Carren Kennedy Teaches.

Caren Kennedy

I found Caren Kennedy on Twitter. I was able to suss her out. I tweeted her once saying she had a cool profile picture, she zapped backed “That was taken by my soon to be ex-husband, I was looking at him thinking how the hell did I get here.”  Authentic –tick!

 

I read her web site and learnt she wrote and sold her TV treatments to Warner Brothers. Winner –tick!

 



She is now a guest blogger on my favourite writing site. Her first post was how she turned a real life experience into a TV treatment. Unlike some bloggers who think this medium is for therapy and puke their rants on us poor readers, Caren was able to use her life experience and actually make it interesting and dare I say it entertaining. Talented – tick!

 

I have been looking to do some sort of creative writing course for a long time. But I struggled to find “The One.”  I’m a Generation Y, MTV kid who has watched more TV and movies than she has ever read books, so the thought of having to mix with literary types and talk about books....ahhh No Thanks!

 

When Caren ticked all of the right boxes I signed up for her course. I asked her some questions about it and she summed it excellently by saying “you write every day and have a lot to say for yourself so of course you would be able to partake.....my course is about writing visually”.

The power of this course is in its structure, convenience, price and delivery (its on-line). There is a kinetic energy to visual writing and for the first time in my life – her lesson plans actually do what they preach (and trust me...I have done a LOT of courses!) Her course is punchy, it’s connected the words to images, it enabled me to the finish my first assignment and do really well.

 

Some tips:

1.       Love to learn and do a course like Carens'.

      2.       If you want a great story then use this formula

               (Character + want) / obstacles = story

 

3.       Don’t try to impress or show off – write what you know, with words you know.

4.       Edit till it hurts, then delete, edit, re-read, print off, read, ask someone else to read, edit and then publish.

      

       5.       Dream big and walk tall!

You that phrase; "those who can't teach" well in relation  to Caren its' "those who can have a duty to teach." Maybe someday when I write some sort of a TV treatment or book or you might even pop along to my book signing. I don’t know much but I know one thing for sure.....if I keep learning from Caren then you better watch this space for my future successes. Dreamer – tick!

 

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Generation Y and the 4th of July

“Mom, do you dream in black and white?” This was often asked by me as a child. Her generation worked hard, tended the farm, went about their business and to a 7 year old dreamer they seemed to be in monochrome.

“Do you feel like Dorothy did....when she went into Technicolor....what was it like being in black and white, Mom?” again this was another favorite question of mine. My thinking was that if TV was in B&W then so must everyone else have been...looking back now, it seems sweet and funny. I was such a Generation Y kid!

  Mother: “You MTV generation need to realise that life did exist outside of the box....and I have always been in colour, now help me make tea for the men out on the farm.”

Daughter: “Like no way Mom, it’s prime time TV time.” This was met with an eye roll and a dosing of Holy Water and her saying “you sound like The Yanks!”

  “The Yanks” are her brother, his wife. They immigrated to NY in the 50s and came back to “The auld Sod” many summers. There was nothing colorless about them. They told me about John Lack saying "Ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll," on MTV


We celebrated the Declaration of Independence and were told how it honors the birthday of the United States of America and the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. It's a day of picnics and patriotic parades, a night of concerts and fireworks, and a reason to fly the American flag.

 

Did you know the following facts?
· The Fourth of July was not declared a national holiday until 1941
· There are more than 30 towns nationwide that have the word "Liberty" in their names.


Due to the downturn in the 80’s more of my family went to America and returned in the “Celtic Tiger” times, despite things being worse than ever - none of us are going to leave home but we will always have a bit of America with us, so today I would like to wish you all Happy 4th of July, we are have a family BBQ, dressed in blue, white and red, drinking Long Island Iced Teas and I will be day dreaming in an opus of colours while listening to:

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