THE MEMOIRS OF SUMMER RAY

So today, I was going through some very old pictures of our meager beginnings. Wow! I had no idea what I was doing. I had no idea where the story of Summer Ray was going. I had no idea how to write a screenplay that is now nominated for “Best Feature Screenplay.”

Our early years, we were the best at being amateurs.

But we persevered. What we lacked in experience, we made up for it with our eagerness to learn. Our passion compelled us forward. We wanted to be successful. We had a story to tell and we wanted to tell it in such as way that it would be a huge hit. But, not just for the monetary gain. Summer Ray is a ministry as well and we truly want to be a light in a very dark world. We want to bring something to the big screen that people can relate to. But even when we do, I never want to forget where we started from. We were so inadequate in our film business knowledge. I had no idea how hard it was going to be, to write a producible script. I had no problem writing the story in book form. But, Wow! Writing a screenplay with all it’s formatting was extremely difficult. Still, I was driven inside my soul to get this done. I don’t know why. I guess it was simply God’s will for me.

Summer Ray expanded in ways I never could have nor would have ever been able to imagine when I first sat down to write the story. Even working on the 7th book, God had me include an incredible piece of history that I didn’t even know existed. It’s like some of these lost tidbits – Summer Ray is able to help preserve. It’s an unbelievable honor to be able to help preserve part of our American history.

I believe we are going to be funded here very soon. It is such an amazing thing to be able to go back in time and reminisce and to remember the past and how far we have come. All the stepping stones and milestones were just part of the journey! Sure, we had some incredibly rough times. We have had some very dark days as well. But even in our darkest moments, God always shined His light through and to Summer Ray.

Even through my tears, He was still there cheering me on – telling me not to quit. Summer’s story needed to be told. The soldiers of ages past, needed to be told. So, how do you quit on the stories of others that are so desperately in need of being remembered? Well, you can’t. At least, I could not and those on board with the project couldn’t either. We are telling stories of so many amazing people – whether past, present or future. It’s truly and honor and a privilege. My goal is tell them in such a way that we bring glory to God. Because if we do that, we will have succeeded!

The chapters on the past of our humble beginnings of Summer Ray have finally closed. We are at the end of that book and we are starting a new one. We are turning the pages to the next chapters, where Summer Ray is actually going to be brought to life. If we gave up during the dark days, we never would have seen the sun shining on our next chapter. To have my screenplay nominated for “Best Feature Screenplay,” when six years ago when it went to “coverage,” I think the script reader had one nice thing to say about it. Okay she had two nice things to say about it!

POSITIVE ELEMENTS IN THE SCREENPLAY – 09/05/2015

“The idea of a woman wanting to help Civil War ghosts cross over to the other side is great.

I also like that Summer is the ‘chosen’ one.”

I remember vividly when I read the report. Sure, I was upset. But what I thought was something amazing, on paper it was not. It may have been a great concept or idea. But it honestly needed a lot of work. I spent the time researching, learning, studying and expanding the story and six years later that same concept and idea – is now nominated for an award. I hope I win and I am confident that I can. I guess the point of all of this is keep moving forward. Keep learning – keep making things better. Eventually – the script will be ready. It will be locked and it also very well could be nominated and win awards. But if you quit, you will never know that!