ScriptFrenzy: More fun for weirdos like me

I signed up for a new challenge this morning. It sounded like so much fun that I couldn't resist.

From the people who bring us National Novel Writing Month (aka "NaNoWriMo") - the international challenge to write a novel in one month, there is ScriptFrenzy - the international challenge to write a 100-page screenplay in the month of April. Yes, it begins in 12 days, and I'm positively ecstatic!

These challenges are perfect opportunities to create something that you never thought you could before. What I love about it is that in one month, it's OVER. I can try it out and decide for myself if this is was fun enough to try "for real," or if it was just an interesting challenge and I now have a cheesy script that will likely never see a director or producer's desk.

If you think you might be a writer, that you might have a book or a screenplay in you, then this is the opportunity to just try it out. For those who are interested in the math, 100 pages in 30 days is three-and-a-third pages a day. That's pretty small; we all probably write and read enough email messages in a day to amount to at least 3.33 pages.

But imagine that you'd be writing what you'd want to write about: maybe it's that ridiculous idea you had for a soap opera; or maybe it's the reason you conjured up on that couple in the booth across from you, who are exchanging such angry looks and one-word answers; or maybe it's what you speculate happens between those two on the drive home after dinner. The possibilities are endless! And I say, the more ridiculous, the better.

The non-objective is: After 30 days, it doesn't have to be good. It doesn't even have to be done! The only one you're really "competing" with is yourself. Don't do it if it's going to make you sick with personal pressure. Don't do it if you're going to beat yourself up over the next month for every day that you don't write 3 pages.

But if you were ever curious if you had it in you, if you have ever wondered what it would be like to write anything on a schedule (That's me!), if you ever wanted to see how creative a person labeled "non-creative" could really get, then this might be something worth trying out. After all, it's only ONE MONTH! (And it's FREE!)

If you're looking for a writing buddy for April's ScriptFrenzy, then look up my ScriptFrenzy profile, and we can encourage each other to have fun for the next 30 days! Oh yeah, and there'll be a script of some sort on May 1st.

Jeans that Fit

Every woman (and, I suspect, many a man, if they'd be willing to admit it) has trouble finding a pair of jeans that really fit well. Sometimes, you don't even realize that you have been wearing awful jeans until you've tried a pair that feels abso-tively fantastic.

This is my case, and I had been very loyal to The Gap's jeans for much of my adult life. Ever since my little brother worked there in college and put me in a pair of 10A Boot Cuts, that's the only jean I even cared to wear.

Then The Gap changed their styles. Boot Cut was gone and was eventually replaced by your choice of Curvy, Long and Lean, Low-Rise Boot Cut, and Mid-Rise Boot Cut. I quit The Gap and hadn't returned to them years - until today.

This was no whimsy. I had more urgent reasons: the 10A Boot Cuts I got 5 years ago were no longer responding positively to my doctoring and nursing. Despite the only-occasional use, delicate washings, and hang-dryings, these antiques of mine were becoming less and less appropriate to wear outside the house. Patches that were thread-bare were quickly becoming "ventilation."

I tried to find other jeans this week. Cheaper jeans. Non-Gap jeans. Nothing looked right or felt right.

And when I finally walked into The Gap again, I put on a pair of 10A Long and Leans, and the love returned - the love of myself! I literally looked into the mirror at myself and sighed. Then of course, I laughed that I should be so relieved by a pair of jeans. But when we try to make a pair of jeans "work" when they really don't, we tend to either blame our bodies or blame the jeans, and I felt so good that I didn't have to do that anymore. So I threw down my bag of pennies and made the investment in two pair of jeans - and myself.

Jeans that fit - indeed, clothes that fit - should remind us how beautiful we are. And if the clothes remind me of something any less positive, it' worth saving my money for the clothes that make it easier for me to remember how blessed I am by this body.

This is not an endorsement of The Gap or any of their products.
However, this is an endorsement of YOU and your feeling beautiful! Do what feels right and do what feels beautiful to you!