It is new year's eve and I will be here playing Scrabble. Almost pathetic, but I don't mind at all.

Now that I am teaching myself to write screenplays, I understand why movies never completely follow the books they are based upon. To begin with, a book that may be hundreds of pages has to be condensed to 90-120 pages, the standard length of screenplays. On top of that, none of the text fills a line completely! Most of the lines of text are only about 2.5 inches long. To follow the format and tell the significant part of the story, a lot has to be eliminated.

I am practicing by writing a screenplay based on my own book. 95% of the book takes place in one location- Will and Janie's house. That is both good and bad. It is good in the sense that it requires few scene changes, which is often one of the most expensive elements of movie production, but it is also bad in that it offers little action, one of the most critical elements of a good movie. The only movie I can think of off the top of my head that is filmed mostly in one location is "The Breakfast Club". We'll see how this turns out! (I prefer learning this to learning InDesign. Passive resistance...)

I spent the day painting. I used watercolor and I had two goals: (1.) Try out the watercolor crayons my son sent me for Christmas, and (2.) paint a watercolor that is not pastel and washed out looking. I worked too late to photograph it today, so I will post it tomorrow.

Happy New Year!!!