I'LL LET YOU KNOW!!

             I’ve written before about cleaning out files, boxes, etc. and finding all kinds of things.  Well, it’s happened again!

            I know this is odd, but in ancient times I tended to be a paper hoarder.  Like, for all the years I worked in offices, whenever there was an over abundance of paper, like letterhead, or anything related to a completed project, or outdated surpluses, I would bring it home and use it for writing projects when I was working on drafts, or anything that wasn’t a finished project.  The stockpile has dwindled over the past few years since I haven’t been occupied with office work since 2010.  But every once in a while, I stumble over a new cache.  That happened recently.

            For a little more context.  I’ve been writing, one thing or the other since I was in 4^th grade.  I remember writing a little book about farms (since as I’ve mentioned before, my early childhood was spent a great deal of time on farms).  I remember that project particularly well cause it was one of the few times in my life when I got a spanking from my Dad.  Mom usually did the spankings.  Anyway, in this little book I also did the illustrations, one of which was of a horse pooping and peeing.  That drawing evidentially offended Dad, never understood why.

            Anyway, back to the story.

            I was cleaning out a file drawer and came across an old project that I have absolutely no memory of.  And the problem is, it was obviously a very big project. 

            There is a fairly large stack of papers in this project.  Some is handwritten, and some is typed.  The project is evidentially a script I was writing, probably originally intended for a TV production, I don’t really know since I have no memory of doing this.  But it is definitely my project as the handwritten pages are my handwriting.

            I have all the stages of writing this project.  A general outline of the story.  A specific outline scene by scene.  The rough draft of the script. The final typing of the script.  Goodness, I must have been very serious!!

 

 

            In addition, in the file I found a document from the ‘Writers Guild of America East’ which is evidentially an organization that registers your project for ownership protection.  I looked them up online and at least in theory, they do exist beyond just the very old hard copy document I have in the file. 

            I’m trying to figure out a timeline on this project, because again, I have no memory of spending this much time on this project.  There are two key indicators of the timing. 

            One is the draft paper on which this tome is written.  There are 3. 

One is the 1985 Welcome Letter to Morning Glory riders. Morning Glory was a fundraising event of the Miami Group of the Sierra Club of which I eventually became the president.  The Morning Glory was a bike ride that wandered the streets of Cincinnati at 4 AM.  It was a 25-mile ride that ended with breakfast.  The 1985 ride was the second ride over a span of approximately 20 years.  I know it was the second because the ride that year ended at Grammers Restaurant for breakfast, a restaurant that has long since faded into the sunset.  The first ride ended at Arnold's Pub, which is still in business.

The second draft paper is letterhead from the Friends of Cincinnati Parks, Inc.  Not sure how I got a boat load of this paper, but my name is listed as a Trustee member.  Again, I don’t remember sitting on this Board, but it was probably during the time that I was president of the Miami Group.

Third was letterhead from Jennifer Thie, MD.  This is letterhead was from her original practice.  From 1989-1992 I was director of her second practice, The Crescent Women’s Medical Group.  A multi-specialty group practice that was sold off to another group a few years after I left the practice.  I must have gotten a box of her outdated letterhead just to help clear the clutter.

Then, the other time indicator is the story itself.  From 1973-1975 I lived in Alaska.  One of the great adventures of the era, was friends I made who lived full time in the bush.   In my script I’ve taken the setting and created my own story line with characters, events, etc.  What cracks me up the most is how I named the characters.  The names are all family and friend names but applied not to whom the name actually belongs.  For example, the main male character is named Ted, my Dad’s name, but he is not my dad in this story. 

I must have started this project sometime after 1988 because there are Pete, Kate and Josh characters in the story line, but not as my husband and step-children. 

So, now I am in a quandary.  What do I do with this???  I cannot throw it out!!!  Do I want to continue my work on it? 

I’ll let you know.