Still Truckin'

The other day, as I was frantically signing onto a social website, I found a post from my Ozzie mate, Tina, who wanted to know when I was going to start blogging again. I suddenly realized that it has been months since I last posted and people would probably think I either quit or died. Or both. Well, I'm proud to say, it is neither.

I have actually been keeping busy working. No more ridiculous fights with Unemployment. I went back to work, I have been planning a trip to Italy, and I am continuing to write.

I won't get into the different projects I have going right now, but what it comes down to is that I needed to prioritize my writing. Since my objective is to get work either produced or published, blogging was put on the back burner during my time crunch.

What's important to note is that I still continue to practice what I preach. I AM writing every day. In fact, today during a particularly quiet moment, I pulled out my notebook and began jotting down ideas.

The other day I also went through a stack of notebooks/journal that I had scattered haphazardly around my home and compiled them into one binder separated by topics (screenwriting got one tab, creative fiction another, non-fiction, etc.) This way I have a better idea of what I have started and where I can go.

I hope that everyone (all half dozen of you) who read this blog have been continuing to write everyday. It's the only way you get to become a better writer and come one step closer to a career as a writer. I promise to blog more often for the few "fans" (really good friends) that I have.

And, please check out my new novel Luke Aloysius:  Bloodline on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GD9X8BE

Peace! 

Oz

I have a friend in Australia that I've been writing to since we were thirteen. (I won't tell you how many years we've been writing, but it's been a while). The nice thing about having a pen-pal from such a young age, other than building a life-long friendship with an extraordinary person, is that it gets you interested in a new and different place. Because of my friendship with Tina, I became a huge fan of everything Australia. My belief is if it's from Australia, it's gotta be good.

When I was younger, I listened to Men at Work and Olivia Newton John. Tina introduced me to an entirely new repertoire of Australian music as well. I became very interested in learning about Australia's states and culture, particularly the Aboriginal culture itself. I knew about the release of Crocodile Dundee before it hit the United States because Tina had written me about it. And I was a fan of Paul Hogan way before the movie was ever made because I always remembered him as the guy in the Quantas commercials.

After graduating college, I journeyed to Australia to meet her. It was a wonderful trip (even though I screwed up the arrival date and she came the day before to the airport for us. My fault entirely. Doy.) Australia was bidding for the Olympics that year. They won. I visited Cairns, Queensland and Sydney, Australia with a side trip to Wollongong. I saw all the major tourist spots and then went to search for my favorite critters: crocodiles.

A year later an amazing man named Steve Irwin would hit the airwaves in the United States. I felt I had found a soul mate. There was someone else who called reptiles "Beautiful" other than me. I never would have believed that less than a decade later, I'd be mourning the loss of this beautiful soul with the rest of the world.

And then there's the Wiggles. My friend told me about them first because her daughter watched them. Then I saw them at Australia Zoo on television. They were Australian, so I was hooked. Now, the Wiggles are something I share with my two year old Goddaughter. Ironically, her favorite Wiggles video is Wiggles Safari with Steve Irwin and his family.

I also sing her the Kookaburra song. I think I've passed on some good things to her. None of which would have come into my life if it wasn't for a 13 year old girl, now a lovely woman, named Christina.

Thankfully, I kept notes of my trip to Australia. A lot of those memories became the basis of my third screenplay, A Kangaroo in the Hand. Maybe one day it will make it to the screen and reach over to Tina as well.

For now, I will concentrate on my rewrite of it. It was Tina, after all, who after seeing Point Break said (about the actor in the final scene), "That was the worst Australian accent I ever heard." I want to do this one right. I don't want to let her. . .or my other Ozzie mates. . . down.

Kookaburra sits on the old gum tree

Merry, merry king of the bush is he

Laugh! Kookaburra! Laugh! Kookaburra!

Gay your life must be. . .
Please check out my novel Luke Aloysius:  Bloodline on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GD9X8BE

Sense Memory, Queries, and the Mob

Today I went to the eye doctor for a regular checkup. It had gotten to that point again where I was having trouble reading street signs until I was right on top of them. The fun part about the trip to the eye doctor, as you may know, is the eye dilation drops. Love those things. Of course, they sting going in (and who doesn't love the sensation of stinging eyes?) and the dilation does not go away for hours. So for the rest of the day you look like Hootie the Owl, perpetually scared, or hopped up on some wierd drug. As you drive home from the eye doctor, you pray you are not pulled over for weaving (as you cannot quite see through the blurry vision where the double line actually is) because you just know the officer will take one look at your wide, wide Hootie eyes and drag you in for a drug test.

What does any of this have to do with writing? Well, everything. First, it delayed my blogging for today as I had to rush around like the proverbial chicken without a head to get things done and get to the doctor's on time (only to "hurry up and wait" for two hours). When I came home, my friend, the lovely Tracie had emailed me asking where my post was today because she missed it. (I have a fan?!!) Third, and here's where it's really relevant, it's all sense memory.

Ah, if you are an actor, you are smiling and saying, "Oh, of course I can use that in my writing!" If you're not an actor, you may be saying, "A what-the-who?" Sense memory is an acting technique where an actor recreates something that isn't there from remembering or recalling their personal experiences. For example, watch a mime. They are all about sense memory: where's the box? Here's the box and I'm trapped in it! Look, I'm playing baseball and I'm giving you the ball and I want you to throw it to me. . . Some brilliant actors who utilize sense memory are Robin Williams (who was a mime), John Leguizamo, and even Kathy Griffin.

Remembering these seemingly ridiculous and insignificant events in our lives can become the cornerstone of major comedy skits or scenes. Just think of the classic T.V. episode of The Carol Burnett show where Tim Conway is a dentist and Harvey Korman is the patient and Conway keeps injecting himself with novocaine. Although this scene was mostly improvised, I dare anyone to watch it without laughing.

Writers should note these insignificant events in life. Want to complicate a character's life in a story? If he has to get to somewhere fast, let him find out after he's been dilated at the eye doctor's office and its a bright, sunny day. And the police are looking for someone who just robbed a pharmacy.

Utilize the events in your life that drive you loco at the doctor's office, at the DMV, mall shopping during the holidays. . . Next time you feel yourself having an emotional reaction to something, positive or negative, make a note of it.  It will strengthen one of your stories. .. 

Please check out my novel Luke Aloysius:  Bloodline on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GD9X8BE