Powers & Glory - Responses to "Powers & Glory - More Help Needed!" - Wed 13 Mar 2024
So, I wrote this blog posting way back on Thu 12 Aug 2021--over TWO AND HALF YEARS AGO!--and just discovered that I never posted it. Vat an eediot I am. Especially as 12 people gave some time to reading some excerpts of Powers & Glory and answering 5 questions based on these excerpts.
Back on Sun 25 Jun 2021, I posted Powers & Glory- More Help Needed!. No one replied, so I made about 20 individualized requests for help via Facebook Messenger, and 12 people replied--not a bad ROI; thanks to Jason Evans for the suggestion that I do so.
I think I replied to everyone who took the time to answer my 5 questions--if I didn't reply, I sincerely apologize!
I'd like to thank everyone who did help me out with this (in order that s/he replied): Jason Evans, Brent Baldwin, ZJ Czupor, Rea Abaniel, Brad Guymon, Davi Armanino, Jeff Smith, Quincy J Allen, Anthony Durante, Mindy McIntyre, Becky Dowty, and Kerry Gleason. (I've done what I could to google y'all for your webpages--if you want me to change your webpage, use Contact James to tell me what you'd like your webpage to be and I'll update it. For those of you without webpages, I'd be happy to help you build one--just Contact James.)
If you mouse-over the column headings, the question, as I asked it, will be displayed.
Powers' Secret - Data Summary (12 responses)
Power's SecretWhat do you think Powers' secret is?
Be ExplicitGiven what you think Powers' secret is, do you think I should "spell it out" in William's and Power's discussion?
ConfusingHaving read the two excerpts, do you think they're just plain confusing, as both reviewers claim?
Multiple ReadingsYou can read a script as many times as you want--did you have to read the excerpts more than once to answer Question 1?
Watching There's reading a script and watching the episode--if you can imagine what it would be like to watch this episode, do you think you'd be able answer Question 1 in one viewing or do you think you'd be confused?
He's an angel. =
His sexuality. =
He's supernatural in some way. =
I've no idea. =
yes =
no =
yes =
no =
yes =
no =
yes =
no =
Given these responses:
Exactly half of you were right in concluding that Powers is an angel.
A majority of you thought I needn't be explicit about Powers' secret.
By a 2 to 1 margin, y'all didn't find the excerpts confusing.
Only 3 of y'all felt it necessary to the read the excerpts more than once to figure out what was going on.
I'm little bothered that it was 50/50 that y'all thought you'd be confused if you just watched the episode, but...
I feel pretty good about the script as currently written.
Note: As I write above, I wrote this posting over 2.5 years ago and the time, I was on draft 10 of Powers & Glory; I am currently working on draft 25! So, while it was true that I felt pretty good about the script, there's still room to make it better.
Writing Time: Originally--no idea, probably around 0:45 hours
Writing Time: Additional Text--0:18 hours
Writing Time: PHP and JavaScript to populate the table--1:43 hours
Writing Time: Total--~3:00 hours
Catastrophe Strikes - Sun 03 Mar 2024
So, this is not the blog posting I was going to put up today, but catastrophe struck the greenhouse I built on the south side of the house three years ago sometime between 8:00p MST Thu 29 Feb 2024 and yesterday 2:00p MST Sat 2 Mar 2024. It's hard to understand how this happened as the National Weather Service says we haven't had winds above 30 miles per hour in the last 72 hours, and the greenhouse has withstood much higher velocity winds than that in the past.
But, in any case, take a look at the state of the greenhouse now:
1 / 6: In the garden area from the east
2 / 6: In the garden area from the southwest
3 / 6: In the backyard from the north
4 / 6: In the backyard from the northeast looking up
5 / 6: In the backyard from the northeast looking down
There are 6 pictures--use the < and > to cycle through them.
So sorry - you put a lot of work into that.
Peter Norris - 7:03 am Sun 03 Mar 2024
Yes, and I guess I'll putting a lot more work into it. :-(
As of today, Sun 3 Mar 2024, my weather app tells me it should be sunny and relatively warm, in the mid-40's ºF, this Sat 9 Mar 2024--maybe I'll be able to get it fixed then.
The only positive news about this is that the roof is intact--not a single tear.
P. James Norris - 7:03 am Sun 03 Mar 2024
Yes, and I guess I'll putting a lot more work into it. :-(
As of today, Sun 3 Mar 2024, my weather app tells me it should be sunny and relatively warm, in the mid-40's ºF, this Sat 9 Mar 2024--maybe I'll be able to get it fixed then.
The only positive news about this is that the roof is intact--not a single tear.
P. James Norris - 8:03 am Sun 03 Mar 2024
Cloudy and 64 here. May rain. Time to move?
Peter Norris - 10:03 am Thu 07 Mar 2024
Dad,
No, as you used to say of Colorado, "Tis a privilege to live here in Idaho." Besides, I've got a greenhouse to rebuild and once I've done that, I'll, want a at least a year or two of using it make the time spent rebuilding it seem worth it. :-)
Have a care,
P. James Norris
p. James Norris - 11:03 am Thu 07 Mar 2024
2024 Humanitas New Voices Fellowship - THANK YOU! - Tue 27 Feb 2024
So, seven people answered my call for notes regarding my 2024 Humanitas New Voices Fellowship submission materials--I submitted them along with Project Ωmega script to Humanitas last night around 8:00p MST.
And to those seven people:
Z Ali
Debra Lewis
Cathy Norris
Junell Norris
Peter Norris
Melissa Norton
Jeff Smith
I would like to say:
In one way or another, every one of you helped--some by just giving me reassurance and some by suggesting changes to one or more of the application materials. For those of you did the latter, let me assure you that I made some changes based on notes each and every one of you gave me!
But to make my thanks concrete, I'd like to donate $5.00 to the charity of each of your choices--click here to send me an email to tell me you'd like me to make a donation in your name and don't forget to let me know what the charity is!
And if you have 20 - 30 minutes and would like to read Project Ωmega, click here--it only occurred to me just now that I should have offered this "opportunity" in my request for notes on the submission materials; vat an eediot I am!
Please note: the above "here" email links above only work if you're using an email client like Apple's Mail, MS Outlook, or Thunderbird; if you use web-based email readers like gmail or yahoo, not so much. Sorry!
In any case, THANK YOU VERY MUCH for your time and notes!
And if you're interested, Humanitas will make announcements regarding placement:
Semifinalists - Mon 26 Jun 2024
Finalists - Tue 23 Jul 2024
(As this is just before my birthday, making it into the Finals would be a wonderful birthday present!)
Fellows - Mon 5 Aug 2024
I'll be sure to keep y'all apprised to Project Ωmega's progress in the competition.
Writing Time: 0:27 hours (0:10 hours researching how to include line-breaks in "here" mailto links.)
What is a gif? Could not find definition in your Blog.
Peter Norris - 9:02 am Tue 27 Feb 2024
Dad,
Thanks for the question.
"gif" stands for "Graphics Interchange Format" and it is a file format that allows for animated images like the "THANK YOU" graphic in this blog posting.
What is the charity to which you'd like me to donate $5.00?
Have a care,
P. James Norris
P. James Norris - 11:02 am Tue 27 Feb 2024
None
Peter Norris - 12:02 pm Tue 27 Feb 2024
Humanitas - One Last, Desperate Plea - Sun 25 Feb 2024
There will be, by the time I finish typing out this Blog post, less than 24 hours before I will have needed to have received anyone's notes on my Humanitas application materials.
So, I'm making one last, desperate plea for your notes if you haven't already posted them.
I have only three questions, and answering them, even with reading the application materials (a one-page Biography, a two-page resume, and a one-page Artist's Statement):
Do you have comments about my Bio?
I worry that Humanitas will think I'm bragging and pressuring them to award Project Ωmega a placement in their contest by listing its past awards in my Resume--what do you think?
Am I too honest or come across as too presumptuous or too anything in my Artist Statement?
ought not take more than 15 - 30 minutes of your time.
So, please, PLEASE, PUH-LEASE, click here and give me the benefit or your wisdom and insight, won't you please?
Writing Time: 0:14 hours
What do YOU do when you can't seem to write? - Sun 25 Feb 2024
mouse over to enlarge
I actually wrote this posting on Fri 26 Jan 2024, but, for some reason, never got around to posting it. So, wherever I mention a date in the past, add four weeks to it. And Junell and I are now on the last episode of season 4 of For All Mankind, the last season on air to date.
Junell and I just started watching For All Mankind a few weeks ago--yeah, yeah, I know; you would think I would have been all over this show from day one--and we just started season 3.
Doing so got me to thinking that I really ought to get serious about writing my sci-fi pilot Enceladus.
So, I did.
And accomplished almost nothing--I had 18 script pages when I started, and a week later I had a whopping 21 . Even though I have a single-spaced four-page outline for the episode--if you'd like to read this outline so you'll know what I have to work from, email me and I'll send it to you. One might think that with such an outline in hand, writing the episode would have been like hitting water after falling out of a boat, but nooooooooo.
So, what did I do after a week of getting almost no writing done? I've posted regarding Enceladus twice, here and here, these posts might give some sort of hint. I try to stay with the project in some way, and in this case, I spent TWO WEEKS designing and 3D printing the "Athene Base" that will be on Enceladus.
To do this, I used an online 3D design utility, www.tinkercad.com, and below is a screencap of the base I designed (I added all of the text and arrows in Graphic Converter):
Click on image to toggle between dimensionless and dimensioned images. (If clicking on the image doesn't bring up the dimensions, keep reading and try clicking on the image after a minute or so--I don't why this happens but I've noticed that it does sometimes.)
And then I realized I needed a stand in which to display the Base, so back to www.tinkercad.com:
And then I 3D printed the Base and its Stand--I even bought some water-transferable decal material and printed a "SpaceY - Athene Base" decal--and wound up with something that looks like:
But first I printed the yellow ring and super-glued it to the turntable to keep my grubby paw out of the movie and in hopes of making the turntable turn a little more smoothly.
Then it occurred to me that I had seen rotatable 3D image online and did some searching and discovered the www.sketchfab.com site which would take the file I created in www.tinkercad.com and turn it into a zoomable and rotatable image:
Click on the image to load it. Click-and-drag image to rotate it. Use your mouse's scroll wheel to zoom in and out.
So, this is what I've been doing for the past two-three weeks because I couldn't seem to write to save my life three weeks ago.
But this three weeks of writing time I "lost" wasn't a complete loss--working on and printing the 3D model and writing this blog posting kept me focused Enceldadus. As result, I think I know why I couldn't get any writing done on it. And I'll post the reason as a reply to the first person--other than my father, who is the only person who regularly comments on my postings; sorry, Dad--who asks in a comment on this Blog posting.
I don't know that knowing this will help me continue writing the script itself, but it may help me rewrite the outline which will help me write the script.
And here I am, nearly forgetting to ask the question I wanted to ask of my writer friends who subscribe to my Blog:
What do you do when you just can't seem to write the piece you really need to be working on?
The thing to do when you can't write, is write. Anything. Your to do list. Describe an object in your house. Stream of consciousness writing is great for this as it encourage that flow you are looking for. If you have even a vague idea of what you want to say, just write it down, even if the writing is terrible. Allow yourself to write badly, say something stupid, but write. I'd encourage you to do this by hand, as writing by hand engages your brain in different ways than writing on a computer. Then go for a walk, refresh your mind and body, and then sit down an do it again. You don't remove a block, you erode it one word at a time.
Ronni Hunter - 6:02 am Sun 25 Feb 2024
Ronni,
Great advice--I remember reading somewhere about writing by hand is different brain-wise from typing; googling this, I find two articles of immediate interest:
which provides anecdotal evidence for the validity of your suggestion.
I don't write much by hand anymore--I don't know that I could write in cursive to save my life :-)--but next time I have writer's block, I'll definitely the pen, as opposed to the keyboard, a try.
In any case, thanks for the advice and for posting a comment. I've put a lot of work into my Blog, and it's a bummer that subscribers appear to be too busy to type out a quick comment like this.
And I think I know what the problem was if you'd be interested in knowing. (See how I'm subtly begging you to reply to my reply?)
Have a care,
P. James Norris
P. James Norris - 7:02 am Sun 25 Feb 2024
Of course I'm interested in knowing what the problem was! Creative people can learn so much from other people's experiences.
Ronni Hunter - 8:02 am Sun 25 Feb 2024
Of course I'm interested in knowing what the problem was! Creative people can learn so much from other people's experiences.
Ronni Hunter - 9:02 am Sun 25 Feb 2024
Ronni,
Let me wait a little while to see if other's reply and ask what I think the problem was before I announce it for all the world.
40 subscribers doesn't really constitute the or a world, does it?. In any case, having the ego I have, I claim the "world"! :-)
Have a care,
P. James Norris
P. James Norris - 10:02 am Sun 25 Feb 2024
I clear my head of all other thoughts and take a long walk alone. I brainstorm on my project and record on my phone everything that pops into my head. Then I go home and transcribe probably 60 small notes onto the computer. That helps me get going.
Linda LeBlanc - 10:02 am Sun 25 Feb 2024
James,
I do not get writer's block. Here's my secret.
First, there's a perspective I hold that NOT typing or writing words by hand does not mean NOT WRITING. As Yogi Berra would have said, writing is 90 percent putting words on a page and 50 percent mental. When I'm not typing, my stories are "incubating." This sub-conscious incubation is at least as important as the actual writing. In the past few months, I've awoken from a sound sleep with entire paragraphs and storylines playing in my brain. I get up and put them to paper.
A second "trick" I use is to always leave hanging threads. When I finish writing for the session, I write a sentence or two, or fragments of ideas, that will be my starting point for the next writing session. It always brings me back to the frame of mind I need to be in.
My third "trick" is definitely cheating. I always have more than one writing project in progress at any given time. When I hit a brick wall with one, I move to another. Before long, the brick wall disappears, the ideas have incubated and marinated and I can return to the first project.
This works for me, and I hope it is helpful to others.
So, I wrote this blog posting way back on Thu 12 Aug 2021--over TWO AND HALF YEARS AGO!--and just discovered that I never posted it. Vat an eediot I am. Especially as 12 people gave some time to reading some excerpts of 
So, this is not the blog posting I was going to put up today, but catastrophe struck the greenhouse I built on the south side of the house three years ago sometime between 8:00p MST Thu 29 Feb 2024 and yesterday 2:00p MST Sat 2 Mar 2024. It's hard to understand how this happened as the National Weather Service says we haven't had winds above 30 miles per hour in the last 72 hours, and the greenhouse has withstood much higher velocity winds than that in the past.
So, seven people answered my call for notes regarding my 
