Reader's Digest Story Contest

Dear all,

Voting ended on November 15th. I did not expect to win as I entered really late, on October 20th. But it was a great exercise. I wanted to bring exposure to baby Loss Awareness and bereaved parents.

I joined the International Catergory, and a quick counting showed I garnered enough votes to rank 4th out of 800 entries. The TV New Zealand You tube clip had more than 400 hits, compared to the other clips that were aired that day.

Thank you to all who voted, and those who rallied for me.

Thanks,

Ann




When I was young, I always read the Readers' Digest and marvel at the bravery of the mothers who struggled with sick children. When I had Andrew in the hospital, and accepted the doctors' advice that the kindest option was to let nature take it's course. When Andrew didn't die when the doctor predicted, I struggled with myself and spoke to the doctor about those mothers I read in the Readers' Digest, and I wanted to be these mothers, Dr James said that Andrew was different.

Today, I found out that Readers' Digest was inviting people to submit their stories. I am submitting mine for media exposure. But if you like to vote for me, it is appreciated.


"Diary of a bereaved mother"
My journey of having a baby who died and now I am the self appointed spokes-person for bereaved parents. My story is from my heart and will resonate with anyone who has had the misfortune to give birth to a child who has struggled to live. Synopsis: Your baby is dying. Andrew did not die that night as predicted by the doctor, he didn't die after 3 days, 10 days and finally he died at 55 days. Friends did not know whether to congratulate or commiserate us. He was declared dead after his first at 40 days, but he bounced back. That was more excruciating than his actual death. After Andrew, what have I done? Have I become a better person? There are many of the things I am most proud of. I spearheaded raising funds to separate a pair of Siamese twins from Nepal in Singapore. For 16 years, I raised funds for the Deafhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif Children in Kenya. I did the publicity, marketing, cooking and selling. I volunteer at teaching new immigrants.
http://www.youtube.com/asiadownunder#p/c/C9FEF73B56807B22/3/IZk9w-uywAs
Vote up!

http://apps.facebook.com/yourlifecontest/content/diary-bereaved-mother

Dialogue Wisdom

Sometimes bad cartoon writers (who write cartoons with scripts rather than drawing them on storyboards) justify their silly procedure by pretending to be above cartoons and aiming more at live action procedures.I found this next passage about writing dialogue from a screenwriting book for live action movies and television.NOT EVERYONE CAN WRITE GOOD DIALOGUEI have found this equally true in

Writing For Character, rather than plugging characters into a generic plot

Write For Character I’ve always found that it’s much easier to write for characters that have strong distinct personalities – iconic characters. Some cartoon writers like to begin with a high concept, (“Let’s start the picture by shooting the protagonist’s mother and then the son goes on a magical adventure to search for a replacement mother figure, but then finds out through trials

Words and Pictures: Nicholas Ray pt 2

"it's an entirely different world when you get away from the typewriter..."This totally applies to animation. I've written things I thought were good, and then when I tried to draw them, found that they didn't work or weren't practical and had to change them to take advantage of what was actually possible.

Words and Pictures: Nicholas Ray pt 1

"The celluloid strip is not made in the writer's studio"to be continued...http://johnkstuff.blogspot.com/2007/04/real-dialogue-versus-cartoon-writer.html

Next...

Nicholas Ray on the relative roles of words and pictures in film.

Vintage Comic Ad Copywriters

It must have been a fun job to write the copy for the ads in comic books. I sometimes wonder if they knew who the audience for comic books was.Who are your favorite principal characters in Looney Tunes?Can you imagine your kids comparing their grand comic tales with each other?This copy really speaks in a vernacular every child can identify with.