Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Let's hear it for The Rouge Wave


My screenwriter friend Jeff Lyons very supportively listens to a great deal of my angst every day via email and helps keep me on track and gently yells at me if I whine too much, which I'm hopeful is not as often as I think it is. So when he told me about The Rouge Wave and Julie Gray, I not only listened, I moseyed right over there to check it out.

That's a smashing photo of Julie above, and her site is smart, cool, and wonderful-and so is she. Screenwriter, YA novelist and fiction writer, she's also a founder of The Script Department which is an uber cool site which has this incredible feature I wish they had for novelists. You sign up and tell them your deadlines and then they NAG you to finish on time. The Script Department is made up of writers and script readers, who also give very reasonable script coverage at all different levels--smart, to the point, and very, very helpful. Because I have been struggling with a script based on a notorious essay of mine (lotsa film interest in the essay but there seems to be a disconnect with my script) I'm seriously considering this.


Anyway, in today's Rouge Wave, there were incredible tips about hooks and loglines, and it actually solved one of my script problems. The writing is fresh and funky, plus I dare anyone to resist a blog with photographs of cupcakes. I was deeply comforted that she said scripts can be rejected for reasons that are sound and for reasons that are baloney. I also love her advice: Stop whining and write.

The truth is, I would like Julie to move in next door, but the next best thing is her blog. Go check it out. As for me, I'm starting Chapter two tomorrow and hammering out a new logline. And yes, I am stopping whining and writing until I see blood on the page.
See you later, alligators.

11 comments:

Clea Simon said...

wow - you're working on a screenplay and the new novel? How do you do it? I'm impressed.

Jeff Lyons said...

Clea....

I think it's the fumes from the new paint on all the walls.

J

Caroline said...

Uh, Jeff, talk like that will NEVER get you any brownies. And Clea, who said I'm succeeding? I'm just hurling myself into the creative fire and hoping the burns won't be too bad this time!

Gina Sorell said...

What an amazing service!! The only way I know how to stay on schedule is to announce to everyone in the world what my self imposed deadlines are...and then I am shamed into keeping them!

Caroline, it's true...you are an inspiration with your many projects.
G:-)

PJ McIlvaine said...

Welcome aboard!

Jeff Lyons said...

Caroline,

Oh yeah! Play the brownie card! Alright.. I'll clean up my act.

J

Caroline said...

Hey PJ, just checked out your amazing blog, which I like a lot.

Jean Medeiros said...

Hey Caroline, your energy amazes me! So many irons in the writing fire.

Just as you said, The Rouge Wave is a cool website and she gave you a well-deserved shout out on her blog today. And those cupcakes make me drool...

PJ McIlvaine said...

Cupcakes are not good for my FAS, but who cares?

Caroline, and all I do this without drugs.

Julie Gray said...

Caroline, thanks so much for the shout out! I'd love to help answer some questions for your class. Just tell me when :)

Clea Simon said...

Go, Caroline, go!