I Won!

I won a Mother's Day writing contest on thebabyboomerdiva.com. No not 1st place, I received 4th. The winning is special, but not as special as the judges reading my words and liking the way I put them together. It makes me feel good. No, I take that back-I feel great.

The prize doesn't matter (okay it does). What does is being told that what you do and how you do it touches someone else in such a way that they want to recognize you for it. Especially when they are NOT related to you in anyway!

My mom and dad get teary-eyed and give me a hug. My significant other (you've heard of him, my own personal knight in shining armor) can say "wow". The children I gave birth too can say something akin to "I didn't know you could write like this" and mean it in a sincerely complimentary way.

But when wonderful people, such as those of you who are reading this column now, take the time to let me know that this is a job well done-Well! That's when my heart and hear just soar!

When someone ask-so what did you win? I honestly have to go back to the website and re-read my prize! I just become so overwhelmed by the recognition I forget that there's actual "loot" involved. This time the essay and maybe a picture will be included in Bev Mahone's next ebook! What could possibly be more exciting, except someone offering to publish a real book of my own?????

My son-the handsome, tattooed, soon to be a UCI graduate was more practical, he wanted to use my talents to edit what is to be his last undergraduate term paper. My pleasure, I also happen to be terrific with a red marker.

My co-workers think I'm hilarious. "Carine-you get 4th place out of about 170 entrants and you don't care beyond that? Why not?"

I suppose it's a legitimate query. My daughter just shook her head-"Mom, you're so good at writing-quit the day job and go for it" Obviously she is my adventurous one.

The answer to the above: When I write, I put my all into the words and they are what matter. Whether it's an article about "The Importance of Early Intervention in Rheumatoid Arthritis", a restaurant review, an article on baking or a column here on "What's Cooking"-it's part of who I am.

To be recognized for the worth of your passion is the prize, the rest is some mighty nice extras.

Tips That Will Help You Have The Best Resume

A resume is something that advertises you in front of your future boss; think it as a tool that will enhance your qualities and professional appearance. It is very important to know how to create and use that good tool, what mistakes to avoid when creating one and how to make a good impression.

Think about it as a business card, if it's nice and catchy it will attract the client but if it's not the client will throw it away; the same thing goes with your resume. You need to add some originality if you want to get noticed.

Here are a few tips that will help you have a clean and easy to read resume.
When writing about your work experience don't bore the people who will read the resume with a lot of work history; try to insert only the important jobs if they are a lot and limit yourself to a maximum of 15 years work history.

Try to be organized when you are writing your technical knowledge and qualifications; if you write them in an organized way, they will be easy to read and people will spend more time understanding what they mean than figuring out where the sentence ends. You must have noticed that you usually find a text with no paragraphs very hard to read and you even skip on reading it. Think what would happen if people would skip reading your technical knowledge. Also, place it at the beginning of the resume because people get bored easily and when they reach the end their attention is not very high.

Another important thing, probably the most important is proofreading. Never give a resume which has grammar and spelling errors; that resume will not be taken into account.

Don't bother using colored paper or colored writing; one of the reasons is because it looks pretty bad if you want to have a serious resume and another reason is the fact that it will probably be scanned and the pretty resume will never end on the right desk. Use white paper, black writing and keep it as simple as you can; it will be easy to read and will not end up in the garbage.

Try to be short and don't write the story of your life in there; make sure the important professional facts are present and eliminate all the irrelevant words because they will bore the reader. Keep the resume short at most 3 pages for a person who has 20 years of experience and don't try to make a big resume if you only worked for 2 years because people are not stupid, they will probably notice that you tried to fill a lot of space with nonsense.

When creating your resume try to make it as professional as you can, you will look serious and ambitious. Spend a lot of time to proofread it and make sure you checked all the details, including the way it looks. If it's a clean, professional and simple resume it will tell a lot about you and how organized you are.

188 Step Hero's Journey (Monomyth)- Screenwriting, Story Structure Secrets 120507

FORWARD

The 188 stage Hero's Journey (Monomyth) is the template upon which the vast majority of successful stories and Hollywood blockbusters are based upon. In fact, ALL of the hundreds of Hollywood movies we have deconstructed (see URL below) are based on this 188+ stage template.

Understanding this template is a priority for story or screenwriters. This is the template you must master if you are to succeed in the craft.

[The terminology is most often metaphoric and applies to all successful stories and screenplays, from The Godfather (1972) to Brokeback Mountain (2006) to Annie Hall (1977) to Lord of the Rings (2003) to Drugstore Cowboy (1989) to Thelma and Louise (1991) to Apocaplyse Now (1979)].

THERE IS ONLY ONE STORY

THE 188 STAGE HERO'S JOURNEY:

a) Attempts to tap into unconscious expectations the audience has regarding what a story is and how it should be told.

b) Gives the writer more structural elements than simply three or four acts, plot points, mid point and so on.

c) Gives you a tangible process for building and releasing dissonance (establishing and achieving catharses, of which there are usually four).

d) Tells you what to write. For example, at a certain stage of the story, the focus should be on the Call to Adventure and the micro elements within.

ABRIDGED TIPS, EXCERPTS AND EXAMPLES:

(simply go to http://www.heros-journey.info/ for full details)

*****New Self*****

Every Hero transforms from an Ordinary Self to a New Self. It is the New Self that has the capacity to conquer challenges that the Old Self could not. Progression of the New Self is demonstrated at the stage of the Seizing of the Sword. In Straw Dogs (1971), David walks home and decides to fire the boys. Also, Amy is smoking now.

*****Rescue from Without*****

The Rescue from Without is a stage of the journey where "the world comes calling," that is, the hero is in retreat and needs to be pulled back [by the world]. However, as the Hero is ultimately battling his own demons (using a Freudian analysis, all stories can be reduced to a battle between the id and superego), it is not unusual for the hero to trigger the pull back himself. In Straw Dogs (1971), David calls the pub where Tom et al wait.

*****Freedom to Live*****

Part of the Freedom to Live is the Hero's New Behaviour. In Brokeback Mountain (2005), junior is getting married and Ennis will go to the wedding.

Creating a Believable Telepathic Scenario for a Science-Fiction Novel

Authors of science fiction novels often dream up some extremely interesting scenarios and yet in doing this they must be bathed in some type of scientific theory in order to be believable to the reader. In fact many readers reading science fiction do so as a way to learn various way out theories that normal scientific communities cannot discuss.

In fact many science-fiction novelist are drawn toward science-fiction in order to put forth ideas and concepts or theories that they have that are outside the row of acceptable scientific discussion. Not long ago a couple of gentlemen were talking about science-fiction and telepathy. One of them said to the other;

"Here is how I perceive it could work in a Sci Fi novel."

You think about someone you have met, but only someone who you have looked into their eyes and made a light connection with in the past. You have traded light instructions and now share photon information. But it may not be possible to share thoughts with any individual mind you have not made a connection with or your genetic displacement is too far distant.

Indeed this could be possible and even if it is not possible now science could figure out a way to make that possible in the future. And perhaps this might be the easiest way to cell phone your friends and family without use of electronic device sometime in the far-off future. Wouldn't that be spectacular and maybe that's why scientific novelists love to probe into the unknown and come up with way out theories for their storylines.