The Voices in Frank's Head

Stock Photo by Dalia Drulia After more than eight years of posting on this blog, I have decided to bring it to an end - at least for the time being. I am actively posting on three other websites and don't have the time to maintain this one as well. There is always a chance that I will return to blogging here. However, at least for the time being, I feel a need to put this on hold and focus on those other three sites. For those who still follow this blog, and wish to follow me elsewhere, the first of the three sites is my neighborhood blog - the Warrendale (Detroit) Blog . I also review books, movies, and television shows at BlogCritics.org . Last, but not least, I write travel related articles for Examiner.com . To everyone who has read this blog over the years, thank you!

According to local news reports, two kids were shot today in Detroit's Brightmoor neighborhood when an argument over how to make Kool-Aid turned violent. I swear, I'm not making this up. Two kids really and truly were shot today because of an argument over Kool-Aid. Two Shot in Detroit After Argument Over Kool-Aid: MyFoxDETROIT.com This, ladies and gentlemen, is why I write fiction. Reality is just too damn strange to be believed some times.

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

I frequently bookmark lengthy on-line articles and blog posts that seem interesting, but that I don't have time to read completely when I first find them. It may take awhile, but I always go back to them eventually. I stumbled upon Avi Steinberg's  article in The Paris Review  last February (the midst of income season). It dealt with the librarian as a recurring image in pornographic or sexually explicit literature. I'm glad that I bookmarked this one because it's really good. Check out "The Librarians Naughty Habit" by Avi Steinber in The Paris Review   here .

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.

Article first published as TV Review: Pan Am - The Genuine Article on Blogcritics. Episode 6 of this season’s Pan Am aired this past Sunday. It featured Maggie (played by Christina Ricci ) trying to hold onto her job at the airline during a flight to Rio de Janeiro and showed us why that job is so important to her. Meanwhile, Kate (played by Kelli Garner ) stayed in New York to handle a difficult mission for the CIA. This episode, quite frankly, reminded me of A Tale of Two Cities – and not just because of its frequent references to world literature. It really was the best of times and the worst. Maggie - before becoming a Pan Am stewardess The story arc that found Maggie in Rio was spectacular. It showed us much of Maggie’s back story without getting in the way of its main story. The interplay between Maggie and Laura (played by Margot Robbie ) reminded us why these are two of the most critically acclaimed young actresses in the business today. They took each...

There's a new movie coming our next year called The Raven . It's inspired by the life and writings of Edgar Allan Poe . I've only seen the trailer and some of the press materials for it, but this one looks like it has a lot of potential. In this gritty thriller, Edgar Allan Poe (played by John Cusack ) joins forces with a young Baltimore detective (played by Luke Evans ) to hunt down a mad serial killer who's using Poe's own works as the basis in a string of brutal murders. Directed by James McTeigue ( V for Vendetta , Ninja Assassin ), the film also stars Alice Eve ( Sex and the City 2 ), Brendan Gleeson ( In Bruges ) and Oliver Jackson-Cohen ( Faster ). When a mother and daughter are found brutally murdered in 19th century Baltimore, Detective Emmett Fields discovers that this crime resembles a fictional murder described in gory detail in the local newspaper-part of a collection of stories penned by struggling writer and social pariah Edgar Allan Poe...

Today is the 162nd anniversary of death of Edgar Allen Poe . In honor of this occasion, let's take a moment to remember the man who taught us how scary the English language really can be.

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.

Katie Wech , one of the writers behind Prison Break and Prom , wrote an essay in The Wall Street Journal about what makes a good script. WSJ is not normally the go-to source for screenwriting advice. However, this is an outstanding piece, in my humble opinion. If you're interested in writing for the movies and television, I recommend reading her article entitled Why a Good Script Is Like a Thong Bikini . It is available here .

I've completed a couple of screenplay and submitted one for competition at the Toronto International Film Festival . I suppose it was because of those two things that I got an email this morning asking if I had any advice for a newbie screenwriter. I have to admit that I still feel like a newbie because I haven't had a feature length script made into a movie yet. Regardless, I wanted to share my thoughts with anyone else who finds this post through the wonder of the interwebs. First, I recommend picking up a copy of Story  by Robert McGee . It's an amazing book that will tell an aspiring writer most of what he or she needs to know. Second, I recommend downloading a copy of Celtx, which is available at www.celtx.com . This program will help to format your screenplay and do a lot to help make the process go smoother. Celtx is not as good as Final Draft, which is by far the most popular writing software on the market. However, Final Draft is expensive and Celtx has a full ...

Ten years ago, half of the entries in my address book were attorneys. Most of the people that I hung out with in college were pre-law and that fact was obvious in my post-college address book. Five years ago, the number of attorneys was surpassed by the number of reporters in my address book. For a number of reasons, I found myself doing an inordinate amount of public relations work for various non-profits in Detroit. I took a close look at my address book again today. It would appear that my life has taken another important turn. There are now more architects in my address book than reporters and more reporters than attorneys. I've been doing a lot of work with architects over the past couple of years. Organizing Pecha Kucha Night  in Detroit and working with various historic preservation groups has introduced me to a multitude of architects. Some of the those architects have commissioned me to do work for them, which has led me to meet even more architects. All of this makes...

President Barack Obama delivered what I believe to be one of the best State of the Union addresses I have heard in years this evening - and I say that as someone who has been watching them since the days of Jimmy Carter. (Yes, I was a nerd as a kid.) First, as a Detroiter, it was great to see newly elected Rep. Hansen Clarke at the State of the Union instead of his predecessor, Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick , mother/instigator for disgraced former Detroit Mayor Kwame M. Kilpatrick . As for the speech itself, I loved the fact that President Obama referenced the one million private sector jobs created in 2010. It's great to remind everyone that some good is happening, just not as fast as anyone would like. I couldn't help but notice that when the President proposed a five year freeze in government spending hardly anyone applauded. That is a shame. As a small business owner , I loved the President's idea of simplifying the tax code and lowering the corporate tax rate. I was ...

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 killed two police officers today along with a car salesman, a Hollywood producer, and a kindergarten teacher. The accountant that I stabbed, however, will likely survive. Oh, and I also had a second Hollywood producer falsely imprisoned. And I torched a 200 year old historic landmark in northern Michigan. That's not a bad day, if you think about it. Translation for all of the above: I finished my latest re-write of Haunted House Memoirs  and submitted it.

I spent most of yesterday frantically putting together a grant application package for the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development. There was a deadline of 5 p.m. today to have the thing in. There's a school near me that's on the National Register of Historic Places. It's been vacant for several years and  a lot of folks in the neighborhood would like to see it transformed into a community center. This grant would've enabled us to do just that. Then, however, as I was frantically nearing the finish line, the folks at HUD decided at 3:55 p.m. yesterday to postpone their deadline. I now have another 30 days to get it turned in. I'm not sure, but I think this was simply HUD's way of saying, "Frank, quit stressing and go to the bar." And so I did.

It's midnight. I should be sleeping, but I can't. There are too many ideas running through my head at the moment. It's time for me to write.