NIKI SWEET TALK MOVES again…She’s off. My 119-page Creative Thesis Screenplay. To my Graduate Advisor and to my Second Reader. Also to a production company by request.

An enormous THANK YOU to all my volunteer readers!!! You know I couldn't have done it without your help. Also to my family and friends for putting up with me these past few weeks.... Thanks, too, to all of you who sent e-mails congratulating me yesterday for reaching the finish line, and to those of you who sent me notes such as *inhale, exhale, repeat from *. Who knows where I'd be now without such wise advice!

And the wait begins.

I’ve been spending every spare moment writing and rewriting. So now what will I do with all of my free time?

Grade papers. Update my bibliography. Maybe add two more texts to my Annotated Bibliography. Search for a third adjunct class to teach at some nearby college next spring. (UNH only allows adjuncts to teach up to two classes per semester; I had no idea…all this time I thought I was just being lazy only teaching two classes while in grad school.)

And clean. If you’ve been to my house recently you’re probably thinking there’s no way she can possibly accomplish that goal. If you live with me, you’re wondering which furniture is going to be moved first.

And, naturally, I have more writing to do. I am still at work on JOINT ACCOUNTS, my collection of one-act plays and monologues that can each stand alone or be performed together by a cast of four on a bare stage. I’ve been writing it as an extra creative graduate project, obtaining feedback when I can.

In fact, my latest piece to be reviewed by my advisor—SAFETY DEPOSIT BOXES—will be performed in December at the New Hampshire Technical Institute in Concord, NH. More info, soon….

Speaking of which, NIKI SWEET TALK MOVES will also enjoy a staged reading at the University of New Hampshire’s Manchester campus in the Spring 2008 semester. More info posted as it becomes available.

And I have an adaptation of Merle Drown’s PLOWING UP A SNAKE that is awaiting a rewrite. I have the ideas and have been just waiting for the extra couple weeks to dive into that project and get it back out to the few interested production companies.

As for my Goddard Career, I have only one more packet to go. That’s presuming both my advisor and my second reader think my Creative Thesis is ready.

And what is this draft of my screenplay about, you might wonder?

NIKI SWEET TALK MOVES tells the story of Wyn Baker, a selfish 30-something photojournalist who needs promise of a financial award in order to help her people, the Inuit of Nunavut, Canada. In her extraordinary travels Wyn learns how to live and love as she races against time and the elements to expose a greedy and deadly oil exec bent on grabbing as much land as possible as the company expands in pace with the rapidly retreating ice.

The unique title plays off the rough phonetic pronunciation of Nikisuittuq [niki-sweet-TOK], which is Inuktitut for never moves and the North Star. It is also the ultimate Inuksuk, which is a fun tie-in for me since Inuksuit (plural for Inuksuk) play such an integral part in my chilly—but not quite chilly enough—northern tale.

As always: thanks for stopping by. Oh, and: go Sox!!!

Cheers,
Dana

PHOTOS ABOVE: An Inuksuk built and photographed by my husband while we vacationed at Cliff Island, Maine this summer; a leaf imprint on my dirty front porch (I'm actually guilty of recording the photographic evidence...); and my hubby captured a pic of my license plate, which was my birthday present to myself two years ago.