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Showing posts with the label School

Screenwriting (and other) wisdom

I've been meaning to post something on here about how amazing the MFA workshop was in LA, but in addition to feeling like I hadn't yet found the right words, time is also something that's been a bit lacking lately. Therefore, I've decided to post my favorite quotes from the lectures. Some of the best scenes are silent. - Jane Anderson  Conflict is not inherently dramatic – a tennis match is a conflict. You have to care for there to be drama. – Paul Gulino Writing is telling lies that speak the truth. – Deborah Starr Seibel If the story doesn’t end when a character gets what they want/need, then the story wasn’t ever about them. – Jon Vandergriff Get yourself in the room – invite yourself to the meeting. - Laura Brennan (good advice for life in general!) Happy to help, not eager to please. - Alex Fernandez We need to push ourselves to show our vulnerability to the point of writing something that makes us want to puke. - Meg Lefauve.

Without Lying Down: Screenwriter Frances Marion and the Powerful Women of Early Hollywood - Review

Without Lying Down: Screenwriter Frances Marion and the Powerful Women of Early Hollywood by Cari Beauchamp My rating: 5 of 5 stars Deeply engaging and very well-written book about Frances Marion (and some other fascinating women in her circle of friends) who blazed an impressive trail in screenwriting in fledgling Hollywood. It's a literal crying shame that more isn't known of these women, their interesting lives, and their brilliant contributions to storytelling and film. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in early Hollywood history, filmmaking, screenwriting, women writers, working women in the early 20th century, etc., etc. My major takeaways from the book are: writing may be a solitary endeavor, but creating a community of artists and uplifting other women aren't; the boldness of claiming your own worth, and expecting others to respect that, can change your life; and above all - writers save your papers! Apparently, the little which is known of France

My Side Hustle Needs a Side Hustle

So, I attempted the MA in English Lit program at my beloved NAU this past semester, and it is not for me. I want to create things and teach, but not critique everything to the point of hating reading and literature.  Don't get me wrong I learned some fascinating stuff from my textbooks this semester. But if I ever see anything to do with Alice, Wonderland, or Lewis Carrol again I might have a stroke (never liked them before and now they are on my list of triggers).  This semester has even managed to put a dent in my admiration of Mrs. Dalloway , if you can believe it (but I'm sure after a break, we'll make up). No shade on anyone who does want/pursue an MA in English Lit, but it's just not my calling in life.  I honestly have no idea how I managed to get good grades in this program since I spent most of my time feeling stressed/confused/stupid/full of BS.  Therefore, I'm switching to the MFA in TV and Screenwriting program from Stephens College that my heart wanted

Course Correction, please

I'm a month into my MA English Lit degree and to let you know how it's going ... I'm already shopping for a different program to start in Fall. Casting no aspersions on the program, the school, the professors, or the other students (all of which/whom I adore) this is very much not for me.  I feel a bit like I'm losing my mind - the stress, the workload, the lack of direction of statements like 'make a substantive post of what you found interesting' when I found it all too tedious to be of interest - is sucking the life out of me. I honestly can't figure out how I'm getting good grades so far - I have no idea what this crap is, what I'm supposed to do with it, or why I'm doing it.  I feel utterly lost, and that every word I write in these courses is BS. This is just too theoretical and I can see clearly that, for me, this is going to kill my love of reading in general and literature specifically. There is, after all, such a thing as picking someth

Long-winded update

Well, that was a way longer hiatus than I ever intended. Things got chaotic at the end of the Fall semester (as usual), but "thanks" to Covid it ended early (before Thanksgiving!). So, I had the entirety of December off from school, and I think I slept, watched TV, and ate for most of the month, lol. But Spring semester started up in January and by Feb I was flattened by a flare up of my probable Rheumatoid Arthritis (didn't make it into a Rheumatologist for the official diagnosis before Covid made that an impossibility - currently waiting for my new referral to come through). I am still in the throws of whatever this is, though it is improving slightly and slowly with the meds I've been on for almost a month now. Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels Spring was not kind. It included putting two of our dogs to sleep (old age). Because I was a wreck all the way around, I dropped down from 4 classes to 2 (bumping my graduation from May to Dec in the process), and