Formula writing

My writing has been reduced to mathematics: adding, subtracting, long division, formulas. Well, not really my writing exactly (because wouldn't that be terribly boring even though most of the screenwriting advice you read tries to force you to fit your story into the tried-and-true-and-therefore-utterly-worn-out formula). It's more like my drive, my sense of urgency, has been reduced to mathematics. In calendar form mainly.

Contests are an excellent way to light a fire under your butt and get you out of your complacency, laziness, and procrastination. They are deadlines. They are that something that demands you have it done by a particular date, or by the gods and little fishes, they are going on without you. So I printed off a calendar, because for some reason I don't seem to have one, and I have written the dates of the contests I will be entering on the margins, and I have carefully calculated out how many more pages I need divided by the number of days left and minus off about two weeks because I will need about that for strictly editing. And voila, I have a goal for how much needs to be written each day.

Side note, completely off-topic: I have enjoyed visiting the blog of Elizabeth Bales Frank http://www.elizafrank.com/index.html. A couple days ago, the strangest thing happened. There was number on my caller ID with the name Elizabeth Frank. I know it wasn't her because the number was from my town, and I believe she lives quite far from my town, plus the fact that we are complete strangers, but still ... what's the word for that?

Black and White

My year has been one of extremes - severe, deepest blacks and enlightening whites. The term of 2009 A.D. was very uneven, a rough ride, and even in its final moments, it seemed to be trying its damnedest to snap at me a few last times. The number 9 signifies the end of a cycle, but for every end, there is also a beginning.

I had some of the worst experiences I have ever had in my entire life. I had lows so extreme that I was amazed it was me. But for every low, every deep, black cavern, there was the opposite. There was the light of friends and family gathering around and proving what I always suspected: they really are on my side. For every utter defeat, there was a sparkling victory.

Everyone lives their own movie. There were as many versions of 2009 as there are people on earth. Some lived it in color. Some had the shades of gray found in the oldies. For me, it was black and white.