I will say about this fall is the weather has been pretty nice… cold but not bad.

While I didn’t see any Canadian geese this year, there were quite a few butterflies. Obiviously migrating south for the winter.

Will upload some photos soon.

Not much else to say. Been on the road in the cold. Ran into some fog, which was, I’ll be honest… scary!

Got through it though. Arrived in Ontario sometime after midnight, it was raining and colder than cold.

Despite that I look forward to spending my weekend here, even if it rains.

Will post how things go. Off to get some much-needed rest.

See ya on Monday!

 
 

 

 

 

 

Read Full Post »

Headin’ out?

Hey folks,

Not much to say except I’ll be going out-of-town for the weekend.

 

If you don’t see any updates, I might be on the road and unable to pick up a wi-fi connection from my laptop.

Will post something when I’m in a place where I can get  wi-fi.

Off to get things ready for my trip.

See ya on Friday!

Read Full Post »

What is Love?

Hey y’all,

I’m baack and feeling much better.

Anyway, I had mentioned doing this post last month but was caught up in other things, including National Novel Writing Month and for the first time I made the 50,000 word mark.

While people mostly write a first draft from scratch, some like myself use NaNoWriMo as a way of finishing a project that hasn’t been worked on in months and Sundays.

Like many others this year who wrote their drafts, they passed the 50,000 mark but their stories aren’t finished.

Having been a writer for 12 years, I’ve written chapters that have a small word count then by the time I get to chapter 3 or 4… I’ve written possibly close to 10,000 words total, again this depends on the lengths of each chapter but enough about that.

This post gives a detailed look at one genre I don’t write for… Romance.

Why don’t I write it? well, let me explain…

Like most kids, I wasn’t big on the whole love story subplot in certain books, tv show episodes and movies.

Second, I can’t write that type of story the way a person who specializes in romance does or somebody whose been married for a number of years.

I understand a writer doesn’t have specialize in writing romance or been married for several years to write a love story. Still, I’m sure it probably helps to some degree. Watching a love story type film or reading a romance novel is one thing, writing it is another.

Just an example, I love writing comedy but it’s highly unlikely I’ll write a romantic comedy, whether it’s a script, book or graphic novel.

Here’s another example, there are fans in the sci-fi genre think stories should use more action and that romance shouldn’t be the main focus in the plot. However there’s others that disagree.

For me, I don’t think all stories need to have romance to be interesting. I actually prefer stories that are more focused on the characters or situation or both.

Also some people are better at writing romance better than others. I’m among those that just can’t write it no matter what.

Here’s an example using my own characters:

Peg is a stray Saluki/Dutch Decoy dog mix in New York City with some major trust issues when it comes to humans.

Julio, a Giant Schnauzer/Mexican wolf mix is a pet and gets along with people.

These two meet and become friends.

Throughout the story Peg learns to trust humans and Julio learns just how hard life on the street is for a dog like Peg.

Ok so the next part is they fall in love right?

Wrong!

Peg and her mother, Paige are taken in by one of Julio’s neighbors.

Now living next door, Peg and Julio’s friendship continues.

See? no need for romance.

Now here’s another example.

Snow and Allen are good friends(both are cats), however, early on I planned for Snow to be Allen’s mate. Of course I don’t plan to write some long love story about her and Allen. If I wrote it out like:

Allen and Snow start out as friends, fall in love, etc… all I would do is delete it later, I just can’t write that kind of story.

I can write comedy(my main genre), period pieces and to some degree drama but not romance.

I don’t even read romance novels and tend to skip over offers I received from writers digest about online classes and webinars that focus on writing said genre. Bottom line, I just can’t write a full fledge love story, no matter what, just like I can’t write profanity, let alone use it in my everyday vocabulary. There’s just something about it that makes me uncomfortable…

I’ll take writing comedy any day.  For me, I find comedy material in different everyday situations even if it’s something as simple as sitting around in a Starbucks.

And… that does for now.

See ya on Wednesday!

 

 

 

Read Full Post »