Holy hell, it’s 2011

I know everyone and their mother seems to question the same thing at the end of every year, but where the hell did 2010 go?!  It went particularly fast… as if Doc Brown from Back to the Future kidnapped me, tossed me into his Delorean, and here we are…

It’s been a crazy year, full of emotional ups and downs.  It was a year that saw my wife and I trading our comfortable financial situation for massive, ulcer-inducing debt as we purchased our first house.  We also celebrated ten years of being together, and I’m proud to say that this year we made strides towards developing an even stronger, more open and honest relationship. 

Through some happy events and unfortunately some painful ones throughout the year, I’ve cultivated an even closer bond to my best friend.  Being able to be completely open with others has always been impossible for me, but I now have two women by my side who I feel comfortable exposing my dreams, thoughts, and concerns with.

I got hit by a car and survived… that was fun.

My professional accomplishments, if we’re going to keep it real, were a little blah.  I finished another full-length script (yes, only 1), and while I was disappointed with the overall feedback it received, I have to be happy that Super Ted made it as a quarterfinalist in a major contest.  Plus, I finished the year off by acquiring an incredible writing internship that I’m beyond excited about.

Although non-sport fans may not relate to this one, I must mention the 2010 World Champion San Francisco Giants.  My wife and I spent three days at Spring Training watching their early development, were in attendance on Opening Day, suffered the torture while watching them nearly every night on TV, and were jumping up and down as if they were our friends when they eventually were able to come together and win the World Series.

And that’s all I remember from those 365 days.

Oh, and according to my “Movies Watched 2010” list, I guess I sat through 101 movies last year.

This year I have the following goals for myself:

1.  Finish 3 feature-length scripts
2. Submit 2 of those scripts to Nicholl’s
3. Kick major ass at my internship
4. Finish a short film with my wife
5. Run a half marathon with my best friend
6. Design a tee/sweatshirt and raise money to help public schools in my new city of Oakland
7. Go to the snow
8. Write the freelance articles that time allows and let the rest go

More importantly, I want to be more conscious this year. I want to not be so damn tired all of the time so that at this point next year when I’m thinking back I can actually remember what the hell happened. I want to bust my butt for eight hours per day and then go live life with the people I love. I want to spend time developing our house into a home and becoming closer to those who I love.  While writing, watching movies, and running are things I enjoy, the feeling I get from them doesn’t compare to when I have those important to me by my side.

Instead of  trying to be as productive as possible, this year I’m going to work slower and focus on quality.  And at 5:30 everyday, my computer will be turned off and I’ll be turning my attention towards life.

Making yourself accountable

One of the things I’ve found that keeps me from procrastinating is to promise to share a body of work with someone at a specific time.  Basically, giving myself a due date, but subtracting the opportunity to pansy out or allow a lame excuse prevent me from finishing.

This upcoming Monday I’m going to share my treatment with two other people.  The fear of letting them down motivates me to work hard and create the best project that I can.  They’re both expecting it, which means I can’t do what I have a tendency to do, which is to tweak and tweak and take forever to finish.

Which also means, I need to get back to work.

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TODAY’S AGENDA:
SCRIPT: The Silence of the Lambs – Ted Tally (still need to finish)
WRITING: 4 freelance articles, 2 hours on treatment, 1 hour on short
MOVIE: yep, still haven’t gotten to Brothers, so let’s cross our fingers it’ll happen tonight

This week’s goals

By the end of this week…

1.  I’ll finish my treatment.

2.  I’ll finish a 3-5 page short.

3.  I’ll finish a 300-500 page short story.

… or I’ll die trying.

Writing a script is like running a damn marathon

I ran a marathon with a friend back in 2008.  I was so happy I did it.  It was an amazing experience that I was able to share with someone special.

But, I’m never f*#king doing it again.

Running a marathon requires a day to day grind.  It makes you put in work despite the fact that you’re tired and too busy.  It takes drive, determination, and a little bit of craziness.  But, it’s about setting out to accomplish something difficult that not everyone can achieve.  To do it, you need to focus on your daily runs instead of thinking about having to knock out an entire 26.2 miles.

Writing a feature-length script requires the same tenacity.  It’s such a drudge-filled journey.  It makes me want to throw things against the wall.  It’s overwhelming to think about if you look at the big picture, so instead you need to break it down to what you need to do on a daily basis to move closer to completion.  It’s only thinking of that 10 mile training run that needs to be done that day and nothing else.

Still, for me anyway, it’s hard.  I like crossing things off my to-do list because it makes me feel accomplished.  I usually will finish the day feeling like I didn’t get anything done.

So, I’ve been starting to combat my stupid need for achievement with a couple techniques.  First, while working on my feature-length scripts, I’m going to also develop shorts.  They’re fun, still ridiculously challenging, will help me improve my craft, and they’re attainable over a shorter time period.  Secondly, I’m going to be realistic about my daily goals.  If I’m developing a story, I’m going to set the timer and make myself devote a certain time to it, not worrying about how much I put down.  If I’m writing a script, I’m going to focus on one scene per day.

This way I get stuff done and at the same time, my to-do list and I will both be happy campers.

Back

My lack of activity on here is because I’ve been slammed with catching up on life.  We are officially moved into our new house.  I’ve been knee deep in boxes, bills, and plumbing issues.

While there’s still months of work to do until I’ll be satisfied with how our house is, we’re now at a point where we can actually live and function.  Which means, I finally can get back to my writing routine.  I’m ready to park it in front of my laptop and get to typing.

As far as my querying efforts, I have so far received four responses, which have all consisted of, “We’re not taking new clients,” or, “Thanks, but no thanks.”  I do appreciate the agencies that take the time to respond, whether or not they’re interested.

With seven days left in the month of August, my goals of things to complete by the end of the month consists of:

1.  Spend 30 minutes on queries every day.

2.  Spend an hour on outlining the new script every day.

3.  Spend an hour on rewriting Super Ted every day.

4.  Write 30 freelance articles.

5.  Read one script.

6.  Try not to O.D. on caffeine.

Note:  “Tuesday Links” will return next week.

My productivity has sucked

There are some things that baffle me, like…

Why did I buy this Raisin Bran?  It sucks.  The flakes get soggy in minutes and your tummy’s knocking on you to eat again just five minutes after you’re finished.

And secondly, I’m baffled as to where the hell this month went.

At the beginning of May, I laid out my goals for the month.  My bowl of soggy Raisin Bran almost got launched across the room this morning when I looked back over the list to see how I was doing.

* outline new script -> have only brainstormed

* rewrite Super Ted -> nothing done yet

* write 30 fitness articles for Livestrong -> have finished 23/30

* watch 15 movies -> have watched 12/15

* read 10 scripts -> have read 0

* sharpen up the resume -> haven’t started

* fix up and decide on a direction for this website -> have only brainstormed

* start the summer garden -> reading a book on it

* paint/redecorate the apartment -> painted, still need to finish some decorating work

I know that I have a tendency to not be realistic when it comes to setting out expectations for myself, but damn… what the hell have I been doing?  It’s been somewhat of a difficult month, with things getting a little stressful and crazy at home, but I’m absolutely disappointed in what I’ve done over the last twenty-five days.

Today is a new day, however, so let’s see if I can at least put a dent in one of these goals.

My month of May

Photo by Robert Herman

I’m using the month of May to recover.  Just as if finishing a marathon, I’m going to take some time now to allow my brain to rest.  Yesterday I spent time analyzing what I wanted to accomplish over these next four weeks.

My goals for the month of May include:

* outline new script

* rewrite Super Ted

* write 30 fitness articles for Livestrong

* watch 15 movies

* read 10 scripts

* sharpen up the resume

* fix up and decide on a direction for this website

* start the summer garden

* paint/redecorate the apartment

Damn it… what happened to me taking it easy this month?

Rock ‘N’ Roll

Art by Marc Johns

It’s been a ridiculously awesome couple of days.

I’ll keep it short and sweet.

* I successively submitted my super hero script, entitled Super Ted, to the Nicholl Fellowship, the Silver Screenwriting Competition, and Script P.I.M.P.

* I attended Julie Gray’s writing workshop entitled “Idea to the Page to the Screen.”  The best way to sum up the experience is to compare it to back when I was trying to improve as a basketball player in college.  You can bust your butt doing individual work, practicing and improving your skills, but there’s nothing like going against up to head to head competition. 

I’ve improved because of the work I’ve put in on screenwriting, but when I shared my script and was put to the test up against much more experienced writers, I drove the lane with confidence only to get my shit swatted.  Julie and the group consistently challenged me and made me work, so while it was somewhat of an uncomfortable experience since I was thrown outside of my comfort zone, I came out of it with a much better knowledge of where I need to go from here.  She’ll be teaching a couple more workshops around the country, and I highly recommend signing up if she teaches around you.

* My Brother Mick, the script I completed last year, made it as a quarterfinalist in Script Doctor Eric’s Screenwriting Competition.  Semifinalists will be named on May 10th and the finalists on May 15th.

* I was able to catch a couple movies yesterday, including 1952′s High Noon (wow, great flick) and last month’s Death at a Funeral (so far wins my vote for the worst movie of the year).

I took yesterday completely off to get some sleep and let my brain take a much needed break.  Today I spent time organizing how I’m going to spend the next month, laying out goals and deadlines of things I want to get done by June 1st.

focusing on Superhero

I spent a lot of time on the website over the weekend.  You may not notice, but I cleaned up my categories so hopefully it’s easier to find your way around the available content.

As I sit here in my running gear, waiting for the weather to take a break from pounding us with rain, I’m setting my own due dates for the projects I want to complete over the year.

Right now I’m focused on one thing… the Superhero script.

The “want to finish by or be completely disappointed in myself” dates:

• First Draft – 2/5
• Read draft & write own notes – 2/12
• First Rewrite – 2/19
• Second Rewrite – 2/26
• Mail queries – 3/1
• Submit to Nicholl Fellowship 5/1

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I watched The Book of Eli over the weekend and was overly disappointed.  I did pick up on some things that I want to avoid in my own script, however, such as convoluted twists and a “b story” that has no impact whatsoever on the protagonist.

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Congrats to Jason Reitman and Sheldon Turner, who won a much-deserved best screenplay Golden Globe award for

Looking Back at 2009 and Forward to 2010…

My wife is not down with the whole New Year Resolution thing, and I understand her point that we should be able to set goals and make changes in our lives without waiting for the first of the year.

I much more symbolic, however, and I love looking back of things I did well, cool experiences I had, as well as mistakes I made and bullshit that happened over the year. Maybe it helps make me feel alive, I don’t know.

Overall, 2009 was incredible.

*ran a marathon with my closest friend
*quit my job to pursue writing
*went to baseball spring training
*went camping twice, wine tasting approximately seventeen times
*was a semifinalist in the Silver Screenwriting Competition
*made it to the second round of the CS Expo Short Scene Contest
*sat through my first pitch sessions
*landed a freelance writing position
*took a trip to New York

Not too shabby. Now that I’ve nearly gotten over being self-conscious about being a writer, I’m ready to step it up a notch in the coming year.

I don’t need to consciously remind myself to enjoy more time with the people close to me, so my goals for the upcoming year are to:

*complete two feature-length scripts and query/pitch them
*enter two contests
*complete my short project
*redesign own website/blog
*put more money away for a home purchase
*go wine tasting eighteen times instead of seventeen

2010 is going to be a good one.