Blame it on Carson Reeves over at Scriptshadow, as I'm currently writing the 1st draft of So Go Back & Get Him. Took him up on a challenge to TRY to write a script in 3 days. Having just started this morning as of 8 a.m. EST, after an initial blast I'm only on page 3 of the 1st draft, working off an outline that is more buoy markers than in-depth pre-writes like I prefer. But it's all in the spirit of fun.
So Go Back & Get Him
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Logline:A morning show host struggles in handling the changing scope of her morning show amidst her raging sexuality in an ever changing love/hate relationship to the men in her life.
The stated goal of the challenge is to try to pound a script in three days. Unfortunately on Sunday I have to start moving stuff from storage to our new garage. Right now those storage costs are $300+ a month. I also just accepted a job. Could have started that today if I insisted, but because of the storage move I pushed that out until Wednesday. Been out of work for a long, long time since Covid hit our family at the end of August so it'll be nice to do something again. Had several jobs I thought I'd get, but they fell through. Been living off savings since then.
Well-p gotta get back to it. Only on page 3 of the 1st draft. Goal will be to do 40+ pages. Don't think I'll get there, but I'm an daring kind of guy, and I'm going to try... Talk to you again soon!
P.S. Just received my first critique back from The Beautiful Kingdom -- from a guy in Ireland, no less!
Was that Aarron Rogers calling a play or E.C. Henry with that play?
Well actually the call, "One two, first check, 9-0 thirty, twenty-two, 92," is not an play called at the line of scrimmage, but rather is E.C. Henry at this blog letting the world know the he just completed the 1st draft of his 27th spec. script on January 2, 2022.
The year's less than 2 days in, and I've already achieved a major milestone.
Would rather see E.C. Henry convert on successful 1st draft attempt, than Aarron Rodgers. First drafts are HUGE. I always tell any writers out there that the hardest draft you will ever write for any given work of fiction is that pesky first draft.
Sure, lotta work left to do on the The Beautiful Kingdom, but before I went to church this morning I reached an important milestone: first draft complete as of 9:30 a.m.
Hoping to honor the Lord with this one too. The Beautiful Kingdom is the closest thing I've written to Indians of the Ancient Plains since I wrapped up work on that in 2008. To date Indians of the Ancient Plains is the screenplay I'm most proud of.
Anytime you can honor the Lord in the whatever art you treasure, that's something worth celebrate. I can't wait to share this story with the world. I know it's not all there yet. Heck, the 1st draft weighed very light at only 92 pages. So what comes next is that I take the 1st draft and go back in and see how it changed from the outline I prepped for it. Begin to page budget, and shape character arcs. Since The Beautiful Kingdom is a high concept, fantasy adventure story, character arcing isn't as critical as a smaller story like Black Swan, or Birdman (or the Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance).
Right not the closest thing I can compare The Beautiful Kingdom to is--
I don't think my story will end up being as "epic" as that. Right now I'd describe what I've got as:
The Beautiful Kingdom
Genre: Fantasy Adventure
1st draft logline:Two soldiers from the trenches of World War One who wonder whether life is better off with a God or gods find out for themselves when they go back to antediluvian times when the ancient Gods of Greece were at the apex of their power.
Sound interesting? Well, stay tuned for updates...
Hey, couldn't find a suitable picture capturing the passage of time from 2021 to 2022. So as a lark I did an image search of the hottest girls of 2021 and THIS is the girl who came up: Charlotte McKinney. Never heard of her before until now. So before we get all hot and blothered with E.C. Henry's 2021. Let's take a second look at this wonderful beast:
Oh, snap! Need to find one of those the next time I'm at the beach.
Not sure if I'm ready to say in with the new as 2022 rolls around. Not looking forward to another year of rule under the Democrat Socialists. Disappointed as I am with the Republicans, that pales in comparison to how bad the Democrat loony birds are. They are unfit to lead. Every Democrat should be put back into the public sector and force to work manual labor jobs. They need to learn the value of an honest day's work. Whenever they speak about American values my eyes gloss over. They give America a bad name as the re-invent a poorer America. A weaker America. An America that will be taken over by another country. Yeah, they'reTHAT bad; unworthy of following in any capacity.
But early in 2021 I learned NOT to be so political and keep my opinions to myself. For starters the problems in the U.S. are massive and beyond what I can remedy on my own. So I don't dwell on it anymore. Just acknowledge that things aren't right, and aren't heading in the right direction either.
It's the end of 2021, and I'm definitely ready to turn the page. The most notable aspect of change for me in 2021 was the movie to Tennessee, then the death of my dad a little over a month later. Since this is a time of reflection let's reflect, E.C. Henry style on the year with primary focus on what happened during my life during that time in a best of/worstof combo package.
E.C. Henry's 2021 Year In Review:
BEST THING IN 2021: Finished two, new spec. scripts that I'm very proud of: Kathy Smith Conquers Duboose High School (April 2021), Gravesite Crows (Halloween 2021). Very proud of both scripts. Almost scrapped Gravesite Crows when Covid-19 ravished my family end of August through mid September.
WORST THING IN 2021: Losing my dad to Covid-19. I know he had Alzhiemers, but I loved my father. Still, he could have died in 2004 right after her retired from Boeing and was diagnosed with prostate cancer. So the Lord did give him 17 years worth of retirement.
2nd best thing in 2021: LIT Expression ! Yeah, ol' E.C. has been at it. Actually pioneering an evocative new way to format screenplays. Wrote two scripts this way in 2021, bringing my cumulative total to 6. (When the Motorcycle Calls was the first script I formatted in lit expression, and I've been formatting my scripts that way ever since)
2nd worst thing in 2021: America's FAILED elections. Failure to investigate FRAUD in Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and probably in most every state... Failure by the Supreme Court to have evidence shown and weighed to the American public. I hear that John Roberts is to blame for that. What a dereliction of duty. My former home state of Washington definitely has a problem. I say this because Jay Inslee didn't even try at his debate with Loren Culp in the Fall of 2020. If you think our elections are legit, you are NAIVE. The sad fact of the matter is elections should be very easy, and clear. You go to a polling place, be verified off a roster, then cast your ballet, video every election hall, have watchers making sure there's no hanky-panky, 24 hour new blackout with same day reporting, boom dune. Maybe a few exceptions for service members overseas, but no mass, mail-in ballots. The CORRUPT Democrats don't want fair elections. Sigh... The people in this country have had their voices stolen from them. Why do you think Democrats want open borders? It's because the Democrats KNOW the vast portion of the American population will not vote for them.
Good thing #1 2021: Surviving extended periods of unemployment. Lost a job at Mastec in January, took me till April to get working again. Had a month off work during the move: July - early August. September through now I'm unemployed.
Bad thing #1 2021: The food in NE Tennessee sucks for the most part. Lots of really bad restaurants out here. Lots of closed businesses too.
Biggest Pleasant Surprise in 2021: Surviving the move from Western Washington. It took us 10 days to travel the nearly 3,000 miles but we did it, and we did it without loosing either of my brother's cats!
Biggest Disappointment of 2021: The Seattle Seahwawks. 5-10 with two games to go. This weekend they had ex-Seahawk Jimmy Graham beat them on a 4th quarter TD receptionat Lumen Field in Seattle. RussellWilson, and PeteCarroll could both be out the door in the off-season; but in all actuality it is the lack of talent acquisition that doomed them. They knew that had bad offensive line and didn't address that. Over-paid for under-performing Jamal Wilson. DK Metcalf isn't a constant contributor. Chis Carson has a bad neck and they didn't get Richard Penny going until the last couple games.
Best movie development of 2021: the success of Spider-man: No Way Home. Sure, Matrix: Ressurections was my favorite movie, but seeing the people show up for latest Spider-man movie was a most-needed surprise.
Best song 2021: Taylor Swift's State of Grace off her Red (Taylor's Version) album.
Worst song: Everything else released in 2021. I can't say enough bad things about today's music. So uninspired. So PITIFUL and it shows no signs of ever getting any better.
Favorite person 2021: Patrick Mahomes: starting quarterback for the Kansas City Chief of the National Football league. La-ove watching that guy pay, his demeanor, and the positive persona he is fostering on the commercials he's on. The guy always make me smile, and that a rare commodity to find anywhere on planet Earth these days.
2nd favorite person 2021: Mark Levin. Sometimes that guy raves too much. But really think he loves this country, and his show "Life, Liberty, and Levin" is a GREAT 1-hour talk show.
Least favorite person, 2021: Jay Insleegovernor of the state of Washington. All the Covid restrictions he made were overbearing. The guy surrender a city to terrorists, and came across as aloof and not caring about the state he was running. So glad I'm not living under that callous dictator. Worst thing I saw on TV in 2021: The guy dressed as a woman pretending to be contributing woman on the Wendy Williams show on Christmas Eve. I saw this at Super Jump in Bristol, Tennesee while letting Riley run around and play. In this episode a man dressed as woman was hounding and harassing Leah Remi who was subbing for Wendy. I'm not sure what the proper classification for this man-dressed-as-a-woman was but this person was not contributing to the show and was making everyone feel uncomfortable. Got me thinking that those people should have their own programming. Feel the same about transgender athletes. Put them in their own league competing against their own kind. Boys leagues, girls leagues, and transgender leagues. Doesn't solve the bathroom issue, but it does solve their fairness issue. [Note: There was no "best thing" I saw on TV in 2021. The only thing I watch on TV these days is sports and occasionally the news]
Favorite thing to do in 2021: Write movie scripts! Not always "in the flow", but there is nothing like playing back your script in Final Draft and not finding anything to correct and marveling that you wrote something that good.
Least favorite development in 2021: Eugenny from the Ukraine cheapening the bid on my parents house AFTER his bid had been excepted. Happened at the end of June. Slimeball move. Met the guy once, just before we moved and he didn't leave a favorable impression with me. The guy didn't even know how to operate a rake!!
Best restaurant 2021: Texas Roadhouse. We actually discovered this in Evansville, Indiana during the move. My brother absolutely loves picking out his own steak from a display case. Spent a lot of time at "The Shack" in Colonial Heights, and recently at Buffalo Wild Wings in downtown Kingsport.
Food I miss the most from 2021: Clams in olive oil sauce dipped in baggettes. Really got into this JUST before I loved from Western Washington. I also miss good, Italian pizza. Found a place close to us that sorta good, but nothing like pizzas I've had of old. Best sight of 2021: The sunset on Sunday, December 25th coming back from Bristol, Tennesse on interstate 81. The Lord really outdid himself. Reds, oranges, purples, grays, wispy clouds. My mom said the same thing, and we've both seen our share of spectacular sunsets. Just goes to show you, you never know when the Lord will surprise you.
Worst sight of 2021: ALL roads in Missouri! I couldn't believe how many potholes were on the roads in that state. Kansas City didn't impress me at. Nor did St. Louis. #gladIdon'tliveinMissouri
Fastest development 2021: My parents decision to move to Tennessee. In April the took a trip to "check the state out". That trip went bad with my mom calling me in tears, and I though that was that. Then in May came THEIR decision to move. By June they had sold the house!
Longest development in 2021: The building of a storage shed in our place in Tennessee. My mom made an "executive decision" to build a shed instead of buy one from Home Depot like I advocated. She trusted a contractor who was very green doing his very first job on his own. He gave her the biggest small house that was possible off a pre-existing slab of concrete. I looked up some contractors, but we had problems with the city, then most recently the contractor my mom hired to do the sheet rock got Covid. October - January...
2nd longest development of 2021: getting a pay-off of my dad's $5,000 life insurance policy, getting my mom's $100,000 + out Boeing retirement, and getting BECU to close my mom's accounts in Washington. NOT a good time to be looking to more large sums of money. Financial institutions are really dragging their feet.
Favorite person on-line: Mr. Blonde (Sean Shipman) at ScriptshadowScriptshadow. He and I usually get along very well.
Least favorite person on-line in 2021: Denise Senegal over at Scribophile. She was leading a novel exchange group I was part off, and ALL of her stories bored the shit out of me. Yet, since she was our leader I read them. Once the session was complete and didn't reknew. The lady wasn't a mean person or anything like that, I just didn't like being around her or reading her stuff.
Favorite person I worked with in 2021... the guy who fired me at Mastec. Can't remember his name, but he was a really nice guy. He offered to let me keep working IF I would become a full-time construction worker, but I declined. When I got fired there. I smashed my construction hat repeatedly on the asphalt off a moving car, before finally tossing it over the Carbonado bridge. #goodriddance !!
Worst person I worked with in 2021: Dave Huston at Richard's Packaging in Tacoma, Washington. This jackass had the gall to ask me what I was doing all day when I was putting in 13 hours days, not taking any lunch, not taking any breaks to meet their shipping and receiving needs. I almost went at the guy's throat when he said that to me. After that I never viewed the guy the same. AND he would come around and spy on me. So glad I didn't stay in Washington for that job. What a dick that guy was.
So there you have it, E.C. Henry's recap of 2021. Overall a more down year than up. Can't candycoat that. Will finish out the year in a bowling alley! Hitting pins over to ring in the new year.
What's next for me in 2022? Well, I do need to find a job. Hoping a second attempt at getting in with the post office pays off. If not, I'll try the temp agencies. Sigh, don't wanna have to do that. Currently drafting up my 27th spec. script and having fun with that. Hoping to write the sequel to So Go Back & Get Her. Also would like to bring books 4 and 5 of the Legend of Thars series up to snuff and (sigh) self-publish the entire series. With my last haircut I was finding a lot more grey and white hair. Can't stave of the aging process forever. Hoping to get in better shape and run some more. We'll see. Just found an abandoned school about 1/4 mile from our house. So I have a running track. Can't run too far in the sub-division I'm in, just not enough distance before you hit a main road. May look to move out of NE Tennessee in 2021. I'm not sold on this place at all, but there is my mom and brother's family's welfare to consider and weigh.
Still looking for Miss Right, or Miss Available. Not sure if at my age I'll ever find anyone suitable, though I do have Sue Foster's word from the Lord that He would "complete me" in Tennessee. Right now I don't feel complete at all, but hopefully that will change sooner rather than later.
So bye-bye and good riddance 2021. Hello 2022, signing off now is yours truly,
I just woke up from the strangest of dreams: me on my wedding day! Yeah, I was getting married, but I didn't know to who! The dream took place in a gathering room. This audience was seated in folding chairs. I was on the groom's side seated next to my mom and dad on the other side of the aisle was where the bride's family and friends were. My mind flashed to a girl I had a crush on in high school, and I thought, "Wow, somehow I did the impossible, and got her to agree to marry." But then the fact-based side of my brain took over, and I knew that couldn't be the case because several years ago I looked that girl up on social media, and found her to be married with children not to far from where I was living in Western Washington.
"The dream" I had didn't last long. It was kinda melancholy which is bad when you're dreaming of the day of your own wedding. I remember thinking, who would marry me? I was in a room about to say, "I do" to I-don't-know-who!
Kinda farcical, right? The day of my wedding and I was looking across the room searching for clues in the bride's section for who I would be marrying shortly. Hey, I was in a conundrum, I had to know the name of the girl so I could complete my vows before the priest!
How weird is that?! I didn't even know the name of the girl I was about to marry!
But at least I'm still dreaming and thinking about girls on some kind of subconscious level. AND there is Sue Foster, one of my mother's prayer partners from Bonney Lake, Washigton; who told my mom the Lord would "complete me" in Tennessee.
Faith and romance... Hmmm. Never been one to doubt the Lord --and I'm not going to start now! So, I'll take in on FAITH that the Lord will complete that which concerns me. It's been a long, hard, mostly lonely journey that's for sure. 52 and 1/2 with NO ROMANTIC prospects (can only go poop brown when confessing that) really sets the stage for the Lord to get all the glory when I do finally get "completed".
Yeah, I do look forward to being completed. I wasn't made to live life being alone all the time. Sure, as a writer, there are times you have to be alone to do your art; but God never intended that to be a 24/7 360 days a year prison sentence!
As you get older your views and context of things change. As I write this post I have the song and harmony for Taylor Swift's "State Of Grace" --
Going through my head. A couple nights ago I scrolled through T.S. most recent re-release: Red (Taylor's Version) on I-tunes and downloaded three new songs: Red, State of Grace, and --
The last of those songs, Message in a Bottle, has a lot of clips from Message in a Bottle (1999) which starred Robin Wright Penn and Kevin Costner. Off IMBD here's the logline for that Costner/Penn movie:
A woman discovers a tragic love letter in a bottle on a beach, and is determined to track down its author.
Well now that sounds like the making of a sappy, romantic drama to me. I've never seen this Nicolas Sparks inspired movie; but it made its way into a Taylor Swift music video 10/11 years after its initial release. Makes me think Taylor Swift watched it and it inspired her mind, which then got expressed in the art she does, which is singing and performing. I have yet to watch this movie, Message in Bottle. Yeah, I went through a phase where I watched at lot of ROMANTICCOMEDY movies, BUT I never really connected with ROMANTIC DRAMA style movies like say THE NOTEBOOK. I am a guy. And guys view romance differently than girls. Been a long time since The Notebook (2004) was talked about. This another ROMANTIC DRAMA adaptation from Nicholas Sparks. I think I've watched it 1 and 1/2 times. Since it's out of the public conscious here's the trailer for that one:
Celebrating women in games of courtship
One of the tenant truths of romantic comedies that I've expressed several times on this blogsite, which also a tenant of romantic dramas.
Don't worry, I'm not pursuing Taylor Swift anymore to read my scripts or interface with me anymore. When people bring that up at an online site I frequent, everything they say on that front is easy to dismiss, even though earlier in 2021 I did pursue her. So why go back and listen to her music again? Because SOME of it is romaticaly alive , and in some capacity I hope to fill that in my own life. Hopefully in the near future.
Romance is an inspiration of sorts. And some of Taylor Swift's music really captures the magic of being in love in a fun way. I'm pretty sure T.S. song State of Grace was based on when Calvin Harris came into her life and became her boyfriend. Of course now she's with someone else (a Brit named Joe Alwyn) so where does that leave that song I liked? I liked State of Grace because I think it captures a content girl at happy time in her life -- she's enjoying an unexpected romance. How fun is that?!
Funny how some people are so boat-loaded with romance that they are drunk off it, while others are ravaged souls coming in off the Sahara desert desperate for a drink of water.
Hey, is there an age limit for moments like this?
I'm not one to try to go back and map out T.S. love life when I listen to her music, because that's not how romantic music is supposed to work. When you release something as a professional artist it's supposed to resonate in the heart of whoever takes in it. They process it. And the song entertains them in some capacity.
In watching the teenage girls at a Taylor Swift concert and seeing their over-the-top fawning over her, I think that all ties back to those girls own desires to have romances of their own. And then seeing Taylor Swift is like a release for them where they live vicariously through their idol and get to experience the same highs and lows that the pop diva did.
Taylor Swift fans are very passionate people. And, sorry to say, they really don't have anyone else to look to. Pop music is really, really bad; from my point of view. Anyway, I've rambled on enough about that artist. It's just when you listen to her music, I've got to form a context of how to process it in light of my detractors who beset me occasionally.
The day of my wedding ...
... And I don't even know the girl's name, but am looking across the halls for clues who she might be. There's some message in a bottle rift there that's for sure.
With how Sahara desert my love life and social life in general has been, I'm glad I have writing as an outlet. The cool thing with what I'm writing now is it is subject matter that naturally engages the mind of my mom. My mom is my best friend, and a stand-up Christian. She is a lot more boisterous about her faith too. Wish I was more like her. Guess I need to be praying more and reading more of my bible. I haven't shared or read any of my movie scripts with her for a long-long time. Gravesite Crows is a slasher-horror movie. That's not really born-again Christian fare. Nor was Preyorium, The Commune, or the raunchy So Go Back & Get Her series. But The Beautiful Kingdom IS DIFFERENT! A good kind of different. It has elements of faith and godliness in it. Furthermore I am committed to honoring Jesus, the Holy Father, and the Holy Spirit in this one. I'm going to entertain you, and at the same time honor the Godhead. Yep, that's what I'm committed to.
So as I close, I don't have the answer why I was dreaming of my wedding day and trying to find out it was I was marrying. Yeah, it's kinda comical. Over time I've developed a good and healthy sense of humor about my life. It's pretty easy to deal with my distractors too. I have a good sense of what matters and what does not. Plus flippant people who hide behind false names are easy to dismiss.
Can't believe it's already Christmas Eve as I write this. Still, have the song State of Grace by Taylor Swift of her Red (Taylor's version) running through my mind as finish this post. 52 1/2, romantically alive and still engaged with it, ready for something good to finally come into my life. State of grace indeed!
Scribophile E.C. is putting pages of his Legend of Thars series here to be critiqued. This is a site where novelists get feedback on their work. I'm a member of THREE groups there.