Join us Thursday, April 17
for a Free Public Reading
of my Graduate Thesis
NIKI SWEET TALK MOVES
7 p.m.
UNH-Manchester
400 Commercial Street
3rd Floor Auditorium
Read by
Students, Staff, & Profs

Life after Graduation…People are sweet, wanting to know what I’m up to now that I’m free from the harried packet schedule of grad school. So here’s a rundown:

Job Applications are OUT: I collected my last reference letter over graduation weekend, returned home and sent out applications to EVERY commutable university and private high school position in the state (all beginning in the Fall of 2008)—even when the job was somewhat of a stretch for my credentials.

Shorts are IN: Am working on two short screenplays in anticipation of possible 2008 shoots. One is the long anticipated PROVIDER/NEXT IN LINE (The “Niki” short, as Director Mark Constance, DGA AD, and I refer to it) and the other is an all new Nathan Hale project with DGA Director Adam Jones who, last I knew, was hanging around 66th and 3rd in NYC.

Short plays are IN, too: I am writing to contest specifications for a ten-minute coffee-house setting with 2 to 4 actors. I’ll have it read next weekend at playwrights group where, as I understand it, three or more members ALSO have written plays for the contest. Yey team! I’m also trying a Hale-Jones experiment in the coffee house…can’t wait to see if it perks.

The Adjunct is IN the building: and in the classroom as of NEXT week. I’m scrambling to prepare my two classes. I’ll be teaching Image & Sound, filling in for a professor on sabbatical, so I am stressing out as I try to sort through all the material. (I do have the first five quizzes typed up and in to be copied, and I’ve sketched out the first two classes already….) And I’m teaching Media Writing for the second time ever; a few changes to the virgin syllabus from last semester, plus the AP Stylebook is newly updated, which changed seven of my ten quizzes. Ouch.

The Individual Adjunct is also IN: I’m excited to be working with a gifted writer in an Independent Study arrangement as he pens a feature-length script. I’ll be dusting off PLOWING UP A SNAKE, an adaptation of the Merle Drown novel by the same name, as I revise along with my student and exchange ten pages of script with him each week. And I’ve also begun advising on two internships—one student is at High Point Communications this semester, while the other is interning at WMUR TV. Fun!

The Son is MOVED: and onto semester number two. He has a cell phone this semester…and if he doesn’t answer my every call, he soon won’t have a cell phone this semester (consider that a warning, kiddo!). He has TWO entries in this year’s Minimalist Exhibit at the NH Institute of Art. One, in particular, is fabulous…and I’m hoping to add it to my own collection when the sale begins on the 1/17. KA-CHING!

The Daughter is pondering: whether to remain at her current high school or transfer to another. We’ll all make a decision in another two weeks. It’s rough going back and forth in the meantime. And this week she faces midterms, but she heads into them well-positioned. All A’s and B’s. She’s incredibly hard working, as also evidenced by her work schedule at the ski resort in town. Cool!

Another contest popped up this week: a flash fiction around the theme “beneath the bed.” I had just been to the dentist for a filling, an event that meant nightmares for me beforehand (I am soooo dramatic!). Guess what was under my bed in the story? We’ll see if the contest organizers think my idea has any teeth….

And I’ve been pondering an “Are we there yet?” writing prompt for Symphony Space’s latest Selected Shorts competition. I penned an essay that I enjoy, but it’s not the short story they’re looking for. I still have time, however. Who knows if it’ll come to me.

And of course I’ve been polishing NIKI SWEET TALK MOVES and am ready to move the latest draft out to my producer once the Writer’s Strike lifts. Here’s hoping that negotiations happen SOON.

In the meantime, I’m casting for the reading of NIKI SWEET TALK MOVES, to be held at UNH-M on April 17th at 7 p.m. Need to get to the character breakdowns this week and make a few calls to folks who have expressed an interest.

I’m also moving UP: to a first-floor in-home office! It’s exciting…but too much WORK. Oy. I’m hoping to be settled by the time classes start at UNH.

So that’s it. Nothing but the same old, same old, without the packet schedule. Except that a friend of mine and I ARE adhering to the packet exchange schedule in an effort to remain focused as writers. Gotta stick to that Mosley time, after all. In our G-1 semester, visiting novelist Walter Mosley advised us that if we are to succeed as writers, we must set aside at least two hours a day to devote to our craft. Preferably the same two hours each day, uninterrupted. So please refrain from contacting me between 4 and 6 a.m. Thank you!

And thanks for stopping by. Cheers!

(Photos: From the top - after uploading graduation pictures, I noticed the late afternoon sunshine casting cool shadows and making everyday objects look cool. An animated me reads behind the podium at graduation weekend. A couple more from my impromptu afternoon shooting--leftover candy canes and sun behind a stained glass star that my mom made. Finally, a pic of one of my daughter's window cling arts that she made.)

I've graduated!!!Even the ocean celebrates.

Congratulations to all of my classmates who walked and talked Sunday!

The trudge is over....

And yet it's just beginning.

Good luck 2008 graduates!

Thanks to all of you who have followed my blog all these semesters. An update as to what is next will soon follow....

Peace,
Dana

(Photo above features rocks off the coast of Cliff Island, Casco Bay, Maine, taken by my hubby; the sketch is one of my son's early drawings, one that did not make the cut of his art school portfolio, but which has always been one of my favorites.)

Happy Holidays!And all the best in the new year. Cheers!

Look outside...What? Snow. It's the great white north of New Hampshire...and there's snow. Lots of it. (Remember the McKenzie Brother's rendition of the Twelve Days of Christmas where their true loves brought them lots of lovely stuff...and a beer? You can check out the lyrics here. Have fun!)

This photo's actually from last year; this year's photos are still sitting in the camera. (Oh well!) I just learned that the two companions to this picture will appear in the next issue of the Pitkin Review. I'll post the link as soon as it's ready. You're welcome....

For those of you who have been keeping tabs on my progress through Goddard, it's official: I will graduate on January 6th. Yesterday I faxed my diploma form that lists my really long writer's name, which is how I'd like the official document to read. (Hey, I earned the right to be listed as Dana Biscotti Myskowski; right?)

So what have I been doing in all my "free time" since Packet Five? I edited my screenplay again, of course. And I've been prepping to step in and teach the gen ed course Image & Sound next semester for a professor on sabbatical. I've had to dig back to my undergraduate days and even into high school days as I recall all the material. I know the students and I will have fun with the course, but I'm nervous I won't be able to prep enough in time....

And I'm finishing up this semester with my Media Writing and Intro to Screenwriting students. I have awesome students! Always do. UNH-M has the best, hardest working, most giving, supportive students I've ever met; it is a pleasure and a privilege to work with everyone there. (Hi there, Media Writing students who are visiting my site as part of this week's homework assignment! I really do mean every word I just wrote. Really!)

I'm also working with a director on a short that is coming together great. Fast, too. And I'll be working with another director soon so we can put the finishing touches on a script that I wrote for him a few years ago. I'm also getting ready if the call comes in to write for a TV show that I've been attached to for the past three years; it looks like this may be it: the time that it is picked up by a production company. It's a fabulous storyline with great characters, but I can't tell you more than that. Yet. Sorry.

I'm still working on my short scripts that together comprise my full-length stage play JOINT ACCOUNTS. It's something I began working on at Goddard and knew I'd still be writing and editing long after graduation. One of those shorts, Safety Deposit Boxes, is being performed this weekend at the New Hampshire Technical Institute (information in my blog entry below).

Plus I've started combing through my screenplay pages looking for the perfect ten-minute excerpt to read at graduation weekend. And I've thought about starting to pull together my graduation speech. Goddard: where every grad is the valedictorian. (Cool, huh?)

Alright, back to my work. Blogging is too much fun to even make my to do list.

Thanks for stopping by. Cheers!

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes...In case anyone is actually out there and planning on traveling to the campus of NH Technical Institute next weekend for the evening (or afternoon) of short plays, the times on the Friday/Saturday evening performances have changed from a previous post. They are now 7:30 PM. Here's the corrected text:

"An Evening of Short Plays" CONCORD, NH--New Hampshire Technical Institute Drama Club Presents eight short plays by local playwrights. Sweeney Auditorium. Friday/Saturday Dec. 7 & 8, 7:30 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 9, 4 p.m. Admission by donation. Included among the works is "Safety Deposit Boxes" by Dana Biscotti Myskowski.

I hope to attend both the Friday evening and Sunday afternoon performances. Hope to see you there!

Cheers,
Dana

(No animal was harmed in the above picture. No, really....)

Stairway to locked doors...A nice day today, prompting us to hike the path to the Fire Tower. A good view between the naked trees. Too bad the tower was closed, which led to this silly photo....

Closed. Cut off. Halted.

I'm trying not to focus on the writer's strike, which has cut off my access to my producer. I have edited my creative thesis screenplay, NIKI SWEET TALK MOVES, since sending a former version to her, but the strike has meant that I can't send her the revisions. And I'm only an associate member of the Guild. It's painful...wondering what might be and if my opportunity will dry up should this strike continue too long.

But the Guild is heading back to the table tomorrow for talks. So here's hoping everyone will be willing to work together.

Are you up for an evening of live entertainment? If so, I have a short play being presented among the works at NH Technical Institute (next to the Planetarium) in Concord, NH in two weeks:

"An Evening of Short Plays" CONCORD, NH--New Hampshire Technical Institute Drama Club Presents eight short plays by local playwrights. Sweeney Auditorium. Friday/Saturday Dec. 7 & 8, 7 p.m., Sunday, Dec. 9, 4 p.m. Admission by donation. Included among the works is "Safety Deposit Boxes" by Dana Biscotti Myskowski.

I'm hoping to catch the Friday and Sunday performances; would love to see you there!

Cheers,
Dana