Lovely Day!
Topic: WC - Daily Practice
Wednesday 3:46pm 31Jan07

I've been enjoying a lovely day at home. I took the day off because I had a dentist appointment this morning and since I'm such a chicken (hate going to the dentist) I book the whole day off just in case. I lucked out and got a young dental assistant and she was super gentle and kept checking in with me to make sure I wasn't having a heart attack or something. ha ha! The best part is that I only go to get my teeth cleaned. If I had to get real work done I'd probably have a heart attack.

Came straight home with the goal to attack a little more clutter within my apartment walls. Tis the never ending battle. I sorted through some of my binders and discovered that I have so many writing articles that I could start a self study writing program just based on the articles. I re-organized and purged the duplicates and labeled my home study course and placed those binders on the book case that has all the binders of my novels in progress.

Been listening to my many Cd's of Deepak Chopra and Wayne Dyer which was not only enjoyable but is solidifying some of my ideas for my Dream weavers series that will be geared towards kids and have concepts of quantum physics and dreams in it.

When I saw that Sidney Sheldon had died I thought, "Again! I thought he was already dead!" But realized I was confusing him with Harold Robbins. Harold was my author of choice from the time I was 13 years old in to my late teens. I loved him because he was heavy on smut. Where Danielle Steele was all about love and tragedy (she was my author prior to Harold), Harold was all about edge and scandal being racy. I'd read a boatload of his stuff before my step dad noticed that I was reading 79 Park Avenue which was about prostitution.
Step dad says to my mom, "Have you noticed what she is reading?" with outrage in his voice.
I'm looking at him with that "you're an idiot" expression.
I think it was my mother that said as she shrugged her shoulders, "She's read all his other books."
The only reason why he knew what was in the novel was because it was a mini series otherwise he wouldn't have had a clue. OMG! Lesley Anne Warren played a pro! I loved her.

It's so weird though because somehow I remember Sidney Sheldon's books being in the same time frame. But I did read most of his books too. Wow! 12 to 15 rewrites! Writing is re-writing!
RIP Sidney Sheldon.

EY

Sidney Sheldon
Topic: Writers in the News
Author Sidney Sheldon dies at 89
By BOB THOMAS, Associated Press Writer 39 minutes ago
Sidney Sheldon, who won awards in three careers — Broadway theater, movies and television — then at age 50 turned to writing best-selling novels about stalwart women who triumph in a hostile world of ruthless men, has died. He was 89.

Sheldon died Tuesday afternoon of complications from pneumonia at Eisenhower Medical Center in Rancho Mirage, said Warren Cowan, his publicist of more than 25 years. His wife, Alexandra, was by his side.

"I've lost a longtime and dear friend," Cowan said. "In all my years in this business, I've never heard an unkind word said about him."

Sheldon's books, with titles such as "Rage of Angels," "The Other Side of Midnight," "Master of the Game" and "If Tomorrow Comes," provided his greatest fame. They were cleverly plotted, with a high degree of suspense and sensuality and a device to keep the reader turning pages.

"I try to write my books so the reader can't put them down," he explained in a 1982 interview. "I try to construct them so when the reader gets to the end of a chapter, he or she has to read just one more chapter. It's the technique of the old Saturday afternoon serial: leave the guy hanging on the edge of the cliff at the end of the chapter."

Analyzing why so many women bought his books, he commented: "I like to write about women who are talented and capable, but most important, retain their femininity. Women have tremendous power — their femininity, because men can't do without it."

Sheldon was obviously not aiming at highbrow critics, whose reviews of his books were generally disparaging. He remained undeterred, promoting the novels and himself with genial fervor. A big, cheerful man, he bragged about his work habits.

Unlike other novelists who toiled over typewriters or computers, he dictated 50 pages a day to a secretary or a tape machine. He corrected the pages the following day, continuing the routine until he had 1,200 to 1,500 pages.

"Then I do a complete rewrite_ 12 to 15 times," he said. "I spend a whole year rewriting."

Several of his novels became television miniseries, often with the author as producer.

Sheldon began writing as a youngster in Chicago, where he was born Feb. 17, 1917. At 10, he made his first sale: $10 for a poem. During the Depression, he worked at a variety of jobs, attended Northwestern University and contributed short plays to drama groups.

At 17, he decided to try his luck in Hollywood. The only job he could find was as a reader of prospective film material at Universal Studio for $22 a week. At night he wrote his own screenplays and sold one, "South of Panama," to the studio for $250.

During World War II, he served as a pilot in the Army Air Corps. In the New York theater after the war he established his reputation as a prolific writer. At one time he had three musicals on Broadway: a rewritten "The Merry Widow," "Jackpot" and "Dream with Music." He received a Tony award as one of the writers of the Gwen Verdon hit "Redhead." His Broadway success brought about his return to Hollywood.

His first assignment, "The Bachelor and the Bobbysoxer," starring Cary Grant, Myrna Loy and Shirley Temple, brought him the Academy Award for best original screenplay of 1947.

While under contract to MGM, he recalled in 1982, "I worked like hell and I never stopped. Dore Schary (then production head) one day looked at a list of MGM projects. I had written eight of them, more than three other writers put together. That afternoon, he made me a producer."

With the movie business hurting because of television's popularity, Sheldon decided to try the new medium.

"I suppose I needed money," he remembered. "I met Patty Duke one day at lunch. So I produced 'The Patty Duke Show' (in which she played two cousins), and I did something nobody else in TV ever did. For seven years, I wrote almost every single episode of the series."

Another series, "Nancy," lasted only a half-season, but "I Dream of Jeannie," which he also created and produced, lasted five seasons, 1965-1970. The show concerned an astronaut, Larry Hagman, who lands on a desert island and discovers a bottle containing a beautiful, 2,000-year-old genie, played by Barbara Eden. She accompanies him back to Florida and eventually marries her.

"During the last year of 'I Dream of Jeannie,' I decided to try a novel," he said in 1982. "Each morning from 9 until noon, I had a secretary at the studio take all calls. I mean every single call. I wrote each morning — or rather, dictated — and then I faced the TV business."

The result was "The Naked Face," which was scorned by book reviewers and sold 21,000 copies in hardcover. The novel found a mass market in paperback, reportedly selling 3.1 million. Thereafter Sheldon became a habitue of best-seller lists, often reigning on top.

Sheldon prided himself on the authenticity of his novels. He remarked in 1987: "If I write about a place, I have been there. If I write about a meal in Indonesia, I have eaten there in that restaurant. I don't think you can fool the reader."

For "Windmills of the Mind," which dealt with the CIA, he interviewed former CIA chief Richard Helms, traveled to Argentina and Romania, and spent a week in Junction City, Kan., where the heroine had lived.

Having won a Tony, an Oscar and an Emmy (for "I Dream of Jeannie"), Sheldon declared that his final medium was the best.

"I love writing books," he commented. "Movies are a collaborative medium, and everyone is second-guessing you. When you do a novel you're on your own. It's a freedom that doesn't exist in any other medium."



___

Associated Press writer Daisy Nguyen in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

Copyright ? 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

A Little Slow
Topic: WC - Daily Practice
Tuesday 7:36pm 30Jan07

Moving slow. There's something about knowing I have a day off that makes me move slow (Lolo, forgot to tell you). I should be making better use of my time but it never quite works out that way. What is up with that? Outright stupidness.

But I'm sitting at my desk now.
After day one of absolutely no refined sugar, I didn't start yawning until 4pm a major change from the norm. Usually I'm yawning all day.

I had the boys leaning forward at lunch today regaling them with tales from my past. What it was like visiting my older half-brother in prison. The sound of the gates slamming closed as my mom and I passed through each secure spot. The amount of time sitting and waiting before we got to see his face. Feeling strange with my inability to relate to someone who was imprisoned. Wacky. And the stories of my step father. How I wished that he would get killed during a prison riot when he was in prison for a year. How that was the happiest year of my life since he'd been with my mother.

It's so weird to look back at the experiences as if I'm telling a story about someone else, I'm so far removed from it now. It's so weird to remember that my life used to be anything but normal. That I used to be scared most nights and I didn't know what the future would hold or worse yet, the possibility of a future.

I'm not sure what brought up the memories today. Who knows really what brings up stuff like that. It certainly isn't something I want to forget. It's what has given me my strength and my cautious attitude. It's what makes me look inside myself to question my reactions to certain situations. It's what ultimately makes me write. Even if I'm a little slow about it.

EY

It's the Sugar!
Topic: WC - Daily Practice
Monday 5:41pm 29Jan07

There really is no reason for me to be so damn sleepy all the time. Now don't get me wrong, I love sleeping, I can do it all day in fact. If I could get paid to sleep, it would be my dream job but this being sleepy more often than not is actually wearing a little thin. Partially because I have very little will power and I can convince myself to go to bed right now, knowing full well that there's nothing wrong with me and knowing full well that I'd fall asleep right away.

I realized this morning that I was setting myself up to be sleepy. It was those damn wafers. I had these chocolate wafers that I brought out to the movie that Lolo and I went to yesterday. I ate about six of them last night when I got home. Tasty! I decided I'd bring the last four of them as a wee snack for my lunch today except I decided at about 10am that I wanted to eat them right then and there. I heard the teensy weensy voice in my head mentioning something along the lines of sugar makes me sleepy. But I chose to ignore that voice. That voice is there of course to help us not to be a killjoy. It's up to us to listen or ignore.

Of course I ate those wafers and of course I felt mucho groggy ever since. sigh! Why the hell do we do that to ourselves? Why is it that I know full well what's going to slow me down and ignore that fact? It might be time to carry carrots or find some other treat that I can nibble on that won't change my energy level drastically. Especially since the healthier I eat the more I notice how the junk affects me and the faster it affects me.

My hips and feet are still sore after all the walking Lolo and I did yesterday. Her mocking me and all my layers. Yes I may be the Queen of layers, I feel no shame about that. All I have to say is that I wasn't complaining about my fingers being frozen. Yes most people think I'm a freak but I'm a warm freak.

Anyway, I think my next goal of the New Year is to give up sugar. I'm really noticing an adverse affect and I've had just about enough of it. I'll convince myself that I'm going to give it up for awhile but really I think it's time to give it up for good. I already feel like there's not enough hours in a day to do all that I want to do and feeling sleepy through most of it isn't helping me one iota.

Lord knows there are enough things, unforeseen things, that slow me down and distract me, let me at least be wide awake for it.

EY

From Grey's Anatomy Blog
Topic: Writers in the News
Saturday 10:23pm 27Jan07
I was reading the Grey's anatomy blog because there is a write up about the man, Bob Vernoff who the George O'Malley episode was dedicated to. I continued to read because it is kind of neat to read what the writers have to say about their show. Any how I took this answer from Krista Vernoff who answered some frequently asked questions. I just want to comment that most people don't get the amount of practice that goes into writing.

To all the people that ask you as a writer why you haven't sent your stuff out yet and imply that you are too scared to do anything or that you may be a failure because it's taking you so long, just remember Krista's answer!
No one writes something from scratch and gets it immediately published unless they are writing a blog. And anyone who has read this blog knows that there are some gems and some big ass crap! That's the nature of the game baby.

How do you become a writer for a show like Grey's Anatomy? Because I would love to be one. Love. And I have no idea how to do it.

I have gotten several questions in this vein. So I’m going to attempt to answer this in brief – and then I really should go do work.

There are many ways to become a TV writer. You can go to film school. You can do your undergraduate study in screenwriting. I didn’t. I did take two writing classes – one was playwriting with Prof. Jon Lipsky my senior year at Boston University. It was terrific and inspiring and a big part of what made me want to be a writer. The second was a screenwriting 101 class at the New School in NYC right after I graduated college with a prof whose name ai sadly can’t remember. . Both were helpful. But largely, I self-educated. By that I mean, I read a lot of books on how to write for television. And then I watched a lot of television. And then I practiced writing for television. I practiced a LOT.

You hear a lot of stories about people moving to LA and never making it as writers and oh the misery and all the years it takes… My theory is that – okay, some of those people aren’t talented – but many of them, most of them, just moved here too soon. They didn’t practice enough before they started sending scripts out and trying to find an agent.

Many, many people write ONE script, or maybe two, and then think they’re ready to be seen and read . To me, that’s insane. Because no matter now good you think your first script is, the second one will be better and the third will be better than that. You learn by doing. Write scripts and show them to trusted friends and get notes and TAKE THE NOTES and rewrite and then write more scripts. That’s how you get good. Also, read something good every day – a novel, preferably, something juicy and inspiring. And write every day. Write every day for a good long while. And then, when you’re ready, buy the books that tell you how to get your stuff read in Hollywood. There are a lot of good ones.

All my Best,
Krista

Enough said! Here's the link Greys Writers