Look on this blog for film updates!!
Sarah just finished speaking with Travis, an aspiring filmmaker who has a new film production company in the making. He has been a close friend of hers for almost 10 years, and they have teamed up to make a 15 minute film about Sarah's life and accomplishments. This is a great opportunity to promote Cerebral Palsy Awareness and the "I Am Norm" Campaign. We are working on getting footage from Sarah was in a TV special at age 8, as well as seeking consent to have little Emma be a part of the project. In the finished product, we also hope to share some of Sarah's advocacy events, as well as some information about her book that will be inspired by her childhood!!
Look on this blog for film updates!!
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We had a wonderful time out in the city commons last night. It was very casual, but Sarah wasn't expecting to be photographed on her way either, so she's glad she dressed up! The sculpture inspired her writing, by Arlene Abend can be seen below. We have a little over a week before Sarah's newest project is put on display: After months of hard work, Sarah will be partnering with professional sculptor, Arlene Abend in a city exhibit on opening night, July 26th.
Abend has interpreted a memory of Sarah's and will be representing it in a sculpture. The memory focuses on the bond she had with her father growing up, especially shown during her leg surgery in 2004. Please private message Sarah or Mary Jo Hamlin for exact location. Sarah had a lovely break last week, having taken a trip with her caregiver to a 6-day church class. But now, we have a little over a week before Sarah's newest project is put on display: After months of hard work, Sarah will be partnering with professional sculptor, Arlene Abend in a city exhibit on opening night, July 26th.
Abend has interpreted a memory of Sarah's and will be representing it in a sculpture. The memory focuses on the bond she had with her father growing up, especially shown during her leg surgery in 2004. Sarah will be telling her childhood experiences to over 30 kids tonight at local church youth group!!
Why does Christ's Ascension give us hope? SARAH'S ANSWER: Jesus Christ's ascension gives us hope, because he promised to return. 1 Thess 4:16-17 For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. We do not know when Jesus will return, but we know that it could be at any given moment. And any hardship we face in a particular moment is no longer worth worrying over or dwelling on, because in that moment, Christ could come back and there will only be love, prosperity and great health. ANYONE who truly believes Romans 10:9-10 will be going to heaven, and nothing can stop that truth. Therefore, nothing can really be that bad, because we know that if we believe Romans 10:9-10 (from which you begin a relationship with God), we are able to look forward to the moment of Christ's return. What advice would you give when kids face hardships? SARAH'S ANSWER: Always remembering 3 John 1:2 "Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth." I KNOW that my future will be blessed and fruitful. God wishes ABOVE all things that I am blessed, in good health and am abundantly provided for. Ultimately, I hope that the EDGE kids learn to "hold the hope" of Christ's return in their hearts. As Romans 8:35-39 says: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities (leaders), nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Sarah's story - in particular, the Dream Team's efforts to grant one of two of her dreams - is the featured post this morning on celebrity author, Vannetta Chapman's blog at www.vannettachapman.com. Chapman also shared the Walk With Me Website and associated social networking accounts with her 8,000+ Facebook fanbase, and sent Sarah an autographed copy of her newest book, A Wedding For Julia, now available wherever books are sold.
Hey guys, so my mom just informed me that the workshop I will be attending is in 2 weeks! So excited with my book's slow, but steady progress! Taking my time, reading through very carefully and prepared for the rejection it might/will receive. The workshop is on how to turn your memories into stories, how to develop characters, etc. This is great as I believe - for the privacy of those involved in the book - that I'm going to have to write it "inspired by" my childhood. Either way, I hope that this workshop will contribute to the final project being even better than I'd first thought it would be, ya know?
Creation
White wall White as ocean foam Staring back at me, sighing Lusting after the jars beside it Dried crusted color on their sides And pooling in bright harmony on the wood Vibrating bristles, shivering with elation Comb over the wall, clothing it in splatters and streaks And the wall once too white, too free Bleeds rainbows that drip to the floor And all at once An explosion of light Of creation - of life - shines through And nothing seems old to me anymore While the wall beams brightly at the Empty jars of glass beside it And breathes a thank you before drying © 2012 by Sarah Hamlin, Scholastics Art & Writing Awards Silver Key Award Poetry My creative writing teacher puts his rejection letters around the room to remind his students that 'with rejection, comes growth'. Editors and all them have a job to do, and sometimes it feels like my work is being mutilated and watered down too much. I hate seeing pen marks on my work, but I always have to bring myself back to the idea that with rejection, comes growth.
With rejection, it's a lot like feeding a picky eater. You put things out there, and some things won't get touched. On others, you'll get a nibble, and some, you'll find devoured! The world is full of people with different personalities, interests and dislikes. The more rejection we receive on a particular literary work doesn't always have to mean that it's just not good enough. If you talked to James Patterson, you'd realize that one of the most famous thriller writers in America was rejected countless times, and it took tens of re-workings and resendings to finally get some of his most famous titles published! Same with Audrey Niffenegger, the author of The Time Traveler's Wife. She continued to be rejected until novelist, Scott Turow put it on television. Now it's an international bestseller and has been made into a movie with two of the biggest names in Hollywood! Once, when I was 11-years-old, I wrote a story with a plot that I thought was horrible. Even though most that read it, loved it, I destroyed it. Two years later, I found Liam Neeson as the lead role of the hit blockbuster, Taken. This movie had almost been identical to the plot that had been in my story. Neeson himself said that when he read the script, he thought the movie didn't stand a chance of making it to the big screen... and nearly three years after it's big screen appearance, it's sequel was created... becoming one of the most anticipated films of 2013. Don't underestimate your power! Don't tear things up after one, two, three, or even fifty rejections. Keep pushing it through. Welcome it back, do some changes, send it in... over and over and over. You might be the next Patterson or find your book in the movies. My mother always says, 'just write'. In doing this, you don't worry about the audience, because in that moment, the only audience is you. - Sarah Hamlin It's one of the hardest things to deal with as a writer... rejection. But when it comes to writing, even if someone does get published, not everyone in the world is going to like your work, while there might be a few that are forever changed by it. I've been thinking a lot lately about how there's so much comformity in today's society. Everyone is out to please someone else all the time, other than themselves. In writing, when we send manuscripts or poetry in, we often feel the pressure to please the publisher. And that's good, don't get me wrong, but someone's best work is more-often-than-not from their heart. When things come from the heart, it's genuine. I have found in the past 11 years that I've been writing, that the work that pleases my family, friends and exibit readers the most is that which has a piece of who I am in it.
When I was sitting down with my writing instructor on the subject of my memoir, he said very boldly that what made my story so different was the fact that I was a writer. Throughout my first draft, I was very careful about how I worded things and about what language I used to protray emotion. He said that he knew which parts of the book I had tossed and turned over, and because of that, he found those parts very difficult to get through. He said couldn't hear my voice after the first chapter. Voice is big. ALWAYS keep your voice in there. An example from my disscusion with my instructor is when I would use a swear word to send home a certain feeling or thought. I had censored those words because I was concerned about my parents' reaction to them. But my teacher reminded me that if I got my arm cut off, chances are I'd be saying a lot more than, "oh, ow, that hurts." He said not to over do this type of language, but the more of ME that I put into my characters, the more enjoyable. |
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