In the Mix with Aaliyah Miller

Last night, I had the privilege of attending the Silk City Flick Fest's opening night gala. I still have a sense of shock and feel honored that they accepted my short film, After the Headlines . Today, I read The Daily Screenwriter , by Michael David Jensen. The Daily Screenwriter is a daily motivational blog where Jensen offers insight on things writers can do or should be doing to step things up in there creative process. Today's daily reflection was, "Success Means Showing up." Considering I've been at a stand still on the writing front, I really needed to read that. My work starts with putting down words on a page or typing them on a screen. I can't expect to get very far if I'm not showing up with an attention to write. That is what I've been lacking lately. The same point was echoed to me by a producer I met last night. I won't put the producer on blast, but he is an industry veteran who has worked on classic films like The Stepford Wives (

I have some good news and I have some not so good news. I'll start with the good news first, After the Headlines (ATH)will be screened at the 2009 Silk City Flick Fest (October 8-11, 2009), www.silkcityflickfest.com , on Saturday, October 10, 2009 at Manchester Community College, 4:45 p.m., its first film festival. I would like to shout out all the folks who are hard at work to open the film festival this Thursday. Thanks for giving a Connecticut screenwriter and filmmaker a shot. Many thanks. Are you wondering what the bad news is? Maybe I shouldn't say bad, it's more like unfortunate. I will not be able to be at the screening this weekend. I'm going on a family vacation, which was booked long before I submitted the film to the festival. My plane ticket is nonrefundable, so the show must go on without me. I'm disappointed, but my hope is this will be the beginning for the film. I continue to submit to a plethora a film festivals, but alas, there are no guarante