Mr. Sparky's Diary

09/05/2024

⭐️Thrilled to announce that Academy Award-Nominated Producer, Andrew Lazar https://rocabertiwriters.com/mentors/andrew-lazar/ (NYAD, with Annette Bening and Jodie Foster), AMERICAN SNIPER (directed by Clint Eastwood), I LOVE YOU PHILLIP MORRIS, PERSUASION, 10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU, and many more!) will be *mentoring just 4 writers* at The Rocaberti Writers Retreat next summer! 😎
⭐️ Andrew's focus is on "smart, intriguing material in every genre and budget range."
⭐️ If you're interested in being personally mentored by Andrew in a medieval castle 🏰 in Spain next year, please contact me via the website and we can set up a call, to discuss your project, to see if it's a good fit. 🎬

Academy Award-Nominated Producer Andrew Lazar formed Mad Chance Productions in 1995 with a mandate to focus on smart, intriguing material in every genre and budget range. His debut was the Shakespeare-influenced teen comedy 10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU starring Heath Ledger, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and...

03/05/2024

Sponsor A Writer To Tell Their Story & Change The World

Chrissie (not her real name) is a single mother in her … Claire Elizabeth Terry needs your support for Sponsor A Writer To Tell Their Story & Change The World

16/12/2023

⭐️ A few book recommendations for Christmas... (OK, so it's nepotism, but so what?!) 😂😎
⭐️ And there's more! https://shorturl.at/djtyO (Some books also available in Spanish. :)

15/11/2023

⭐️ DELIGHTED to announce that Rocaberti (www.rocabertiwriters.com) is now offering SCHOLARSHIPS* for a brand-new Retreat next year which is...
A *HORROR SCREENWRITING RETREAT* next October... at a haunted medieval castle in France! (No worries, you’ll be back home just in time for Halloween... or will you?! ) 😎
⭐️ We're thrilled to announce that amongst the mentors at this Special Horror Retreat, is 3-time BloodList writer, director & producer Joe Russo (the Mickey Rourke-starring horror anthology NIGHTMARE CINEMA, the Lifetime thriller THE AU PAIR NIGHTMARE, the Bruce Willis-starring HARD KILL, the Ryan Phillippe, Ving Rhames and Kate Bosworth-starring THE LOCKSMITH and the upcoming, THE INHERITANCE)!
*
⭐️ In addition, 4 Special Horror Fellowships will also be awarded to applicants already working in horror films - eg. in props, costume or lighting - and who have a horror script which they're just dying to get made!

⭐️ What's so haunted about the castle, you may ask? Well, crystals mysteriously appear in rooms overnight; coloured orbs fly around the interior of certain towers; ghostly faces appear in bathroom mirrors, and the noise of the clanking of chains being dragged across bedroom floors can be heard from time to time... what more do you need to inspire (or terrify!) you, when you're writing a Horror Script?!

⭐️ In addition, the Woodland Nymph which inhabits the woods surrounding the castle is also said to have magically helped several writers get their projects in development with mentors who they met at the Retreats this year! ;)

And at this Special Rocaberti Horror Retreat, there will be moonlit trips through these same mystical woods, along with a themed Woodland Nymph Ball, plus candle-lit storytelling sessions in the Old Chapel where several murders are said to have taken place in centuries past... all along with everything else which goes into making Rocaberti what Academy Award-winner Pamela Wallace (WITNESS) calls... 'The Ultimate Writer's Retreat... on steroids!"

COME AND BE INSPIRED...OR FRIGHTENED OUT OF YOUR WITS!

— AND IT'S FREE TO ENTER! —

TO APPLY: Go to: https://rocabertiwriters.com/scholarships/ (FINAL DEADLINE: 12 midnight, West Coast time, on Thursday, November 23rd 2023.

Spooky good luck!! 🏰 😱🏰

03/01/2023

Happy New Year, everyone! 🌟 Did I mention that I have a TikTok page? 😎 https://www.tiktok.com/

48 Followers, 46 Following, 586 Likes - Watch awesome short videos created by Mr Sparky's Diary

25/04/2021

Gracias a Helena García de No Sólo Cine por la entrevista!

  Agradezco mucho cuando alguien me recomienda una lectura y ésta resulta muy positiva. Es el caso de «El diario de Mr. Sparky», un divertido libro escrito por Claire Elizabeth Terry, una escritora, cineasta y guionista muy talentosa y polifacética.     «El diario de Mr. Sparky» es una reco...

20/04/2021

And here I am on Canigattv, an animal TV station here in Spain! :) (Mum looks as though she could do with a hairbrush, though. 🤣🤣🤣)
https://www.canigat.com/PETHOME/PETLIFE/?post=el-diario-de-sparky
Judit Cantero Sanchez

27/03/2021

The Spanish edition (https://amzn.to/3ss7ca9) of my diary has arrived! But I had a big fight (in Spanish) with Mum over authorship... of course, I won, in the end... :)

01/02/2021

...y la versión en castellaño llegará en marzo! :)
Spanish edition will be out in March.

22/12/2020

19/12/2020

1) The book (amzn.to/3aaeHMx) has arrived! And I'm claiming it.
2) A dispute over authorship arises.
3) I win.

17/12/2020

⭐️ And here it is, in paperback, just in time for a last-minute stocking-filler/Christmas gift!! 🙂

Mr. Sparky's Diary: One dog's take on the pandemic which changed the world.

15/12/2020

⭐ I've written a book!! And Mum says it would make a fantastic stocking-filler/Christmas gift! (Well, she would say that, wouldn't she? 😎 )
⭐ It’s a lighthearted look at life under lockdown - from the point of view of a dog. (Which, of course, is really the only point of view to have, n’est-ce pas?

Mr. Sparky's Diary: One dog's take on the pandemic which changed the world. (English Edition) eBook: Terry, Claire Elizabeth: Amazon.es: Tienda Kindle

05/12/2020

I've been off this page for a while, as I've been rather busy... coming soon!! 🙂

23/06/2019

Mum teaching me how to iron.

02/06/2019

I'm back! (I've been very busy moving house and mice-detecting), but I think Mum and I *are* in it for the long haul! (I adopted her three years ago, and believe me, she's been a lot of work. But more about that later.)

As some of you may remember, a very nice lady found me wandering along the side of a motorway in Southern Spain with a broken hip, when I was a young pup and brought me all the way here, to the North! Of Spain, that is. And then I met Mum.

Shortly afterwards, I began this diary...

Today, I thought I'd do a little recap, to remind you of just some of the things I've been up to since then: :)

Went up to couples canoodling on the beach and joined in the fun! ( I wasn't bothered, so why would they be?)

Ate three-quarters of a bar of chocolate (rich, dark, 78%) and kept Mum and her friend up all night watching over me! Why? I was fine. - Although Mum said she nearly gave birth to a whole batch of kittens. (Good job she didn't, as I would probably have eaten those, too as I am staunchly Anti-Cat.)

"Borrowed" balls from ooh - at least a dozen dogs! I've no idea how they ended up in my mouth. And, occasionally, my stomach. Which ended up in *me* being at the local Veterinary Hospital having my tummy shaved by a very nice vet! (Try it sometime.)

Earned myself the nickname: 'El Gambero del Barrio' - The Neighbourhood Rascal - from the nice ladies in the pharmacy below where we used to live. (They loved me, really!)

Won, not one, but two friends over, who had steadfastly refused to let me sleep on the bed with them and by the end of their stay, where was I? Yes, you guessed right! All snuggled-up and cosy-wozy next to a human! Bliss.*

*For a sneak p*ek into my upcoming motivational book, "How I Went from Floor to Bed in Six Easy Weeks: One Dog's Story", please just click on the link below and you'll be sent a copy when it comes out! Only $299.99! It's just 10 pages long as I don't want to stress my readers out, by making them, well... read.

Well, that's my news for now. What have *you* been up to recently? :)

22/02/2019

My relationship with water by Mr. Sparky Terry:
I love it.
I hate it.
I will sit in puddles at the drop of a hat.
(Yet run away from baths, and that's the end of that.)
Not a fan of the rain (which does fall in Spain),
I was scared of the sea, but now look at me!
(With apologies to W. Shakespeare for incorrect use of iambic pentameters.)

29/11/2018

I've been absent for a while, as Mum's been cavorting round castles again, pretending to 'work', but I'm back now! :)
The following is a guest post from Eleanor Graham, a lovely Scottish vet who came and looked after me while Mum was away.
Eleanor taught me to swim, performed cranio-sacral therapy on me (don't know what THAT is, but it sure as hell calmed me down!) and took me for endless walks.
In return, and to thank her, I pulled an entire table over, sending her breakfast flying, when I saw a German Shepherd who I didn't like, went swimming in a river - Eleanor nearly had kittens (luckily, she would have known how to deliver them) and my pièce de resistance was... well, read on...

E: Shall we talk about yesterday?

S: Do we have to?

E: Yes. I think it’s good to reflect on things……as part of this self-awareness week. We had been having such a lovely day. I had even remarked about how well it was all going. You hadn’t been on the lead at all. You’d played with the other dogs and had fun in the sea………..and then…………

S: Oh god, (sighs). Look, I don’t know what happened. I think I blanked out for a minute. I really didn’t know what I was doing. I think it’s probably related to my early dog-hood. You know, like PTSD or something. Yes, I think that’s probably it. But, yeah last thing I remember was seeing that nice lady sitting on the beach, then it all goes blank. When I came to, I realised I was mid-p*e on her shoulder. God, did that ACTUALLY happen?

E: Yes, it did.

S: There was a lot going on. I think maybe it all got a bit much-you know-triggered the PTSD.

E: From where I was standing it looked like you just ran up to that nice lady with a big smile on your face, cocked your leg and p*ed all over her.

S: Well, it would look like that to you. As we’ve discussed before, you are completely oblivious to what’s ACTUALLY happening in the world of dog. There was one big fluffy dog thing on my left doing God knows what, and then there was that Cavalier on my right, playing with the ball. I was pretty
keen to get in on that action, and of course the smiling woman sitting on the beach. I mean, it was all just a bit TOO much. It’s no wonder I flipped out. Right?!

E: LOL….

S: Jesus. It is a bit embarrassing isn’t it. I mean, God! I was just standing there in broad daylight pi***ng on her shoulder? Who does that? I mean, who DOES that?!

E: You do, apparently.

S: It was clearly an “episode”. Maybe I have partial seizures or narcolepsy or something. You know where you just blank out for a minute and do weird stuff? There is no way on God’s earth that I would intentionally p**s on someone’s shoulder. As long as you know that. I don’t want my readers to think I’m into any kind of B**M weird business. It was just a momentary lapse of concentration.

E: You don’t find me p*eing on someone every time I have a momentary lapse of concentration.

S: So you say…………….

E: I have, definitely, never done that.

S: Hmm…..

E: You left me grovelling “lo sientos” as I basically ran away. You didn’t exactly hang about to help.

S: I didn’t think there was much I could add…………….

E: You’re lucky she was nice

S: God, I know. That could have gone REALLY badly. It was a bit funny though, right?

E: Well, in hindsight. Yes, I suppose it was a BIT funny.

S: Hahahaha. God, it was REALLY funny. I “came to” mid p*e and looked at her. There was this moment of realisation, when we looked into each other’s eyes and both knew what was happening, but it was too late to stop or go back. I just had to go with it, and be like yeah, man, whatevs, see you around. I mean, what else do you do in that situation……………?

E: Yeah, to be fair, I think you handled it pretty well. I definitely could not have breezed it like you did. To follow it up by stealing her dog’s ball……….I take my hat off……………….

S: Yeah, baby. You knows it. I’m not called Mr Sparky for nothing. By the way, Mum is back tomorrow, and I want to do something special and look nice for her. I can see sparkles, glitter, ribbons, bows and some kind of welcome home placard. Can you work with that?

E: Yes, Sparky. I’ll go shopping tomorrow……………….