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Great News, Blake Laitner has won the Best Director Award from The Cult Critic Movie Awards (Cult).

Here’s Cult’s email to Blake:

Dear Blake, Congratulations!   We are so excited to announce that your project is an AWARD WINNER at the 54th monthly season of the Cult Critic Movie Awards. The full list of selection is about to be released on our website (http://hlc-cultcritic.com/) and will also be published on our social networks. We’ll email you shortly your laurel and certificate, and rate your project on IMDb page (If applicable). Please note that all the monthly Award Winners are automatically NOMINATED for the prestigious JEAN LUC GODARD AWARDS. Blake and I love that word: Congratulations! And it’s made all the better when it’s followed with an exclamation point. So you may ask: “Why did we select to apply to the Cult Critic Movie Awards?” Good question. At WNRM’s private viewing in Oregon, one of Blake’s friends said, “Hey buddy, ya know your film could turn out to be a cult classic. When we saw two festivals with the word “cult” in their name, we knew it was bashert. (It was meant to be.) We had to apply; we won both of them. When something ibashert, it’s bashert. I also love what Cult said about their award winners: “The award is a recognition of what it means to have that founding motivating force. It is much more than a trophy; it is a message that the spirit of the film is alive. The award is a mark of excellence in Motion Pictures. This spirit is felt in every word of a script, every frame, every cell, and every pixel of film produced around the world.” And I love Cult’s logo. They didn’t go with a bengal tiger—which based on the city they’re located in, I would have used—but rather a pussycat. A 1960’s style What’s New Pussycat type of feline. A cute white cat, with big black eyes and a red collar and a long skinny tail framed in a circle with three stars and the festival’s name surrounded in a paisley motif. I love Cults logo background which features five classic cult movies: Frankenstein with Boris Karloff; Dr. Strangelove with photo of Peter Sellers; The Invisible Man with Boris Karloff; Women in the Wilderness, “Mistress of the Northwest Frontier;“ Cult “Seeing is Deceiving.” Blake can only pray for the success of the aforementioned films but who knows “Mr.Best Director.” Blake asked me, “Dad, please to give a “shout-out” to some more of the great actors and crew that made my win possible.” Here’s a partial list of actors, more to come: Cameron Lee Price (The Wonderland Murders, Potato Dreams of America, Roseblood, The Deliverance of Amy Stronghold), Raymond Power (Give Me Shelter, Armed Betties, Kimi), Will Brack (The Gates of Avalore, Blood Money, Wounds Old & New), Nathan Shapiro and Gar Rogers. Well, on behalf of Blake, he wants to thank The Cult Critic Movie Awards for this honor and for the passionate way they expressed how he feels about the making movies. Blake’s spirit is felt in every word of the WNRM script, every frame, every cell, and in every pixel. Blake your award is a mark of excellence in motion pictures. We’re so proud of you.

President’s message for Authors’ Voice For August 2022

‘The Power of Positive Thinking’

Do you believe in the power of positive thinking?

I do.

Try it, you’ll like it.

I promise.

Do you know who also made that promise?

A minister and author named Norman Vincent Peale.

Yes, Norman wrote a whole bunch of books.

And yes, I’ve read Norman’s book entitled, “The Power of Positive Thinking (1952).”

Please don’t ask me about the book’s contents.

I’ve forgotten most of Norman’s ideas, a long time ago.

But his belief in the power of positive thinking remains one of my core beliefs.

It must work, since Norman and his estate have sold over five million copies of that book.

That’s a lot of positivity and a lot of money.

And throughout my life, just like when I played with magnets, I’ve experimented with positive and negative energy.

And through my experimentation, I’ve learned to avoid negative thoughts and negative people as if they carried the bubonic plague.

And it worked so well, that if I found myself stranded on a island of negativity, I packed up my bags and left.

Do you want to know some examples of my experiments?

Of course you do.

Well, here are a very limited number of success stories:

Passing the Florida and the Louisiana Bar Examinations;

Handling and winning complex litigation ;

Running and growing with: a Cub scout troup or a construction project or a legal team.

So why does any of this matter to you my fellow SFWA member?

Well, I’m going to be positive-thinking president of the SFWA.

 And I hope that our leadership team and our members follow suit.

The experiment begins.

As a young man of 16 or 17, my parents forced me to attend a Dale Carnegie Course.

If it were up to me, I would never have gone.

But yes, went and I was one of the 450,000 graduates of the Dale Carnegie Institute.

 I even had the certificate to prove it.

Yes, Dale Carnegie was the author of the self-help book, “How to Win Friends and Influence People;”

Yes, according to Wiki, “Dale’s book has sold over 30 million copies, making it one of the bestselling books of all time;”

Yes, Dale was the guy who thought that it was possible to change other people’s behavior by changing one’s behavior towards them. (I still have my doubts.)

Now back to my coercive parents.

I guess my parents thought I needed to develop public speaking skills.

For maybe my mom and dad knew I had a great fear of public speaking or more likely, one of their friends convinced them that the course would help get me through college.

So at the first meeting I was terrified.

The room was filled with adults and I was still a high school kid.

But I survived.

And I learned not to fear public speaking.

And I learned that I could compete with adults.

And the course helped me get through college.

And I went on to teach a public speaking at the Miami-Dade Health Department.

And today, over fifty years later, I still thank my long gone parents for signing me up for that Dale Carnegie course.

So when you’re invited to do a public reading, like at the Mango Writers Conference, remember Dale, buy his book or take the course.

It’s well worth it.

Speaking about  our Mango Writers Conference, it is one of SFWA’s most popular annual events.

It occurs this month; I highly recommend you attend.

Our conference director, Ricki Dorn, has put together and excellent group of speakers.

I doubt you know that for a number of years, I ran the Mango Writers Conference.

 And I will always remember our members acting out dialogues from Shakespeare or the looks in their eyes as they entered the Jancko’s Backyard Museum (one of our early venues).

Finally, let’s learn to conquer our fears by writing more, speaking in public more, and  by taking a few more risks along the way.

Mort Laitner

2022-2023 SFWA President

cc: Connie, Evelyn and Ricki