Inside the Brain of E.C. Henry

Filling the Hole of the Empty Wedding

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 ROMANTIC COMEDY 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!

 

Merry Christmas from,

E.C. Henry from Kingsport, Tennessee

Taylor Swift Top Songs of All-Time

 

At the time of the writing of this post I am 35 pages into the writing of the 1st draft of Kathy Smith Conquers Duboose High School.  This will be my 25th spec. script--when I write FADE OUT: THE END.

O-kay, so what does this have to do with Taylor Swift?  

Well, she is BACK to be my mews again...

I mean, you can't tell me there isn't a MOVIE with this picture.

I mean is there ANYONE better to be a MALE WRITER'S MUSE when that aforementioned writer is writing a teen comedy centered around the story of a 14-year-old, feisty freshman.  So far 35 pages in I'm not in automatic mode writing like I got after about page 68 of SO GO BACK & GET HER, but there is still hope for its prequel: KATHY SMITH CONQUERS DUBOOSE HIGH SCHOOL, because I've got some solid set pieces for this story.  A couple that I've written in the first 35, hopefully for many more in the remaining pages.

Okay, so the writing life is going well now.  35, 1st draft pages in less than 3 days IS a good start.  And don't worry: Kaya Jones (muse for the past year); I still LOVE you, and hope to connect with you some day on other scripts...  But Taylor Swift is special.  Very special.  And it's not that I'm that enamored with what music she's been cranking out lately, but her work taken collectively as a whole, is PHENOMENAL.   Won't lie I'm a MUCH BIGGER fan of T.S. when she's displaying her lighter side, as evident by --   

E.C. Henry's favorite songs by music superstar Taylor Swift:

[Last Update April 22, 2024 after listening to Taylor's new album on i-Tunes]

1.  State of Grace (Taylor's Version)
2.  Love Story (Taylor's Version) [Elvira Remix]
3. The Other Side of the Door (Taylor's Version)
4.  How You Get the Girl 
5.  Untouchable (Taylor's Version)
6.  Fearless (Taylor's Version)
7.  22 
8.  Getaway Car
9.  Style
10.  Shake It Off 
11.  You Belong with Me 
12.  Jump then Fall (Taylor's Version)
13.  I Can Do It With a Broken Heart
14.  Cruel Summer
15.  Mr. Perfectly Fine (Taylor's Version)
16.  ... Question? 
17.  Red (Taylor's Version)
18.  ... Ready For It
19.  Delicate 
20. We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together
21. The Tortured Artists Department 
22. That's When (Taylor's Version)
23. New Romantics
24.  Look What You Made Me Do  
25.  Anti-Hero
26.  Mastermind
27.  Karma (featuring Ice Spice)
28.  So High School
29.  Message in a Bottle (Taylor's Version)
30.  Me!
31.  Bigger than the Whole Sky
32.  Wildest Dreams

Notice any trends in E.C.'s top 13? It's domiated by Taylor's more happier songs, not her darker or newest stuff.   I remember watching Taylor Swift on a Late Show with Jimmy Fallon interview years ago, where Jimmy Fallon was lightly poking fun a Taylor Swift for her song: We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together; and based on her reaction, Taylor looked a bothered by it all--so Jimmy didn't persist.  That got me to wonder, was that song really that bad?  Heard it for the first time about a week ago and was pleasantly surprised by how good it was:

I had to search i-tunes for that song.  Even when I saw T.S. in concert in 2018?  Well, it was the concert where she had pillars with scary snakes on them, which I thought was in very bad taste given the fact that her target audience is girls aged 9-20.  

Can't really say Taylor Swift doesn't get the credit she deserves because EVERY YEAR she's a favorite with Grammy people, but what I can say is that her earlier stuff was MUCH BETTER that I thought it would be.  I'm not a country music listener.  Some country songs are o-kay, but as a whole the genre isn't for me.  Taylor Swift started off in country music.  So IF you like her today, go back and check-out these two of her earlier albums before she broke into superstardom with 1989: Fearless and Red; have some hits on them too!   Don't miss this gem:

My spec. script soundtrack for Kathy Smith Conquers Duboose High School currently has 17 songs in it--and 4 of them are by Taylor Swift!

Muse indeed.  Rock on, T.S.--and PLEASE go back to your fun-loving days, because that's when you are your best; and that's when your true fans are most pleased with you.   

Okay, enough of the Taylor Swift lovefest time to eat a little late dinner, then go back for another round of writing on Kathy Smith Conquers Duboose High School.  Next post coming at ya AFTER I finish the 1st draft of my latest spec. which I hope to have done BEFORE the end of the month.  See ya then!

Writing Romance in the Dead of Winter

NOW is always the time for a little romance.  Romance makes the heart feel good.  Sad to see so many people these days "down" on romance.  Talk to most people about this subject and the brush it away.  Not me!  I may not be romantically active, haven't been in a long, long, long-long time; but that doesn't mean I'm dead to it.  Quite the opposite, E.C. Henry thinks about chasing tail.  All.  The.  Time.

Why not?

Girls rock!

Maybe this one's looking for a little romance too...

Just kidding, that Taylor Swift, and if romance is ever dead to her

The rest of us are in big trouble.

 

Huge fan of females and what the bring to the table.  And THIS winter I'm getting in the Valentines spirit with help of Scribophile.  Scribophile is a critique site.  I've been there two week now.  Most useful thing I've found there so far is group called "MUSE".  At the prompting of one of their contests I wrote a short story, which may lead me to a 3rd script off the SO BACK & GET HER vine.  But mostly I'm using Scribophile to help me edit and improve the prose on the Thars series of novels I'm working on.

Will E.C. EVER get Thars done?  

That's a good and fair question.  I don't know.  It's so massive, and I want it to be good.  The newness of the story is long gone, and now I'm left with MASSIVE amounts of editing.  All of which I have to do.  BY.  MY.  SELF.  So, yeah it's a grind.  BUT I am making progress, just not the breakneck progress I was hoping for.  So far the critiques on Thars haven't helped much.  A lot of the writers there are hobbiests like me.  Even the one who "technically" write in the genre I'm in focus their stories on vampires and demons.  That's not me.  It will never be me.  I've critiqued several of that color of fantasy story and it's really not my cup of tea, nor are those stories I'd wanna edit in mass in a novel exchange arrangement.  

And so the search for "my tribe" continues...  Still looking for people who like godly, epic fantasy in the vein I write in.

For Valentines Day I posed a couple romance entries from book II in the Thars series, A STRANGE SENSE OF DIVINE DESTINY:

Part I is here.

While

Part II is here.

Gotta NAIL the segment.  Stories have highlights that require extra attention.  The segment where Dale and Reianne connect has to be good.  (Dale is the Thars series main protagonist, while Reianne Helms is the Elfin king's daughter that Dale falls for) 

You can also see the genesis for SO GO BACK & GET HER spin-off in my writing sample at Scribophobe.

So love and stories of love live on in the heart of this romance enthusiast.  It may be dead in society today, but I'm going to do my best to bring it back, because in my heart-of-hearts I believe it's a noble pursuit.

Celebrating women in games of courtship.

That's what I see as a bed-rock belief of romantic comedies, and I still stand for that belief.  Romance lives on--even in the dead of winter!