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Black Swan.

Posted in Art, nature, Writing, tagged ART:Sand&Sandles, Artist: Jessica McCallum, BlackSwanPortraiturePrize, Frances Macaulay Forde on July 14, 2014| Leave a Comment »

My very talented daughter Jessica McCallum is busy working on her entry into the Black Swan Portraiture Prize.

Held every year, I’ve been nagging her to enter for years, ever since she was commissioned to provide Black Swan masks for the big event; the ball where winners are announced.

She’s busy working on the portrait of her Dad, a man of the land both privately and professionally. He worked for the Agricultural Department as a Farm Advisor since earning his degree at Curtin University after doing National Service.

As a now retired but always committed environmentalist, it’s fitting Jess is using his landscape – his Brookton farm to frame his face. (Photos show close ups of the work in progress.)

Using mostly wood stains on ply instead of the usual acrylic or oils on canvas, her approach is different. The technique also enables her to use the traditional craft of wood burning for striking shadow effects.

So, so proud. Can’t wait to see the final product because I know it will be amazing.

#FrancesMacaulayForde #ARTIST:JessicaMcCallum #BlackSwanPortraitPrize #ART:Sand&Sandles

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Quote of the Day:

Posted in Ballet, Books, Children's stories, Dance, Plays, Theatre, Writing, tagged FAWWA, Frances Macaulay Forde, NorthernYouthTheatre, SwanLake, TheSwanPrincess, TheSwimmingPoolPeople on July 12, 2014| Leave a Comment »

In the dark old days, the storyteller always had the best place by the campfire. Those days may be gone, but the power of story remains. It’s time we acknowledged that, and brought our authors out of the cold.

Joanne Harris from her excellent article: This fairy story has lost its happy ending.

I’ve just finished watching ‘The Swan Princess’ on the Drive In on-line page. Although it credits the story writers and the screenplay writer, it doesn’t mentioned the original Other Swan Stories it may well have been inspired by. Now I want to know which of those stories the beautiful ballet ‘Swan Lake’ was based on.

How many people do you think, have enjoyed these story in all their many presentations. And how many do you think know who wrote the originals, who was the first to put pen to paper?

A story I wrote for my own children in the late 80’s was awarded the FAWWA Furphy in 1994 as “The Best Children’s Book Manuscript”.

To my total surprise, my story was nominated without my knowledge by my fellow writers group members at the Fellowship of Australian Writers here in Western Australia .

Since then,I’ve adapted the story to a pantomime and it’s been performed at Emerald Park by members of the Northern Youth Theatre then again at the 1995 Joondalup Festival.

I’m currently updating the story and adapting it to a script. I know it’s a good story and I want it to live many lives.

Just returned from watching my 6 year old niece dance – it would also make a good ballet.

I’ve never actually sent it out for publication though. I wonder why?

#FrancesMacaulayForde #TheSwanPrincess #SwanLake #TheSwimmingPoolPeople #NorthernYouthTheatre #FAWWA

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Eclectic Encore for Grace Knight!

Posted in Love, Music, Romance, Writing, tagged Frances Macaulay Forde, Grace Knight, Joondalup Resort, romance, Valentine's Day on July 11, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Eclectic Encore for Grace Knight!

(Valentine’s Day, Western Australia, 2006)

It was hot – bloody hot for Valentine’s Day. The kind of heat that oppresses, suggests multiple showers and hard-working deodorants. Not how one wishes to appear on the day most touted for romance, especially when treated to a restaurant dinner with a Grace Knight concert to follow.

One wants to be cool, elegant, calm of face and dry of appearance ~ didn’t happen. That would be sexy and romantic ~ the heat should come later… There was plenty of the other stuff ~ gorgeous food, wine, loads of women dressed for the occasion…

Sitting on the Joondalup Hotel restaurant terrace would normally have been the optimum place for our table. But not when there isn’t a breath of fresh air – just dampness descending. Gazing over the cutlery into pools of passion and longing, we’d occasionally steal a wanton glance at the circular, ice-cool pool frequented by ducks. But in the still, hot night, trips into the air-conditioning for buffet treats, delicious sweets and succulent seafood helped make room for the next scrumptious plateful.

Although sexiness in female apparel sometimes means tight, it also means more skin exposed to the non-existent breeze and men wearing long pants, even though they’d rather be in Stubbies with a cold midi in hand, not drinking champagne or wine instead.

Our guided trek across green valleys past ancient, many branched grass trees ~ a magnificent statement of origin, helped digestion before spreading our blankets, in a patrons area, close to the stage and next to the lake, to receive a traditional Noongar welcome.

The flocks of ducks rising from the still water disturbed by the ‘five thousand, nine hundred and ninety-six’ others (some parked as far away as the shopping center), circling and settling back down to become part of the enchanting landscape again.

We were seduced by a medley of Show Tunes; then Mantovani, Rogers and Hart and more, performed by stars of the Youth Jazz Orchestra, fresh from their recent New York sojourn.

The Police spotter plane circled in the freeway distance but Gracie held her hair out of her face, away from the strong fans cooling from both sides of her performance space, to electrify us ~ her real fans ~ with so many favorite songs of luuurve.

As a big cheesy moon rose among the trees we thanked the sponsors, the resort and our fabulous community up here on the Sunset Coast for an unforgettable Valentine venue, promising to make a date for next year too.

#FrancesMacaulayForde #ValentinesDay #GraceKnight #JoondalupResort

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A Trilogy of Creativity…

Posted in MOVIES, Scripts, Throwback Thursday, Writers, Writing, tagged A Trilogy of Creativity, Frances Macaulay Forde, Movie credits, screenwriting, writing on July 10, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Rambling on…

For THROWBACK THURSDAY I thought I’d post this piece, written way back in 2008.

A Trilogy of Creativity

Imagine a film culture that values and celebrates their writers – as well!

Where the film opens with ‘A Film By A Brilliant Writer’ in HUGE letters….

Wait… wait… I’m visualizing….

Imagine if the writer was credited first – just as the script came first! It should be standard in every contract.

Imagine if, in all the publicity, as many times as the producer/director are mentioned – so is the writer!

A trilogy of creativity!

At the very least, equal status and consideration, even listed before the others!

I know – I know… often the script is taken and the writer never consulted again while others input their talents.

That’s where writers get lost and forgotten – while everyone else is contributing.

But in the end, imagine if the world remembered the root – how the tree grew from a tiny seed and who planted that seed in the beginning…

It’s not just a case of reminding those in the industry of the contribution a writer makes but also, informing the public – for them it would be a subliminal statement of value.

Once the mind-set of valuing the writer is established, everything else will follow:

the time (money) to develop scripts,

the appreciation of the time true craft takes

the education/practice required to deliver the skills of screenwriting.

No-one expects a novel to be written in 3 months (rare). Nor do we expect them to go straight from the writer to the printing press.

We know novels need to be edited and edited again and again, throughout which the author needs to be consulted and considered.

And when the novel/book is finally printed, we revere and promote the author as creator – even send them on book tours, because we realize and fully acknowledge their involvement in the final product.

The author is often what sells the book – once you’ve read one you want to read more of the same quality.

Imagine if we had the general public going to films by their favorite writer?

Imagine if screenwriters were feted in the promotion of the film on a level with its directors and producers?

What a wondrous world for screen writers that would be.

A trilogy of creativity!

#FrancesMacaulayForde #Screenwriting #TrilogyOfCreativity

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Distracted

Posted in KINDLE Books, McAlpine Bell Publishing, Other blogs, Poetry, Short Stories, Writing, tagged AMAZON, Frances Macaulay Forde, KINDLE BOOKS, POEM:Lotto Life on July 7, 2014| Leave a Comment »

I feel I’ve neglected my blog lately and I do sincerely apologize; work, life, writing, challenges and ambition have totally distracted me.

But am I getting anything done? Yes – although how effective I’m being remains to be seen…

There are now 5 short story and 3 poetry chapbook KINDLES on Amazon and I’m proud of myself for putting them up for the world to judge.

Disappointingly I’ve only had two bites so far and will admit, I expected more – but it’s early days. The first rookie mistake was being all excited and talking about my books too early.

I kept adjusting them and while they were being re-published they weren’t available, so anyone who may have initially had an interest, soon lost it. My bad. But I’m learning, so the next challenge is to make my books stand out from all those millions already on there.

I’m also going to add some children’s stories which haven’t been illustrated yet as soon as I’ve painted covers for them. (KINDLE is not recommended for books which contain lots of pictures.)

As I mention in my books, most of the Short Stories have also been adapted to scripts and one (Love You Mum) has even been filmed, winning awards here in Oz, in the USA and Canada.

I’ve also been busy at work – covering my bills is a priority although I do resent the time away from my current writing challenges, particularly my 12 x 12 Picture Book Challenge.

June was taken up with my 30-day KINDLE Book Challenge which actually ends next week and I have a lot of catching up to do even though I have published books within the challenge.

And poetry always distracts me but I keep hoping a LOTTO ticket will save me 🙂

LOTTO LIFE

It unites us.

This dream

to have choices.

Whether to work or laze.

Decide our futures

instead of waiting for opportunity.

The universal language of need

– not greed.

We’ve lost control.

Caught up in the flow

of magazine lifestyle.

The one we desire and reality.

To walk through town

not asking the price.

Carrying the labels

which define our success.

Purchases we don’t need.

It’s universal

the conviction that money

will right all our wrongs

and make the world spin

in our direction.,

When we buy a ticket

we’ve planted the seed.

The seed of our fantasies.

(Appears in my ‘Return of Rainbows’ KINDLE edition)

#FrancesMacaulayForde #KINDLE:ReturnOfRainbows #POEM:LottoLife

#KINDLE:LoveYouMum

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Film: The Gospel According to Dennis (2)

Posted in Other blogs, Writing on July 4, 2014| Leave a Comment »

A favourite blog showing another of his scripts, produced.
As the man said, Robert writes a good script. I do like this version, very smooth… well acted.

Two Pages a Week

It’s getting to a point now where there may be several productions of the same script happening around the world and it’s exciting to see how different directors interpret the same script in different ways. Here we have another version of The Gospel According to Dennis, directed by Paul Matian, and I love seeing how different it is to Sarah’s version.

Here’s Paul’s introduction. Hope you enjoy the film.

The Gospel According to Dennis is my first comedy and I’ve always been a little intimidated by the genre. It’s probably the most difficult genre to direct and at the end of the day it’s really hard to make people laugh. Fortunately, we had a great script from Robert to work from and by casting correctly we were able to capture some great improv between Carlo Aparo and Jimmie Tolliver.
Robert’s script was so good to begin with that all…

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Being Calamity Jane

Posted in Other blogs, Writing on July 2, 2014| Leave a Comment »

A wondrous piece of writing from a lady I am very proud to call a friend.

Café Dissensus

By Rashida Murphy

Even for a serial insomniac it was a particularly sleepless night. Did I know tall buildings were falling on the other side of the world? Was it tribal connectedness? Or simply the end of 20-year-old marriage? Whatever, I had cried and kept awake all night. But quietly, because a freshly abandoned teenage daughter slept fitfully beside me and if she saw me cry she would think I was miserable. And that wasn’t true. All I had done was ask her father to leave. I had told her everything was going to be alright in a clear strong voice when she wept in my arms. Well past midnight I had crawled into bed with her, snuggling up to her as if she was a child again.

Early the next morning, my soon-to-be-ex-sister-in-law phoned from London.

‘Isn’t this just awful? I don’t know what’s going on anymore,’ she said…

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‘My Car’ video

Posted in Hidden Capacity, KINDLE Books, Poetry, Video Poems, Writing, tagged Frances Macaulay Forde, Hidden Capacity, POEM:AllStops, POEM:MyCar, poetry in Western Australia on June 28, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Do you ego-search on the net? You should. It’s amazing what you find.

Just put your name like this: “Sarah Smith” into Google search and check where your name appears on the World Wide Web.

I’ve just discovered this reading of ‘My Car’ from ‘Hidden Capacity ~ a poet’s journey’ done some time ago which I had completely forgotten about.

I also discovered that Poemhunter.com seems to be doing really well out of the 52 poems I uploaded there years ago.

My poems seem to get a reasonable number of visitors and the site haven’t missed a trick in using them without formal permission.

Although perhaps their Terms & Conditions when I uploaded them originally, covered that – and who reads them properly?

Without my consent, there’s an e-book of the poems available for free.

Now that I’m selling my own e-books, it sort of clashes and makes me wonder if I should leave the poems on there for the publicity or take them down.

I decided to add the link to my KINDLE books on each page instead and hope it brings some sales.

Also each has been converted to a (questionable) ‘video’ some with automated voices reading the poems. Here’s their version of my ‘All Stops’.

Amazing what you find…

#francesmacaulayforde #VideoPoems #VideoReadings

P.S. I’ve just realized I started the month with this poem…

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Short stories, socialising and spreadsheets: the Jan to June 2014 round up

Posted in Writing on June 26, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Short stories rule as evidenced in this excellent post. Thanks Marisa.

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The Return of Rainbows.

Posted in Books, KINDLE Books, McAlpine Bell Publishing, Poetry, WA Writers, Writing, tagged BOOK: Return of Rainbows, books, Frances Macaulay Forde, KINDLE BOOKS, McAlpine Bell Publishing, poetry, Poetry Chapbooks, poetry in Western Australia, WA Writers, writing on June 24, 2014| 2 Comments »

Still on the KINDLE kick, my latest upload (probably not available yet as still being processed) is another Poetry Chapbook ~ the third.

(I’ve just added two examples of poems from my ‘Love’ KINDLE uploaded over the weekend, just like I did for my ‘Rail Tales’ blog post.)

‘The Return of Rainbows’ was also conceived at University as a mature-age student bloodied by life’s battles and as always, finding succor in words.

My seemingly audacious presence provided lots of fodder to explore the constant challenges and effects of that experience on my life.

The Return of Rainbows

Driving down Alexander,

(early morning rush hour)

lecture on documentary film.

Eager for knowledge, I noted

low, broad bands of colour

spanning the sky above Uni.

Ignoring the grey clouds,

I welcomed the return

of rainbows to my life.

Instinct