The View Up Here

You win a prize if you catch the reference in this blog title. Comment or message me and we'll work out what the prize will be! I'm currently at my main digs for writing these days, a place in Fairport called Junction 361.  Coffee house and beer bar all in one. And steps from the Erie Canal. New artist show every month. Barista with a thing for K-dramas. Can it even get any better? I think not. I come here with my writing partner on Monday nights (most weeks), and on a Saturday night, this is where I need to be to get sh*t done.  I'm working on getting an editor for Dream House, and I'm writing a new screenplay that involves... wait for it...  a time travel emergency at a mall in 1973. I know! Trust me, it's going to work. I've been creating video reels for Instagram at work and can say that I'm now feeling pretty comfortable editing on the Instagram app.  Not bad for a Gen-Xer with a Boomer brother and Greatest Generation parents.  Yes, I'm happy and pr...

 In no particular order: 1. God is not "the universe" nor is the universe God. God is a personal being who is defined as Love and who has revealed himself as Trinitarian: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. This community of Love begets all of creation and all life. The "universe" doesn't create itself, nor does it reward you for being a good egg or making a vision board in your home office. 2. Putting man at the center of everything and relegating everything to man's thought is tantamount to declaring war on reality. "I think, therefore I am" (the foundational battle cry of rationalism and the un-deification of the Western World) means we create ourselves and our reality, which we do not, and that the human power to understand and manipulate the created world is the Ultimate Supreme (i.e. who needs a God and all those pesky morals?). The power of the mind to understand is posited as the only marker of humanness. Rather, "I exist, therefore I think...

I've been writing a lot of spiritual and religiously themed posts, so I thought I'd update some of what's going on with me personally. I've returned to working on the screenplay that was once called 'Eden.' I have to rename it because some kind of twaddle just came out with the same moniker. I'm doing some heavy Act II restructuring now, which is my least favorite thing about writing a screenplay, but it's going pretty well so far. I've also not forgotten about the project I'd started researching last year on Mary Magdalene. I'm not sure what I'm doing with that; it's still in a very nascent stage. I was also thinking of looking at other women in Yeshua's ministry and life, but we'll see how the Spirit leads me on that one. People keep asking me when Black Doves will be released, and unfortunately I have to keep saying the same thing: I don't know. It's in the pipeline at Powys and it'll come out when it'...

It's been a momentous month, August has. Here are the highlights: I am now the Assistant to the Director at Ithaca College's L.A. Program , as of this week. This came out of the blue; a couple weeks ago I received a call from the ICLA program's Chair (a good friend of mine through teaching screenwriting at I.C.). They needed a long-term temporary Assistant to start ASAP, as theirs had accepted a job teaching first grade and would be leaving just as classes start up this semester. I jumped at the opportunity, because:   a) I know everyone there b) the work isn't tough but it also isn't boring c) I get to be around students and assist them in various ways d) it's 10 minutes from my apartment, and I don't even need to think about a freeway, e) I feel like I'm still part of the Ithaca College family. And there are bounteous perks to this job, which make it even more lovely. They will have to open a formal search to fill the position permanently, which I ...

Yesterday's blog post by my friend and fellow blogger Mrs. Thor put it best: Trust the Plan I've written a little sign for myself on my cork board that says just that. It's a difficult thing to do, sometimes, when fears and doubts and Other People's Voices start ringing in our heads. It also sounds vaguely Cylon , complete with Head Baltar and Head Six, although their Plan didn't quite work out for them the way they'd envisioned , did it? But that's how it is with Plans. Sometimes it doesn't work out the way you had originally intended, but it seems it almost always works out in the way it needs to. The trick is to trust in this while you're going along. Recently, I've been asked about my Plan once I get to L.A. Here it is, more or less: 1. Work P.A. jobs and connect with all the folks I know out there to find out where/when other jobs are opening. 2. Pursue project management-type jobs in addition to administrative assistant-type jobs. 3...

I'd just crawled into bed after popping a melatonin to help me get to sleep, when I realized I never blogged today. Somehow yesterday and today had melded together such that my memory of blogging yesterday morning seemed to have taken place today. So it's 10:37 p.m. and I'm sitting up in bed with the radio on ( WSQX "Your jazz and news alternative" minus that harpy Amy Goodman). When the melatonin kicks in, I may very well enter another dimension mid-post, so bear with me. Tonight's topic relates to writing process. A question I always pose to my students: do you prefer to outline or to write by the seat of your keyboard? Invariably, I get the self-proclaimed creative writer declaring that outlines hamper her creativity, or stifle his inspiration, and that they are so wooden and difficult to follow once you start writing. Then I inform the class that they are required to write an outline before they begin writing the screenplay, and I receive an assortme...

This will have to be quick, since I'm in Rochester, didn't get enough sleep and need to get on with my day. Last night's alumni career program at R.I.T. got me thinking about how I market my self. I'll write more about that later after I've processed some things and had time to sleep and get my ideas coherent. Right now, though, I want to focus on what happened after the program. We let out around 7:30, and I stayed for a few minutes to speak to one of the panelists, who was very interesting and had some good insights to share. From there, I walked the short distance under the pine trees to the Gannett building, which houses the School of Film and Animation. This is where I spent 4 years of my life - 3 as an MFA student and 1 as an adjunct professor. I'd heard that the Fourth Floor, which was the center of production and editing back in my day, and still seems to be, has changed a lot. It most certainly has. Gone are the 16 mil flatbed editing rooms and th...

Greetings, Programs! I realize I've already satisfied my quota for today, but I'm motivated to write more. Imagine! As anyone who's known me for more than ten minutes can tell you, I'm a huge fan of the Tron films. Tron: Legacy was, for me, both a flash back to my teenage self watching light cycles race on the Grid for the first time, and a reminder of why I chose to write and make films in the first place. The man who envisioned and directed T:L, Joseph Kosinski, is actually the subject of this post (ah, eventually she gets to the point). Now, there already exists in the blogosphere some excellent investigations into who Joseph Kosinski is , mainly because when he was attached to T:L, few knew the name readily. Check out the link I just posted to see the work he did pre-T:L, which was his first feature film. So what's next for JoKo? Oblivion! I mean the film, "Oblivion," about a lone soldier (Tom Cruise) on a bleak, post-apocalyptic future Earth, repair...

The semester, at long last, is finally concluded, and with it, much of my stress. Even the incessant rain and gray skies aren't going to get my kite string in a knot. No, instead, I relish in the freedom of mind, body and spirit that comes with that glorious period between end of Spring semester and beginning of Summer Session. Next week, I will be visiting The Land Where I Was Birthed and celebrating my great-nephew Aidan's first birthday with my family. Over the summer, I have plans, many plans, which include, but are not limited to: Teaching for Cornell's summer college Working on the Space: 1999 novel (thanks to Bill, my editor at Powys Media, for being so patient) Polishing two scripts with my writing group Getting a rough cut done of my doc on life as an EFL teacher in Korea Working on the Rod Serling Conference for Ithaca College Volunteering with The Ithaca League of Women Rollers as their Penalty Box Manager Lookin' for a jrrb I have a clip coming out later...

Last night was one of those times I'm very happy to be living in Ithaca (so few and far between during the Winter months). I attended a very informal, entertaining and inspirational talk by Mr. Nick Sagan and Mr. JG Hertzler - both with connections to the Star Trek universe (ahhh now the title of this post makes sense!) - cosponsored by Light In Winter and Science Cabaret . Nick Sagan is a wonderfully approachable, down to earth yet introspective writer and speaker. I enjoyed listening to his insights about writing for Trek and his science fiction novels , and hearing about his latest projects . He strikes me as someone who can still feel, or at least appreciate, the underpinnings of hope and awe that Trek is all about for many people. I don't think screenwriters can write successful sci fi film or TV unless they understand what's really at the heart of it - which to say, the heart. Nick told a lovely story about himself and his dad, Carl Sagan, watching Star Wars when h...

My return from Korea was less painful than previous bouts with jet lag and reverse culture shock. I've spent the last week and a half recovering, figuring, writing, reading, and sleeping. I go back to work at TC3 next week, and the week after that my class at I.C. will start up. This semester's schedule promises to be more sane than last semester's, allowing me to devote more time to writing (and also derby!). A few reflections, in no particular order: 1. Characters or at least their desires need to be in jeopardy. Always. 2. Conflict means nothing without connection. It's the tension between those two opposites, the yin and yang of them, that makes good drama. 3. Meditation helps me to write better; it's great practice for focusing. 4. TV writing is like breathing air on another planet. I think I like it, though. 5. Writing excellent scifi or speculative fiction requires more than creative thinking. It requires research.

Making headway on the Space: 1999 novel. I'm finding myself pushing the boundaries of story harder than when I write a screenplay. It's curious that I'm finding the prose relatively easy to write, considering how different it is from scriptwriting. Could I be missing my true calling?

I've been working on a new screenplay, and this time I started with a step outline instead of a time-line. The difference is astounding - and I'm finding that this tool more than any other is made for me. The irony here is that all of our advanced screenwriting students at Ithaca College are required to do this as part of their writing process, but I'd never done it myself until now. I'd always eschewed it as a waste of time when I could be writing, but I now know that writing a step outline IS writing. Oh, this is like discovering a new country and planting a flag or something. Appropriately enough, I've found lately that the step by step approach to my entire life is a much easier, stress-free way of setting and meeting goals. I am feeling energized and excited about the momentum this year. In the words of Apolo Anton Ohno, who I've come to admire for his spirit, commitment and positive focus, "No regrets!"

This season of Leverage is gaining momentum. I admit to being slightly disappointed at the season opener, but since then the eps have been strong - funny, twisty, totally entertaining. Will Wheaton's appearance was priceless. Between Leverage and other shows like Burn Notice, I am hopeful that the kind of writing I aspire to actually has legs in the current TV market. That is to say - quirky, personal, fast, funny but with heart. I still feel like I need to spend some time in L.A. but I am still clueless as to how to make that happen with the Ithaca home base. Ideas? I am trying to get a writing retreat set up for Thanksgiving break, as we will not be traveling, thank the gods. Too many projects on tap during the busiest semester in years. But I like it. Oh yes, I like being too busy for my own good.

I've written a first draft and received notes from my writing group and from Mike Kehoe, who's producing it. A supernatural comedy. The rewrite is going to be fun this week!

Just about finished with final edits to my as yet untitled sci fi (or should I say SyFy?) screenplay. I had a title, but then there was a TV show and at least 3 films over the last 10 years to hog that title. I came up with a temporary title, which I've been assured is pretty crappy. But the good news is my new writing partner gave me valuable feedback which is enabling me to shake things up a bit more in Act II. Isn't that always the thing? Lately my Idea Log has been bursting. More ideas than I can start writing at the moment. I'll need those in the dead of January when my brain is mired in the Upstate NY winter slush. Looking forward to the semester this fall. I'll be teaching two sections of intro to screenwriting again at Ithaca College, and a section of developmental writing at TC3. That's five days a week of being in the classroom. Yessss! Also looking forward to the Rod Serling Conference this October. I served as a reader again this year for the sc...

My plans to teach this summer have been thwarted. I was prepped and ready to go on an English 100 class at the nearby community college, and I showed up on my first day of class to find an empty classroom. Moments later, the Dean walked in and apologized profusely that there were no students enrolled, therefore the class was canceled. This was to be a "run off" class that would have been filled with students from Eng. 101 who needed more developmental writing work. However, those students were not required to take 100, only recommended to, and as it so happens none of them wanted to. Firstly, as for my inconvenience, the Dean was very gracious and offered me half-pay for my time and trouble. I appreciate him and genuinely like him, so no hard feelings. But, as for the students, I think the college is doing them a great disservice by not requiring them to take Eng. 100 per their instructors' assessment. Those students are non-native speakers of English, as it so happe...

I just spent a glorious six days devoted to my writing at the Constance Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts artist colony . I completed a final draft of "Beauty Is..." (see log line below*). Also worked on the sci fi screenplay that is just about done, and started in earnest writing a TV pilot. Other than that, I went for walks in the woods, hung out with turkey vultures and deer, and did Yoga. Now it's back to the semester's work: grading mid-term portfolios. Here's to life! Beauty Is... In a small Connecticut town in 1953, a 16-year-old tomboy is forced to go to “finishing school” for the summer, where she encounters a mysterious club of feminine vigilantes who frame her mother for stealing the town’s precious historical silver. This summer, she must stop the vigilantes, clear her mother’s name, and learn how to walk in heels. * Registered with WGA 2008

I'm excited to start 2009 with a TV spec script that I developed over the last month. I'll have a few days at the Constance Saltontall Foundation for the Arts colony in a couple weeks to get started on that script. I also plan to finish a solid first draft of "Beauty Is..." my coming-of-age mystery set in 1953. I'm stoked to be teaching 2 sections of Advanced Screenwriting at Ithaca College, and one section of Short Narrative Fiction (screenwriting) at Tompkins Cortland Community College. I'm hoping this will the beginning of a fruitful relationship with TC3 as they grow their screenwriting program. I have relocated my home office into a much more suitable space for yours truly, leaving my husband with the spare room for his office. It's much warmer out here, for one thing, and the chi just seems to be more conducive to my creative dedication. Recently, I reconnected with one of my college roommates, who lives not so far from Ithaca. She told me the othe...

This year I was honored to be a judge and to help lead the conference session for the Rod Serling Scriptwriting Competition at Ithaca College, Ithaca, NY. Rod Serling, creator of The Twilight Zone and Night Gallery, among other award-winning screenplays, was a professor for the Park School at Ithaca College. His collection of papers resides in the Rod Serling Archives at Ithaca College. The Serling Conference was held March 28-29. One of the most valuable sessions for me, personally, was a screening of the collection of Serling's mini-seminars on writing (and, inadvertently, the teaching of writing). Below is a photo snapped during the dinner on Saturday, with an image of Serling during one of those seminars. The genre he created with the Twilight Zone certainly influenced my imagination growing up, and has informed my writing. Now after my involvement with the conference, I am even more inspired by the man and his vision, creativity, and independent spirit. For more about the Con...