May 29 2012

A project update, and other life things.

I’ve noticed I tend to only update this blog about once a month, which frankly is not nearly enough! Especially when there are tons of exciting and interesting things going on, and in this case, there are.

First of all, we WRAPPED on Earth to Evening Star, my four-part short film project. We shot for three weekends over the course of a couple months, squeezing in time when people were available and working around things like Life and Being Busy. It was tiring, nerve-wracking, and incredibly exciting. We were doing new things, working with new equipment and in new places every day of the shoot. I’ve been planning a few different posts about the location scouting and shooting process of the project as it’s pretty much a no-budget, totally guerrilla, begged-borrowed-stolen-and-occasionally-kicked-out-of-places kind of a shoot and maybe that info might be useful or at the very least entertaining to a person or two out there!

Then again, maybe not.

I’ve been going through and organizing the footage – which is quite a process as there was no slate or script supe or, er, very many useful notes – and this week I think my editor and I will have a dailies screening and get cracking on the cut!

I’ve also been working on getting the website up, getting all the set photos together, and making everything ready.

It’s all just very exciting.

I have also quietly begun work on a novel again. I’ve gone through so many ideas and false starts and abandoned drafts of various things – but I guess that’s the way writing goes. It’s basically a new version of the novel I started in August of last year. The framework is totally different now – new main character, new setting, but the magic, the world and the story are the same. The previous draft I started had so many things I really loved about it and I put a lot of hard work into shaping the world. I felt like it was really starting to come together, too. But when I started writing it, it quickly became obvious that it wasn’t working. It was really disappointing because I had started to feel like this was the one. I had to put it down and accept that it just wasn’t ready yet. Maybe I wasn’t a good enough writer yet. I wanted to give this story everything it deserved and really make it great, and I wasn’t ready to do that.

Then, I was mulling over a few random thoughts about things I wanted to write about, and a new opening came into my mind. I saw the main character immediately. I saw the first thing she was going to do. And then it clicked – this was the perfect framework for my old story. I started writing it a few nights ago and it already feels a million times better. So here’s hoping it continues!

This is going to sound incredibly silly, but one thing that keeps me motivated is Neil Gaiman. Yes, it is totally fangirling. Yes, I am hardly in the minority. But every time I don’t want to sit down and write, or I get lazy, or I procrastinate, I think about all the time and energy Neil Gaiman has put into getting where he is today and I think – if I want to do that I better start now.

Also, it probably helps that he has a beautiful custom-built writing gazebo in the middle of the woods. Does that not sound like possibly the most wonderful thing ever?

In case you are wondering, yes, it is the most wonderful thing ever.

Until then, however, I will soldier on with my normal desk in my normal bedroom. I am actually quite proud of my desk. I’ve been slowly making it feel like the best possible creative space while still keeping it as clutter-free as possible. Here is a picture of my desk:

That’s probably one of the best things about writing – having a great desk. In college I decided to forego having a desk in favor of having a drum set I got at Goodwill for twenty-five bucks. That is a decision I do not regret in the least.

But when I first moved out to LA, I was on the hunt for an awesome desk. I made several fruitless Craigslist attempts – the desks I wanted were either much too large, much too expensive, or both. So I sucked it up and went to Ikea, land of the (sometimes) inexpensive and (problematic) self-assembly furniture, and bought a desk. It has turned out to be a GREAT desk – has survived two moves, it’s the perfect size, and it’s got a little bit of storage.

That’s my procrastinating-inducing advice: have a great desk. Then once you have it, sit down and actually do some writing at it. I’m gonna try that myself now.

Apr 6 2012

New Projects, Nervousness, and Making a Movie on Venus


I’m making a funny little project and I just wanted to let the world, my friends, the interwebs, and any lurking trolls know! It’s sort of a short film, and sort of a web series, and sort of neither.

It’s a four-part project, and that’s the best way I know to describe it. A story told in four parts. It’s something I had the first inklings of last year, and this year have been trying to fit it in around all the things that life throws at you that get in the way.

It’s called Earth to Evening Star. You can check out a little teaser graphic here. It’s the story of a friendship formed over great distances. It’s about what you leave behind, what you don’t, and who you are when no one is watching.

Also half of it takes place on Venus which is gonna be awesome.

This weekend we begin shooting.

I’ll be totally honest: I haven’t made any films since I’ve moved out to LA. I’ve done a lot of writing that frankly hasn’t amounted to much, mostly because the majority of it remains unfinished. I’ve worked on a TON of amazing projects with different people, both for work and outside of work, but I haven’t actually made anything myself.

And I am excited to change that.

This project has become bigger than I imagined, but a lot of the reason I’m making it is to get my feet wet again. Jump back into that world. Too long out of it and your muscles get cranky, achey, whiney when you start thinking of things less on the page and more right in front of your eyes, your hands, tangible, out there in the world.

Here is a little inspiration board I made to get myself in the mindset:

I’ll be updating more about the project as time goes on – stay tuned….

Mar 28 2012

Things I Like and Dislike. Lately.

I was going to write a post about visiting San Francisco and how awesome it was (minus the rain), but my brain is buzzing with various ideas, confusions and general mishaps right now, so rather than form a coherent update, I’ll simply brain dump. As though my brain was a dump truck and I pressed the ‘dump’ button.

    Things I Like (Lately):

The Guild

Besides the fact that the success story of this series and of Felicia Day is something all writers/directors/internet peeps/creative types/basically anyone should study and completely lust after, this show is funny as hell and awesomely geeky and I am obsessed with it. Not only it, but the story behind it, the way it came about, all of it.

Also, this picture is amazing.

Ready Player One

You might notice a theme here. If a ‘theme’ applies to two things. This book is so amazing and fun and exciting and adventurous and geeky and um it’s the best. Just read it.

Where the Wild Things Are – the video game

Now with three items this is a real gosh darn theme! I’ve barely started playing this game but it reminds me a little bit of Ico – same kinda dreamy feel, same animal-boy protagonist (well, horns, furry suit, whatever), and you get to follow a Wild Thing around a stormy island while climbing and crashing through things and fighting fireflies. It’s awesome.

    Things I Don’t Like (Always)

Being Sick

Yet another edition of the never-ending plague (third one this year) set me back greatly in terms of projects as well as ruined every plan I had in the last week and a half. Major dislike.

Also, doctors of any kind.

I guess that is the thing I dislike the most lately. Generally more liking than dis.

Feb 29 2012

New short story!

Time for an update….I’ve just posted a new short story called “The Ticking of Wings”. You can read it here! It’s about owls and clockwork and the boy who is bound to both of them. I’ve struggled for awhile to find a good home for this piece and I finally decided to just put it up here for the world to see, so I hope you like it.

I’ve got several really exciting things on the horizon that I can’t wait to share, including a few film projects, so once I get them more in order I’ll be sure and update again soon! Hope 2012 is going well for everyone so far.

Jan 20 2012

Photoshoot and Interview with The Lumineers!

Last week, I got a pretty uniquely cool opportunity to interview an amazing band called The Lumineers. They are a folk band from Denver whose sound can be compared to The Avett Brothers, The Low Anthem, Mumford and Sons, and others, but really, none of those comparisons do them justice. They infuse their folk with their own unique, boot-stomping spin that’s energetic and free-flowing and story-driven. To put it lightly, they’re really something special.

Since they were in LA, they stopped by the Soapbox stage to perform a few songs and do an interview. It turned into a pretty big shoot for being spur of the moment – there were even representatives from The Grammy Awards there! My interview came after the Lumineers performed a couple songs, including a great cover of a classic song for the Grammys which I won’t reveal here in case it is an exclusive thing, and were interviewed for grammy.com.

For me, imagine being the person who comes after someone who interviews musicians for a living – a little nervewracking! Luckily the band is incredibly nice, smart, and well-spoken. Their insights were really wonderful and they were a ton of fun to be around. The interview I did will likely end up being part of their press kit eventually so I’m not sure where it might end up, but I’ll keep an eye out!

For now, here’s some more photos of the night. In addition to me shooting stills, we had three cameras filming each performance. There’s enough footage to make at least three music videos or more!

Their self-titled album comes out in March. Make sure to pick it up! For now, listen to “Stubborn Love” here and check them out when they go out on tour this year!

Jan 2 2012

New website launch!

Well, here it is! The new website in all its shiny glory. After months of trying to design and code something myself, I simply couldn’t get the freedom of the layout and look without losing a lot of functionality. I like this WordPress theme a lot – gives me freedom to add content easily and still looks pleasing to the eye! In my opinion anyway.

I’ve stopped updating the “blog” section of the site. Having a blog was fun, but honestly, after awhile, I really found myself having nothing much to say. If you have to force what you’re writing, I think it’s safe to say people will have to force themselves to read it! And that didn’t seem very fair. I’ll use this space as a continual update/semi-blog, so I can post occasionally when I have something I want to talk about or I make changes to the site, instead of trying to come up with things to talk about regularly. After awhile I felt a bit like I was just repeating myself and eventually I figured anything I really wanted to explore, I’d rather do in my journal. Handwritten, flipping pages, sometimes kinda messy – not the most exciting thing for people to read :)

Writing in my journal more often – that’s a New Year’s resolution this year. I have loads more, but many are pretty much the same as or similar to last year’s, which I guess speaks to how much I meant to do last year! I’m happy with what I accomplished last year, but I think this year is going to be even better.

In the meantime, I’ve added some areas of the site so people can finally see some examples of my work, mostly my writing. I added three short stories above and will continue adding more as time goes on and I finish them. Feel free to email or comment and tell me what you think! Many more projects are forthcoming – keep checking back for updates!