It’s All About The Story

It's time for part two. If you didn't have a chance to read the first scene, you can find it here .  Scene 2 (Lights up. Curtain opens to see a village. It is a small, cozy town where everyone knows one another. There is a schoolhouse with a tree next to it.) HANSEL Once upon a time, in a faraway land… GRETEL (Interrupting.) Well, Freiburg, Germany anyway. HANSEL (To Gretel.) “Once upon a time” is how all these stories start. And “a faraway land” makes it sound magical or something. Like it could be anywhere. GRETEL (To Hansel.) Well, get on with it! HANSEL Where was I? (Thinking.) That’s right. “Once upon a time.” (Clears throat.) Once upon a time in a faraway land lived two children, Hansel (standing proudly) … GRETEL And his amazing sister, Gretel. HANSEL (Annoyed) Yes, my sister, Gretel. (They exchange annoyed glances with one another.) Anyway, we lived in a town named Freiburg. GRETEL Right outside the Black Forest. HANSEL Exactly. It was an ordinary town with ordinary...

I’ve survived another week of NaNo and here are the top three things I’ve learned about myself and my writing:  1. Planning to write 2,000 words a day is realistic. Sometimes I wonder with everything I think I need to do in a day if it's even possible to get a writing session in. But the reality is, even on my busiest days, writing 2,000 words a day works for me. Most of the time I'm able to get even more words than that. Of course, there are days when I struggle to hit my word goals, but on average this plan works perfectly for me because it gets me to sit down and write every day. 2. I find joy and escape in my writing. This week was a challenging one for me. Nothing really crazy or unexpected happened - it was just one of those 'blah' weeks. I still sat down and wrote most days this week and those sessions were a great escape into my writing world. 3. I'm more creative than I give myself credit for. Part of the reason I've been struggling to finish this draft...

A little while ago, I mentioned a book I grew up loving which inspired the following story. This is a script that I wrote for my capstone project for my Bachelor's several years ago. I was required to combine my study in English, Communication, and Theatre into one project along with an essay explaining how the three parts were integrated. For the next few weeks, I'll share the story - one scene at a time. Enjoy! The True Story of Hansel and Gretel Scene 1 (Hansel and Gretel enter center stage in front of the curtain.) HANSEL Welcome, everyone, and thank you for coming to our show! GRETEL My name is Gretel and this is my brother, Hansel. And, boy, do we have a story for you. HANSEL You may think that you know our story. (Asking audience) Who thinks they know the story of "Hansel and Gretel"? (Members of audience raise hands. Mock disbelief.) I don't know. Gretel, do you think they really know our story? GRETEL I don't know either. Let's ask them what the...

While I am a storyteller, my day job is as a Learning and Development Specialist for a financial company. I spent most of last week working on a department training on being motivated while working from home. Interestingly enough, this training can be helpful to you writers out there, so I thought I’d share some of the applicable takeaways with you. 1. Be separate. As writers, our workspace and homespace overlap. Instead of leaving our home and personal projects or issues there to heading into an office, they are always around us. Here are some tips that can help you create that divide: ·          Create a separate writing workspace at home. While it may not be possible for everyone to have a full room dedicated as a home office, it is important to have a separate workspace where you can go just to write. This would preferably be in a part of your house you don’t usually need to go to frequently so you can walk away and “leave work” when it’...

It's been a week and, being completely transparent, quite a frustrating one. After a successful last week both personally and professionally, this week was all the more disappointing. My NaNo progress suffered in the process. Last week, I hit a word count of 21,492. As of this morning, my word count for this week is 6,987. I know progress is progress and any word written counts, but I know I didn't put the effort in I could have or should have. The only day I had a legitimate excuse was Tuesday when I had a migraine and was dizzy, so focusing on any task was nearly impossible. So how were these two back to back weeks so drastically different? For one, I didn't start writing in the morning. Even when I had the time to do it, I puttered around the house with the same old excuses I always use - the dishes need to get done, the trash needs to go out, X-amount of minutes really isn't that much time to get into the story, I'm not really in the writing mood, I'll have ...

While on my research trip last year, I visited the Pentagon, Arlington Cemetery, and the Holocaust Museum - all in one day. (Travel tip - if you want to lump these three together, I recommend having something less somber to do afterward.)  I wasn’t sure what to expect in my visit to Arlington. There was a lot to see and I just saw some of the highlights.  If you ever have the chance to come here, I’d recommend doing some research before hand and taking your time. The must do’s would be taking a tour of the property (they have a tram that takes you around with stop off points at the key visitor spots), watching the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and the Kennedy’s graves. I also wished I had had the time to walk around and learn a little more about who was there as well as step out to an area where you can just see the gravestones from all directions. I saw a little bit of that on the tram, but I would have liked to take in that moment longer. Here are...

Over the weekend I discovered this movie on Netflix and fell absolutely in love with it! I may or may not have watched it more than once over the last four days.... Two best friends, Maggie and Jack, have a radio station together and have the chance to go from local to national, but there’s a catch - they have to introduce their significant others to their families for the first time on the air.  While it is a fairly predictable holiday movie, it’s a cute show of friendship, family, traditions, and love (and I’m all about having a little sugary sweet content). It’s also completely family friendly, which I am also a huge supporter of. If you want something lighthearted to tuck into as an escape from a crazy week or from the chilly weather, this is one to check out!

It's Sunday night - the saddest night of the week. It's the time when I wish that I had one more day in the weekend before I rinse and repeat my week. Monday through Friday is the time I dedicate to the day job. Saturday is (usually - or as much as humanly possible) my day. Sunday is time for church and family. However, that isn't always how the week really looks.  This weekend was one of those abnormal times.  With the holidays around the corner and my brother's upcoming wedding, I knew that most of my usual free time in November, December, and the first part of January would be dominated by family events. Yesterday and today were no exceptions. I slept in Saturday morning - which for me was 7 on this particular day. With storms on the horizon for the upcoming week, I knew there was a big project that needed to get done - taking some things out to my storage shed and bringing in my Christmas and winter decorations. After I'd finished that task, it was time for lunc...

We’re a week into November and I’ve learned a lot about myself, my writing process, and my story. Here are the top three things I’ve learned: 1.  I have time in my regular schedule to write. Often people tell themselves (or others) that they’re too busy to write. With my current work schedule and the realities of COVID where I’m not going out much at all, I have a lot of free time. What I usually think about is that I don’t have time to work on all of the writing and personal projects I want to and keep up with my work, household chores, and still have some relaxation time. This week has proved to me that I can do it all and still be ahead on my writing schedule. On Fridays, I like to do popcorn, a movie, and relax - basically a date night with myself. This week, I had a lot of errands to run as the holidays and my brother’s wedding are just around the corner. When I got home, I made dinner, cleaned up, and then relaxed with a couple of good movies - one of which inspired me to com...

On the anniversary of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln last year, I was in Washington, D.C. and was able to participate in one of my favorite moments of my research trip - History on Foot. Ford’s Theatre put on a traveling performance with a guide playing a detective, leading us (the audience) through the mystery of discovering what happened that evening in 1865.  It was an incredible experience. We started at Ford’s Theatre and walked around D.C., ending at the White House, looking for clues as well as being given a tour and history lesson all at the same time. As a writer, a history buff, and theatre lover, this was one of the highlights of my week. If you ever have the chance to join one of these, I highly recommend it. Be sure to take your camera and wear good walking shoes. Here are some shots from the experience:

If you’re a fan of history, this is a book for you. It is the story of John Wilkes Booth and the last days of both his and Abraham Lincoln’s lives. While historically accurate, it’s also an easy and interesting read as it’s written like a novel. It does come in an audiobook format as well, which is well done. I’ve re-read this book countless times since I discovered it, so I highly recommend you check this one out.

Today was a good day. I woke up on time, got out of bed, and started writing! I was rewarded with a huge breakthrough on a character arc for one of my secondary characters.  In one of the first scenes of this story, my main character is at a dinner and has a conversation with another character, who I’ve known for some time would play more than just a role in this scene, but was unsure of the direction.  The epiphany came, the flood gates opened, and I have a huge plot point to discover! I’m really excited to get working on it.  Any writers have a moment like this today?   

Another day of writing.  I left my writing session yesterday bothered that I was too sleepy to continue and was eager to get back to it this morning. However, that didn't pull me out of bed as quickly as I'd planned. My heavy eyelids and laziness distracted me for part of the morning before work, but I was able to get a 45-minute writing session in after I was finally able to pull myself away from my pillow. After work and dinner, I was able to complete another session and hit my word count. I could probably continue tonight for another 30-45 minutes, but I'm at a good breaking point, so I think I'm going to take it easy for the rest of the evening after a really busy day. How'd your session(s) go today?

It’s Monday and the second day of our challenge. Today was the dream writing-while-still-having-to-work-your-day-job day. I was able to get up a little earlier and do around 1500 words of writing before I clocked in (benefits of working from home - not having to get ready or a 30-45 minute commute). Work kept me busy all day as I just completed a month-long project on Friday and had a lot of things to catch up on. I used my morning, lunch, and afternoon breaks to get some cleaning done - dishes, laundry, and taking the trash out for tomorrow morning’s pick up - so I didn’t have to worry about that when I clocked out (another benefit of working from home). Once my workday was over, I had dinner, took a nice bubble bath while watching a show to get me back into the mood of my story, and plopped back down to my writing, adding another 4500+ to my daily word count.  The only thing that's annoying me from today is that I'm struggling to keep my eyes open at the moment, which means i...

Today didn't go as I had planned. Not that it was a bad day or that I didn't hit my goal - I ended up with 3,951 words written - it just wasn't what I had expected. I woke up this morning knowing that I would be pre-occupied until about noon, but then I would have the rest of the day free to write like crazy.  Prior to NaNo, I'd decided that I was going to rewrite what I have and (hopefully) complete my first draft for the story I've been working on for almost five years before the end of the year, the large majority to be completed this month. Knowing I had a free afternoon and evening, I figured I would get a good start on the rewriting portion of the draft today. Well, the problem started with the fact that I inherited my mother's "gift" (if we can call it that) of crying when other people do. I attended church virtually at 10:30 and when one of the speakers began sharing their testimony, I started blubbing. Those few tears weren't helped when m...