The hard truth about being a writer is you have to write.  That may sound redundant, but facing a blank page or looking at a major re-write of a script you’ve poured your heart and soul into can often times be an intimating and exhausting process.  Procrastination is your enemy and it comes in many forms.

After my recent win for Play Ball, I’ve been doing research online and sending emails out to places/people regarding my screenplay.   As part of my award for receiving 1^st Runner-up, The Kairos Prize has promoted the script to various producers and production companies.  Right now it’s a bit of the “waiting game” as I continue to promote Play Ball and find a home for the script.

In the meantime, a writer writes.  Before I left forLos Angeles back in February, I worked on a couple projects.  One was my screenplay Twig, which has been re-written several times.  Twig is my baby script, in that it’s my newest screenplay that has not yet gone out to anyone.  I’ve had a couple friends read it and give me some feedback.   Based on their feedback, I re-wrote the script.   I’m hoping with the success of Play Ball, Twig will get some well-earned attention.

My current focus is a full-length play called Circus.   Circus has been re-written twice with a third draft in the works.   It’s a play I almost abandoned because the re-write required more work than I was prepared for.   I re-read the play and although it needs major revisions, there was enough in the overall concept that I liked and wanted to save.  Some scenes worked, but most would have to be heavily re-written or scraped altogether.  And so these last couple weeks I’ve re-imagined the play, kept the concept and outlined a treatment – the basic blueprint for the entire play.  I am still editing the treatment and taking my time with it (probably too much time – blame procrastination).   Once the treatment is complete, I will begin to flesh out the scenes with dialogue.  It’s detailed and tedious work, but I’m glad I stuck with it because now that I can see the play more clearly I’m looking forward to breathing new life into this piece.

A writer writes, just ask American writer Jack London who wrote a lot including novels, short stories, poems and plays.  Here’s what he had to say about writing:

“You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.”