PG=100
So I did a lot of art, but little on
the film.
In class today Hannah and I finished
the shot sheet and scheduling! (SO HAPPY)--- filming afterschool tomorrow.
I got a few notes on the song: the
ending is a bit too much. At least it is better to go over-board than leave
people begging for you to try harder.
So I deleted 15 of my 35 tracks and
I came up with this totally new AWESOME mix. (Sent it out the film group).
That at least took up like...30
minutes of my artsy fartsy slice of day time.
SO I planned on reading my Norton
BUT life got in the way----- and I saw my calendar and nearly wet my pants
because I realized:
SHIZ IT IS THE 15th!!!!
my book comes out May 31st, and the
edits are due on the 25th!!!!!
I am only on Chapter 19 of editing
out of my 38 chapter book! (for those who suck at math, I'm only half way
done).
SO after crying for 3 unnecessary
minutes: I started to edit.
I don't know why Blogger isn’t letting
me upload any screenshots--- but basically me and my editor have been doing
this process of color key coding a printed copy and a typed copy.
This is our cute little key:
*All
words/sentences highlighted in blue are sentences that I changed around to make
your meaning clearer. Almost anything highlighted in blue is merely a
suggestion of how I think something should be worded/a word I thought should be
changed. If you'd like to change the original sentence around by yourself (or
already have), or choose to keep it as it was, go right ahead. I merely changed
those things because they confused me as a reader.
*Anything underlined
and purple will have another underlined partner nearby, which will also be in
purple. These words are the same word that are too close together and can be
changed. It's up to you to change it to whatever you think would fit there.
*Anything underlined
and green with also have a green underlined buddy close by. These are words or
phrases that are either redundant or don't work together in a sentence. Choose
whichever of these words/phrases you'd like.
*Anything highlighted in pink is anything I think you can
take out, but I also edited for grammar in case you wanted to keep it in.
*Anything that I
thought needed a better transition into the next idea is in between two slashed
highlighted in orange. The two sentences that I think need to flow better are
in those slashes (not including the one transition I mentioned earlier)
So I just wanted to share a bit on
what I've been doing and what I shall be doing:
A little background on what I'm
talking about:
In November I entered a Novel
Writing Contest and I won first place! So they (create a space, Amazon and the
tri-state area of Barnes and Nobles) are publishing my book!
A little about the book: (I don't
have an official blurb yet, but here is my best shot at a short summary).
The book is based on the true and
sad event of the Aurora Colorado Batman Movie Shooting-- where 12 people were
killed by gunman James Holmes.
The book is "written" (we
follow the POV) of 8 year old, Tommy Jull who lost his sister in the shootings.
He deals with his grief by dressing up in the home-made batman costume his
sister made for him and refuses to take it off... This catches the eyes of the
media and he soon becomes a national figure of hope. He later convinces himself
that he IS batman, and runs away from home with his trusty side-kick USELESS:
THE BIG MEAN CAT to seek revenge on the man he believes is James Holmes.
(There actually was an article about
a man also named James Holmes who lives in the town next to Aurora: this is the
event my book is talking about). Of course, this is all "historical
Fiction" because it is inspired by true events.
I hope that when my book comes out I
can pay homage to those who died at the shootings and give hope to their
families and anyone who reads it.
Ideally, I will be giving 30% of my
profits to the victim's families--- but it is all still in the works.
Anyway: this is the first chapter of my book!!!
CHAPTER ONE:
No
one ever really liked Ms. Lufberry. I guess that's why no one really cared that
she died. She had been that old lady your mother made you say "hello"
to every Sunday at church. She’d never say hello back, of course. That would be
the nice thing to do, and if Ms. Lufberry was one thing, it certainly wasn't
nice. She had no one, except her old cat “Useless.” And no, I’m not being mean.
That was his name, and that’s what he was. He sat around and left fur
everywhere. He would bite at everyone, even Ms. Lufberry. I don’t blame the old
cat though; if I had fangs, I would bite her like a vampire too. But mean cats and vampires wouldn’t be the
death of her. It was the movies.
Movies
are…awesome. My sister and I would go see them every Friday night at The Photoplay
(that being the name of our local theater). We have one movie theater in our
town. It’s a drive-in movie theater, and you have to sit out in a car, like you
would have if you were born in the 50’s, with the radio clipped onto the
window, a snack shack on the side of the road. That’s all anyone can afford out
here in Flosh, Colorado.
Flosh.
I know you’re probably not familiar with the town. Not many people are. On road
maps we kind of look like a print smudge, but if you get out your handy-dandy
microscope you’ll see that there is a town called Flosh in Colorado. We are
next to Fort Collins. Everyone here is content with our little hum-drum life.
Except my sister that is. It was like we were in Brigadoon, you know that movie
with Gene Kelly and Cyd Charrise? You probably don’t. We’re like the town that
doesn’t exist. We only know what we can know, being locked out from the real
world. And when I say the real world, I mean the modern world. In a way, I’d
say we’re like the Amish. We don’t use technology much. Not that we’re opposed
to it. We just don’t really understand it, like it’s all in some foreign
language. Flosh is a town of simple people. We don’t aspire to be much, and we
don’t really leave town at all. We stay here forever, like we’re trapped. Some
people enjoy our small town; most people don’t notice that there is life
outside of Flosh.
My
sister was not one of those people. She was one of those people who had eyes as
wide as the moon. She said she was going to be a silver screen actress. I was told
the term isn’t used anymore, but it was her favorite thing to say. Every time
she’d meet someone knew she would say. “Hi, my name’s Cynthia Jull and I’m an
up-and-coming silver screen actress.” She looked like an actress. She would
always watch what she ate, brushed her hair ten hundred times a day (I’d listen
through the wall in my bedroom and hear her counting how many brushstrokes each
night). She never had bad skin, not a single blemish. But best of all…she had
this great smile. She would never stop smiling. Even when she fought with mom
and dad, she’d smile a bit. Maybe she couldn’t help herself, but her face would
tense into a smile. I thought it was lovely.
She
didn’t belong here, with the rest of us Flosh townies. She was novel. An idea
of its own. Flosh isn’t known for a lot of things, and “fresh and new” was a
word that would never be used to describe it. Cynthia was just different. I’m
not saying that different is bad, but Cynthia was too different. Not many
people liked that.
It’s
odd, but I always liked Cynthia, even if she was different. I think it was
because she was my older sister. I know, siblings shouldn’t like each other.
But it is a small world, especially here in Colorado. So we did everything
together. For some time, we even shared a bed. We usually agreed on most
things. Now that I come to think of it, we never fought. Okay, that’s a lie.
All people fight. So let me try this again: we rarely fought. I can recall
fighting once about who got to sit shotgun. I would always call it first, but
she would yell “Rosa Parks!” and run to the seat and refuse to move. We also
fought about who got to use the TV remote, even though we both liked the same
shows.
I
liked our town. She did not. She made it very clear that “hick towns like Flosh
are not where aspiring actresses should be!” She was right. She was always
right, except for when she was wrong. And when she was wrong, she’d twist it
until she was right again. We’d always see movies together, every Friday night.
I already said that, I know. But it’s important.
We’d
go to see a movie every Friday night since we got the theatre here five years
ago. Except the last Friday night.
Batman
was huge here in Flosh. Everywhere you’d go, it was like our town symbol or
something. T-shirts, headbands, scarves, coffee mugs. One year, as a prank, a
few senior kids put a huge banner over our town border sign. Instead of
reading “Welcome to Flosh,” it read “Welcome to Gotham City.” My sister loved
Batman. I love Batman, but not nearly as much as my sister did. So when our
town got word that “The Dark Knight
Rises” was coming to a theatre only two towns away, everyone jumped at the
chance to buy tickets. My sister was first in line. She always smiled, but
every time she talked about Batman her smile just lit up like a million
fireflies in her mouth.
Of
course, with everyone and their grandmother going to see the movie, there was a
limited supply of tickets. My sister stayed out standing in line for days until
she got her ticket for the midnight premiere. She got a ticket. One singular
ticket. It almost broke my heart, not being able to see the movie with her. We
bonded over Batman. It was our thing. It was our town’s thing. Batman brought
us all together. But she was the one with the gleam in her eye and the single
ticket.
Now
this is where Ms. Lufberry comes in (don’t think that I forgot now). My sister
was a charmer, as all actresses are. If she could get away with cheating on her
math final, she could certainty figure out a way to find someone to drive her
into the town showing “The Dark Knight
Rises” Mom and Dad were working double shifts so they couldn’t take her.
She couldn’t drive just yet. She was in that stage between driver’s education
and practicing in the school parking lot. So naturally she needed a ride. She
posted a help wanted ad on the church door saying “DRIVER NEEDED. TRIP THERE
AND BACK TO THE BATMAN MOVIE. GAS MONEY AND ALL OTHER EXPENSES CONVERED.”
Ms.
Lufberry was not religious, but she always was at church. I don’t know what
drew her into helping my sister. Maybe she finally went senile and her old cold
heart had begun to melt. Maybe it was the fact that she needed the money. But most likely, she just wanted to get out
of town for the evening. Not a lot of people know this, but Ms. Lufberry was
quite the Batman fan, but not nearly at the caliber that my sister was. My
sister was a fanatic. A mega fan. The one that waits in line, dressed up as
Catwoman--the Michelle Phifer version, of course.
I
remember her walking around town that Thursday night, refusing to take off her
costume. “I’m getting into character!” I told her that when she comes back she
has to tell me every last detail, and she pinky promised that we’d go see it
together before it came out on DVD.
My
sister and Ms. Lufberry left Thursday night, and set out for two towns over to
see the movie. They waited on line for hours with tons of other super fans,
just waiting like a clock to strike until the theatre doors opened.
Then
12:20 came. I can picture the doors opening, and everyone rushing in to get a
seat. Knowing my sister, she probably sat dead center in the front, just to be
sure not to miss out on any of the action. 12:24 were coming attractions, 12:28
were the dancing frogs that warned everyone against chewing popcorn too loudly
and using cell phones during the movie. My sister shut hers off before the
movie ever started. She was just that kind of person. Ms. Lufberry sat next to
her. I don’t know if Ms. Lufberry ever smiled, but I can picture them just
beaming as the movie began at 12:29.
12:30
the back door opened and bullets flying everywhere as a man shot into the
audience.
I
didn’t get the news until Friday mourning when my sister never came home with
Ms. Lufberry.
The
police told us that she and Ms. Lufberry were one of the first to be shot at,
due to them being in the front row. The funeral is today, but I feel like it
started hours ago. Only six people from our town were able to get tickets for
that showing. Four of them were severely injured, but the only two that died
from Flosh were Ms. Lufberry and my sister.
I
didn’t take the news very well. No one takes news like that well. My sister, my
best friend, is dead. It’s something I shouldn’t have to deal with until I’m at
least 30. I wasn’t sad. I wasn’t
anything I should have been.
I was angry.
I
was angry because I know, I just know, that if I had been there with my sister
nothing would have happened. I know it deep down in my gut that if I was there
to protect her, she would have come home that Friday evening and she would have
told me about how wonderful the movie was, and how Ms. Lufberry’s car smelled
of old lady. She would’ve told me that Anne Hathaway made a great Catwoman and
reminded me just how much I looked like Christian Bale, even though I look
nothing like him.
She
would tell me that it was the best night of her life, and that Aurora Colorado
was exciting and vibrant. She would get out her Michelle Phifer Cat Woman
Jumpsuit and she would help me into my home-made Batman outfit, the original
Adam West version, and we would go outside at night and shine our Bat signal
flashlights we got for free at Old Navy and wave them around in the sky like
the two idiots we were.
I would still have a sister.
It
wasn’t fair that she was taken just because she liked the Batman films. It
wasn’t fair and everyone knew it.
I
forgot everything in that moment as I tried to remember. Remember how to speak,
remember how to breathe. My mind went numb and my hands were limp as they
covered my face and held onto my scream as I yelled into my fingerprints. All I
could think about, all I kept asking myself now was the same question, over and
over again.
“Batman
is supposed to be good. Batman is supposed to save people. Why didn’t he save
my sister…. Why didn’t he save anyone…?”
