Oscar Party

It’s time to dust off your cocktail dress or tuxedo and get ready for the Oscars 2014. The party happens on Sunday, March 2^nd. The Oscar website already has the nominees in place. You can even print and share your own ballot from the site here. 

In the 1990s, I used to dress up with a friend of mine to watch the Oscars. Yes, I’m talking a dress (perhaps of the vintage cocktail variety due to a tight budget). We’d eat fun foods, dish the dirt about celebs on the red carpet, and hiss and cheer based on the winners and those left behind in the nominee-only category.

One of my favorite categories was Best Original Screenplay (Best Adapted was less impressive to me). This was probably because I wrote my first original screenplay back then, which never did make it to the big screen.

Since then, I’ve written four screenplays, with a NY agent expressing interest in one of them (until he plummeted off the face of the Earth—or maybe just out of the agenting industry).

Indie Publishing has afforded writers and authors many opportunities once closed off to them (and to me). That said, I’ve decided to e-publish one of my screenplays, Simple Fugitives. Sure, the format is…screenplay-ish. But the storyline has received praise from its pre-published readers. 

Amazon

Margie Green plans to leave her life behind. The last thing she expects is to become one half of a modern-day Bonnie and Clyde. What should be a simple trip to the bank lands her in the middle of bank robbery, and Margie is mistaken for one of the criminals. Soon, Margie is on the run with down-and-out Stewart Snyder, and together they become Simple Fugitives. 

Written in eScreenplay format, Simple Fugitives is a comic movie venture, bringing an original screenplay to the page. 

Simple Fugitives has been compared to the movie, It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.  

Happy Oscars and happy reading! And don’t forget to look your very best lest you find yourself on the Worst Dressed list on March 3^rd.

Six Things I Did Today Instead of Writing

1. Exercised. As I’ve grown older, I’ve become more acutely aware of something that has always been a part of my life: Gravity. Though I may not be able to restore things to their twenty-something state, I am certainly willing to try.

2. Checked Oscar results: I wanted to watch the Oscars last night. But it’s kind of hard when we don’t have television stations. We’ve tried the whole rabbit-ear thing, but it doesn’t work in the mountains. And we’ve elected not to pay the outrageous costs of satellite TV. Each time we stay in a hotel and flip through stations, it reinforces our reasons for remaining TV free. Therefore, I had to go online to see who the winners were. Come to find out, I haven’t seen these movies anyway.

3. Blogged. Obviously, here I am. Not editing. Not revising, Not writing my manuscript. Oh, the things I’ll to do procrastinate. I even danced around the blogs to see who else was procrastinating.

4. Worked. I actually have a job. That pays me to do stuff. So I did Regional Director-ish duties for Destination ImagiNation. Our regional tournament is coming up next month, and my to-do list is still there. I kind of hoped it would go away on its own.

5. Wrote down new ideas. I have a new idea for a YA novel. But the new idea came to me while I was driving. For some reason, the road is my muse. Of course, it is hard (and not exactly safe) to write and drive at the same time. I reached for my voice recorder, and the batteries were dead. So, back at home, I needed to write those babies down before they fizzled away.

6. Read books to Zane. In between his daily PT exercises, we like to take breaks. So we lie next to each other on the floor while I read. Today it was I Love You All Day Long. I thought it was a pretty cute book. Apparently, Zane didn’t agree. He wiggled away to another area of the room.