Gina Bug Writes

My Alphasmart's Coming!

I bought a used Alphasmart Dana from a mom writer yesterday and it will be here before NaNo! It comes with good vibes too - since she used it and won her first NaNo with it :-)

I've been waiting for a good deal at the precise time I had enough in my wallet and it's worked out this week. I'd held off buying one for months. Then I happened to play with a NaNo my son's school placed him with last week and I knew I definitely wanted one. On Saturday, the ad went out, and now it's mine!

Alphasmart's are so lightweight, have great battery power (like 700 hours from 3 AA batteries, or use the AC adapter), auto save, room for lots of files.... It's going to be perfect for November. And the Dana comes with the ability to do more than word processing. It connects to Wi-Fi and you can use lots of programs.

After November, just every day use will be wonderful. It's literally a pain to drag the laptop everywhere. The Alphasmart's make it easy for five minutes in the car, etc.. They power up instantly and the auto save feature means no extra time or worry about saving. Just power off or it turns itself off. Can't wait!

One author fits (not) all, and a word (or 200) about Marti Leimbach

I just put to rest a book I couldn't get past the first few chapters in. It was called SAVE YOUR OWN. The concept was great, the writing done well! It just wasn't for me. The protag was a scholar and so it was a bit above my comfort level. As sad as it is to say it, I no longer can get into the "smart" stuff. I have gotten lazy. I feel dumb. I think I must like my authors dumb. Keep reading, the epiphany is yet to come!

I thought about the fact that I have read many authors that just aren't for me. Sometimes it's the story but sometimes it's the actual style. I told my husband it's a wake-up-call for me whenever it happens because it reminds me that my writing won't be for every editor or agent. I may be rejected by fifty when one finds s/he MUST HAVE SOME GINA! It's somewhat based on luck!

One author I've found with my kind of style lately is Marti Leimbach. I never read her novel DYING YOUNG (made into a Julia Roberts movie) but now plan to. I am reading DANIEL ISN'T TALKING. I'm on page 24, Chapter three. I will finish this novel.

You were waiting for this... here's the epiphany! I don't like them dumb. How could you be "dumb" and get an editor or agent, right? Okay, I won't go there, BUT Marti's first book was made into a MOVIE. And she's a teacher at Oxford (Creative Writing program). She's not dumb. She's not too hot. She's not too cold. Marti's just right.

I'm like freakin' Goldilocks!

To me, her writing's straightforward. There's no guessing at meaning. I was guessing with the author of Blue Water, though I HIGHLY recommend her novel. It was beautiful and stirring. It was thought provoking.

Anyway, more than sharing the similarity of a special needs child with Marti's protagonist (though mine's not autistic), I am at home with her writing style for this piece. I'm curious as to whether it was the same for DYING YOUNG which must have been completed quite a few years ago!

More so I wonder if this book is like Marti talking to me in her own voice and that's why I like it so much. How that voice is so easy to listen to and compare myself to. Marti's son inspired this book about a family with an autistic child. It seems like it would be her voice directly.

Also by Marti is SUN DIAL STREET, LOVE AND HOUSES, and FALLING BACKWARDS. None of which I have read yet.

Write for Natural Family Online

You can visit our guidelines at the site, but I would also like to encourage you to join our growing list of writers on a yahoo group. This is a private, NON CHAT group that’s not listed in Yahoogroups. It’s specifically for sending out assignments. We send the article deadline, details of length and what we're looking for, etc..

If you meet a publicist or writer who might be interested in picking up future NFO assignments for any channel at NFO, please ask them if they'd like an invitation to the list. (Be sure to mention that it's a private, unlisted list by invitation only, announcements only with no chat.) If they would like an invitation, please send me their email address.

The pay is $15 per original, nothing for reprints. Pay on publication. View our guidelines for more information.

We’re a volunteer run site and pay for hosting, development and articles with our advertising money. All monies go to those three things.

Gina Ritter
http://www.naturalfamilyonline.com

Billy Crystal's one man play

Billy Crystal is pretty amazing, I must say. Here's a short article on how he devised and wrote his (currently showing) one-man play "700 Sundays."

http://tinyurl.com/du3bq

Female Characters Weak When in Love?

A screenwriting pal wrote into a group I am on that he'd gotten good placement (not a win) in a screenplay contest but that the judge pointed out what some women friends had: the lead character, an FBI agent, fell in love too easy.

He said:

My main concern is, does truely "falling in love" weaken her ability to be a strong lead? I think yes.

So I wrote back:

Can love make you want to be better, stronger, more successful? Yes. That can translate to her job, her extended family and even her laundry skills? Yes.

Can love change your world view? Hmm... sometimes, I guess. But even
so...

Did she fall in love with a pedophile so she thinks they're all ok? A rewrite is in order cause that's just not right. (tongue in cheek).

Did she fight NOT to fall in love because she doesn't have time to cultivate a good relationship with someone who really should be PERFECT? Yes, I bet she did.

Tough women in her job don't take on relatoinships easily. They're too aware of their own mortality and men wearing weirdo underwear (ya know, they look normal on the surface).

They don't have a lot of time or energy outside of work and the gym. They don't have the type of social skills required to find a man outside of work usually and they certainly don't go schmoozing in
bars.

Does she see everything with rose colored glasses now that she's in love? Probably not.

It's usually the other way around for tough woman. She's the type to do a background check on a new boyfriend. She's the type to keep her distance and not get hurt. She's the type to go slow and play it
safe so she doesn't lose her edge.

She'll fall into bed with someone repeatedly for that closeness she craves, but she won't be there for candlelight dinners. And most likely she's the type to fall victim to work stress coming out at
home, not to roses suddenly blooming at work.

FBI agents don't just get there because beauty school was full. They're tough as nails and they don't just change and get weak. They take physical and psychological testing to get in. They are well
educated. They have good self esteems generally. Weaknesses are well hidden or come out in misbehavior. They are independent and individual.

I think maybe a full sit down with your character is in order. Have you done any kind of full character profile? What's her history, her present, her past relationships, her trauma, her happiness, her
motivators?

Do you really KNOW your character?

My guess is no. Not if several women are picking up on the love being too easy thing.

Women are 80% of the buying market. Even if you find a male judge or a male producer, you're going to find resistence. You have to be very careful that females are realistic in a serious movie.

Even the character "Cher" in Clueless and Reese Witherspoon's character in Legally Blonde had intelligence. They chased love, but they didn't change personalities or intelligence when they got it or found it accidentally. It made them even more street wise.

First Screenplay (1 scene) Critique

We were having a discussion on screenwriting in the… duh… screenwriting group when something came up about balancing dialogue with action. I had a lengthy dialogue scene and wanted to know if I’d balanced well enough, so I posted a few pages of screenplay.

Well I got more than just info on the balance issue. A couple of people liked it, but even more, a couple of people who are more pro than not commented. One rewrote some areas to show me what he meant, but my story and dialogue were completely intact. He only added to where I could take out these “wrylies” and add them to the action lines so it was more fluid and would transition better, etc.. So nothing major needed changing in my story or dialogue, just in my formatting!

I KNOW I need help there and it’s a HUGE learning curve for me with screenwriting. It's such an enjoyable challenge though. SO FUN! It’s really going to take me a while to remember to use everything I’m being taught.

BUT THEY SAID the dialogue was strong and the scene was good.

That’s for my rough draft of the first screenplay I’ve ever tried writing. Thank goodness. A lot of people in the group have been reporting tough times with critiques. But my first was a success… of course it wasn’t a full script or anything, but I’m motivated!

I’m giddy!

Romance and Romantic Comedy Writers

I find it interesting (and controversial) that romance writers (novels) are often viewed as less professional or that their writing is easier somehow.

What's just as interesting is the parallel drawn to romantic comedy writers (screenwriting) who also get the shaft in the professional world. I know with SOME screenplays there is less research than others, but it all balances out I think.

Look at 7 days and 7 nights. That wasn't about someone's back yard. And character development - GOOD character development - takes time and skill.

What am I getting at? I don't know exactly... other than I think it's unfair to assume that romance writers in any format are less than good or professional. We all do our work!

The Flipside of All Rights

Now I know that writing is more valuable to writers than my previous jobs, but let’s look at the flip side of giving away all writes for paid writing.

I must say it’s not so bad. I mean, before my human services career, I was a nurse’s aid. Yes, folks, I wiped butts for a living. I worked on the behavioral unit too, so I also got punched, kicked, slapped, and dodged feces and food on a nightly basis for just over minimum wage.

I write because I want to – I didn’t really WANT to dodge digested corn niblets. And wasn’t I giving up all rights to my work then? Even though I didn’t enjoy it and would have to go back night after night? With writing, most like to write and don’t mind doing so every day.

Later when I worked in human services, I built programs for teens. I wrote and re-wrote policy manuals. I was an EMT. I gave up all rights to my work and to my writing then too.

So… if I am getting paid for my work, WHY NOT give up all rights? I am a talented writer with tons of ideas and markets to choose from, right? Why be so stingy with every single piece of work?

My New Books

As many of you know, I have many areas of interest in writing. It really does water down my effectiveness and my progress getting published, but it makes me fairly productive, motivated, and constantly refreshed by moving project to project. I write fiction (Chick Lit, women's fiction, romance, etc), essays, greeting cards, children's books, and screenplays.

In the last year - and many in the last few weeks - I've picked up SO many new (or new to me) books. I have a HUGE pang of guilt for spending money on these when we desperately need funds, so I need to make sure I do something with them asap. That's my whole reasoning behind it anyway - to get me out of a rut, and indeed they have.

Already I've made huge strides in my fiction by reading some things. I don't follow the books step by step blindly. I really do just gleen some information and then walk away and do my own thing. After all, I must have SOME kind of talent, right? Right? RIGHT?! Oh man...

SCREENWRITING
The Complete Book of Scriptwriting - Straczynski (in progress)
Writing the Comedy Film - Voytilla & Petri (in progress)
Writing the Romantic Comedy

WRITING
Dialogue - Kempton (in progress)
Plot & Structure - BEll (finished)
Writing for Quick Cash - Oberlin (in progress)
Character Traits - Edelstein (in progress)
45 Master Characters - Schmidt (finished)
The Copywriter's Handbook - Bly
Online Copywriter's Handbook - Bly (in progress)
How to Write Funny - Kachuba
You Can Write Greeting Cards -
What Are You Laughing At? - Schreiber
Beginnings, Middles and Ends -
Writing Personal Essays - Bender (in progress)
Idiot's Guide to Getting Your Romance Published (bought over 2 years ago)
Writing Romance - Grant (bought over 2 years ago)

CHILDRENS WRITING
Children's Writer's Word Book - Mogilner (in progress)
You Can Write Children's Books - Dils
You Can Write Children's Books Workbook - Dils

LEISURE or RESEARCH
Carpe Demon - Kenner (in progress)
In Her Shoes - Weiner (finished)
How to Talk Dirty and Influence People - Bruce
Private Parts - Stern
gods in Alabama - Jackson (finished)
2 Harlequin Blaze novels
Amercan Girls About Town - (in progress)
Several Jennifer Crucie novels (in progress)
The Action Hero's Handbook (in progress)
Stolen Sharpie Revolution

Screenplays and New Motivation

I thought for sure I would need to wait a while to see scripts from my favorite genres due to money and went perusing Amazon and B&N online last night. But BINGO! I found several sources for free scripts online. I know some are not the first finished draft, and some are shooting scripts or... whatever. Right now, I just need to see what sold and research their techniques.

Screenwriting is intensive insofar as the knowledge you need before you can lay words to paper. I'm definitely up for it. Right now I can't afford the Movie Magic or Sriptor software, so I have to format it all myself... uuuuuuuggggggghhhhhhhhh. You wouldn't believe what's involved in the format alone.

In the next year or two I'll work on a 100-130 page screenplay around everything else. I'll finish it, polish it, have it critiqued, polish some more, and then begin looking for an agent. Before then I've got to find the cash for this software. I may decide to ask hubbly for the software before the Alphasmart. I'll have to get my mother in on it for Christmas and my birthday and maybe I'll end up with both by April 23rd!

And who knows - maybe next week I'll have changed my mind again. But at least each time I change, I've made progress towards my dreams.