In my February Newsletter, I wrote the following:
Dear Reader,
A few years ago, I decided I wanted to write a screenplay. I knew next to nothing about this, though I’d read a few before, so I knew I would have to teach myself. Armed with a couple of books and a few reputable websites (and largely Googling as I went), I wrote a 120-page holiday romance (a la Hallmark because they follow such a predictable structure).
I really loved the process, so a few months later I adapted All I Never Wanted, turning it into a screenplay.
I eventually plan to do the same with All I Never Needed, and, not surprisingly, I turned that original Christmas screenplay into a novel (which I’m not quite ready to do anything with). Yes—writing is a bit of an obsession for me.
But that All I Never Wanted screenplay, which I’d tentatively titled Saving Summer, had been sitting on my hard drive for a couple of years now, and I wasn’t really sure what to do with it. . . .
. . . until earlier this month when I stumbled across information about a screenplay competition and thought: “Why not?” I’m always preaching to my students—and you, faithful newsletter reader—as well as my blog readers and Twitter followers to get out there and make some creative noise, take chances, toss as many darts as possible because you Just. Never. Know.
Why not?
The $60 entry fee was tough to swallow. It’s not really the kind of cash I keep lying around (kids, bills, you know the drill), but that “what if?” ate at me until I couldn’t stand it anymore.
So . . . it’s entered. Will anything come of it? I don’t know. Probably not. (?) But I wrote it, I’m proud of it, so why not?
That’s it.
Why not?
It will be months before I hear anything, if I hear anything at all. The entry will be long forgotten by then, and I will likely be far into the next project, anyway. . . .
~UPDATE~
Dear Reader,
I am happy to report that Saving Summer has made it to the quarterfinal round.
Scriptapalooza 2021 Quarterfinalists
Will it advance to the top 100? I don't know. It seems like a long shot, but I am happy for this (however temporary) "high" and will hang on to the idea that yes: maybe I still am moving in the right direction.
I rarely like announcing things, but felt this news needed to hit the blog, if only for posterity's sake.
One day I will look back on this post and. . . .
I don't know. We'll see.
Be Brilliant!
~Katie~
