It's July!

How did July get here, what happened to June? I've been so busy with writing and taking classes, plus a couple of weekend trips, that the month of June vanished. Poof! It was here, now it's gone.

I'm in week four of Lani Diane Rich's workshop called Discovery. It really is turning out to be quite beneficial. I've never explored a story in such depth (prior to beginning to write it) and maybe that's why I've always struggled with internal motivation for my characters. I never seemed to dig deep enough on first or second try and my critique partner would have to remind me. Plot seems to come easily enough, you know, the external factors that make a person do what they do, the shootings and car chases and bar scenes, but emotional reasons, not so much. Now I feel like I've been immersed in the emotional stew of my story and I'm liking it, enjoying discovering those elements of my characters. Who would have guessed?

Last weekend my daughter and I drove to San Diego to explore the Little Italy section. I took a ton of photos but had already done a cut and paste collage before going. Sophia Bush is the placeholder for my heroine, Milo Ventimiglia is the hero, Anjelica Huston is Mama Rosa, and Dennis Farina is Fake Uncle Frank. The title so far is Dia Sophia (the name of my heroine) but that might change as the story unfolds. I like that first collage, but I like my photos too. I think I'll make a second one and print the photos in sepia tones and use it as a history or backstory page. That might be fun.

This week we have to submit a free writing 500 word vignette of our protagonist to the Discovery forums. I was extremely nervous. Having all of those other writers look at my work is like walking into the daylight stark naked. Anyway, by yesterday nobody had posted, so I sucked it up and went first. I hate going first but knew that most everyone was thinking the same thing as me, and someone had to break the ice. We aren't allowed to give constructive criticism only what we like the most about each others scene. Lani says criticism at this point can diminish the creative process. I've had some nice comments made on my work but now I'm wondering what they really thought. Ha ha. The ego, what a dreadful companion to drag through life, eh?

Two books read lately that I thoroughly enjoyed:
I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti, by Guilia Melucci. I don't usually like first person point of view but this authors voice is enjoyable. Great recipes too.
Think Twice, Lisa Scottoline. Fabulous edge-of-the-seat pacing, a great thriller and all of Scottoline's usual fab characters. Love her work.

Movies:
His Girl Friday with Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell. Watched and critiqued on Popcorn Dialogues. Enjoyed it for the one-liners, the occasional humor, but all of the screaming and shouting got to me after a while. I guess it was considered humorous back in the day. Today a lot of film is carried by the car chase scenes, or the sex scenes, back then it was the dithering and screaming. ; )

Rented a couple of other movies but have forgotten the titles. Yes, they were that memorable, but am I bitter? Ha ha. Nope. These days I'm into researching movies for my manuscript so I check them out for free from the library. I've found some fabulous older movies that I've never seen before.