Lost was my first serious tutor in writing for TV. Understand, I never watched the show when it was super popular in the early 2000s. I tend to avoid shows that everyone is talking about. I’ve never seen The Sopranos. I don’t watch House of Cards. Game of Thrones was six seasons in before I started following it. The Walking Dead was in its seventh season when I binged it on Netflix. Call it a contrarian tendency but it’s the…
Two weeks ago several of my screenwriting friends and I participated in the 48 hour film project. #48HFP! Here’s how it works: on designated weekends in cities all around the world, filmmakers gather together a team of writers, actors, gaffers, camera and sound operators to make a short film, between four and seven minutes in length. The project begins on a Friday evening when each team sends a representative to pull from a random drawing: A choice of two genres—or…
Hi everyone! This week’s post isn’t exactly about writing… except for the fact that writers spend a lot time sitting on their behinds, typing. In that sense, it’s probably not the healthiest of career choices because of the sheer number of hours of inactivity involved. And I work from home, within a few feet of the refrigerator. Nothing breaks writers’ block (or rewards finishing a difficult scene) like a bag of potato chips, right? Or maybe a little champagne? No…
In last week’s blog, I shared that I shifted from writing novels to writing for the screen after a demoralizing experience with my self-published novel series, “Ashes, Ashes.” At the Booksellers Association Expo BEA) in New York City, I realized that my books were just a tiny drop in an ocean of words, virtually indistinguishable from a dozen others. So of course, after realizing my dreams of becoming a bestselling author had crumbled to dust, the only logical thing to…
It’s my anniversary. No, not that kind (though that one is coming up soon, too). This month marks one year since I made one of the most pivotal decisions of my screenwriting career: The day I stopped waiting for Hollywood’s stamp of approval and decided to make my film myself. That significant decision—like so many in life—came about through a moment of deep despair. I had been working with a development executive to perfect one of my pilots for a…
I started writing for the screen in 2015 while in the middle of writing my novel series, Ashes, Ashes. It’s a tale of a group of young people trying to survive the aftermath of a nuclear attack on Washington, DC. I was working on the third of the six books and struggling to build a fan base in spite of amazing reviews in the crowded field of dystopian novels. Then my friend Tom suggested, “Why don’t you rewrite them for…
In 2010 I wrote a book called Don’t Bring Home a White Boy and Other Notions That Keep Black Women from Dating Out. So much has changed since then, but it seems the topic never grows old. Just last week I was invited to talk about that book on Christelyn Rusell-Karazin’s (author of Swirling) book study group. It’s a good thing Christelyn read from the book. I’ve forgotten a lot in seven years! LOL! The thing that strikes me most about…
Started a new venture recently: Directing! I just directed my first short this weekend with a brilliant and amazing cast crew. The film, called “The Catcher” is a high school story about a teen who embarks on a crusade to help a homeless classmate. I wrote it and when my producer friend Carletta S. Hurt of IKAM Productions asked me to direct it, I decided to give it a try. Many thanks to Richard Wright Public Charter School for Journalism…
Finally, after fifteen years of writing professionally, I have designated a space in my home just for writing. In other words, no more kitchen table, family room, desk in the bedroom. I’ve graduated. I have an office! It’s in the basement, far from the noises of the rest of my house. No dishwasher or laundry distractions. And it’s a long walk to the refrigerator, which is also a good thing! Here are a few photos: I’ve arranged it with things I…
I’m celebrating this weekend: I just finished the last book of the Doomsday Kids/Ashes, Ashes series. It will go live on Amazon.com on February 22, 2017. You can find it here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N6TUACM Writing these books has been the culmination of an incredible personal journey for me, with as many twists and turns as the tale of survival recounted in the books themselves. Like the kids, I almost gave up. I had a very dark moment of depression where I questioned…