screenwriting

If you’ve seen Kung Fu Panda you know that the key to the "secret ingredient" is just to believe there’s a secret ingredient.  So if you’re going to have your morning cup of java or tea, why not transform it into "screenwriting fuel" with this cup from Zazzle.com.  Let it be a constant reminder of your screenwriting goals in 2010. 

Buy Here: $13.95

You’re a writer, which means the majority of your work resides in text format.  Text takes up a relatively small amount of disk space when left in editable formats such as .doc, .rtf, .fdr, etc.  Thus, writers do not need a complicated backup system. 

I realize many of our readers are not so tech savvy, but for those of you who are adept at computing, please feel free to stop reading here.  This article is for those of you who are just trying to grasp the basics of all this "backup" talk.

Enter your local Best Buy and you will find no shortage of backup hard drives.  Some resemble a titanium brick or 007 device, while others are displayed in all the colors of spring boasting capacities of 500GB to 1 TB (1000 gigabytes).   As a writer, if you find yourself needing that much disk space then your last name must be Britannica.

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Does your next premise include monsters?

Fiction writers and horror screenwriters alike will get a kick out of Monstrous.com - the largest site about monsters.  On the web now for 10 years, Monstrous offers a huge repository of monster information from classical, to legendary, to modern creatures.   Just about every category is covered: aliens, demons, dragons, vampires, ghosts, witches, zombies, etc. This online community has forums, galleries and videos to get even the most banal writer juiced with ideas.

The Evolution of the Library

The internet is evolving the human race with its point-and-click access to an abysmal myriad of information.  Monstrous.com is yet another example of what I love about technology and writing. 

Jump back to the 70’s and 80’s era where topics of interests were often discovered by schlepping a boatload of books home from the library after spending the entire afternoon scouring bookshelves and scanning microfiche. THE FLIPPING COPY MACHINE IS OUT OF ORDER! 

Back to my center of peace…  It’s places like Monstrous.com where you point-and-click and suddenly your neighborhood library is transformed into a museum dedicated to your favorite topic, which in this case is guts-and-gore.  Even better, everyone inside is just as obsessed as you.  To get there you don’t have to go anywhere, ignore the QUIET sign, food is welcome, shirt and shoes are optional, and you don’t have to check out anything.

I use both Mac and PC and don’t look upon either as a religious platform.  Having the ability to access both operating systems on a Mac via virtual machine software like Parallels and VMware Fusion is not only pure bliss but it means I’m almost always tethered to the Mac…accept when it comes to screenwriting. The Tablet PC is such a useful tool when it comes to writing that I cannot abandon the technology solely for Mac.

The Creative Community Cries a River
“Why Jobs, why hast thow forsaken us!?”  Dry your eyes creative folk lest you short-circuit your keyboards. But take note Jobs - given that a large part of the creative community are Mac users, Apple may have been better off  to go the “tablet” route vs. the “Air” route.  [click to continue...]