Sunday, March 14, 2010

Busy April

It's an on-going joke for me whenever I blog to look down at this 'Labels for this post' bit where the examples of labels for this post is 'scooters, vacation, fall'. When I first saw it, I was thinking "Who writes about scooters?' And then I thought 'Well, I did.'

I seem to remember a blog post where I posted a picture of me on my scooter which was loaded down with sleepover stuff but it could have been one of those situations where I think so much about writing a blog post I convince myself that I've written it. I can't find that post but when you're looking through a list of 274 posts it get's onerous. Am I imagining this post or does anyone remember it? Moving on...

Internal debate of the moment: Should I participate in Script Frenzy* this April?

I have always been an advocate of the 'If you want to do something, you can make time. There's always time to do what you're passionate about' school of thought. Whenever I was talking to people about NaNoWriMo and they'd say stuff like, "Oh, I wish I had enough time to do stuff like that," I would nod and sympathize while secretly thinking, "That's your excuse? You don't have time? Do you think I have time to write 1,167 words a day for a month? No, I don't. But I made time because this is what I want to do so you can stop thinking I'm a layabout home schooler with oodles of time and nothing to do but read fiction and write novels. You're a lame-o wuss. Suck it." So it seems kind of weird for me to be thinking about not doing Screnzy for lack of time. But when I think about it, April is a very busy month. You've got...
  1. BEDA, of course. I'm assuming this is still going on but I've heard no word from mj. With my three blogs this shouldn't be that difficult but at the same time, yeah, it's going to be difficult.
  2. There are a lot of birthdays in April. Off the top of my head I can think of six close acquaintances. Apparently, July is the time for procreation.
  3. School. April is the time when I'll be worried about finishing in time for summer and thus when I'll be cracking the whip on myself.
  4. Reading. Will Grayson, Will Grayson comes out and I'll also have another book for my classic challenge. Remind me to pick something light...
This is quite a list. The lure of writing a movie might add one more item to this list.

It's kind of weird for me to want to write a script with all I know about it. I've been to two workshops on the craft and it seems like a pretty lousy part of the film industry from what I've heard. The pay is shit and directors will take your baby and screw with it until your lovely dark comedy turns into Employee of the Month starring Jessica Simpson for Christ's sake.**

And yet, as I watched the Academy Awards on Thursday (so glad Sandra Bullock won Best Actress. I love her.) I couldn't help drafting my own winning speech. It's so tiresome to hear all the thanks although I'm sure it's nice when you're being thanked. I'd probably say something like, "Thanks to everyone who needs to be thanked. You know who you are and if you're confused just consider yourself thanked. It's easier that way." Then I'd say something funny about how I'd been drafting this speech since I was eight.

Then we talked about how I would win this Oscar and I'm over the whole actress thing so, unless I turn into an AV geek, I'm stuck with writing. Or directing. Or cinematography. But I suck at holding a camera and I can write so I think that's my best bet. What accreditation does it take to be a director? If Catherine Hardwicke can do it... just kidding Catherine. Twilight was a good attempt. You have something. Not sure what it is or if I want it but you have it.

I'm thinking I'll write the script anyway. You're allowed to collaborate so I'll twist my sister's arm until she folds to my will. Unless... do either of you want to write a script with me? Google Docs works wonders and it doesn't have to be a movie. It could be a play or a tv show. Scratch that last, I don't want to write a tv show. Think about it.

*Script Frenzy or Screnzy is a internet event put on by the same people who do NaNoWriMo where people are encouraged to write a 100 page script in one month.
**Yes, I met the writer of Employee of the Month. He was a bit upset with the end product.

3 comments:

Renata said...

I found out via Twitter that the A in BEDA in now for August, (MJ is as busy as normal people it seems) so that's one thing off the list.

What better things are there to do in July?

Same here-ish. Since we get out in MAY this year (fuckyeah, going back in mid-August is awesome now.) April/Most of May will be insanity.

AHH WILL GRAYSON WILL GRAYSON! I want to read that book. As for classics, most of the short ones are exceedingly weird.

Renata said...

PS: I am intrigued by Screnzy. The idea of writing such stage directions as, *exit, pursued by bear* is appealing to me. But only if they didn't screw it over. Jessica Simpson French The Llama, Writers FTW.

Vita said...

While I agree that if you love something, you should (usually) be able to make time for it... I understand the "not enough time" excuse. I'm sure seasoned NaNoWriMo-ers roll their eyes at it, and perhaps rightly so, as many of them are very very busy as well, but sometimes you just get sidetracked. No biggie, you just try again the next year.
Plus not everyone is as passionate about writing as others. ;) It can be something you really enjoy, but not something you cherish above all else... thus you choose to sleep/etc. over working on NaNoWriMo.
(Lulz, does it sound like I'm talking from experience? All of that said, I take full responsibility for my NaNoWriMo completion failure... but hey, people have busier lives than I do. And I AM trying again next year, whaaaaat)

IN OTHER NEWS, I am not undecided about writing a script. On one hand, it sounds quite fun (even though script-writing isn't something I'd want to go into). On the other hand, I don't know how good I am at writing dialogue... if you want to try a joint thing, that's cool, but it's up to you.