THE STORY SPOT

Faithful readers, THE STORY SPOT wants to give you what you crave. What do you need in order to do your best work? Post your niggling questions, ruminations, and whatnots here. If you’re lurking, now is your chance to jump in.

A tip ‘o the hat to those who post their:

• writerly Amazon wishlists,
• indispensible resources,
• lucky writing charms,
• favorite mind-clearing distractions,
• little-known tips.

Today’s post turns the keys over to you. If you’d like an in-depth response from THE STORY SPOT crew, just ask and we’ll do our best to post an answer in upcoming weeks.

(Be sure to click through to the full post for comments!)

This morning was a beautiful reminder that writers and stories are absolutely everywhere. We spent the early part of this Friday at the Santa Monica Public Library’s Martin Luther King Jr. Auditorium at a seminar put on by the California State Board of Equalization. Scintillating as that sounds, guess who lurked there in the crowd.

Writers!

Writers of all sorts, in fact. Memoirists, creative non-fiction authors, journalers planning their first long-format project, screenwriters, and even documentary filmmaker Mialyn Hanna. Writing and editing can be lonely occupations at times and it’s such a lift to be reminded that stories are indeed everywhere, waiting to be told.

So hello to all of you who gathered today and who made a point of connecting. Come, join our little world of storytelling. Comment. Sign up. Or send a personal note. Whatever moves you, just keep writing!

Photo credit: Elena Rego on Flickr

Thanks to Landyn Parker of the Mad Screenwriter for mentioning us in their list of “useful resources for screenwriters.” More useful resources to reach everyone who needs them is always a good thing and this one seems to be talking to you, Canadian Screenwriter.

Check out the Mad Screenwriter for yourself.

Just for fun, here’s a vocabulary builder to chew upon. Weird Words from Michael Quinion’s fantastic World Wide Words. Today’s letter: ‘N’.

Namby-pamby; Nepenthes; Nescient; Nihilartikel; Nincompoop; Ninnyhammer; Nipperkin; Nostoc; Nubbing-cheat; Nugiperous; Nut-crack night; Nychthemeron.

Be a smarty pants. Sign up for the World Wide Words feed here.

In case you missed it, story consultant and Coverage, Ink founder Jim Cirile featured our post on throughlines in this week’s Coverage, Ink/Writers on the Storm Newsletter (7-23-08). Thanks Jim!

If you’re new to screenwriting or know someone who is and there’s a script burning a hole in their pocket, the Writers on the Storm 2008 Screenplay Competition’s deadline approacheth. Enter by Sunday, June 27th at midnight for your shot at $22,000 in total prizes, including a $10,000 cash grand prize. There’s more info at the WritersStorm.com site here.

Keep writing!