The Voices in Frank's Head

Sometimes I feel like writing a novel is like giving birth in slow motion.

I had another weird dream last night. I was sharing a large house with a group of my friends. At the end of the day, they all went to bed with their respective spouses and/or significant others. I, however, went to bed with a copy of my manuscript. I'm just glad that I didn't wake up with morning with a paper cut in any inappropriate places.

The novel version of The Roswell Chronicles has 65 chapters currently. They're short chapters, but there are 65 of them. Why am I tempted to add 4 more? Oh, yeah - that's right - because I'm a pervert.

In other news, I sent the novel version of The Roswell Chronicles out to another prospective publisher this afternoon. More agents and publishers will follow. Thankfully, I am going to be so busy for the next couple of months that I won't have time to worry about rejection letters.

After five months and one day of waiting, I finally got a response from that publisher in New York. They have decided to pass on the novel version of Roswell Chronicles . Interesting sidenote, my first reaction upon seeing their form letter was to say, "Oh, you idiots." I may or may not have including a profanity in there as well. Anyway, I shall tweak my manuscript and send it off to someone else later this week.

Waiting... I sent the novel version of Roswell Chronicles to a publisher in New York 5 months ago today. They promised a decision on whether or not they'll publish in 4 - 6 months. Quite frankly, I think my mailman is even more eager for them to make a decision. He's getting a little tired of me asking, "Anything from New York?" Anyway, as soon as I hear anything, you will hear about it.

Have you ever had this sudden desire to do something, even though you can't explain exactly why  you're doing it? Well, that's what happened to me last night. I had this sudden desire to submit an updated version of my screenplay for The Roswell Chronicles  to the Toronto International Film Festival . It will be in their screenplay competition as a feature length science-fiction film. I didn't have any plans to submit the film when I woke up yesterday. I was doing something completely different with my life when I had a sudden desire to visit WithoutABox.com . Once there, I saw that TIFF was accepting screenplays for consideration and that yesterday was the deadline for regular submissions. At that point, I simply got hit with this desire to submit The Roswell Chronicles  that quite overwhelming. Anyway, I ended up submitting my script just a couple of hours before their deadline. Now, I wait to find out where it will go from here. Thankfully, I have several...

There's a new book out by Annie Jacobsen entitled  Area 51: An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base . Since I have a science fiction manuscript pending, called The Roswell Chronicles , I was interested in this had to spend a decent amount of time today reading. In her book, Ms. Jacobsen makes several arguments about the legendary, ulta-secret facility known as Area 51 . One of her reports, and the one that I'd like to talk about the most, is the contention that the aliens who crashed in the New Mexico desert in summer of 1947 were actually the result of a Soviet human experimentation program that was design to educe panic within the American population. Before I go further, I believe a brief excerpt from Ms. Jacobsen's book is order. This is the crux of her assertion. The child-sized aviators in this craft [that crashed in New Mexico] were the result of a Soviet human experimentation program, and they had been made to look like aliens a la Orson ...

Every once in awhile, I hear a quote that so perfectly summarizes how I'm feeling at a given moment, I am compelled, it would seem, to emblazon it on the wall by my desk. Today, I came across such a quote. "A hero is no braver than an ordinary man," Ralph Waldo Emerson  once observed, "but he is brave five minutes longer." Today, I pray that each of us finds the strength to hang onto our bravery for those extra five minutes in whatever challenges we may face.

I've written a script for a feature-length science fiction film entitled The Roswell Chronicles . The whole thing is supposed to be a trilogy about this family that finds themselves caught between a greedy corporation and some pissed off aliens. Anyway, I'm working with some folks to get this movie made. I mention that I always envisioned it as a trilogy.  They ask to see a summary of the next two scripts. Strippers Cure Writer's Block I say, "No problem.  I can have a one page summary of each to you by Monday." Well, here's the problem: I had a general concept of how each film would play, but I didn't have any of the details worked out. I was confident that I could deliver them, which is why I said that, but I didn't have it. Anyway, as I started to write these summaries, I immediately developed the worst case of writer's block imaginable. If it had happened to anyone else, I would say that it was funny. Well, long story short, in an ...

I hate when I'm 3/4 of the way through a film synopsis, only to realize that my script needs yet another re-write because of a major (and highly improbable) cliche in my plot. Why didn't I notice this before? Ladies and gentlemen, you probably won't see me at all this weekend. Update @ 2:08 p.m. At this point, the only thing that is keeping me from slashing my wrists is daydreaming about where I'll go once this project is done. I hear that Wenceslas Square is lovely this time of year. Okay - back to my writing.

I have come to learn many things as I endeavor to make my next film. One of them is that writing a treatment for a film, which is usually only 40 pages, actually requires more effort than writing a 100 page script. This, my friends, is irony.

It's official. I'm convinced that my mailman hates me. The first thing that I noticed when I collected my mail this afternoon was a long overdue check from a client. I've been waiting months for this thing so, as a freelancer, to say that I was excited was nothing if not an understatement. The second thing that I noticed in my mailbox was the spring issue of Sherman's Travel Magazine . My long overdue check was for a couple grand, and I haven't had a proper vacation in years, so there was a moment when I convinced myself that this was an omen. The photos of one Caribbean spa after another tempted me, to say the least. My excitement grew when I realized that the check in my hand would actually be enough to pay for one of these trips. As I continued flipping through the pages of this magazine, I came to realize that I also had a multitude of other options available to me besides the Caribbean. There was an article about how charming Charleston is. Another ...

My first draft of The Roswell Chronicles is done. This, of course, is my sci-fi project about a woman who is sworn to protect a family secret against both a greedy corporation and some seriously pissed off aliens. I will let the first draft digest for a few days. Now comes the really fun part of the process - my second and third drafts.

I'm almost done with my latest screenplay. It's a science fiction piece entitled, The Roswell Chronicles . One of the unique things about creating these characters is that they almost take on a life of their own in my imagination. Sometimes they even say some of the most interesting things. Here's an example from Act III, its an exchange between two cousins - Jacob and Mark Haut. MARK Hey, where’s Samantha? JACOB She’s sitting on the roof. MARK Um, why? JACOB Don’t ask me. I live my life by two simple rules: never challenge an Irishman to a drinking contest and never try to understand what a woman is thinking. I feel like, if someone had mentioned this to me a few years ago, my life would've been a lot simpler.