The producer I've been working with has passed on the sci-fi/action/comedy story I'd developed. However, I can use the treatment as a not-for-sale writing sample. So if anyone would like to read the treatment that goes with the following log line, say the word. :)

After an ex-con discovers he can move between parallel worlds, he and an ex-cop must work together to mend a deadly tear between realities.

Yeah, it's been a while. I've been playing on Facebook lately. If you're on FB, feel free to drop by and say hi.

Just created a community for my current writing project: strangelilband. Take a peek, or not. In either case, I need to get back to work. :)

That's how a computer geek named Sean Tevis describes running for public office. And he should know. Tevis is running for a Kansas state representative seat. I sincerely hope he wins on the basis of his xkcd-style campaign comics alone. True and too funny!

I have in my hot little hands a producer/writer agreement. For the past year I've been corresponding with an independent producer about a sci-fi/comedy feature film. Obviously I need to go over the document with my lawyer. If all goes well -- and I don't see any reason why it shouldn't -- I'll sign the final version of the agreement that works for both me and the producer. Then I'll send the producer the treatment I've written. And we'll see what happens from there. :)

Wow. Long time, no post. Anyhoo...

Today I learned about a brand-spankin' new community, striketv. The Strike.TV website states, "is the first ever online network created by Hollywood storytellers that brings original, high-quality video entertainment to the world. ... We empower professional film and television story-tellers by offering them creative freedom, welcoming them to retain ownership of their material and helping them monetize and distribute their work across the Web."

Interesting. I'll keep an eye on it. Here's hoping they can really provide a viable alternative to the ad revenue-based structure we've got now. I doubt scripted shows will last much longer. Too expensive.

I also think they did a nice job with the site. The navigation seems to be all JavaScript and CSS. Flash is limited to displaying video. No bells and whistles Flash nonsense, thank the powers that be.

A few weeks ago I applied for a freelance fantasy writing gig. The application called for a 200 to 500 word writing sample based on ( this scenario. )

Here's my chock full of subtext ( submission. )

I am.

As the wordie.org header concisely explains, it's "like Flickr, but without the photos."

I've been in wuv with Spider-man ever since I can remember. Imagine my surprise when I saw this Spidey-themed item and said "Nuh-uh. That's just plain silly." Ironic, no?

Lifehacker pointed me to a most useful site: VectorMagic. Bookmarked for posterity. :)

Screenwriter William Martell posted a terrific blog entry about the Writers Guild strike from a writer's point of view.

Cary Tennis's "Since you asked" column is the primary reason I subscribe to Salon's RSS feed. The writing of both the letters and Cary's answers is fantastic.

The following excerpt from today's column is quote-worthy.

...as creative people, in the scale of things, our own personal difficulties and hurts do not matter -- not in and of themselves: They only matter to the degree that they help us to connect with others. They matter because we use our shame and humiliation to imagine how it feels to be beaten with electrical wires, to be housed in a lightless grave for months on end, to be led to the ovens. Our little suffering is of no importance except where it allows us to connect. If we have something to offer, it is that we can use our small inconveniences to imagine great evil. If people make fun of us, ridicule us, shun us, shame us, that just helps us to imagine, magnified a thousand-fold, the humiliation of being led to the gulag, the humiliation of being stoned in the street, and how, even being stoned in the street, in the physical pain and the agony of approaching death, there is also the incongruous modesty and concern for appearances, how the victim of a public stoning reaches down and attempts to adjust her clothing to preserve her dignity in death.

What Should I Read Next? will give you oodles of recommendations. Link courtesy of Lifehacker.

Ever since I learned what homeschooling really is I've toyed with the idea of helping some of the homeschooling groups with teaching. (FWIW, I don't have kids and don't plan to have kids, so that's not driving my decision.) In fact I was thinking about it this morning. I forget what sent my mind off on that tangent, but that's what happened.

For lunch I walked to a coffee shop near my day job. As I was sitting on a couch eating a grilled veggie sandwich and catching up on RSS feeds, a mother and her six year-old daughter sat down on the couch beside me. After they got their food Mom took out a birding book and some printouts. She and her daughter began (quietly) reading aloud about frigatebirds. A homeschooling lesson was in progress three feet from me!

A short time later I'd introduced myself to Lisa and her daughter Elenore. They were indeed homeschooling, and are part of a local group. We chatted for a few minutes about homeschooling, their group, my background and interest in teaching, and birds. I may be working with them in the near future. :)

Point your browser here, then wait a few moments. It's worth it. :)

Plucked from scrapofpaper:

"If writers wrote as carelessly as some people talk, then adhasdh asdglaseuyt[bn[pasdlg khasdfasdf."
-- Daniel Handler

"The past does not repeat itself, but it rhymes."
-- Mark Twain

"Icarus"
by Edward Field

Only the feathers floating around the hat
Showed that anything more spectacular had occurred ( More )

One more from CreativeSage:

"Who I am really keeps surprising me."
-- Nikki Giovanni

Screenwriter John August lays down the law about the unlikely and overused escape mechanism, ye olde air vent. The funniest part of his post IMO is the Screenwriter's Vow of Air Vent Chastity, which I shall now take.

I, Nancy Brauer, hereby swear that I shall never place a character inside an air duct, ventilation shaft, or any other euphemism for a building system designed to move air around.

'Nuff said.

Alas, I missed the opportunity to sport my nifty/geeky costume due to a last minute trip out of town. It's actually a couples' costume based on the fantabulous BBC series "Life on Mars." My S.O., who looks a bit like actor John Simm, would have donned a black leather jacket, butterfly-collared shirt, and bell bottom pants a la DI Sam Tyler. I'd planned to crossdress in some wonderfully hideous 70s duds as DCI Gene Hunt. Hee!

If you need a last minute costume, try dressing up as a YouTube clip and let people comment on you directly. :) OMG! Awesome Party Guy Vid!

Why did no one tell me that Berkeley Breathed publishes "Opus" on Salon?!

The tutorial Making a Print-Ready Business Card Using Only Photoshop made me smile for two reasons.

1. It's a great tutorial.
2. I've been making my own four color, full bleed business cards using a similar process for a few years now.

TV writer Jane Espenson recently shared this bit of writing advice.

Know what can help enliven an otherwise static scene? Give the characters something to do. Let 'em play poker or unstick a stuck window or wash dishes or eat. ... You can help deepen the illusion that this character has a real life by picking the activity wisely. It's not just staging. It's personality.