In the Mix with Aaliyah Miller

Hello all, Outside of my blog, here's my latest writing assignment published online. Scroll about half-way down to find my write-up. http://by143w.bay143.mail.live.com/mail/mail.aspx?wa=wsignin1.0&n=1671660707

Is it just me, or are the nights in Connecticut, and for the Northeast in general, a little cooler than usual. On Monday Morning, I opted to go for a jog in my neighborhood rather than to the gym and boy did I feel the fall chill. The temperature was around 55 degrees Fahrenheit. Yikes. I'm so not ready for winter. I know I still have to make it through fall, but something in my gut tells me that if we have an Indian summer, it will be short-lived. Regardless of what the weather brings I will be a busy bee this fall. At work, I'm gearing up for one of the agency's signature events, the 2008 Foster Parent Conference. After that, I'll be working on media publicity for National Adoption Month, which also might mean plans for a local event on National Adoption Day (November 22, 2008). Outside of work, I'm in rehearsals for Anton in Show Business (opens October 10 at the Oddfellows Playhouse, Middletown, Connecticut for the first weekend and then moves to the Little The...

On Saturday, I helped out the Dark Embrace Film team with the production of The Short Con , written and directed by Elvis Diaz, a resident of New London. This weekend marked the second week of production for the cast and crew. Initially, I was suppose to show-up Friday night, but Lawrence, founder and one of the producers of The Short Con , forgot to send me the location information. It worked out in the end, I was physically spent and needed to go home to recouperate. I haven't gotten much sleep this week, I've had rehearsals for a play, a staged reading (which I had to learn an African accent for, I was a refugee from Darfur), and had to set-up a pre-production meeting for the film I plan to shoot in November - all this plus my nine to five. It was a lot. After the staged reading, I called Lawrence to remind him that he forgot to send me the information and that I couldn't make it to the shoot. I told him that I could be there most of the day on Saturday and he was cool w...

I have some good news to share. The American Gem Literary Festival and Wright Brothers have announced their finalists and my short script Out of the Box (co-written with Lawrence King) has finally made the cut. The literary festival accepted submissions in the following categories: short screenplay, short story, story treatment, and logline. I'm a finalist in the short screenplay and logline categories. Last week I was feeling down because I had two rejections from film festivals for my feature, Finding Patience . I realize and accept that rejection is an unfortunate part of the writing process. However, this announcement puts steam back into my engine.I wrote the first draft of this script four years ago and have submitted to this competition in the past, but I have only made it to either the quarter or semi-finalist round. When I received coverage on the script I always reworked it and tried to address my script's flaws. To date, I have done at least 20 revisions. Practice d...

Many blog entries back, I mentioned some of my favorite shows. There are shows that I really enjoy viewing like Weeds , Dexter, Prison Break , Law and Order , October Road (I hope it comes back in the fall), and Ugly Betty . These shows make my top ten. But then there are shows that really knock my socks off, because they go beyond only having entertainment value, these shows seek to look at the past, may offer a perspective on a key figure in history or challenge viewers by addressing social issues that plague society . I'm talking about shows like The Tudors, Mad Men , and my personal favorite The Wire . Last Wednesday, I had the opportunity to get up-close and personal with the creator, a couple of it's writers, and a select group of actors from the critically acclaimed HBO series. About two weeks ago I received an email from Film in the City, they send me a bi-weekly e-newsletter with film reviews, entertainment job listings, and film screening or networking events in New...