script frenzy 2010

So here it is April 30th, the last day for 100 pages in 30 days, and I've got all of 68 pages done. So, I didn't get my stage play completed in 30 days, but I've got most of it done. And I'll finish it so that, hopefully, I'll be able to have it performed this summer, or at least the first act of the play. I'm planning to have it as a puppet show. It's for kids, about St. Francis and the Wolf of Gubbio. Now that I'm not chained to the guidelines of Script Frenzy, I'm free to make the acts and scenes the way I want them. This challenge has been quite a learning experience. I never would have tried to write a play if I hadn't signed up for this. Very interesting and educational!

nanowrimo & script frenzy

It's driving me crazy! My laptop has decided not to recognize the memory stick that I have my stage play on. I've saved some of it on the hard drive, but not all. In fact, I've written Act I scenes 1, 2 & 3 and Act II scenes 1 & 2. All I can retrieve is Act 1 scene 1 and Act II scene 2. Grrr! I have to check the memory stick on the desktop and see if I can get more there. Now. There. I've vented, so now I'll get on with it. Maybe. I hope.

Sunday School lesson

Today I was teaching a Sunday School lesson about what one of my seminary profs called "The Picnic on the Beach". It's John 21:1-19, where the disciples have been fishing all night without success, and Jesus appears and sends them back to try again. This time they come back with a net full of fish (153 fish; apparently there's some significance to the number but I don't know what it is). And the result is the disciples and Jesus have a nice breakfast together. They didn't recognize Jesus at first, which is also remarkable since this is his third appearance to them since his crucifixion. The children were most impressed with the photos of the location of this beach picnic, the Sea of Galilee (aka Lake Tiberius or Lake Gennereset). The red on the left side of the picture is my jacket. We were at a restaurant at the Sea of Galilee having lunch (fish, of course) on February 8, 2010, my son's birthday. We phoned him from there, and he was appropriately impressed!

nanowrimo & script frenzy

In case you've been looking for more about that trip, you'll have to wait a bit longer. This month (April) is similar to November. Why? Because November is NANOWRIM, aka National Novel Writing Month, when competitors have to write a 50,000 novel in 30 days. In April, the same organization has a competition called Script Frenzy, when competitors have to write a 100 page screenplay or stage play or something similar. I've elected to write a stage play about St. Francis of Assisi. I'm calling it The Wolf and the Saint because the story is told by the Wolf of Gubbio. It is now April 15th, and I've written only about 30 pages, so I'm behind time. So, most if not all of my writing right now is the play. I'll let you know how it goes. I "won" the NANOWRIMO, and I hope to "win" Script Frenzy.

a minaret

This minaret was right outside my window. The calls to prayer were through a loudspeaker, and early in the morning it was better than an alarm clock. The nun in the Austrian Hospice where we were staying said that the early morning call to worship was good advice. She was able to translate it from the Arabic to mean: It is better to rise early and pray than to stay in bed and sleep.

day 1 in the Holy Land

My husband and I are on the Mount of Olives, with Jerusalem behind us. Notice the Dome of the Rock (golden dome) between us. The weather was cold and windy, but despite the blue sky we had a downpour just a few hours later, followed by a brief hailstorm. Later in the week, though, we could leave our winter coats behind.

travel report 3

Still continuing the "day" we travelled from Vancouver to Tel Aviv: Our taxi driver didn't take us directly to the hospice. He hummed and hawed about it being in the Old City, and how taxis couldn't go in. I knew they could get to the hospice and I said so, and he mumbled something about only certain times, certain gates, etc. I said I had heard that it might be difficult (or impossible) on the Jewish sabbath, Friday evening to Saturday evening. February 3rd was Wednesday. Nevertheless, the driver took us from the Damascus Gate to the Lion Gate by way of the Mount of Olives. But as we couldn't get into the hospice just yet, we didn't complain. We enjoyed the view from the sacred place, looking across the Kedron Valley to the Golden Gate. Here began the first of our three hundred plus photos we took on this journey--I plan to get the best of them on this blog as soon as possible. First I have to learn how to do that.
Eventually, though, the driver did take us to the Austrian Hospice, 37 Via Dolorosa, in Old Jerusalem. Our first mistake? When he said, "Pay me tomorrow. I'll take you wherever you want to go. How about Bethlehem?" we didn't object. Of course we wanted to go to Bethlehem. We were too exhausted to argue and too fuzzy-minded to think that this might not be the best way to arrange our visit to Bethlehem. Now, not having paid him for the trip from the Damascus Gate to our accommodation, we were obliged to him. Not a good thing!