If you haven't already been plotting and planning for National Novel Writing Month (Script Frenzy's sister event), you may want to head on over to http://ywp.nanowrimo.org to sign up.

National Novel Writing Month (or NaNoWriMo) happens each November and, as you might have already guessed, challenges participants to write an entire novel in 30 days.

This year we are expecting over 30,000 young, talented, and partly insane writers to participate!

Who will be cheering us on as we write our masterpieces? Awesome YA authors, that's who! Check out who's on board already to write pep-talk emails by visiting our Pep Talkers 2009 page.

See you all in November,
Tavia

The folks here at Script Frenzy have tried to make this event a great one. We would love it if you took a few moments to fill out this short survey to help us make next year's event even better. If you'd like to leave the survey at any time, just click "Exit this survey." Your answers will be saved.

Thanks so much for making the Young Writers Program a great community for young scriptwriters all around the world. We can’t wait to see you again next year!

Warm regards,
Tavia

You did it! I'm sending out a super huge, palm-burning virtual high five to everyone who wrote this April.

(SFX: Smack!)

No matter what your final page count ended up being, you wrote for 30 days straight and that my friend is amazing. I know I say this every year, but even if you only wrote one page, it's more than the majority of people write over the course of their entire lives.

We are just so overjoyed that you participated! We even had a participant certificate designed. Check it out!

Party time then nap time,
Tavia

Okay, so maybe the title of this Beat is a little absurd, but if you're anything like me, you may be going a little crazy in the process of trying to reach your page-count goal.

That is totally okay! These final days will be filled with odd endings, re-beginnings, nonsensical flashbacks, new characters, and tons of stolen material from your everyday lives.

It is time to pull out all the stops to reach your goal, so get to it! Write like crazy, like the wind, and like you know you can make it . . . because you can!

Just in case you did not read the previous Beat, here are the three things you need to do in order to win once you've reached your goal:

1.Make sure your time zone is set correctly. Go to "My Script Frenzy" --> "Edit Account Settings" ---> make sure the date and time in the Time Zone menu is corrent. Change it if it isn't by clicking on the drop-down menu.

2.Make your script a PDF. Find out how here.

3. Upload your script to our site so the validating robots can count your pages. Go to "My Script Frenzy" --> "Edit Writer Info" --> the browse for the PDF file of your script on your computer, hit "Upload," then scroll down and hit "Submit."

It is already April 25 in some parts of the world, and that means some of you can win Script Frenzy starting now! W00t!

In order to win you need to do the following three things:

1.Make sure your time zone is set correctly. Go to "My Script Frenzy" --> "Edit Account Settings" ---> make sure the date and time in the Time Zone menu is corrent. Change it if it isn't by clicking on the drop-down menu.

2.Make your script a PDF. Find out how here.

3. Upload your script to our site so the validating robots can count your pages. Go to "My Script Frenzy" --> "Edit Writer Info" --> the browse for the PDF file of your script on your computer, hit "Upload," then scroll down and hit "Submit."

Please contact us if you have trouble uploading your script!

Happy winning,
Tavia

Hello Script Frenzy Scribe,

Welcome to the just-past-midway point!

I think this is the most challenging place to be. You have come so far already, but there is a big gap between you and the end, and that gap can look like a sea of quicksand.

If Script Frenzy were a movie, this is the point where the hero is broken, lost, and only has one shoe. Just when it looks like it can't get any worse, her backpack is stolen.

BAM! Lightning cracks! Thunder growls. Cue Hollywood-sized raindrops.

We are approaching the second-to-last weekend in April. This is the weekend when we need to bring out all the big guns (the candy, the energy drinks, the coffee) and catch up on our waning page counts.

(I know this doesn't apply to all of you. Not everyone in Frenzy Land is behind, but I like to think that this is the case, so I don't feel so bad about my page count!)

Anyway, I plan on scriptwriting whenever I possibly can this weekend. My partner and I are at the midway point in our script and I think (we think) that things are finally coming together.

We've managed to get all our characters into outer space, now we just need to get them down from there.

Good luck catching up,
Tavia

Happy half-way there!

You've been writing for 15 days straight. That is something to be proud of no matter how much (or little) of your script you've written. Even if you feel utterly behind, know that you have 15 whole days to catch up.

And you totally can.

I know people who are just joining the Frenzy now, and others who have only written 10% of their scripts.

This might sound super hokey, but if you believe you can finish your script in the next 15 days, you will!

Keep up the good writing,
Tavia

Hey writers!

I just wanted to let you know that I just made up a holiday! It's called "Back Up Your Script" Day.

This is an international event in which all peoples who happen to be writing scripts at this moment in time are encouraged to gleefully back up their script on an external hard drive, disk, flash drive, or other drive that is not on their computer.

Each year, I hear many horror stories about writers, young and old, losing their entire scripts due to a failed hard drive or other computer malfunction. Don't let this happen to you!

Another (very easy) option: email your script as an attachment to yourself!

Happy backing up,
Tavia

Looks like we flew by 1,500 words! I have to apologize for not congratulating you all earlier. I caught the flu and had to take a day off from work and writing!

I did rent a bunch of movies, though, so time was not wasted or lost. I actually suggest taking a night off to watch a few movies, plays, TV shows, or read through a few comic books. I found watching a couple movies (one award-winning drama, one slapstick comedy) super helpful. I watched for character and plot arcs. I payed more attention to the dialogue. I noticed how each scene built on the other. All in all, it was a great refresher course in how a screenplay works.

It was also exciting to see the final product of a script. I feel totally inspired!

So take a night off, rent some DVDs, pop some popcorn!

Happy watching (for a night),
Tavia

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