Dear Daniel

Dear Daniel,

I know I often write of the hardships I’m facing. And though I’m well aware of people having it worse than me I want to share with you some of the really cool stuff that is happening. And there really is some cool stuff going on. Nothing that screams ‘you’ve made it’, but stuff that inspires me to keep going.

Let’s start with the simple stuff. I’ve been contracted by Hekate Press to pen an 8 book series called Bella Morte. I’ve already talked about this on my blog here, but it bears repeating. I sold it on a simple pitch. The idea came out of a reading I had done for me by a gifted woman by the name of Bertena Varney. She said a lot of things but only one that I ran with, that it was a character that was tough and had been through a lot and knew how to fight. She said it would be a 4-8 book tale. And that I would be ‘known’ for it.

Justice Xavier is the character that was born out of those suggestions and the series took shape from that point on. I wrote a fast 25K draft that although good, was limited in that it was told from the first person. I decided to do a massive overhaul and double the length for my NaNoWriMo project. I pitched the series to cover artist extraordinaire and new publisher/owner Delilah K Stephans. She liked the idea and took it on. 

She got the concept and when I told her my plans to overhaul and how I was going to overhaul it she liked the idea even more.

Now, you know, as in Hollywood relationships are key and Delilah was my cover artist with MuseItUp Publishing for almost three years before she decided to venture out on her own with this company. And when Hydra Publications went through a reorganization I asked for the rights to two of my series back and 

Delilah agreed to take them on at Hekate. So as Hekate opens its doors on November 15^th for new submissions, I am proud to say I am the Interim Marketing Director. Another blessing.

In the process I decided I wanted to develop Bella Morte into a television series. So I wrote the pilot. Now I know I’m bragging and it’s bad form, but the pilot totally kicks ass. The treatment, however, took a lot more work. So here is another place where I am blessed and lucky.

As I have mentioned previously I attended (and won at) Fandom Fest/Fright Night Film Festival this past July. While there I got to see some of my heroes (Kevin Smith, Adrian Paul) and meet some really cool people (Brian O’Halloran and Jim Cornette). While there I had the pleasure and good fortune of connecting with Grant Wilson of Ghost Hunters, we spoke about writing and ghost hunting and other some other things and he was impressed with me (I was squeeing on the inside) and he gave me his business card. We exchanged emails and when I asked about how to break into television he told me I needed to start with a treatment.

I had earlier in the year via another writer come into contact with Tom Sawyer, showrunner, Emmy winner and bestselling author of the Murder She Wrote series. I asked for some feedback on my treatment. And he gave me some blunt, but wonderful advice and was kind enough to send me some examples of television treatments he had done. My treatment improved a hundred fold.

Now I have a Facebook contact that I don’t want to overwhelm with requests so I’ll keep him anonymous, but suffice it to say he is a television and stage actor who was able to trouble shoot my treatment further. I have sent him the revisions and I await his further feedback.

I have also entered the Nashville Film Festival Screenwriting Competition in several categories, the Indie Gathering Competition and ScriptPipeline’s First Look Competition with several screenplays and the pilot and treatment for Bella Morte.

Honestly, I don’t know how this will all pan out, but I’m nothing if not hopeful where it comes to my writing career. I have faith and believe and I am always writing. If not a book then a screenplay.

NaNo is cooking right now and the fact I had the energy to do a blog this late at night says something about what the competition does to you. Blessed beyond measure in my career, I take the lumps in my personal life, as my daybed I sleep on is literally falling apart and I have no money to replace it. LOL.  Such is the trade off I make. Hope all is well with you and yours,

Sincerely,

Amy McCorkle