Writing is not for the faint of heart.  It takes grit, determination and as writer William Goldman aptly put it “crazy” to see your way through the rejection and conflicting advice.  And not to mention the crushing doubts.   But every once in a blue moon…a bit of good news comes your way.

I’ve just completed the 4th re-write of my screenplay LET IT SHINE which recently placed in the TOP 25 via the Creative Screenwriting Family Category.  Here’s the list:

25 Burgher Street by Jill Parker
Adventures of Sally the Ladybug by Joseph Cataline
Apkallu Kids by Sandra Fernandez-Achenbach
Caught Between Two Worlds by Carlos Perez
Christmas Village Junction by David Hill
Claus by Justin Strout
Comfort and Joy by Ian Patrick Williams
Decked by Brent Hartinger
Gingerbread Ice by Debbie Danielpour
It’s All You by Tom Seidman
Let It Shine by Romeo Ciolfi
Mary’s Christmas by Diane Schmitz
Overtime by Tom McLaughlin
Primos by Scott Lopez and Jesus Jauregui
Princess Layla by David Simpson
Santa In Paradise by Tom Morgan
Seven Thousand Islands by Gary White
Single Ms. Kringle by Terence Brody
Talk is Cheap by Michelle Palmer
The Christmas Ballet of Lohmanville by John Broker
The Live Nativity by Guy Thompson
Thirty Days Till Christmas by Mary Barrett and Michael Fedele
True Story of the Perfect 36 by Veronica Tabares
Truffled by Dayle Dodds
Under ‘S’ for Sucker by Peggy Hanna

And this is the email all semi-finalists received:  We set out to find stellar voices in order to build a slate of talented writers underrepresented in Hollywood today, and WOW, you all delivered. The sheer amount of talent and unique perspectives on display here is insane.

Nice!  Let’s hope we can keep it shining.   Ten Genre Winners will be announced on Nov 1.  Stay tuned.  Writing is subjective.  What one person likes, another does not.   I’ve had a boat load of rejections over LET IT SHINE these past few months.  I never got passed the first round of several contests/festivals (Page International Screenwriting Awards, Canadian International Faith & Family Film Festival, Big Break Screenwriting Contest).   I expected to place and so it was pretty disappointing to find out I did not.  But you live and learn and develop  a hard skin.   You pick yourself up.  You move on.  This is why I set out to re-write the current draft.  And no doubt, yet another re-write awaits.

Here’s me standing outside the Guelph Little Theatre, where this past July, my play AFTER ALEX  was performed at The Ward One Acts.   I forgot to post it.  Fun times!

Speaking of theatre and the subject of crazy, I am about to embark on the next phase of my re-write of ANIMAL about mental illness, which I completed this past September.  The long-handed written draft sits on my desktop staring at me.  This truly is the “fun” part of writing for me as I get to type it all out and in the process, re-write some more.  ANIMAL has been a labor of love (and agony)…a lot of sadness is wrapped up in this play and I’m looking forward to sharing this brand new version to the public.

And on that note, I leave you with a quote from screenwriter/playwright Kenneth Lonergan (Academy Award Winning writer for Manchester by the Sea), who has a lot to say about writing and  the subject of sadness: