Well, the screenplay of Chasing AllieCat is written to completion–as in the first draft. I’ve written what I can write until I get feedback from Steph, the Director/Producer who wants to make this film and has all the movie experience. She’ll go through it and make lots of suggestions, I’m sure! I don’t feel very confident about it, but I do feel like it captures the story and right now, it’s as good as I can get it without some feedback. I wrote it and went back through it a few times, making notes and then editing.
This software I’m using, WriterDuet, is awesome (Thank you, Prairie Lakes Regional Arts Council, for the grant so I could by the professional version of this software). It has a “Read aloud” function that assigns different voices to different characters. Even though the voices only can use computer-monotone expression, it’s amazingly helpful to hear the characters speak aloud. Hearing the words aloud, some lines fall ridiculously short of effective. It’s a terrific editing tool!
So now, I let this rest and am digging into the book I wrote before the pandemic hit.
As I mentioned before, I wrote not a paragraph of fiction during the pandemic. I spent every possible computer moment prepping courses to put them online, grading, and writing up quizzes and content that I used to administer in class, face-to-face. Even all summer, when I usually write, I was busy putting content online. Putting all my usually interactive classes online was a monster job. And it made me ever-so-ready to retire.
So that’s the gift in all that. Retirement from teaching! So here I am. For the first time in my life, I’m a full-time writer. And so the book I’m working on today is tentatively titled Who the Frack is Maddie Jackson? We’ll see how that goes…
I love it! You are writing full time. I’m looking forward to seeing the movie Chasing Aliecat and reading your next novel. Writerduet sounds like an amazing program. Write on . . .
Thank you, Roger! Your support and friendship mean the world.
Happy to read that you have finished the first draft of the script! Looking forward to what the future has in store for that production!
Write on full-time writer!
BTW, I think “Who the Frack is Maddie Jackson” is the perfect title for that book. 🥴 I couldn’t put down what you wrote when I read your draft a few years ago. Has it been that long? Yikes!