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...

Stagnation, it happens, sometimes I put to much on my plate and then I have to take a few steps back and look at the whole scene, as if I were watching a film. I ask myself, "Where did I go wrong?" or "What do I need to change?" For a few weeks I've been writing about how I need to get more focused and back into my writing, unfortunately I'm still lagging on that front, but I'm ready for a change. If I want to progress I have to change. Since August, I've been talking about writing the feature length script of After the Headlines, which won't get written until I write the treatment and then an outline. After some failed attempts, I realize I have to do the first two in order to make it through a first draft. I'm not one of those blessed writers who can take it off the top of their head and crank out a script in a few weeks. I tend to self-edit as I write and that typically halts me in between the second and third act. The outline comes in ha...

I wish I could report that I've gotten some screenwriting done, unfornately that is not the case, but I'm back to writing my morning journal entries and I've been finally tackling the mess that is my office. Over the weekend, I finally organized my receipts. I had a pile on the floor that went back to the month of January. It was made up of gas, grocery stores, retail, dry cleaning, AAA, and a bunch of other places. I still have to finish organizing my receipts from the production of After the Headlines. At least I have them all in one place, the production binder. It's a start. One of the reasons I have haven't written down a word is because I've been busy looking for screenwriting contests for Finding Patience (I've done a mini revision) and film festivals for After the Headlines. Every couple of days I get an email blast from the folks at Withoutabox, a website that lists film festivals across the globe, http://www.withoutabox.com/ about potential festiv...

I'm going to take a break from writing about me, truth be told, this has been a weekend of more procrastination than progress. I shouldn't make excuses, but it is so hard to stay inside and write when the weather is so nice. There weren't be many more of these days in Connecticut. Truth be told, I have probably spent as much time watching TV late at night as I've spent enjoying the weather. Watching television is very easy for me to do, it becomes that much easier when I anticipate the return of one of my favorite shows. Earlier in the summer it was the second season of True Blood, but now with that getting ready to wrap up on September 13, 2009, I have switched gears. The labor day weekend may mark the end of summer, but for me, it also marks the beginning of season two of Sons of Anarchy (SOA). FX's promos and trailers have been my fix, keeping my level of anticipation up for most of the summer. Now, the moment I've been waiting for is almost here. Tomorrow ...

I'm not ready for summer to be over. I know we still have til' September 21, but with evenings in the 40s I have to accept the fact that the summer season is slowly slipping away. My body sure let me know this weekend. All the rain on Saturday, sent my allergies on attack and my body is currently battling a sinus affection. The fact that I'm also fasting makes it a little tougher, but I'm hanging in there. As we approach the fall, I'm reminded that there is a little over four months left to this year. I start to think about all the good and bad things that have taken place within the year. I'm in that reflective phase. So far I feel like I've made some good strides in 09, especially as a screenwriter. I finished After the Headline (still working on packaging the film for cast & crew), achieved my first film festival win at the 2009 Action on Film (AOF) International Film Festival, attended a Script Writer's Review Sponsored by Nickelodeon, graduated...

I can't believe summer is halfway over, even though its been 90 degrees most days this week, I still feel like Connecticut hasn't had much of a summer. The weather this summer has been a wash, luckily my life is not. Some really good things have happened to me and I consider myself blessed. A couple of weeks ago, I had a screening for After the Headlines at Western Connecticut State University. That was a major accomplishment for me. Right now, I'm submitting the film to some festivals. To date, I think I've submitted to about seven. I will probably add one or two more by the fall. I have no idea if I will get in, but I'm crossing my fingers. In my mind it's a potential opportunity that is worth a shot. For a few of the festivals, I've submitted in the student category. I've gotten a few confirmations that the film has been received. Now the waiting game begins, but it will be months before I now. I'm trying not to focus on that, instead I need to g...