Guess Who

Our writer's critique group had fun the other day. We each wrote a 1000 word story based on the setting of "beach" that we printed out with no name and no title on it. When we arrived for the meeting, each manuscript went face down in a pile. A neutral observer (my daughter) mixed them up and handed them out. We labeled the manuscripts A through E and read them aloud one at a time.

We were not allowed to look at the manuscripts or hear any part re-read, except for the one we read out loud. We just had to guess who wrote it and

How Do I Feel About Editing?

Daunting! Overwhelming! Frightening!
A bit exciting when one discovers one's story isn't as bad as one thinks.
A writer friend likes the editing process. As this is my first novel (my focus has been picture books and scripts), I guess I'll find out if I like editing.

Being Loud is One Thing But...

...being loud enough is another. It all depends on your audience--who they are, how many, how far away the person farthest away is, and where they are.

There have been many times that I've been in a large group of people and the microphone that was being used suddenly doesn't work right (TDO=technical difficulties occur). Rather than wait for the microphone to click back to life, a person says, "I don't need a microphone; I'm loud." Unfortunately, there's more to being heard than being loud. In theatre, it's

Let Your Kids Give It a Try

Thursday, a couple of kids I've been coaching performed a short Tortoise and the Hare skit for the local library's preschool storytime. I'd say the show lasted all of four minutes. The script was one of mine, written for a couple of kids to perform. This script is not to be confused with the two-person script of the same name that runs for 45-minutes and is meant to be interactive with a large audience. This is one of two scripts written so a couple of young friends or siblings can perform for mom and dad or grandma and grandpa. Or in this case,

Books on My Shelves That are Falling Apart

You know the Velveteen Rabbit story, right? The stuffed animal is so loved through the years that his fur starts to fall off. Well, I have books that are like that--falling apart, I mean, not with fur falling off. So they must be the books I really LOVE. And here they are:

Pirate Guns, Sound Effects and Jokes

We performed Captain Bobella of the Beast last week. It's an original pirate story of a cruel pirate captain (me) and Lagee (Chris), a sea-loving pirate. Captain Bobella is yelling at everyone to swab the deck or practice knot-tying, and Lagee brings in her hat. But he's smiling, so Captain Bobella yells some more and gives Lagee a long list of chores. Then she exits to go inspect the galley. Well, Lagee loves the sea so much he starts telling pirate jokes* and laughing. Captain Bobella enters on the run with gun (bought from