An Average Joan's Adventures into the Creative World of Possibilities...

The Best Laid Plans of Weekends Past

I always have the best intentions for the weekend.  Come Friday around 4 o'clock, I start outlining my writing goals for the weekend.  Of course, I don't figure family obligations into the equation.  Well, I do... but not in a realistic, stuff happens kind of way.  

Writing down my weekend goals helps me keep in the forefront what I want to accomplish in the upcoming weeks, even if I miss the mark completely now and then.  This was one of those weekends. 

Okay, so I didn't write my Cliffhanger Friday outline for Monday's Y&R as planned, but I know in my head what direction I'm taking.  That's half the battle right there.  

I'm one of those Average Joans who works well under pressure.  I guess it's the thrill of looking at that blank screen and knowing you only have a few hours to fill it up with something that'll knock your clients' socks off or yours.

Not to worry, I'll have a rough outline and a few acts of dialogue written by the time I screen the show on Monday on the Web.  

Then there are the weekends I morph into a hermit at my desk and bang out the creative work -- letting cleaning the bathroom, washing the kitchen floor and organizing my cluttered closet... fall by the waist side.  Of course, I'm up until the wee hours, cleaning the bathroom and washing the kitchen floor and organizing the closet on Monday.

It all seems to balance out.  Scribes... I guess what I'm saying is... learn from the unrealistic goals of weekends past and focus on one goal you're pretty sure you can accomplish within your daily life's demands. 

Don't be embarrass to brainstorm on a Wendy's napkin.  Just don't get chili stains on it and then can't read what you wrote.  Been there... done that.  Or better yet, keep a notebook with you at all times, so you can jot down ideas or write a premise, or synopsis.  I keep one with me half the time.  Some days I'm still scrambling for that restaurant napkin.  That's just what we Average Joans do. 

Miraculously, I found time to do an hour or two of grant research for a few clients.  And guess what... I found a funding opportunity for myself that'll help me upgrade around here.  Sweet!

(Apple MacBook Pro - iCafe Woman Moderne Store)

I also dropped by the library and found the latest America's Book Review - BookPage.  So I curled up in my canopy bed before bedtime, last night, with a hot cup of sweet herbal tea and cream and thumbed through the pages.  Yes, on a Saturday night... what can I say, I love my books. 

Don't you get excited reading about new book releases?  To be honest, I'm both excited and a little melancholy.  Why melancholy?  Because I don't see my name and book title in it yet.  But it will be.  I live on faith, and faith will see me through to that day I'm holding and kissing mine.  Here's to that day! 

One debut novel really caught my eye:  Baking Cakes in Kigali, By Gaile Parkin.  Parkin's characters enter the story through vignettes when they visit Cake Baker Angel Tungaraza's apartment to order a cake for a celebration. 

cake

Reviewed by Carla Jean Whitley -- a writer and baker from Birmingham, Alabama -- she explains how the residents of Kgali, Rwanda's capital, turn to Tanzania transplant and baker Angel for baked sweets.  Their lives intertwine with each cake baked.

And with each celebration, there are stories of survival over the horrific Genocide and AIDS that plague Rwanda.   

"Angel  serves as a mother of the bride for Shopkeeper Leocadie's wedding, and when sex worker Jeanne d'Arc comes to her to order a cake for her sister's confirmation, Angel offers the girl her grandchild's confirmation gown, writes Whitley."

"Gaile Parkin's Baking Cakes in Kigali reveals a hope and joy not often associated with Rwanda."  Parkins, a Zambia native did relief work in Rwanda.

I can't wait to read it.  Hollywood would be crazy not to snatch up this story.  I wish I could option and co-write the screenplay with Gaile Parkins.

The best laid plans always have the best surprises.

What are your best laid plans?

Also, check out:  iCafe Woman Moderne - an intergenerational virtual cafe for women. 

Miracles and Blessings! 
  

"But did'nt I tell you that you will see a wonderful miracle from God if you believe?"
John 11:40

Juggling between writing spec scripts for daytime television and animation, editing a family saga (that turned into three books) and my bread and butter work: writing web content, grant proposals and marketing communications including scripts for businesses... yada, yada... remind me of a Ringling Bros. Circus act. 

  Dr. Seuss

Oh, and did I leave out my feature and primetime specs and the children's book I've left dormant too long?  With technology moving in warped speed, it'll definitely need an update. 

Topping the juggling act with teaching praise dance and gospelcise classes round out my creative merry-go-round I like to call life.  Actually, the latter gives me the peace that passes all understanding, no yoga needed here.

And if that's not enough to make me babble to myself, I've started knitting again.  I haven't knitted since sixth grade.  Oh yeah, I've got the knitting bug... big time!  I take my knitting paraphernalia everywhere I go in my little Victoria's Secret shopping bag.  It makes feel like a lady, despite the baseball cap, tee-shirt and sweats I'm sporting.  Hey, the secret is... they're from the Victoria's Pink line so I guess it balances out.

Knitting Cafe

Anyway, it's more like re-knitting.  I'm re-learning the craft.  Thank goodness I'm finally improving, but you can forget about this afghan showing up in anybody's gift bag.  A few gaping holes from an early attempt make it a definite "no way."  It'll look so purty on my bed. 

Mom crocheted and knitted extremely well, she's a hard act to follow. So not only do I have a mountain of writing goals... I have a mole hill of knitting goals as well.  Isn't that dandy.

After I finish the practice one, I'll take off the training wheels and advance to knitting a shawl for a Christmas present.  That's if my purling and knitting make nice. 

My main reason for returning to knitting was to start a knitting ministry. I hope to start knitting preemie caps for pre-born babies in area hospitals.  Don't worry, I've got an easy pattern, at least I will.  I wish my writing projects had patterns to follow.  Wouldn't that be lovely? 

And as my knitting genes kick in, hopefully, not too many months from now, I'll start knitting small purses my mother used to knit for me and my friends.  I still carry my knitted change purse everywhere.

knitted purse


If you haven't guessed it, Average Joans tend to become more sentimental as life rolls by.  I knitted a few things as a child, but I couldn't stay seated long enough to continue knitting through the middle years and high school.  It was the same with sewing.  Now that Mom has passed, I see the importance in bringing her love of knitting and sewing back into my life and into my writing.  Guess what... i love it now.

You better believe I put this sentimentality into my fiction/scriptwriting projects.  It gives them just the right flavor.  
 
Knitting is that chill pill for me.  It's that respite I need between my writing projects.  And Yes, I can leap tall buildings in a single bout... with my handy keyboard. 

Seriously, I'm like, as many of you are, the graphic diva above.  So much stuff keeps floating in this head of mine.  It could use some de-cluttering.  I'll let you know how when I figure it out.

Writing specs for daytime and animation at the same time will show me what I'm really made up. 

Our Creator don't make junk, so it'll be okay.  Staying focused and organized will be the key.  This is why I decided to open the door to my office and welcome in visitors, like you, by writing this cyber-journal.  desk

To give you some quick history, I wrote about ten specs including:  The Young and the Restless, All My Children and One Life to Live.  I was going to add Guiding Light, but unfortunately I heard reports that their light would go out soon.  I'm very sad that it was today.  I'm hoping new soaps will crop up in the near future.  But that may only be a twinkle little star for a while because of the world's economic belt-tightening.

An independent producer friend referred me to a former producer for Y&R, who no longer works in daytime, but was willing to read my script.

That previous year, a writer from one of the soaps was gracious enough to read one of my earlier Y&R scripts.  She read the first 14 pages and said that I captured the characters' voices.  I was thrilled, but that's just half the battle.  There's a thing called structure and foreshadowing to keep you on your toes.

Well, getting back to the producer.  He gave me solid notes for me to rework it.  So this is where I am.  I'll re-write the script from last summer's storyline, but fortunately for me the storyline has a key role in today's cliffhanger.  I plan to finish it by next Friday.  Hold me to it now.

That takes me to the animation side of my writing madness.  Again, it's time to update.  I have specs for shows that are still aired, but no longer in production.

The Young and the Restless 
Sponge Bob's Bikini Bottom

So I'll be enjoying Sponge Bob's crabby patties and Mighty B's HoneyBee obsession, while figuring who got shot in Friday's (9/19) Y&R Cliffhanger?  Does Colleen's spiritual visit to Lily's means she dies?  And how will Ashley find out she lost her baby months ago at the hand of her husband's son?  Yeesh!

I write my outline based on the Cliffhanger Friday show, then write the script from there and compare my version with what I see on the tube.  That's the fun part.

Well, I better get back to work, there's a lot to do!  I've got a few bread and butter assignments to bang out too.  Whew!

Don't you worry, I'll always have time to hear from you, Average Joans or not.  Are you working on your passion or only your necessity?  Hmm.

Miracles and Blessings!  Stay Tuned.