Posted by paramita on Jul 2, 2007 in
Script Frenzy 
I made it!!!!
What an experience…
30 days, 20.000 words, around 120 pages of movie script. I honestly thought it is going to be easy. Well, actually it is. All I have to do is write 667 words a day on the month of June. Simple. Everyone can do it.
Did I do it like that? Of course. HA! I lied. I can only manage to write on a daily basis for 4 days. After that, everything else was my top priority. My master thesis, work, grocery shopping, and of course on the free time I have, I procrastinate. So I ended up doing the last 14000 words in a week and the last 6000 words in the last 1.5 days. Typical ol’ me.
Read more…
Tags: Script Frenzy, writing
Posted by paramita on Jun 8, 2007 in
Script Frenzy Another challenge on my Script Frenzy.
Is it really because the weather or is it just me being lazy and try to find an excuse? Well, I found out that the best working temperature for summer time is around 23 – 26 degree Celsius and it’s 32 degrees Celsius in my working place (/bedroom/flat).
Sounds weird because I’m from tropical country where the weather is supposed to be warm and all, yet I can’t manage to work in this heat. I tried drinking lots of water which should work to keep my body hydrated. It was (I think) but my brain still didn’t work so well especially with the creative stuff (like script writing!). I still feel like butter melting in the heat…
I just have to hang in there… word count is bad (only 1600 words so far). My body should adjust to the heat and then I will be all geared up to go again. In the meantime, I should probably take it easy… it’s my birthday tomorrow!
Posted by paramita on Jun 6, 2007 in
Script Frenzy I understand that just like happiness, sadness is also a part of life. That’s the bigger picture. But in the details, I still can’t seem to manage it affecting my work.
Bad days could happen. As I see it, there are two ways I handle it.
The ideal way is to put my feelings aside and keep working. That being said, didn’t work very well for me, especially when the work requires creativity (as in writing or graphic design). I noticed that in this period of time, my work tends to go to the dark side. My character had depressing moments, my color choice tends to aim towards darker hues.
The other way to handle this is to improve my mood for the day and then come the next day with a stronger spirit. Of course this had down moments too. The next day usually come faster than I think and the deadline now chasing after me with a light speed. Ouch!
In the end, I would just try my best. When I look inside myself honestly, I know when I actually need the break or am I just being lazy. I just have to make sure that I do my best and feel good about it. There are no really right and wrong. There are only choices with consequences.
As my friend Dhany said, “Take a chance, and live with the consequences!”
Posted by paramita on Jun 2, 2007 in
Script Frenzy I love romantic comedy movies. Especially the ones with the adorable actors like Hugh Grant or Orlando Bloom. It just came naturally to me. Maybe like guys with their action kung-fu movie (at least in Indonesia they are crazy about it).
I used to watch every single one of them. Even dragged my husband as well (poor him). As expected, some of them are good, some of them are really so-so, yet I enjoyed it anyways.
Now the question that haunts me is whether I am a Chicklit addict or not? Can I write other genre? Should I? I want to try it… Write some action comedy – Jacky Chan movie maybe?
I tried with my storyline for Script Frenzy. It started out as an action comedy, but somehow, during the story refining, I turned it back to a chicklit movie. I pitched it to my husband and he said “it’s really a chicklit movie”. Aaarrrghh!!
Well, in the end I decided to stay with this genre. I love it, I believe in the story, and I want to watch the movie. All of the fun reasons are there. More than enough to get me through the frenzy month 
.
Yes, I am a Chicklit addict. But my story is more than that.
Posted by paramita on Jun 1, 2007 in
Script Frenzy The first day of the Frenzy! I am a bit worried when I realized that other people actually made the mock up trailers, some already know for sure how their characters looked like and all that. Me? I feel utterly underachieved. For a second. When I woke up this morning.
It took me a while to get started, getting the motivation going, characters brimming lively in my head. It was not until Roger Federer won the 3rd round of the French Open I managed to pull myself together to get my script writing bible, and my laptop ready for writing.
I had a story in mind already and some not-so-pictured-perfectly characters in my mind. Even the real simple preparations I had were very helpful. Next time I would definitely make the trailer! (Or in a short while when I procrastinate more 
)
But I have to say, the first day is super fun! I managed to finish within the daily deadline (670 words), which for me is already quite something since my previous NaNoWriMo start was not even close to that.
On the big note today, Celtx saved my day. My Vaio screwed up a bit when I asked it to standby… and it decides to shut down instead. So lucky that I remember to save before (or Celtx saves the file automatically). I know I should always save and backup my work regularly. It’s just when I did, nothing bad really happens . Well no, seriously people, remember to SAVE and BACKUP your work regularly. It’s not funny when you suddenly lost your 19976 words script due to some hard drive problem! Do it! NOW!
Posted by paramita on May 29, 2007 in
Script Frenzy Staying true to my writing dream, starting June (that’s in TWO days!!) I’ll be participating in the Script Frenzy script writing challenge. In one month, I’ll be writing for 20.000 words movie script. Exciting!!!
Sure, I have never written a script before and I’m definitely clueless about the techniques and the formatting and all. But surely I know just a tiny bit about it. I mean I watch movies and I have read some scripts so it can’t be that bad (I hope!).
I had known about this challenge quite a while ago, so unlike my previous NaNoWriMo attempt, this time I made some preparations:
- Checked out the articles and tips at the Script Frenzy. (They put a lot of great tips J… Thank you)
- Quick read a script writing book: The Screenwriter’s Bible by David Trottier.
- Install (and learn a tiny bit) Celtx, an open source scriptwriting software that I plan to use on the course of this challenge
On the next days I will log my journey though my first scripting frenzy and share it with you in this blog. Enjoy!
Posted by paramita on Apr 9, 2007 in
techie I am in love with Mac interface but I am a PC user because I can’t afford a MacBook Pro. Why don’t I buy a MacBook instead? Because I need the processing power of a graphic designer. Well anyways, being a programmer and a designer, I think I would be better off with a PC for compatibleness issues.
So, my solution to this problem is: I NEED a cool Mac interface for my PC. I searched around for tips and hints on how to do this. Found some great article (http://features.engadget.com/2004/06/09/turn-your-pc-into-a-mac/) and software that made my desktop looked like this:
Pretty neat, eh?
One thing was still missing for turning my PC to a Mac … it’s the feel of anti-aliased fonts. Well, I just found out (I know, stupid me 
) that actually Microsoft released an XP PowerToys called ClearType a couple of years ago which made my screen fonts looked awesome!!! It made almost everything (well, actually everything I tried so far) had anti aliased fonts. Firefox, Trillian, even the post-its I had on screen .
Other things I did to tweak my desktop:
And the nice desktop background, it’s from VladStudio (http://www.vladstudio.com)
Posted by paramita on Feb 21, 2007 in
books 
Author : Habiburrahman El Shirazy
Published : December 2004, 406 pages
Genre : Fiction, Islamic, Indonesian
Lina recommended this book; she said it gave her mixed beautiful feelings. I peeked inside and I remember reading parts of this in a continuous story part in Republika newspaper about three years ago. Sadly, I did not know the ending because that was the time I went to Germany. I remember that it was beautifully written, especially for people who adores Islam or who wanted to learn and adore it and I was curious about the ending, so I bought the book.
The main character is an Indonesian student in Egypt. He was an exceptional student, with an exceptional akhlak (mentality?), a very kind person who always do the right thing according to the guidance of Islam, Al-Qur’an, and the Prophet Muhammad. He must be good looking as well (at least presentable enough), considering all the girls that was mentioned in this story fell in love with him (there are four of them, from different nationality and background).
It is a love story, but it was a love story written in a perspective of an Islamic scholar. True love between a man and a woman only comes after marriage. It is a guidance of how to love (and how to be loved) in ways that did not collide with the teachings of the Prophet. It is a book about Islam teaching, because it has explanations of Qur’an and Hadits. It is an idealistic portrayal of how a guy should react (and how a good moslem girl should act).
I kind of find it hard to swallow that the author made it that all the girls love the main character. But then again, it is a romance novel where everything is allowed to be over the top. The main character is totally flawless guy, a perfect person. A dream guy for a moslem woman.
In the end, I believe this book is only for those who love Islam or try to love it. For those who don’t it is probably too idealistic and unreal. The Qur’an and Hadits was a little bit too much and sometimes a bit forced upon. For me it is a bit boring to read all the quotes (*devil wink*)
Final rating:
9/10, if you’re a good moslem or would like to know/be one.
5/10, if you’re easily bored with preaching or you don’t believe in Islam that much.
(Bought: Gramedia Paris Van Java, Bandung on 1 February 2007, Read: 1-2 February 2007 (around 8 hours))
Posted by paramita on Nov 2, 2006 in
NaNoWriMo I must admit it is not as hard as I thought… Although I can’t keep up with the target of 2000 words a day, but almost 1500 isn’t that bad, considering I didn’t have so much experience before.
My story will be about a notebook and a girl. No plot information here… not just because I did not want to share it to everyone… but also because I haven’t been able to plan the whole thing… Aja aja fighting!!!
Till tomorrow…
Posted by paramita on Oct 31, 2006 in
NaNoWriMo For one month in November 2006 I will write a 175 pages (50.000 words) novel. Damn excited and scared… Excited because I have the chance and the deadline to do it… But also scared because I have tons of things to do in November. Flying home to Indonesia, my brother-in-law’s wedding… but what’s success without challenges, right?
So… here goes!!!
