That’s from our National Anthem, Oh Canada, for any Americans who read this blog. Probably enough said (until later, haha). But I’m back…only six months later this time. I was thinking about starting a blog on Substack (advice from a friend and former boss) but that will mean posting weekly. I may though. If I did it during Covid, surely I can do this through Canada’s sea change. That’s a good name for it, ‘sea change’ – a profound and notable transformation for our country.
I’m not going to be overly critical of “America” here (although plenty of reason to do so). I know that the Americans who read me are not trumpers. If you are, you know what to do (unsubscribe). I realize that my American friends do not hold America’s current values as their own. Please note the difference between “America” and “American” use. The “Americans” I know have far different from the values presented by “America” the country today. You’ll just have to accept that your country (not all your countrymen) has pivoted. Your country’s values are no longer yours. And the rest of the world is not on board.
This wasn’t supposed to be a post about the USA but your own media doesn’t cover this much. It’s on Canada’s mind every day. I know many of you, particularly in the south, have NO idea what’s going on. And with the media bending over to kiss his ass, especially the WaPo, unless you look to an independent news source, you’ll think it’s all just fine. The parallels to Hitler are scary AF. But we know who the rest of the world would side with, should the US try to invade us.
I WILL stop now. But I would LOVE to know what Americans think about this whole thing – alienating Canada (and Mexico) the way your country has. Hell, maybe you don’t even consider it “your” country anymore. I’d love to hear from you – boots on the ground is the only way to get the truth.
Also, our guest area is available to any marginalized Americans (read: LBGTQ, people of colour, even white citizens who get targeted because they don’t like him) to take shelter while they figure out what to do. We (Canadians) harboured Vietnam draft dodgers during that war, our homes are open to those who choose to flee. Just wanted to throw that out there.
So, what am I doing? Enough of the trump bullshit. I built a website to showcase the writing projects I have available at: BeverleyWood.com – nine of them in various stages. UPDATE – I think there are more now and I’m working on another, see below.
I changed the title of “Under the Pecos Sun” to “The Long Way Home”. I had an American (script person) tell me they had no idea what Pecos meant. I was like… Pecos Bill? The Pecos River? Pecos Valley? Pecos Sunflower? Nope. In the end, The Long Way Home works better, but really? How do I know more about New Mexico than they do? I need to change it to Alberta, anyway. I’m not going to America.
I did finish a new script in the last six months (or seven) since we’ve chatted. Here’s my pitch:
Jesús Must Die (A Love Story)
What if healing the world put a billion-dollar bounty on your head?
Jesús was born in the back of a car under a broken Texaco sign. By the time he’s 30, he’s a fugitive Messiah healing the sick for free in a world where corporate healthcare controls who lives and dies. When social media exposes his powers, a ruthless conglomerate puts a price on his head.
One healer. Two women who love him. A corporate death squad hunts all three.
On the run in an Airstream, Jesús and two women who both love him dodge assassins and heal the hopeless, becoming underground legends. But one of them—his first love—has a secret: she’s been working for the enemy all along.
Betrayed, hunted, and presumed dead—but is he?
I really love this story. He’s reluctant and irreverent, wears funny t-shirts and has a great sense of humour.
It’s a cute story. I hope it gets made by someone. I have already done one rewrite and will get studio-level notes back on it May 14, after I digest those — out it goes. Fingers crossed. Now I need something else to write. Update — holy crap, I mean, it’s almost freaking December, this was written before May 14… I’ve procrastinated a great deal.
The garden is coming along. We’ve had an early spring. Daffodils are long gone, tulips have been here a few weeks and Irises will be out soon, Allium have almost opened, and the lilies are getting tall but no blossoms yet. The cherry trees out back had massive blossoms, ditto the mini fruit trees in the front. It’s amazing how now, in year 2-3, they have come along. I will only give you a few photos here but I’ll pepper them around.
From the garden… I love it so much, starts with Daffodils end of March and we have fresh flowers throughout the house until some time in October. The flowers here are different than Mexico – I still love the tuber roses (grew a couple here! small ish though, not the same) and the Birds of Paradise – but our tulips are incredible, the varieties and the lilacs and the gladiolas and the pansies and all the things that didn’t grow down there.
Update – they keep having these sales at the bulb place, 40% off, AND buy one get one free in the same deal… off season, don’t pay til we ship. Well, I ordered 400+ more bulbs for this fall it seems, LOL. So if I don’t sell another script, maybe I’ll sell flowers at a market stand in front of the house. Who knows.l.
I’d love to grow a lemon this year… but hard to do citrus here consistently. All the damn lemons in the grocery seem to be USA lemons (also going bad on the shelves). I bought some a few weeks ago from Morocco, I have to keep my eyes open. I miss lemons! If you aren’t aware, Canadians are boycotting ALL US produce. We are getting oranges and tangerines from Spain and Morocco. Everything else from Canadian greenhouses, Mexico, Europe and Asia, I got pears from Australia the other day. Lemons came back, from Morocco and Mexico.
One thing I have noticed, and it’s good for the world. We (and many others) are wasting much less food. We’re not just buying groceries because they’re there and cheap, which we used to do. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve bought a bag of lemons only to throw the last few out.
We are purchasing with far more mindfulness (from anywhere but the USA unless it’s essential, OR you can’t afford to purchase other goods) and local where we can (but we’ve always been big on island dairy and produce anyway). And for the next six months, it can all be grown in Canada. We are putting up huge capital investments to build greenhouse farms, so we can do this all year (Canada). And in the meantime, we throw NO shade on the single mother who purchases discount US goods so she can feed her kids. As Canadians, we each do what we can. And that’s all we ask.
I always had a lot to say when I wrote my blogs before. Not sure why I don’t have so much to say now… as you know from the last blog, I wasn’t too excited about how my movie credit ended up, but in the end, it’s fine and doesn’t matter as long as I get an IMDB page out of it. At least I can call myself a produced screenwriter. And optioned many times.
I like the new home for Annie’s sculpture (above in the cacti). She told me her name, but I keep forgetting it. Let me see if I can find it. Note, she has a head in her hands. I think it’s another woman. Annie to the rescue, her name is An Opaque Absence. I wish I had one of her horned ladies in a wooden boat, but I don’t. Which reminds me of something… an old boyfriend of Annie’s in San Miguel had a huge empty boat, open, wooden, long, like 25 feet long, canoe/viking ish – no longer seaworthy – in his yard. We would sit in the smoking circle outdoors (pot) and stare at it and think about it. This was Mexico. He called it Ship of Fools. I’ve always wanted one in a yard. I’d fill it with wildflowers but I think I would have to add at least one mannequin. I’d have to mosaic it, I have lots of broken Mexican tiles. If I could find a small canoe, I’d do it. We all need projects.
Okay, maybe you can help me decide. I need something new to outline this summer and start writing in September. I have NO clue. Just throw some wild ideas at me…
Now it’s May 17, and my FB memories reminded me that this is the anniversary of Laura’s death. It’s been 20 (21?) years since the phone call came — I felt sad all day and couldn’t figure out why. Fucking alcohol killed a lot of my family, I think. That absolves them of any responsibility, but they’re dead, so humour me. As I drink a beer. Sheesh. I miss them all. Dad, Mom, Lu. I did have a nice chat with Uncle Jack last week. He’s the last one left of that side of the family and he’s almost 90. In a great place though, and despite a lot of tragedy in his immediate family, he has three super grandkids and four great-grandchildren now. The last one was just born a week or so ago. But it’s weird almost being the oldest left in the family on that side (although Mary Ellen, Helen and Sara have me slightly beat on that front, thank god, ladies).
I even napped for a couple of hours. I literally cannot remember the last time I napped. It’s this weird vibe I have on today, it’s sad but not overt, and it hurts my heart, whatever it is. I hope it wasn’t the studio level notes, which were a bit brutal, but not wrong. And I have my work cut out for me for sure. Worth doing, but I have to set it aside for now. I signed up for a rewrite workshop – accountability. Starts June 23 for 10 weeks.
The Long Way Home made one contest cut this week, but did not advance in another (a few more yet to come). That probably threw me a bit as well, I was fairly optimistic about that one. I think three people are looking at the script at the moment. At least two fairly heavy hitters. But I am finding it difficult to maintain much faith or confidence in writing scripts anymore (hmmm…like I ever did?). Just discouraged AF today. Update – the one constant is that things change – The Long Way Home ended up in the top 5% of scripts on Coverfly and a second-rounder at the prestigious AFF contest AND a finalist in the Big Break – another one of the five big ones, with 12,000+ entries). So, a reminder, things change. I should be encouraged, but as I’ve said… this and $8 buys me a coffee at Starbucks. But it does mean most producers will at least read my email. This is a tough business. And I often wonder what I’m doing.
Also, I’ve been listening to the old, quiet radio channel, and I just changed it back to the more normal, upbeat music option here on Island radio. And it’s been raining for days (2), but the sun came out while I was napping. And I’m lucky, and we’re both very grateful for where we live and how relatively easy our lives are. I think the whole political situation, plus the notes, plus not advancing on the one contest, may have just all met at the wrong time. I’m usually optimistic.
The music helps (Smokin’ in the Boy’s Room at the moment – a little livelier than Frank at Five – which normally I don’t mind as it reminds me of Dad, but a day of that channel is effing depressing). I also don’t do “nothing” well. I don’t have a creative project on the go, except for fixing JMD (Jesús Must Die). I am, however, actively marketing The Long Way Home and have another 22 very targeted producer emails to pitch tomorrow.
Two TV show proposals (for Canada) are out there being considered, also. I have irons in the fire. But I haven’t had a paycheck since July 2024 (the Hallmark). It was an okay paycheck, but they don’t last forever . Probably the best freelance living I made was the 10 years that I produced the screenwriting seminars in Canada. It was so seasonal, I worked hard six months a year (but only full-time maybe two of those). The rest was time off. And it wasn’t guaranteed, but it was steady for 10 years. A lot of my freelance years have been full of angst. A lot of everyone’s years lately, I guess.
Oh god, I feel I’ve lived many lifetimes. Those were the years we went to Texas and then Mexico in the winters. And I went to Galveston yard sales (the best) and sold shit on eBay. And hung out with John whom I’ve talked about before (who doesn’t talk to me anymore because I wouldn’t let him bring an on-again off-again girlfriend to Mexico City with him at the last minute – one who had proven to be a troublesome and very unwelcome guest the previous visit to Mexico). Not only did he not arrive at the airport for his planned birthday week on his already purchased ticket, but he also ghosted me. A very odd way to end our decade-old and quite close friendship, but who am I to judge? I always wonder if he ended up with her and she murdered him, or something. It’s about the only thing that makes sense.
May 22nd now, and I’m bloody discouraged. I maybe shouldn’t be… but this script thing is a long shot, and I’ve spent a lot of time and money trying to hit it. If I haven’t done it by now, maybe that’s a hint. I keep thinking I will go until the end of the year. I guess. Ah, well, enough of that. Maybe I will, and maybe I won’t. I’d like to think of another (non-fiction) book to write. It’s just ‘flat’ today. I’m ‘flat’. I got nuthin’. Sheesh.
Canada Day (July 1). June kinda snuck by. I’ve had emotional trauma from screenplay notes. It’s actually partly true. I got back some tough notes, and it hit me sideways this time for some reason. Then, two days ago, we got news that SueAnn died – someone I’ve known for 18 years and was in touch with often, given that we didn’t grow up together or hang out much. I edited her memoirs, and that’s how we got close. She was a good writer with a lot of trauma. Her mother and son both killed themselves, and SueAnn herself was bipolar. We don’t know what happened. I was playing an online game with her (Words with Friends) and she seemed very much like Sue Ann, but her last play was two weeks ago, and she wasn’t replying to my messages. I guess because she was dead. I don’t know how or what. I know her dad’s dead, she was a dual citizen, but I don’t think she had family left. Maybe her stepmother in Ohio. We don’t know anything. Her ex is letting us know when he finds out.
I so hope she died in her sleep, and didn’t kill herself. It must have been very hard for her this past six months, the fellow she’d been living with for several years died December 23. I spoke to her on Christmas day, other than that, we just message now and then. But for a couple of months, we’ve been playing Words most days… I will miss her. For all she had been through, she was kind and a good person who really paid attention and listened to others. Never complained about her lot in life and seemed happy enough. Who knows what happened, and I guess I may never know. In fact, probably not.
People die all the time, but I hadn’t ever thought of SueAnn killing herself. Despite the fact that she was likely a textbook example of someone who would. And I don’t know that she did, and this is getting me nowhere. Vía con Dios, SueAnn. I reread the dedication in your book, and yeah, I think we will know each other again in another life and might even be relatives next time – let’s aim for that. Until then, chica. Rest peacefully. A nice, long rest after this life. xo
“Your days are short here; this is the last of your springs. And now, in the serenity and quiet of this lovely place, touch the depths of truth, feel the hem of Heaven. You will go away with old, good friends. And don’t forget when you leave, why you came.”
― Adlai E. Stevenson II
Boy, I sometimes end up feeling a bit depressed or down, but this should wake me up. At this moment in my life, I sure have nothing to complain about. I have a lot of issues and different shit going on that keeps me up at night, but I have gummies and I have Chris and I have a home. And family. And a dog. But I sure do have a lot of dead friends.
I have been feeling old. Just because I’m 70. Which is stupid. But I do feel more invisible as I age. OK – this is the new section. November freaking 24th. And I should celebrate that because I like to be invisible. When I ask why, that’s when the trouble starts. I think I probably learned at a young age to make myself invisible. But that’s water under the bridge when the rapids are raging.
Ok, I’d better update things from the summer.
Jesús Must Die has gone through substantial rewrites and tone changes.
When a naïve theologian suddenly demonstrates miraculous healing powers and viral fame exposes him, he flees a ruthless healthcare empire with a price on his head and a seductive honey pot on his tail, as he struggles to figure out if he really is Jesus Christ.
He’s a reluctant messiah. A little bit Dalai Lama and a little bit Jon Stewart, with a handy knack for turning water into wine. But there comes a time in everybody’s life when you figure out what you’re here for.
I’m happy with it, but I do have one minor revision that I think will elevate it somewhat. On my list to complete by the end of the year, good luck. Haha.
I updated the above about the contest placements for The Long Way Home. A few producers are reading the script. Why it takes them months, I have no idea.
Then we have The Rescue Ranch (written September – November):
A strict juvenile court judge retires on Salt Spring Island, Canada’s laid-back, affluent west coast community, to run a quirky farm animal rescue that her late husband founded. But when she’s roped into fostering at-risk teens, her fractured family and wary neighbours resist – until unlikely bonds form between broken kids, broken animals, and a woman still searching for redemption.
I finished that pilot (TV/60 minutes/Serialized Drama) a few weeks back (and a pitch deck), and it’s out there a bit. I also did a US version on Whidbey Island.
And then, I moved on to Christmas.
I’m really trying super seriously to also finish Secret Santa by year’s end (a Christmas romance). I’m not putting the logline out there, even though the pitch deck and synopsis are done and registered with the WGA. Call it Christmas superstition. WTF, might as well publicize it now. Sheesh – see later adds for update).
When a hopelessly single children’s author goes undercover as Santa to help out her friend, she delights a solo dad and his son, who loves her books. But when Dad unexpectedly crushes on the author at a book signing and then spills his heart to Santa, she’s suddenly caught in a holiday love triangle—with herself.
They are somewhat simple, but they aren’t any easier to write; in fact, more difficult for me because you have to forget everything else you’ve learned. Almost. And the same thing switching from Feature to TV to Feature. TV is talky. Features are not.
So I have been busy. And it’s not like I didn’t think about you. I thought about this blog a lot and how I should get back to it. And it was all okay, because I kept writing until I finished Act I of Secret Santa. I have an outline. I know where I’m supposed to go… yet my mind kept coming back here.
And I have learned, after all these years. NOT writing in this blog (because I don’t think I have time) is going to cost me MORE time with the script. It’s funny how that happens. It’s my gut telling me the story isn’t ready. I have to relax, do something I like, gardening is a good example. But it’s November 24.
And this may be the Island, with a temperate rainforest climate, but only the Feverfew blooms now (I do have California poppies coming up, but no blossoms yet, and the herb garden is rocking, I will take some shots (maybe), it’s incredible. But it’s still not gardening season. I have kale and lettuce too, but they don’t need any attention, and the rabbits are eating most of it anyway. They are why I can’t grow broccoli.
Below is the shot from November – lasted til almost the end of the month!
Anyway, I’m trying too hard with Secret Santa. I know to let things sit in the spring and summer, when I can garden. Have to learn to do it year-round. And the blog has been really on my mind lately. So here I am. UPDATE; A Christmas movie with the same basic plot just came out, so FM, back to the drawing board. Oh well (it’s called My Secret Santa and not as complex or appealing as mine, I don’t think, but going to have to wait a couple/few years now).
Still not buying US goods, still not travelling to the US and f-ck any Canadian who is. Very happy with our Prime Minister, Mark Carney, who is teaching us all to be adults. Don’t engage in the rage bait – just look for new economic markets, new places to buy fighter jets, and new countries to align with. Mexico has wonderful citrus, as does Spain, Morocco. Peru and Mexico have great blueberries. I see us joining the EU eventually. A decade at least, likely more. I hope all of our American friends make it through this tumultuous period, and then there will be rebuilding. It took Germany five decades. I’ll be long dead. What a fucking ugly, racist country it has turned into.
I had my favourite US products, which I can’t buy any longer, and I’m very sad about some of it. Particularly Renee’s Garden. Best in the world. Best seeds in the world, I bought from them for 40 years. Staring when I lived in Guelph and had a huge vegetable garden. No more. Thanks djt.
My sister moved to the Island, 45 minutes north of here. She was on the mainland, but that was a car ferry ride plus a three-hour drive and not easy. This is simple! And perfect for when we need to raise the drawbridge and get out the swords. I hope it won’t come to that, but I think Canada would be like Afghanistan for the US if they ever tried to take us by force.
I did start a petition at our federal government’s House of Commons, to get US (all foreign) ownership out of Canadian news. It’s insane how much they own. The majority stake in Post Media is owned by Chatham Asset Management, a VERY right-wing Republican hedge fund. Fuck me. Why is this allowed? PLEASE sign our petition and share if you can (only Canadians can sign): PETITION TO GET USA OPWNERSHIP OUT OF OUR NEWS.
This is NOT acceptable. Is it? If you haven’t signed this yet, please do. And share! You have to be a Canadian though. Resident is good: https://www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-6821
So, there’s that. It’s open for signatures until Feb 18, and then it will be read in the House of Commons as a public concern. Which is important. And next, we will go after government bailouts for these news monopolies owned by Republican hedge funds (this isn’t the only one, just the largest). And we bail them out, all the time. No more. NO news is better than right-wing Republican fake news published to try to undermine the country.
Ok, a few weeks later. Really trying to get this out before Christmas, given I started in the spring. I’m anxious. Trump’s Heritage Foundation Security Plan was released, and the USA has lost their mind. They have no idea. We’re tough in Canada. He knows that, which is why he will try to ruin us economically instead of goose-stepping their way in. I would get a gun, I would kill, I would put my life on the line before that happens. For my American friends reading this, my opinion is widely shared among Canadians. We will never trust America again. And I’m sick of the bullshit “it’s not MY America” I hear from you — it IS your country. If it were France, it would have never gotten this far. Supposedly 60% of you object, but you sit on your fat asses watching TV. Get out there. Burn things down. Time for the guillotines.
Enough of that. I love my American friends. I don’t want to stress you out, either. I just wish you’d act like you give a flying fuck for a change. Human nature, I guess. This is how it went in Germany as well. Daily, we thank our lucky stars that we are old and won’t live to see most of the pain and suffering. I am very tired of America. I’d love it if we all sold our U.S. Treasury bills. Every country that holds them. And the only part that is slightly encouraging is that there are 7.7 billion people in the rest of the world with whom we can trade, align, and join forces to fight evil. Additionally, if any of my American friends are considering relocating to Canada, I will do my best to assist them in the process, and I can offer a suitable accommodation (downstairs guest area). Not that we’ll be safe that much longer unless he goes down.
I have crows! LOL. I have no pictures (I will try to get one, though), but two are regulars, and sometimes five come. I put dog food, soaked in water, out on the railing of the back deck. If i don’t do it by a certain time and go in the front yard for anything, they caw at me repeatedly until I put it out. I like them, though. I think one followed me in the car the other day. They apparently have names for us and a special caw that means they are talking to us. I think I can recognize mine now.
Here is the little piggy, I soak dog food for them (kibble) he has three in his mouth, going for more.
And now, it’s my 71st birthday. Seventy fucking one years old. Damn. Wasn’t sure I’d get here. I’ll have more to say about that. I probably won’t finish until tomorrow, but I will finish before Christmas. Our dog had a toe removed (cancer), and I have to take her to the vet to get her bandage changed. And stitches out. Then Ruth (my sister) and her husband are bringing fish and chips for lunch. Which is very sweet. And I think she made a cheesecake. And after all that, I’ll come back here. I need to do some photos – move them from the phone so I can use them here. But I now have a deadline.
We have over 7,500 signatures on our House of Commons petition, and two months left (slightly less) to collect signatures before it is read in Parliament. It’s an okay total, we should hit 10,000 but you know me, I was thinking 100,000. We didn’t buy any ads though. Maybe I’ll do that later in January, Facebook ads to show to Canadians only.
So, my big decision this season is whether to continue writing scripts. I can do books again. At least I can publish those. Maybe try a Substack. I’m thinking about a market stand in front of the fence with fresh flowers in vases from the thrift store in the summer. I have tons of flowers, and making bouquets makes me happy. The fact is, maybe we can survive on our small pensions, but we can’t do anything. We need to supplement our income. Chris is starting to write bits again, but he hurts a lot (his back and other arthritis type ailments) and it’s hard to concentrate. And I like doing books. If I could think of another good one – I’d do it. It’s hard to self-publish fiction, so I think it would have to be a how-to-do-something book.
IF I do another year, I have to go to the Banff media festival, and it’s bloody expensive. Ther problem doesn’t seem to be producing good material; it seems to be getting it into the right hands. And this is a complete schmoozefest with set-up pitching times and meet-and-greets with big execs. I have to decide by January – mid January I guess. Stay tuned. You’ll find out next Christmas if you’re lucky the way I’ve been going. 😂😂😂 I waffle. We can take the money out of savings. But it makes me kind of nervous. I guess I’ll just run some numbers. IF I can’t commit to Banff, then I will pivot and quit trying to write film and tv with any intention of supporting us at least. I will still pitch what I have, and if I think of a new one that really grabs me, I’ll do it. But it won’t be something I work at. Decisions, decisions. I just remember an E. Joseph Cossman seminar I took – anyone remember him? Ant farms and shrunken heads on the backs of comic books? His theory – people quit when they are on the 99-yard line. They have no idea that just one more push would do it. Maybe Banff is that push. If so, and I try, then I finally got my $800 out of that course I took in the mid-80s. LOL.
Well, you see what writing does? It’s therapy. I just remembered a Guy Clark song that I will close with. Well, his wife wrote it (with Jim Janosky). The E. Joseph seminar was all about Rocky Mountain Popping Corn… tells me I have been jumping off the roof too long to stop now.
Have a great holiday season, and I might try to do this a bit more often. This was a big insight for me, thanks to all of you for ever even reading my ramblings. See you next year.