What's in a title?

 What's in a title. While it is true that in the world of publishing, authors usually aren't allowed to pick their title, many don't know why that is.  In the world of publishing (and film) there is a business side. On this business side are people whose job it is to sell your work. We call them marketers. The title of your book has to hook the reader enough to make them pull your book off the shelf and immediately go to the back cover description (though some people dive in to read the first chapter). If your title doesn't catch their eye, no matter how amazing your cover art is, people will pass it over. 

Can the same be said for us. What we choose to call ourselves matters. Often the title we give ourselves doesn't match the one the Creator of all things (God), gave us. His title is one that will draw others to us. Make us remember not only who we are, but the path set before us. 

Think about what title you call yourself by and see if you are in line with your true title. 

Update coming

 Greetings all.  A new blog post is coming this week. Stay tuned!

Don't rush

 I can breathe through my nose again. Hooray!  On the wall of my home office I have a whiteboard. It shows project types and due dates. There's a short screenplay listed, as well as a feature screenplay and a novel. In the past I would have blown through each of these writing projects and jumped on another. But one of the things I learned in my year long screenwriting mentorship is "slow down", "don't rush". Do you know there are screenwriters that take years to perfect a script? Novelist that take years to write a novel. It's not that they are bad writers, or inherently slow. They understand that our best work is done at a gradual pace. 

Think about it. Would you want your surgeon to speed through an operation on you,  that he or she knows would take five hours, and complete it in thirty minutes? Of course not. So why do some writers, as I used to be, think that their greatest work can be accomplished at lightning speed? 

Take your time. 

And I get it. I'd love to have sold a screenplay by now. Or have a novel traditionally published. But I also know my best work, my most amazing work, is what I am currently working on. And I am okay with taking my time. 

Please don't rush your process. You may encounter people that push you to turn something in, or to finish your draft. Don't. Use your voice. Say not yet. We owe it to ourselves as writers to give careful consideration to the words and characters and worlds that make up our stories. That kind of weaving takes time. 

Let it.

Short Screenwriting

 Shorts in Screenwriting

Due to this horrific cold I’m enduring, this week’s post will be brief. Let’s talk about writing screenplay shorts. If you think they’re like short stories, your wrong. If you think they’re like flash fiction, your close. Short scripts have to drop you in the middle, give you enough to understand the situation, mix in conflict, escalation, and  then resolve it. Resolution doesn’t mean happily ever after. It means resolve the conflict. You can have a post teaser if you want it mid credits. I’m currently working on another short screenplay that must be done by the end of this month. 

And now this is  the end of this post. 

The unknown path

I was staring at the blank page today. It's time to start a new writing project and I was feeling a moment of uncertainty. Which project should I work on? Should I do a scifi or horror screenplay? Should I do an animated screenplay? What about a YA scifi novel? Each has its own exciting adventure, ready to pull me in. But as I reflected on the past year of a screenwriting mentorship, I had the honor of participating in, I thought about what I've learned. I grew not just as a writer, but as a person.  I have the confidence to tackle any subject and take my characters on a full emotional journey with consequences, triumphs, setbacks, losses and hope. 

The Bible says faith is the substance of things not seen. And it is. Hope is evidence of faith. In the picture above, taken at the Nature Preserve at Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan, there is a path. You can't see what lies beyond the curve. You have an idea, but you really can't see. You see there is a well marked path and you walk on it, fully believing you will arrive where you plan. And you do. 

But the path of life you didn't make, God did. There's curves on that path. Areas you cannot see the outcome of. Hope is for those moments. Faith gets your feet walking. Hope gets your heart pumping. 

I hope as you go through your days this week, you remember to walk in Faith and Hope in the unseen. 

I am going to get to work on my next screenplay. 

 

Push

 

There is something about being outside in nature that instantly calms and awakens my senses.  I'm an avid hiker/outdoors person and this past weekend I decided to visit a new hiking trail in my region of Southern California. The trail wasn't very crowded so there was ample opportunity for quiet contemplation and reflection with Jesus. 

I will be pitching a scifi horror screenplay this week and I have wrestled with the content in it. Is it godly? Is it worldly? I don't want to put forth an image that isn't my true self. I came to realize, that the horror in this screenplay is the reality of so many lives. The original idea came from a traumatic experience of my own. 

My main character choose differently than I did. She pushes when she should stop. She forces when she should be still. She think and believes that she alone knows the solution and ignores wisdom. 

I am a truth teller. Horror is a vessel to tell that truth.  I don't sugar coat anything, because the world doesn't need that. There are brutally emotional moments in my screenplay and they were hard to write. Hard but necessary.  Because we beautiful human make choices; steer our ship towards that iceberg, expecting it to break against our paper thin hull.

When I look at this picture it reminds me that when I hike outside, I lose sense of time and let go of any fear, doubt or worry I may have. I chose to stop. Be still. Not push. Not force. Any door that needs to opened will be. 

I'm looking forward to pitching my screenplay. And I have begun work on another. It is horror. And it's about a family in a fight for their very souls. 

Are you pushing when you should stop? Go take a hike. Seriously. It will change you. 

Seeing with Clarity

 I live in Southern California. One of the most beautiful places on Earth. After a rainstorm passes, and the Sun comes out, you can see for miles. Most beautiful to me are the mountains. Santa Monica mountains. San Gabriel mountains. With perfect clarity, you can see the trails and roads on these mountain ranges. 

In this writing journey of mine, I’ve come to realize that the haze in my writing, was  indicative of my former way of writing:  patterning my scenes and characters after what I’d seen/read before, or worse, based off comments from other writers determined to steer me away from discovering the power of my true voice. You know, it isn’t just others that can cast this haze over our writing voice, we do it to ourselves when we doubt our talent and ability. 

You do not need validation from the world to be who God created you to be!

Let the God rain wash away doubt and feelings of inadequacy. And hey, I get it. For the longest time there was a group of authors I revered. Whose words I took as gold falling from heaven. I’d propped up each person on a pedestal. By doing this I began to believe I could never measure up to these award winning titans of writing. And it diminished my light. Haze took over. 

God has given me so much clarity this year. Allowed me to see people as they really are. Knowledge is power! God didn’t call me to live the lives of those authors. He called me to live mine. My writing has power when I write from my true self. When I let go of false narratives. Let go of thinking other writers are better than me. I am an amazing writer! 

I turned my gaze to my God given path where my purpose lies. And now, here comes the Sun. God’s word is a lamp for our feet and a light for our path. Don’t focus on others. Don’t get discouraged by others who try to pull you down. Focus on God’s light. It will never fail you. 

Be Still and Know

 I had the privilege of attending the Festival of Faith and Writing at Calvin College last week. When you attend a writing focused conference, and a faith based one at that,  you have a set of expectations. "I'll listen to authors, take notes, hear God proclaimed in writing, meet people, drink coffee, hear some creative practices I can incorporate into my work, eat a lot of good food (I'm a foodie), get my favorite author to sign my favorite book, etc. " That absolutely happened, except the book signing part. What I did not expect was there to be another part.  

Fear has been an anchor in my life, holding me captive like a dog chained up to a tree only able to move in a circumference of three feet.  I listened to fear. Believed what it said about me and about my worth in this world and modeled my life around it. 2020 and the pandemic lockdown brought cracks in the anchor of fear; rusting away the heavy chain around my neck. This conference? This conference obliterated the remains of that anchor and chain. 

Every talk and interview I went to I marveled at the boldness and honesty with which the authors spoke and with which they wrote. Is that what authors do? I wondered. Is that what's been holding me back? Keeping me from being traditionally published? Keeping me from more than writing? Fast forward to Saturday and my mind was heavy after an author's talk. I walked over to the Seminary Pond after lunch, as it was a beautiful sunny day, and I had an extra hour and a half before the next author talk...I ended up missing the talk. 

I sat at that Pond on a beautiful piece of white sparkly granite. Me and God. And I wrestled with God. I had to be still to hear Him. And answer Him back. I had heated words. He did not. I had tears. He remained. He repeated the same words to me "Let Go", over and over and over again. And my reply over and over and over again was: No. 

God is patient. And when I had exhausted myself emotionally I had two choices, get up from that rock and go to another talk having missed the one after lunch, or stay and surrender. 

I surrendered. 

There is healing in being still. I like the passage in Romans about renewing your mind, but until Saturday I didn't fully apply that to my life. 

I am going to be working on a book this year for women who have been sexually assaulted and abused. Both were true for me for decades. it's time for us to "Let Go."

Straddling the line

"Do you want to get well," Jesus asked the man. This man had been waiting by a pool of water an Angel stirred (healing properties), infrequently for a long time. Yet when Jesus saw him, he asked him if he wanted to be well. I've read this verse for decades and only now understand. It has nothing to do with the man's physical infirmities, but rather the condition of his heart and mind.  

You sit by the pool daily for who knows how long, months, years and watch others get healed, yet you don't make any attempt to do anything (pray, ask for help, move an inch at a time), to get yourself closer to the pool. 

You haven't normalized failure. You've normalize not believing.

But Desiree, what does that have to do with writing?

Everything. 

There are different types of writers. 

There are writers who are stay at home parents. Writers who teach during the day and come home to write. Writers who write maybe fifteen minutes a day.  Or only on the weekends. 

There is absolutely nothing wrong with that type of writer, if writing is a secondary occupation to you.

But what if writing isn't secondary? What if you want writing to be primary?

But Desiree, there's AI, and there's not as many novels being published (scripts being optioned). There's so many writer's it's a fool's dream to think you can do this full time. 

"Do you want to get well."

Hmm.

Yes. Yes I do. 

You look at that pool long enough and you'll think it was never really meant  for you. You straddle that line of belief and disbelief long enough, your feet are stuck in cement.

You may have asked for help in the past and even had a mentor and left disappointed, unwilling to ask again, without asking yourself if you needed to grow as a writer and believe in your skills, then approach a mentor who can help you specifically in an area that you need help with.

 I get it. I live in Los Angeles. There's plenty of people willing to "help" you for just the right dollar amount. Ignore them. There's so many more that will help you for FREE. 

Plenty of book authors willing to have a conversation, or correspond with you via email for years (true story), as you grow as a writer. 

If you want to be a full time writer, it is time to stop sitting by the pool wishing someone would just help you. Stop straddling the line and plant your feet firmly on the belief side. 

I'm rooting for you.

Be creative

 It's that time of year again...awards season. All of Hollywood anxiously waits to see who will receive the Academy Award next month. I've had the privilege of viewing all of these films, and I can say, there are some amazing films and performances. As a writer I've gorged myself on nominated screenplay after screenplay. I've seen the originality of these screenwriters, whose ranks I will join one day. 

Being a creative my takeaway is this...be creative. Living in Los Angeles, I see and meet many people that are looking to make the next sure thing, chasing a trend, not being their true selves and trusting that, being your true self is what is going to keep your career going. Every single nominated movie, whether for Best Picture, Screenplay, Actor/Actress, Cinematography, Director, Sound, etc. is creative.

So when you sit down to write your play or novel or screenplay. Be yourself and be creative.