An Artist is What an Artist Does With a Blank Slate

(Glorious Treats - Pina Colada Cupcakes)

(Glorious Treats - Cars Birthday Cupcakes)

Gaze upon these masterpieces... a sweet feast for the eyes by this master artist, sculptor... and yes, she also goes by Mommy and baker.  This is the artistic work of Glory Albin, a 30-year-old, stay-at-home-mother of two, who loves cooking, baking, gardening and scrapbooking.  She's an artist and an Average Joan who transforms the ordinary into extraordinary delectables.

Now that I've made you snatch that Snickers bar from your secret stash, I guess you're wondering what does this impressive cake artist have to do with writing?  Is she writing a cookbook?  I don't know, I haven't met her personally.  From what I saw in her Flickr photostream, she could easily create a coffee table art book with recipes.  There you go!

Artists come in many forms, you don't have to own a paint brush and canvas to be an artist.   You can wear an apron, hold a camera, stage a house for sale... etc. 

Writing is like baking and painting... but I'll use the baking analogy since breakfast and lunch consisted of one piece of Bit O' Honey hard candy.  

Scribes start with a white computer screen -- and for the baker -- it's the flour.  Without adding more ingredients, all you have is a white screen and something inedible.  So, to make those delectable creations above, you need to add your sugar, some salt, butter... but in my case... I add the characters, both sweet and salty... the plot, butter it up with foreshadowing and so forth. 

(cupcake cups - Glorious Treats - I don't need diamonds)
(Uh, yes... you do.)

If I'm writing sales copy for a client, I adjust the recipe to include benefits for the consumer and attention-grabbing words that keep the reader devouring the sweet copy.

Just like my cake artist who admitted to seeing herself as an artist in her Flickr post -- us Average Joan scribes have to own ourselves as artists, even if the masterpiece is an instructional manual for a flat screen television. 

I stumbled on Glory's chocolate cupcakes on Flickr.com when I was looking for sweet artwork to entice cyber-surfers into iCafe Woman Moderne, an intergenerational women's virtual cafe, for its Cyber-Monday deals.  Yes, I linked the cupcakes to her photostream.

(Chocolate Cherry Cupcakes - Glorious Treats)


Maybe I'm taking the analogy a bit too far, but why can't a technical writer be an artist?  If you're skillful at using words to get a buyer not to throw that television manual down in disgust and actually read it from start to finish... then you're an artist. 

(Amazon.com)

Even if the pleasure comes from you, the buyer, enjoying a problem-free television without ever referring to the manual again... then that technical writer in Boise, Idaho is an artist. 

Did you just raised your eyebrows?  Okay, look at it like this.  Didn't our technical writer bring enjoyment to the buyer?   In my book, that's what an artist does, whether it's through words, photographs, entertainment, a leg of lamb or flour. 

You can also find the artist in you in areas never explored.

Case in point, the weekend before last, I coordinated a destination black & white-themed wedding in Atlantic City for the niece of one of my best friends.  

But, it didn't stop there.  On Sunday afternoon, I co-coordinated her aunt's red, white and blue-themed wedding.

 

For the Atlantic City wedding, I was working with a tight decorating budget, so I alternated the above Dollar Tree store favor boxes at each place setting, added red, pink and white rose petals, tea  candles, a large martini glass with crystals (the bride's vision) and rose petals in lieu of a formal centerpiece.  It was simple elegance.  

(Bride and Groom Wedding Strawberries)

I am not a professional wedding coordinator/event planner, but I play one on TV.  (Okay, I couldn't resist.) I guess it has something to do with my husband being a mobile DJ and Karoake professional.  I'm his roadie.  I often find myself lending a hand at weddings and events.

To my amazement, I discovered skills I never knew existed, like floral designing.  I created all of the bouquets and boutonnieres, including the bride's and groom's to glowing reviews.   

I also produced the wedding program.  No surprise there... I've designed plenty of booklets and brochures for work, so I tapped into those skills. 

It didn't take long for someone to thrust a microphone in my hand and I began introducing the wedding party like an entertainer in a Vegas lounge. (pardon me, Atlantic City lounge) 

Little, old moi... the one who breaks into a sweat when speaking in front of a crowd bigger than three.  I must say, this was good practice for when I do my author tour.  

Besides almost tripping on a speaker's wire, my husband and friends said I looked like a pro.  I guess I can add actress to my growing list of newfound skills.  

Have you recently discovered the artist in you?  If so, Joan B. Average, Scriptwriter wants to hear from you.   If not, Joan B Average, Scriptwriter still wants to hear from you.  

And finally, you can purchase this last feast for the eyes by clicking on the image below.  You'll find other delicious fruit and holiday gift baskets at Golden State Fruit.com.

To make your cakes and cupcakes look like masterpieces, purchase Glorious Treats' Cake toppers at Etsy.com.



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Step Right Up... to the Writing Contests' Game

Pick a writing contest... any writing contest... and try your chance... maybe you'll be a finalist... maybe not.  And around the screenwriting competition wheel it goes... when and where it stops... nobody knows.  Are you a winner?


Entering writing contests remind me of the carnival games I played as a child on the Atlantic City Boardwalk.  You throw that hoop with all your might around the six-pack of Coca Colas.  You aim the plastic water gun toward the clown's mouth, hoping that red ball will get to the rim first.   And you enter the Scriptapalooza Screenwriting Competition hoping your movie script has the right aim and hits the target.


The prize... a huge stuffed bear in the form of a $10,000 prize, agent representation and your script making the rounds of top production companies and studios.   This stuffed bear will change your life.


I'm setting my screenwriting contest sights on Scriptapalooza's Feature and Television writing Contests.  The Blue Cat Screenwriting Competition also tickles my competition bug, offering all entrants helpful notes to improve their scripts. 

Like Scriptapalooza, the Don and Gee Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting Competition and The Austin Film Festival Heart of Film Screenplay Competition are the most sought-after.  They also remind me of the slot machines gamblers have been feeding all morning without any winnings.  But at any moment it's about to pay out big.  Neophyte scriptwriters send out scripts in the course of weeks, hoping that theirs will stand out among the thousands of other hopefuls.   

Undeterred by not making the semi-finals in Nicholl, Scriptapalooza and Blue Cat, this Average Joan is giving all three another whirl.  I've refined my previously submitted script and will tweak the new ones before the contest doors fly open at the end of December.  For the 2010 competitions, I'll enter two or thee features and for the first time, a pilot for the Scriptapalooza Television Writing Contest.

UGLY BETTY BEFORE

UGLY BETTY AFTER

My budget will determine how many more I can enter, but adding Austin to the list is a definite possibility.

This time I'm more armed.  Reading Tom Lazarus 's Rewriting Secrets for Screenwriters: Seven Strategies to Improve and Sell Your Work, helped me see rewriting with new eyes and polish my scripts, so I can come out the gate strong. 

But, before you start rewiting, step away from the script a few days. Clean your refrigerator.. organize your closet... watch an old movie... make a marathon out of it.  Do anything that will take your script out of your head for a few days.  Only then are you ready to rewrite.

Lena Horne

Audrey Hepburn in the movie "Sabrina"

Here are seven rewriting strategies from Rewriting Secrets for Screenwriters that may help you get on that semi-finalist list and beyond. 

1.   CREATE A SCENE LIST - Create a simple list of scenes you've actually written.   This will separate what you planned to write, what you think you wrote, and what you actually wrote and give you a fresh angle on the basics of your screenplay. You can move scenes around, delete irrelevant scenes and then, make the changes to your screenplay.

 2.  PRIORITIZE YOUR BIG SCENES - Usually they're key dialogue scenes that turn the story or explain the characters.    See how they relate toeach other. What you're looking for is an arc, where scenes start small and get bigger and bigger. There should be a build called rising action.  This keepst he reader/viewer glued to the story.

3.  TRACK YOUR TRANSITIONS - Transitions are one of the keys to writing smooth-reading screnplays.  Rewriting transitions will evolve your sceenplay.  Good transitions are a major factor hearing these comments about your screenpay:  "It was a page-turner" --"I couldn't put down."

4.  PLOT CORRECTIONS - List all proposed rewrites for our script.  Categorize them by the type and kind of rewrite.  You'll begin to see a pattern.  Once you become aware of your most comon mistakes and address them off the top, you'll have a shortcut to the rewriting process. 

5.  NEW INFORMATION - Analyze each scene independently and figure out what new information is carried in the scene.  Make a list. This way, you're forced to examine if a scene moves the story forward.

A ny scene that gives the reader/viewer new information, a new story beat, an evolution of a relationship, a playing of a story thread -- moves the story forward.  If a scene doesn't move a story forward, cut it or rewrite it so it moves it forward. 

6.  THE DIALOGUE PASS - Read your dialogue out loud.  Your ear will tell you which dialogue needs rewriting.

7.  ON-THE-NOSE REWRITE - Every time you read your script, rewrite it and make it better.   For the On-the-Nose-Draft, don't read for flow or grammar or action, but for how much your characters are saying what they mean.

Find out about upcoming screenwriting competitions at: moviebytes.com 

These books will help you polish your prized work:  (also, come in Kindle editions at:  iCafe Woman Moderne Store.