ALERT ALERT ALERT

There's another screenplay competition I found this week; the deadline is MIDNIGHT TODAY! The entry fee's a little high, especially after submitting two scripts to Nicholls, so I'm only going to submit one. Which is better - Flesh and Blood or Fall River?

THAAAAAAAANK YOU.

(I'm feeling kinda overwhelmed, guys. This week!)

I wanted to ask if the folks who'd read some of my screenplay wouldn't mind telling me their thoughts based on what they've already read. Don't feel pressured to hurry up and read more, and if you haven't started, no worries. I'm uploading it tomorrow or the next day for a couple competitions/festivals, and if there's anything I can change or add or take out, that would be great. Thanks again in advance!

So, I've hinted a couple times about a crafting endeavor that Laura and I have undertaken. We finally set up our very own Etsy shop! Cantus Nox. The jewelry is all made by Laura, she made the black box with the hand-painted flowers, and I made the green and pink box. I have a shelf that I have yet to list, and we're both in the middle of a few other things; Laura also has a TON of jewelry she's made but hasn't taken pictures of yet. (Our camera is rather persnickety.) Don't feel like you have to buy anything, hee, but we're trying to spread the URL around.

Hi guys! This has been a busy month. Three weekends ago, we painted about a third of the inside of the house, which was an ordeal. I pretty much hate every single aspect of painting, from cleaning up to taping to cutting in to rolling. And the only part I do like - moving everything back in to a freshly painted, clean, pretty room - I was too tired to enjoy.

Two weekends ago we had my uncle's family over for Grandpa's 85th birthday party. Yes, it was last month, but scheduling is tough. Laura still ended up working and being unable to come, but after cleaning the house and cooking and all the prep work, I don't think she minded too much.

Then, last week, the night of the party, my dad started experiencing severe abdominal pain. He said it was identical to what he felt just before his emergency surgery to remove an intestinal blockage from almost two years ago. He was ready to go to the emergency room when it finally went away, but he did schedule an appointment with that surgeon on Wednesday. When he got there, and they talked, the surgeon decided to admit him to the hospital to run some tests. When they first got him in and did the usual preliminary stuff, they found out his blood pressure was 85 over 50, and his heart rate 50, so it was like, what's going on?!

After four days of tests in the hospital, they determined...nothing. Not why he was feeling the pain in his middle, not why his blood pressure was so low. They did find out that his spleen and lymph nodes were slightly enlarged, but the oncologist who met with him said that the enlargment was so slight that he didn't want to do anything invasive just yet, and to have a CAT scan in six months and see if there's any change. So this past weekend was getting Dad home, getting him rested - because if there's one thing you don't do in a hospital, it's sleep - and get him fed, because after three days of no appetite before his appointment, he had four days of no or very little liquid food.

And in the meantime, I wrote, and Laura and I are working on some soon-to-be-not-secret craft stuff, and I started a new screenplay. That's kind of a different story, so I'll go into that more in depth later. Heh.

I was going to update my blog today with my doings of the past few weeks, but instead I worked today and now I have to finish this book TONIGHT (Mindhunter, true crime, it has already inspired me to revise a scene in Fall River hell yeah), so I will leave you with what I plan to do tomorrow instead, since I haven't watched an episode in almost two months:



I LOVE YOU TWO SO MUCH I WISH I LIVED ON THE ENTERPRISE. (No, I'm totally serious. Do you guys ever have epic self-insertion Mary Sue daydreams? Because, um, I totally do sometimes. My life on the Enterprise is ~*~amazing~*~)

Hey everybody! The last week has been so busy, but today is busy, too, so I'll have to catch you all up later.

Two years ago, I wrote the first draft of my Lizzie Borden screenplay, and I remember asking if folks would mind reading it - but I never sent it out, did I? I don't think I got around to it. Anyway, everyone's comments last year on Flesh and Blood were so enormously helpful (and I mean ENORMOUSLY - scads better than what I got from my former classmates), that I thought I'd ask for your help again. I'm really proud of this one - I think it's better than Flesh and Blood by far. But that might just be the newborn-screenplay glow that's confusing me, so I'd love some outside opinions.

Not obligatory, if you don't want to or are too busy then it's no big deal at all. I know that sitting down to read a screenplay is a time investment, trust me. But if so, let me know and I'll email it on over.

Thanks and hugs and kisses.