Linda K. Sienkiewicz's Blog, page 32

What, Why, How: Caitlin McCarthy

Photo credit: Pure Style Photography What:

I write dramatic feature screenplays and teleplays (original and spec). Feature scripts run between 90-120 pages. One-hour teleplays are typically 50-60 pages, and half-hour teleplays are 22-32 pages. While some writers don’t include act breaks in their teleplays, I like to use them. They can always be removed for outlets that don’t require commercial breaks. In every kind of script, each page equals about a minute of screen time.

All of my scripts b...

Things Couples Fight About

Same old same old:

According to Marriage and Family counselor Dr. John Gottman, 69% of the conflicts in marriage will never be solved. That means we are having the same argument over and over again.

The little things

My husband and I have been married a long time. Nearly 42 years. We’ve learned to work most things out without any hair-pulling or foot-stomping.

For example, I hate that, before he puts jars away in the fridge, he’s compelled to tighten the lids so darned hard that I can’t unsc...

What, Why, How: Jimmy Leonard

What:

When I was in elementary school, I wrote and directed plays with the neighborhood kids as the actors and my parents’ basement as the stage. One of my teachers signed my yearbook, “You’ll be a famous author someday, and I’ll say that I knew you in the third grade!” Well, Mrs. Oz, I don’t think anyone would call me famous, but I did become an author.

Honestly, it took a long time for me to bless that desire to write. I wanted to pursue creative writing but always told myself no. In high...

What, Why, How: Leslie Pietrzyk

What:

I’m a writer who has been writing and loving books since always…yes, one of those kids walking to school with an open book clutched in both hands, reading. My new novel SILVER GIRL is just out, and while it’s not about me exactly, the ripples from a complicated female friendship I had in college inform the action. The book’s set in 1980s Chicago, during the time of the Tylenol murders, and though I went to college in Chicago, this still isn’t a book about me…except in that way that all...

How to Make a Writer Crazy

Telling someone you’re a writer (poet, author, journalist, whatever) often gets, um, an interesting response or unwanted feedback. Many thanks to my fellow writers (and Barbara Bos of Women’s Writers, Women’s Books) for sharing these gems:

So am I!

“I have a great idea for a book!”

“I’m going to write a book when I retire.” (And when I retire from writing, I might take up enterostomal therapy.)

“I could write a book if I had free time.” *cough, cough*

“I’m writing a book. Would you read it f...

My poetry chapbook, resurrected

Out of print!

My friend Denise wanted to buy a copy of my latest poetry chapbook, Security, after hearing me read from it at a DWW ONTV event. That’s when I discovered I only had two copies.

This posed a real problem: the publisher, Rob Bixby of March Street Press in Greensboro NC, passed away a few years ago, and there were no plans to continue the press.

This little chapbook is very dear to me. It was published in 2010. Several poems refer to my son, who died in 2011, as well as my father...

What, Why, How: Adela Crandell Durkee

What:

That’s the hardest and easiest question for me to answer.  I write about a lot of things:  I wrote a novel and a read-to-me book.  I’m working on a sequel to A Ship of Pearl, and a second read-to-me book.  I have two blogs, I write for two local newspapers, I do technical writing for various FDA regulated industries.  So many things interest me; I struggle to fit my work into any one genre. Just when I think my fiction fits nicely into Historical, a near-future, distopian girl and her...

American English, Italian Chocolate by Rick Bailey

Rick Bailey’s brilliant essays on life’s messiness, humor and awkwardness leap, spin and dazzle in American English, Italian Chocolate. He expounds with eloquence about the horror of house flies, the joys of microfiber underwear, the psychological egoism of donating blood, the ringworm infection which happily kept him from attending Boy Scout camp, love at first shite, and kissing…

About that kissing…

In “Kissing Age,” Rick gamely asks his wife one evening if she wants to suck face. He said i...

What, Why, How: Barbara Rebbeck

What:

I am a writer and I work in several genres. As a teacher, I write professional articles and workshop presentations. Personally, I write essay, poetry, and novels. My first YA novel is NOLA Gals, a tale of Hurricane Katrina and two 14-year old teens who struggle to survive when one is bused to Houston where she attends a posh private school and faces many life-changing crises. My work-in-progress is The Girl from the USO, an adult psychological thriller that takes place in England and th...

Kisses, hugs and paper promises

I’m not at all apologetic. I love St. Valentine’s Day for brightening up the dead of winter. I can tolerate January, but by mid February, I’m tired of cold and snow, hats, boots and gloves, and ice on the back steps. I love the bright pink and warm red hearts, the lace, the ribbons, the arrow flying through the gray skies to pierce the heart of the one I love.

Paper Valentines

When I was in grade school, my mom would take me to the dime store so I could pick out a pack of die-cut cards wrapp...