Writer and Editor C.B. Calsing/ G.G. Royale

April is Script Frenzy month . This is the screen writing equivalent of NaNoWriMo, except each participant only has to write 100 pages of a screenplay instead of 50,000 words. I've decided to do it this year as an exercise to help me with one of my novels. I've sort of fizzled out -- partially do to lack of information about the details surroundings women in Louisiana prisons in the 1920s -- but also because I had some shaky plot points. I think pounding through all of that in screenplay form, like a glorified outline, might help me see things a different way, so that's my plan. As always, I try to get other people around me involved. Any takers? No? I didn't think so. Anyway, wish me luck.

My students will be starting screenwriting right after LEAP phase two. I'm really excited because this year, I actually have done it! I completed my first official screenplay just this month, so the information is quite fresh in my head. Kids really need to visit this site to start looking into the info and getting a feel for how everything works: http://ywp.scriptfrenzy.org/screenwriting

Coupon code for free copy: ZB59X (expires 5/31/2011) I've posted a new short story on my Web site here . If you want to get the Smashwords version advertised there -- and linked to the picture at left -- wait until 23 March. The first version I uploaded had a glitch with the cover image. The new one should be up by tomorrow. If you like it, please leave a comment at the bottom of the page, or rate it on Smashwords. This story started as an exercise in modeling mystery writing for my eighth grade students during our fiction unit this year. I've been told it was "well written," but it was an odd bit of speculative fiction which was hard to place. I do see myself writing more Langston Pierpont stories. He's sort of a Kolchak character in my head, so maybe there will be more unexplained or odd cases for him to tackle.

I've been playing around with Smashwords for the last couple of weeks, and hope to have a few decent short stories up there in a bit, stuff that editors said was "well written" but didn't fit in their anthologies. I figure why not? List it for ninety-nine cents, throw a few 100% off coupons around, then compile them all into an anthology. That's my plan anyway. We'll see how it goes. I should have my first submission vetted in a few days. Despite the guide they offer, it's still sort of difficult to perfect everything so that it works on a computer, an ebook reader, smartphones... It's a lot of work to play with pictures sizes and everything.

I sent off the third version of my screenplay today. I think it works as a short feature. As a writer, I feel like there are holes in screenplays that need to be filled, but I know if I put every nuance and interaction in there that I thought it needed, the thing would run for hours. I guess that's why entire pages are pulled by directors, and still film is left on the cutting room floor. It feels good to have one set of major revisions done, and I'm actually looking forward to getting feedback on this version, knowing that I can make more changes and keep getting it closer and closer to shoot-ready.