A Girl Named Eve

Daryl Goldberg's First-Time Filmmaker F*#^-ups is one of the more useful books I've read in a long time. I highly recommend it to not only aspiring directors, but to screen writers, film crew, and film actors as well, since it gives you a birds eye overall detailed perspective of the movie making business from what to look out for with legal issues, to who is responsible for moving the prompts on set. I've had the opportunity to be a part of a film crew before so reading helped me understand the ins and outs of what I had witnessed. It will give you an appreciation of what is needed in the making of a movie, as well as easy to follow instructional lessons on the lingo used on sets. I wish there were a lot more books just like this for all sorts of different topics to learn how things work from this easy to follow global yet detailed perspective. It's format is a great way to introduce a broad range of issues and give tips to rookies of common pitfalls.

Although I still love to hold a paperback in my hands, for the last few months I've been addicted to reading books on my tablet now that I have access to a seemingly endless amount of books online via Safari Books Online. I was able to get free access through my work since I'm in a technical field and Safari specializes in technical books. They have a wide collection of online books and videos ranging in subjects from photography, programming, networking, personal, and professional development. I love to browse the collection and add books to my reading lists. I have found and read books I probably would not have purchased since they are outside my field, but being that they book is free and I'm curious about the subject, I'm able to browse books from the comfort of my bed and I end up reading it to completion since I like what I'm learning. I would have been very reluctant to pay for an online library such as this in the past, but now that I've grown to ...

For over a year now, I've been practicing extreme self-care. That means I don't run myself anywhere nearly as ragged as I used to, not for my art, other people, or events that are fun but end up costing  too much time, energy, and gas. The forms of self-care that have had the biggest impact and which I've been able to keep consistently  are my morning and evening rituals. I came up with an idealistic list for each. I added things I enjoy doing and want to be doing regularly. I say it's idealistic because the list has too many items to do on a typical workday/evening but having the variety of things to do as a possibility, helps to keep my mornings and evenings flexible and unique since I can pick and choose among my ways to start my mornings or close my evenings. I've become accustomed to the daily morning and nightly rituals I created for myself. It's been both healing and centering to have them in place. I have more patience on days when I wake up earl...

As a playwright, I'm sometimes asked to read for characters during my play-writing classes or writing groups, and even at auditions to read with actors. It's fun and I've always been fascinated with how a seasoned actor can bring words to life even when they haven't memorized the lines and are still reading from a script. They somehow kept pace with the script while the other actor was reading and their faces weren't buried in the script. So, I wanted to learn the techniques actors use for doing a successful cold read. I did a little searching and found a useful YouTube video by thehellerapproach on cold reading . For those of you not familiar with acting, a cold read is an impromptu reading of part of a script. You are asked to read something and you are only given a few minutes. A cold reading is not when you are given the script the night before the audition since a dedicated actor would have studied and memorized the script by then. Sometimes in auditions,...

I had the opportunity to attend a small business expo recently. As I walked around the booths, I couldn't help to feel that some of the hopeful businesses were modeled after old paradigms that just aren't true anymore. The internet, social media, environmental issues, documentaries, and a push towards minimalism have helped pave the way for more conscious living. What I saw were entrepreneurs clinging to old business and products ideas. Multi-Level Marketing Companies Multi-level marketing companies   sell anything from makeup, essential oils, to kitchen wares. I can't remember the last time I went to one of those hosting parties, but if I did it was probably close to 20 years ago. I come across these vendors at farmers markets. If there is still a venue for them, that would be it.  The money maker though was in getting other people to sign up as sales reps  (another aging paradigm) to produce greater earnings. Why go through all the trouble to be ...

I was surprised to find that my latest travel book find,  T he Lost Girls: Three Friends. Four Continents. One Unconventional Detour Around the World by Jennifer Baggett, Holly C. Corbett, and Amanda Pressner,  was a withdrawn book from the Rockford Public Library. This was a huge mistake on the part of the librarian/staff who had obviously not read the book. It's over 538 pages, almost two inches thick, intimidating considering we live in the age of social media distraction. I had recently bought five other travel books and kept this one at the bottom of the pile for its sheer size. I figured that if I could get through a book this thick I can get through anything, maybe even get around to reading the Bible one day. Little did I know, I inadvertently saved the best for last. The Lost Girls is about three late 20 something New Yorkers who set off on an adventure to travel the world together for one year. From page one I was hooked. I was grateful the book start...

You know how I love to read. Well, I was just so excited and inspired when I came across a variety of artworks created of readers. The artwork spanned centuries and styles, and left me wanting more. Here is just a sample of what I found. Luna By Oleg Zhivetin Crystal Coast Reader By Beth Carrington Brown Reader #19 (large), 2012. Darren Thompson. Oil.  Total immersion … has readin g really changed? Photograph: Corbis Redwood Reader  BY  BRIAN STEWART Mary McLain ”Young Girl Reading” Jean-Honoré Fragonard, oil on canvas, 31 15/16 x 25 1/2 in. 1770 Reading Girl By Franz Eybl. When was the last time you held a book? What was the last book you read? How was your transition from reading paper backs to reading in digital format? Have you made that switch yet?

I've been probing the internet for informative/insightful video interviews of authors, agents, editors. I came across this interesting interview with Marcela Landres, Acquition Editor. Marcela Landres is the author of "How Editors Think: The Real Reason They Rejected You". I'm adding it to my list of must reads after listening to this video. I would have added the video to this page but I wasn't able to. Here's the url to the video below. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3p3dy6TEDg There were several important points in this interview including the need for more Latino Acquistion Editors, and the need for talented writers to really hone their craft, and lastly: Buy the Books! Don't share them! Authors don't get paid for readers, they get paid for writers. Links: http://www.marcelalandres.com Recommendations:  The Columbia Publishing Course  BookJobs.com

I missed this year's Comadres and Compadres Latino Writers Conference! It slipped off my radar completely. I'm normally very good about such things. And even better, now that I have come to know and be embraced by a community of writers, they are usually the ones to give me a heads up about upcoming events and submissions. I'll be there next year for sure.  Were you able to attend? The goal of the Comadres and Compadres Latino Writers Conference is to connect Latino writers to the agents and editors who are looking to publish them. The conference centers on three themes: access, guidance, community. Access to publishing insiders who make decisions of who and what gets published and who are desperately seeking Latino writers. Guidance on how to navigate their writing careers from idea, inception to publication. And to foster a Community of like minded writers. Hope to build a nation wide community of authors that will hopefully support each other on their way...

This is also from an older draft post. I've since been part of a show, an extraordinary experience I still have to blog about but I'd thought I'd still post these earlier thoughts. I love writing so just having a story out their in print or online and getting commented on I thought was enough but as I was recently told by an actor, when your story is told on stage its a completely different experience because of the interaction between the actors and the audience. In this play I definitely felt the chemistry. Now and days and even back in the old days it was so hard to make a motion picture. To tell one of our stories would cost thousands of dollars and an experienced Hollywood budget and staff. At CASA 0101 what you need is an idea and some ganas to make your story into a play. And best of all its a community event with a very grass roots feel.