Happy New Year!!!

Don't know about you guys, but 2018 was a rough one for my family. Hoping 2019 is a whole new year!

Pic snicked from the internets. Let me know if it's yours so I can give credit where credit is due.

December Words of Wisdom

Not too many this month. Guess everyone was busy with Christmas.

There is a Christmas song upon the air, there is a joy innate within the heart. --Edna Greene Hines

Never worry about the size of your Christmas tree. In the eyes of children, they are all 30 feet tall. --Larry Wilde

You can't reach for anything new if your hands are still full of yesterday's junk.
--Louise Smith

The person born with a talent they are meant to use will find their greatest happiness in using it. --Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Sometimes it feels so good to just sit by yourself, relax and not talk to anyone. --Kristen Butler

I have seen the Sea
when it is stormy and wild;
when it is calm and serene;
when it is dark and moody,
and in all its moods,
I see myself.
--Martin Buxbaum

The sea, for me, is where I want to be.
Where I may flow free.
The sea, for me, is where I dream to be.
Where I may be me.
The Mermaid of The Sea.
--Brandi Fitzgerald

"Let Me Be Frank", with director's commentary. OH. MY. GOD.

Not only does this guy do a brilliant turn as the "director" of the bizarre Kevin Spacey video that was unleashed on an unsuspecting - and very confused - world the other day, he did it not only within hours of the video being released, but he did in ON. FREAKING. CHRISTMAS. EVE. Not enough props in the world for this creative genius. James Urbaniak (aka director Skip Sullivan), a grateful world turns its ears to you:

Particularly love the shoutouts to Skip's appalled girlfriend Jenny, Freesound.org (bet they've never seen so much traffic), SoundMan73, and Touch of Evil.

Well played sir, well played.

Update 1/2/19: Let Me Be Frank now has its own iMDB page, complete with Trivia, Goofs and Quotes. Spacey is due to be arraigned soon, God only knows what he'll do then.

God bless us, each and every one

Hope everyone is having a merry and meaningful Christmas.

Oh, it's on!

It's the most wonderful time of the year!

It's time for the Silent Monks!

Submitted for your approval...or not

It looks like my 2018 plan to submit to at least two markets/contests per month is going out with a whimper. I had planned to submit three stories to ScreenCraft's Cinematic Short Story Contest this month to go out with a bang of sorts, but when I got a look at the entry fee - $60 per story - along with consideration of what effect, if any it would have on my writing career (not much, except some bragging rights) I decided that money could be better spent elsewhere. I've got a couple of big writer's convention trips planned for next year so I'm trying to rein in the spending. It's weird, because this is the first time I can recall being deterred by the cost of an entry fee. I just thought it seemed like a lot for a short story, especially when multiplied by three, and I couldn't settle on just one.

If I had entered these stories, that would have given me 18 entries for the year out of a minimum of 24. Without them I only have 15 for the year. Not a great percentage, although at least a couple of down months (March and April) can be explained by the fact that my Mom passed away in March, and the ensuing months were a crazy whirlwind of cleaning out her apartment and then my moving in July. It's just been a rough year. I think I did okay under the circumstances.

As I mentioned here, I'm going to focus more on some lengthier projects going into 2019. Now that I'm officially done with 2018 writing-wise, I'm getting really excited about what next year could bring.

Happy writing everyone!

He knows who's a good boy

I can't even remember where I got this one, just that I've had it a few years and it never gets old.

Here, have some writing contests

Planning on making 2019 the year your writing career gets a boost? Here are some options for getting your work seen, judged, hopefully rewarded, and maybe even discovered.

As I mentioned here, not only did I have a lot of success with Moondance International Film Festival, but they have a boatload of submission categories, so whatever you're writing, there's probably a category for you. Plus, they're already accepting submissions for 2019, so here's your chance to get a jump on the new year.

ScreenCraft has fifteen different competitions including a fellowship, so again, pretty much something for everyone. They have produced a nifty interactive calendar showing the opening date, early deadline and late deadline for each contest.

Some others: Fade In Online has a bunch of competitions, TrackingB has TV and feature contests, PAGE International has contests for features, shorts and TV pilots, and Writer's Digest has their usual slate of annual competitions.

Happy writing!

'Twas two weeks before Christmas...

It's exactly two weeks until Christmas! Hope everyone has their shopping done. Stores are going to be insane between now and the 25th.

This popped up on my Facebook page and I couldn't resist posting it. I once attended a charity Christmas event where a friend's husband was Santa Claus. It was years ago, but I still remember his comment after that, "Every man, at least once in his life, should play Santa Claus." This particular Santa really knocked it out of the park.

H/T to Tropical Life, Food and Fun on FB.

It's a holiday hat trick for Foamy the Squirrel

"Tis the season to shut the fuck up and stop being a whiny little bitch!" Gotta love Foamy.

Full Metal Christmas

I've posted this before, but watching Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer this year made me want to drag it out again. Behold! Full Metal Jacket dialogue dubbed over a scene from Rudolph.