Tweet Tales Tuesday Week 260
October 10, 2017
Oh dear. It’s now been TWO MONTHS since my last post. That’s … not great. But in my defense, it’s been a packed two months. I’ve been out of town for large chunks of it, and I’ve been working on two big projects.
 
Here’s a quick rundown of some of the happenings. 
 
The most exciting thing was the eclipse. I was lucky, since I live in Charleston, my brother in Columbia, and my sister in Greenville – all three in the path of totality – I figured I had a place to watch no matter what the weather. 
 
It was obvious from the first 10-day forecast that Charleston was going to be a no-go, so I knew I was going to have to travel. On the day before, Greenville was predicted to be clearer than Columbia, so my brother and I headed up there. My sister planned eclipse-themed food and drinks, and we had a blast. The weather was gorgeous, and the eclipse was truly a mind-blowing event. Mother Nature is freakin’ cool. It was so surreal that even now it kind of seems like something I watched on TV rather than something that really happened. 
Siblings watching the eclipse
Diamond ring right before eclipse totality
Eclipse totality
Diamond ring after eclipse totality
Then the next weekend, I was a presenter at the SCBWI Carolinas conference in Charlotte.  My presentation was called Write Like a Hollywood Movie Crew, and I spent tons of time working on my presentation because I felt like such an imposter. When the big morning arrived, I was super nervous, but I think it went well. At first there were projector issues, so I almost simultaneously had a heart attack, fainted, and barfed because my presentation was extremely reliant on visuals. But only a few minutes after my session was supposed to start, the IT guy got it working. People laughed when I hoped and were very engaged. And I got a lot of compliments afterwards, although that could have been because I bribed them with cups of popcorn at the start.
Jocelyn Presenting
I had a great time at the conference and met lots of fun writers and publishing folks. Plus I absorbed the surge in creative energy I always get at these events.
 
Then the next week was a retreat with my writing group, the Sisukas, in Beaufort. Unfortunately, that was also the week that Hurricane Irma was bearing down on South Carolina, so we were mostly stressed and nervous about potentially having to evacuate. After two nights, we decided to cut the trip short so everyone could get home to make hurricane plans. Fortunately, Irma shifted enough that I didn’t have to evacuate, but she sure made a mess. 
 
And then the week after that, I had another writing retreat with a different group of writers in Nebo, NC. I know, I’m a lucky gal! It was five days of writing while taking in the gorgeous view and enjoying the company of accomplished and hilarious women. 
Lake at Nebo
Writers at Nebo
In between all the travel, I’ve been hard at work on two big projects. Earlier this year, I mentioned I was working on grant applications. Well, I won my grant! Whoo hooo! And my brother won his grant! Double whoo hooo! And we’ve been focused on getting both projects up and running. I’ll talk about my grant project next week, but this week, I’m introducing his. 
 
His grant project is to create an anthology of short horror films via a contest. At the last minute, we decided to do a contest for a winning screenplay as well. So I’m pleased to present Grave Intentions!
Grave Intentions
We’re now accepting submissions here: https://filmfreeway.com/festival/GraveIntentionsAnthology
You can check out our website here: http://www.graveintentionsanthology.com/
 
We also don’t have many followers on our social media, so if you want to give us a pity follow we’d REALLY appreciate it!
 
If anyone you know makes or writes short films that would broadly fit into the horror genre, please (pretty please!!!) let them know about our contest. 
 
Whew! Okay, I think that’s the big things. If I were a good #15tt tweeter, I would make up for the last eight weeks of 15 Minute Tweet Tales that I missed, but I’m just going to pretend like that didn’t happen and only do one for this week. Sorry, not sorry!
 
purlicue – the space between one's forefinger and thumb when extended.
 
10/10 – He stares at the purlicue of his right hand. The cat’s neck will fit perfectly & the yowling will finally stop when his fingers clench.
 
Play along and write tweet tales for the above word. If you’re willing to share, post them on twitter with the hashtag #15tt or add them below in the comments because I’d love to read them. Any thoughts about this week's tweet tale or #15tt word?
Oh dear. It’s now been TWO MONTHS since my last post. That’s … not great. But in my defense, it’s been a packed two months. I’ve been out of town for large chunks of it, and I’ve been working on two big projects.
 
Here’s a quick rundown of some of the happenings. 
 
The most exciting thing was the eclipse. I was lucky, since I live in Charleston, my brother in Columbia, and my sister in Greenville – all three in the path of totality – I figured I had a place to watch no matter what the weather. 
 
It was obvious from the first 10-day forecast that Charleston was going to be a no-go, so I knew I was going to have to travel. On the day before, Greenville was predicted to be clearer than Columbia, so my brother and I headed up there. My sister planned eclipse-themed food and drinks, and we had a blast. The weather was gorgeous, and the eclipse was truly a mind-blowing event. Mother Nature is freakin’ cool. It was so surreal that even now it kind of seems like something I watched on TV rather than something that really happened. 
Siblings watching the eclipse
Diamond ring right before eclipse totality
Eclipse totality
Diamond ring after eclipse totality
Then the next weekend, I was a presenter at the SCBWI Carolinas conference in Charlotte.  My presentation was called Write Like a Hollywood Movie Crew, and I spent tons of time working on my presentation because I felt like such an imposter. When the big morning arrived, I was super nervous, but I think it went well. At first there were projector issues, so I almost simultaneously had a heart attack, fainted, and barfed because my presentation was extremely reliant on visuals. But only a few minutes after my session was supposed to start, the IT guy got it working. People laughed when I hoped and were very engaged. And I got a lot of compliments afterwards, although that could have been because I bribed them with cups of popcorn at the start.
Jocelyn Presenting
I had a great time at the conference and met lots of fun writers and publishing folks. Plus I absorbed the surge in creative energy I always get at these events.
 
Then the next week was a retreat with my writing group, the Sisukas, in Beaufort. Unfortunately, that was also the week that Hurricane Irma was bearing down on South Carolina, so we were mostly stressed and nervous about potentially having to evacuate. After two nights, we decided to cut the trip short so everyone could get home to make hurricane plans. Fortunately, Irma shifted enough that I didn’t have to evacuate, but she sure made a mess. 
 
And then the week after that, I had another writing retreat with a different group of writers in Nebo, NC. I know, I’m a lucky gal! It was five days of writing while taking in the gorgeous view and enjoying the company of accomplished and hilarious women. 
Lake at Nebo
Writers at Nebo
In between all the travel, I’ve been hard at work on two big projects. Earlier this year, I mentioned I was working on grant applications. Well, I won my grant! Whoo hooo! And my brother won his grant! Double whoo hooo! And we’ve been focused on getting both projects up and running. I’ll talk about my grant project next week, but this week, I’m introducing his. 
 
His grant project is to create an anthology of short horror films via a contest. At the last minute, we decided to do a contest for a winning screenplay as well. So I’m pleased to present Grave Intentions!
Grave Intentions
We’re now accepting submissions here: https://filmfreeway.com/festival/GraveIntentionsAnthology
You can check out our website here: http://www.graveintentionsanthology.com/
 
We also don’t have many followers on our social media, so if you want to give us a pity follow we’d REALLY appreciate it!
 
If anyone you know makes or writes short films that would broadly fit into the horror genre, please (pretty please!!!) let them know about our contest. 
 
Whew! Okay, I think that’s the big things. If I were a good #15tt tweeter, I would make up for the last eight weeks of 15 Minute Tweet Tales that I missed, but I’m just going to pretend like that didn’t happen and only do one for this week. Sorry, not sorry!
 
purlicue – the space between one's forefinger and thumb when extended.
 
10/10 – He stares at the purlicue of his right hand. The cat’s neck will fit perfectly & the yowling will finally stop when his fingers clench.
 
Play along and write tweet tales for the above word. If you’re willing to share, post them on twitter with the hashtag #15tt or add them below in the comments because I’d love to read them. Any thoughts about this week's tweet tale or #15tt word?

Jocelyn Rish

Jocelyn Rish is a writer and filmmaker who never imagined her cheeky sense of humor would lead to a book about animal butts. When she's not researching fanny facts, she tutors kids to help them discover the magic of reading. Jocelyn has won numerous awards for her short stories, screenplays, short films, and novels and lives in South Carolina with her booty-ful dogs.