I’ve been struggling to write…and if I’m being honest it began pre-Covid, but Covid hasn’t helped.   It’s not like I haven’t written anything this past year.  I’ve re-written three of my scripts (two screenplays and one play).  But I haven’t written anything new for some time.  This last month I’ve begun to write a new screenplay and each time I sit down to write,  every idea that comes to me lands on the paper with a thud.  It’s rather depressing.  When I look back at all the writing I’ve done in my lifetime, I do feel the weight of coming up with something new, fresh, different.  That feeling can be overwhelming which leads to a lack of discipline, focus and drive – all wrapped in fear.  These are the real reasons for the writer’s block.   It has been ” a dust storm”.

Those are writer, Tracy Letts’ words.  He is the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning playwright of the brilliant play August: Osage County.   Recently, the New York Times interviewed writers and they asked each of them how this past year of Covid has affected their work.  Many writers have been highly creative, writing lots of new work.  Mr Letts was in the middle of doing his play The Minutes when the the plug was pulled, with Broadway and the whole world literately shut down.  Read his sobering response to what he has been doing this past year.   I take solace in his words:

Great stuff.  Honest words, just like his plays.  He cuts to the heart of truth.  No shame.   This is where I am at.  I sit most days staring at blank  papers.  I walk around, looking out windows.  I go for long walks.  I listen to music all day long.  I surf the web for ideas and just get further distracted.  I do come up with plenty of ideas, but they don’t jump off the page and grab me.   Something will…I know it will… But for now, these days can be quite miserable.

I’m also feeling somewhat discouraged as I did not make the next cut of the BlueCat Screenplay Competition.  Last month I was one of 341 that made the quarters out of 4388.  The semi’s included 75 screenplays and mine – BREAK AWAY – was not on the list.  Ah well, move on.  Tomorrow’s a new day.

I’ll leave you with this wonderfully caustic quote by writer Dorothy Parker who had a wicked sense of dark humor.  This quote made me laugh out-loud.   Hope it makes you laugh too.  Have an awesome day!  Be creative…and if you can’t….bake a pie.