But what does it mean?

Today I learned I have one of the Top 10 percent most viewed profiles on LinkedIn for 2012*. I applied to a plethora of jobs in 2012, so perhaps that's why. I was also quite sick in 2012, so perhaps my medical team was looking me up. Or perhaps it's just a marketing gimmick at LinkedIn. Though it took me a while to realize it today, my money's on that last item.

And though I'm not yet full-time employed (in the healthcare coverage and 401K sense of the word) 2013 does find me teaching three classes as an adjunct professor at both UNH and SNHU; producing a seven-minute video for the Concord Boys and Girls Club; gearing up to head this year's New Hampshire Film Festival's Screenplay Competition, and being asked to co-write a feature screenplay with a former fellow student at UCLA. Three of those items are actually paid positions too.

The timing of this LinkedIn spread-the-word marketing campaign couldn't be better from a professorial point of view. This Thursday in my media writing class at UNH we'll be addressing the fine art of self promotion as we examine LinkedIn, as well as the craft of resume writing and of penning the perfect cover letter.

This also answers the ages-new conundrum: if a profile is viewed in LinkedIn, does anyone notice? Apparently the technicians at LinkedIn notice since they're obviously tracking and analyzing these things, and then sharing them with 20 million of us to share with our colleagues.

*Along with 20 million other LinkedIn users.... *sigh*

Micro- & Mini-Micro Fiction

"Snow Tire" by dana

This week my media writing students will be writing micro and Twitter fiction stories.

They'll be working from the Snippets from Suburbia website, which is a catalogue of my sister-in-law Allison's incredible photography, like this photo from the holidays. They will choose one of her photos and use it to inspire a short story of 500 or fewer words.

Next they'll surf over to One Forty Fiction and read and critique a handful of works. Then they'll try their own hand at writing literature in 140 characters. (Extra credit will be awarded to any student who has a piece published by the awesome editor there!)

All this as they expand from their new blogs added just last week, launching tomorrow into the world of Twitter, and adding social media dashboard management at Hootsuite to their repertoire.

Blogging, how I've missed you.

I have been away for an entire year. I've been sick for an entire year too, and am currently struggling to pull myself back from the flu. 

Cliff Island, Maine. Heaven on Earth. (Photo by Jan.)

But enough excuses.

Next week I will once again teach Media Writing at the University of New Hampshire in Manchester. As part of that class, my students will be expected to maintain a blog throughout the semester. So I best return to the practice myself. 

This is just one in a number of blogs to come. Am looking forward to a new alliance with Allison Swift Zercher, one of the most exciting photographers on this continent. And, in the interest of full disclosure, my newly acquired sister-in-law (the wedding to my baby brother was October last). My students will visit her Snippets from Suburbia page, choose a photograph and then write a micro-fiction short story inspired by the photo. It is an exercise I so look forward to every time I teach this course. 

Back to my final tweaks of the course syllabus.... Ciao!

Green Chair Reader launches!

It's been a dream of mine to publish a journal devoted to the art of the short screenplay since I first saw my short script PLAYING HOUSE in print in the Goddard College Pitkin Review. 


And now it's here!

The Header for "Green Chair Reader," designed by Adam Karolian.

Thanks to my Managing Editor Patrick Witherell for kicking this project into gear.

And to our published screenwriters: Duncan Putney, Paul Rogalus, Kevin O'Malley, Gwen Wilson & Codie Harrision.

Also to our gifted artist Adam Karolian for designing the header and for contributing three of his pieces to serve as artwork for the scripts.

Hope you enjoy the issue!

Who will you spend the holidays with?

I've been sick lately. So sick the doctor's aren't yet sure what it is. (I have a CAT Scan this week and an internal scope to look forward to early in the New Year...to see if we can find out what's been going on.)

I'm not looking for sympathy, though.

What I am looking for is what's most important to me right now. And the answer, naturally, is: Friends & Family.

So for Christmas this year, I asked my husband for two things:

1) To fly me mumsy out from California to be with us for the holidays. (She arrives tomorrow!)

2) To rent an off-season ocean-front house on an island in Maine for New Year's Weekend. (We found one and we've already signed the lease!)

I don't want *stuff*...I can't take *stuff* with me whenever it is that I check out from this game called life. It's taken me many years to realize this (what a shame).

But I'm also not looking for your judgement.

What I am looking for from you is:

WHO are you looking forward to seeing this holiday season or in the New Year? And, yes, if you'd like to share, please feel free also to share who you will miss this holiday season. I'll go first.

I'm looking forward to spending the holidays with my husband, a man I've been married to for nearly a quarter of a century (next year!). A man I almost left earlier this year. Oh, how clumsy relationships--especially the long-term ones--can be.

And to being with my daughter and my son. And their boyfriend and girlfriend, respectively.

My mom. But you already knew that. She had her own surgery just a week ago today. And an MRI last Friday. Lots of stuff going on for her, but you don't see her whining in some blog post about it. :)

And my husband's family. Christmas Eve is my favorite holiday celebration of all. I've been honored to join my husband's family for these past 24 years. (I actually told my husband that if we did split up, he could expect to see me at Christmas Eve, cuz there is no way I would ever give THAT up!)

And my friends. Those who can make the NH Film & Television Holiday Gathering. Those who will be joining me on the island. And the few in between who I'm not too tired to visit with on weekends.

And I'll miss: my father. Who died ten years ago, the weekend of the September eleventh catastrophe. His death was unrelated to that event, but it did cause significant hardship in getting the family together to be by his bedside.

And my friend Kathy. Who today I realized left us about eight years ago. I mark her anniversary with my friends' wedding anniversary. Not because I'm morbid, but because her burial service was the reason I couldn't join my friends for their big day.

We all have sadness in our lives, eh? Guess that's what makes the gifts all the greater. It's never easy, though. This thing we call life. Together though, I'm fairly certain we can make it all worthwhile.

Happy holidays!

“To the Power of YOU!” wins its category at New Media Film Festival in San Francisco

“To the Power of YOU!” – the public service announcement (PSA) created for Big Sisters of Rhode Island in the inaugural 7DayPSA Competition hosted by FLICKERS – took top honors in the category Trailers (which also included other shorts) at the New Media Film Festival’s San Francisco screening on November 5, 2011.

The PSA, which has aired in the Rhode Island market since winning first place in last year’s inaugural 7DayPSA Competition and which was Emmy-nominated earlier this year, screened before a receptive crowd at the city’s historic Landmark Lumiere Theatre.

“It’s been the ‘little engine that could’ for us,” said Dana Biscotti Myskowski, producer and creative director of Green Chair Pictures, who entered the New Hampshire-based team Smoky Quartz Productions in the inaugural competition in January 2010.

“It was fun to hear the audience ohh and ahh when ‘Purple Girl’ appeared on the screen,” Biscotti Myskowski said, describing the moment when one of the youngest of the 40 actors dressed in a plush purple warm-up suit appears in a close-up shot about half way through the minute-long piece.

It took Biscotti Myskowski several seconds to process that her team’s PSA had been announced during the awards ceremony presided over by New Media Film Festival Founder and Director Susan Johnston. “I wasn’t surprised that our piece resonated with the judges, but I didn’t realize it was in juried competition,” Biscotti Myskowski said.

The PSA was conceptualized, written, produced, and edited in seven days, in the competition that pairs filmmakers with charitable organizations in regional and state contests. The National 7DayPSA Competition, conceived of by Rhode Island actor and Emmy-winning writer Duncan Putney, has been expanding each year to include more areas of the country.

In addition to its overall awards for best piece, the PSA has also been awarded three individual prizes, presented to some of the creative minds behind the short: Adam Jones was recognized as Best Director at the inaugural competition; Gary Anderson received the Best Cinematographer award; and Best Editor went to Marc Dole.

To find more information on this and additional projects, please visit the Green Chair Pictures website. 

Plowing Up A Snake...

What would YOU do if your husband was 

brutally murdered in a small town 

where everyone knew who did it 

but no one brought them to justice?

Stay tuned for more information on this feature film production.