More Contest News

Just found out that both my feature script and one of my short scripts made the 1st round of the PAGE screenwriting awards. I am really surprised, but very very glad!

And this blog is really the only place that I can brag so: Brag, brag, brag.

In other news, our weekend was very very depressing. We have been considering selling our home, and downsizing to something way cheaper, so that I can focus on my writing, but the places we viewed were downright depressing. And each time we come home to our nice house and private backyard we like it more and more. So, I doubt we'll move. It's so hard to find that balance between giving your dream your all and trying to plan for the future esp. when you have no idea what's in store for that future. **SIGH**

And with that said, I'm off to start something new, my first Rom Com. :)

Googled

My dad called me last night to say he googled me and all of my writing contest wins came up. He got a big kick out of it. So of course, I tried to hide my enthusiasm, but I was on the portable phone, so as we continued to talk I walked over to the computer and typed in my name. I couldn't resist. It was pretty cool.

Firecrackers, dogs and other stuff

Last night, the neighbourhood fireworks were at their craziest causing our dog (you may recall she has a real phobia) to go even crazier. She was panting, pacing and hiding in the basement.

I forced her into the backyard so she could face her fear. The vet had told us she needed exposure therapy, but she squealed so loud, it sounded like she was being slaughtered, so we had to bring her in. We then took her for a walk and actually showed her the fireworks. This did nothing to minimize the fear.

She's really no different than a person taking a panic attack. Your convinced your not safe and your going to die and no amount of reasoning will make you think otherwise. I hate to see my baby suffer so.

In brighter news, I found out this a.m. that I'm a quarter finalist in the Bluecat screenwriting competition. I was really surprised on this one and thrilled! Keep em coming!

Good news

I woke up this morning to find out that I made it to the next round in the American Gem short script competition. The qualifying round which was announced last month I made it to the top 250 scripts. Now I've made it to the quarter finalists which is the top 100 scripts. Next round will be announced in a month or so. Anyway, it was nice to wake up to good news like that. Now if I can just get writing again.

Where did the title come from?

A few readers have asked me where my blog title comes from. In order to explain, I'll have to take you back to elementary school. Grade 4 to be exact. My best friend and I wrote a class newspaper. We charged 25 cents an issue, but of course due to some dumb school rule we were not allowed to keep the money. It's a shame really, because the money should have gone to our parents. My friend's mom typed all of our hand written articles and my mom had them photocopied. Aren't mom's incredibly supportive.

Anyway, the money had to go to something school related so we told the school librarian we would donate a book with the money we made. We were animal activists so we planned to buy a book about animals for the library. At the end of the year, the librarian told us there had been a change in plans. She would pick the book. And guess what it was called? Don't put the mustard in our custard and it wasn't about animals. A photo was taken of us, with the librarian and the book. We are standing there with scowls on our faces -We worked really really hard and didn't even get to pick the book- she certainly put the mustard in our custard that day. :)

Anyway, I've carried that saying with me throughout life. When anyone rains on my parade, I say they put the mustard in my custard.

The weed wasn't weed

So, Will was weeding our backyard and found what looked like weed plants...five one night and another four the next. He was worried that if someone saw it and reported us we'd be charged for growing weed. You read about that stuff in the paper all the time.

He called the police and reported it. They came and inspected the "weed" plant and guess what??? It wasn't weed. Only a plant that highly resembled it.

So of course he was embarassed that he had called and we got a chuckle out of it when the officer said, "This isn't weed, it's just a weed."

Hardy ha ha.

Bitten by the baby bug

A friend of mine that just moved to the other side of the country also just gave birth to her first baby....an adorable baby girl. I went to the mall yesterday to pick up a little something for her and what was meant to be a ten minute trip to the baby clothes section turned into an hour.

There were so many choices...everything was just so cute. And I came home bitten by the baby bug. This happens every so often, when I see a really cute kid or one of my friends announces she is preggie or I find myself in the children's clothes section. Are we programmed so that when others have babies or we are around baby stuff our biological drive kicks in?

The worst part is that when I showed Will the cute outfit I bought my friend's baby...he too was bitten by the baby bug.

Not good! Not good at all. I have scripts to write and things to do. I think I should go to a movie today. Yeah, that's what I'll do.