February 25th

I have read the following

Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thompson, Ralph Steadman (Illustrator)

A wonderful display of Gonzo journalism.  Action packed and full of endless crazy antics, this is a book you won't be able to put down.  The ending did feel as if there wasn't closure but considering the characters, events, and style that's to be expected.  This work of journalism has some hidden gems as far as good writing examples are concerned.  The descriptions in this work are vivid and complete but they don't slow down the action.

            The screenplay to Bad Moms

            Prior to reading the screenplay I watched the movie.  I was interested in how the movie didn’t follow the screenplay in some places and yet followed it to a tee in others.  Action scenes were mapped out but comedic dialogue scenes were done with more comedy added during filming.  Unlike prose where present tense is frowned upon by some groups of writers and in some genres it is how the screenplays are written.  Since that’s been what I’ve been comfortable writing up to this point I won’t struggle as much with that transition. 

Devon Delaney Should Totally Know Better(Devon Delaney #2) by Lauren Barnholdt 

            Another exciting book by Lauren Barnholdt. Readers get to continue the gripping story of Devon as she grapples with insecurities, boys, and growing up.  The author does a great job of making sure each chapter ends with a mild cliff so readers want to keep going. Characters are distinct and never act out of turn.  With humor and situational comedy this book is a fun read for anyone. 

            The screenplay for Malcom in the Middle: New Neighbors

            There was a lot less description here. I assume that is due to it being a screenplay of a television show which already has sets and characters set up.   They pay extra attention to transition and exactly what to cut to since a television show which airs on non-streaming venues originally really only has between 21-24 minutes t tell the story,  unlike the movie screenplay there were more side stories despite the limited time. Of course this is because a movie is only two hours on average while a television show is hours and hours long, just spanning over many chapters.

 

I have worked on the following

             I finished the final scene of my NaNoWriMo 2016 story Grinder.  It didn’t hit the 50,000 words but the story was complete at 32771 words.

            I finished January’s Gwen and Brooke.

            Recipes for the Heartland News

I’m working on the following

            Preparing a piece to submit for participation in the 2017 Bits of Script

            I am working on a piece currently entitled Frank Frost’s second chance.

            I am trying to catch up on my annual goals since I got behind.

January 3rd Update. Year in review and the year ahead.

Pardon the long post as this is a year in review along with a new years map post.

I have read the following

       Mystery at Malachite Mansion (Nancy Drew: Girl Detective #46)

by Carolyn Keene

This was the best of the three books in the trilogy. There were real unexpected surprises. This book didn’t have discontinuity issues or grammatical errors. The end of this book made me want to continue on the third book immediately.

Stalk, Don't Run (Nancy Drew: Girl Detective #47)

by Carolyn Keene

This was the worst of the three books. This issue had the most grammatical errors. The story started out slow compared to the others and didn’t pick up where the other left off despite the huge cliffhanger. Questions were left unanswered and people didn’t seem to be in character.

Slave Narratives

by Elaine Landau

While this can be a tough topic to learn about and hard to teach to children this book does a great job without being too graphic. The author carefully picked excerpts which were powerful yet digestible by children. I highly recommend this for any classroom and every home.

Over the duration of 2016 I read 21 books total and 4301 pages

1.Murder at the PTA (Beth Kennedy #1)
by Laura Alden 320 pages
2. Anna's Blizzard By Alison Hart 141 pages

3.Prom by Laurie Halse Anderson 215

4.The Campfire Collection: Spine-tingling Tales to Tell in the Dark
by Eric B. Martin (Editor & Introduction), George R. Stewart (Contributor), Peter Matthiessen (Contributor), Robert W. Service (Contributor), Judith M. Brueske (Contributor), Anthony Boucher (Contributor), Tobias Wolff (Contributor), John Long (Contributor) , Frank Norris (Contributor), Beryl Bainbridge (Contributor), Greg Child (Contributor), Marc Reisner (Contributor), Haruki Murakami (Contributor), Jack London (Contributor), Edgar Allan Poe (Contributor), Paul Bowles (Contributor), Larry Kanuit (Contributor) 236

5Measure Once, Kill Twice
by Kathleen Anne Barrett 126

6 Agatha Raisin, and the Witch of Wyckhadden by M. C. Beaton Pages 196
7. The Forbidden Flats 
by Peggy Eddleman p 272

8.Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Harry Potter #8)
by J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany, Jack Thorne 326
9. The Seven Tales of Trinket
by Shelley Moore Thomas (Goodreads Author), Dan Craig (Illustrator) 369

10 Belly Laughs by Jenny McCarthy 165
11. The Jacket by Andrew Clements, 89 pages

12. Don't You Know There's a War On?
by Avi 208
13. The Secret Identity of Devon Delaney (Devon Delaney #1) 263
14. Speak 
by Laurie Halse Anderson 198

15 Show Us Your Shorts: 15th Anual Writer's Digest Short Story Competition (Paperback) 
by Various 87 
16. Midnight Circus: In the Age of Horrors 
by EAB Publishing 88p

17. Ghostly: A Collection of Ghost Stories
by Audrey Niffenegger 464
18. California Schemin' (Nancy Drew: Girl Detective #45) 160p
19. Mystery at Malachite Mansion (Nancy Drew: Girl Detective, #46; Malibu Mayhem Trilogy, #2) by Carolyn Keene. 144
20. Stalk, Don't Run (Nancy Drew: Girl Detective, #47; Malibu Mayhem Trilogy, #3) by Carolyn Keene. 146
21 Slave Narratives by Elaine Landau 88

I have worked on the following

             I have been putting some finishing touches on my first draft of Grinder, the story I did for NaNoWriMo

I’m working on the following

            Mapping out my reading and writing goals for the month to be accountable.

            Reading one short story a day. Last year I started late with 76 days left in the year. I managed to read 60 short stories.  That is 79% accuracy. 

Thoughts

            In 2016 I was published in a local newspaper which I will continue to write for.

            I read 21 books.

            I wrote first drafts for 10 short stories

            I participated in NaNoWriMo in November along with April’s Camp NaNoWriMo

            I joined a second writing group which I am more reliably able to be at than my Saturday group.

            I began working in my writing notebook that I started in October 2015 and had it full on Dec 262016

            My goals for 2017 are

·      Read 365 short stories

·      Read 52 fiction books

·      Read 12 nonfiction books

·      Read 12 books of poetry

·      Read 12 screenplays

·      Post a Gwen and Brooke every month

·      Have a blog post at least once a month

·      Map out my goals by the 29^th of each month, by the 27^th for February.

·      Submit 5+ articles to The Heartland News

·      Prep and submit to Bits of Script

·      Submit stories 5+ times to contests or to publications.

·      Revise Richard and Braden to be ready to read at NWW

·      Snowflake to prep for NaNoWriMo

·      Write 1000 words a day free/prompted.

·      Rough draft 52 sort stories.

·      Spend 5 hours a week on reading/writing personal growth.

·      Write 12 poems.

·      Write 3 scripts.

·      Continue using Sally’s free courses.

·      Try my hand at a video game script.

·      Try my hand at a short script.

·      Look into Nebraska Write’s Guild.

My January roadmap

There are four full weeks of January and one partial that bleeds into February. 

The fiction I will plan on reading is

            Fear and loathing in Las Vegas, Devon Delany Should Totally know better, Anything but typical, Orphans, The Galaxy Game which, and The Boy who Swam with Piranhas which will oops into February.

The nonfiction I plan on reading is

Rescuers Defying Nazis: Non-Jewish teens who rescued Jews

Liberation: Teens in the Concentration camps and the Teen Soldiers who Liberated them I will read the fiction book the war within these walls as a follow up because these books are so short.

The poetry book I plan on reading is E. E. Cummings Selected Poems

The Short story book I plan on reading from is The Oxford Book of American Short Stories Second Edition.

The screenplays I plan on reading are

Bad Moms, South Park Bigger longer and Uncut, Malcom in the Middle: The New Neighbors I will slow down in February because I will be working on writing for Bits of Scripts.

By the end of the month I should have January’s Gwen and Brooke posted, a solid draft of February’s Gwen and Brooke, a plan for revising Richard and Braden, four first drafts of short stories, one poem, an idea or two for Bits of Script, a road map for February, something to submit for the Heartland News, and hopefully I can spend some time organizing or tabbing my writing notebook from last year.