Been in the dugout for a while now, trying to bridge the gap between the want and the passion to write.

Then last night, on a whim, I sent The Problem with Being Happy to a dear guy writerfriend, and he and I talked and talked and talked some more about the script and avenues it could travel as a series.  The first REAL sparks I had for writing in weeks…probably at least two months, actually.

So, today, I stepped to the plate and took a few swings at this script.

Right now, TPwBH is a teleplay; I envisioned it either as a MOW (movie of the week) or a two-hour movie pilot to a TV series.

Now, I’m seeing there are a lot of great episodes that can be pulled just from this teleplay, so I’m reducing it to an hour-long TV drama format, too.

Today, I outlined the new script.  Will do a few more things tonight, but the next steps in this process will be to rewrite/revise the script then finally finish the bible for HAPPY.

Once I bring this baby home, I’ll have to find a new idea to play around with.

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It was pretty appropriate that I received my copy of Robert McKee’s well-known book STORY in the mail yesterday.

For the first three days of Script Frenzy, I had been really sick.  I think it was the devil trying to mess with my spirit and get me off my game.  He succeeded, for a few days, and then came McKee.

Last night, before falling to sleep, I cracked open STORY and read the introduction.  It almost felt like talking to a lost friend.  It made me miss the days of my MFA program when my classmates and I would sit, drink, and for hours on end wax literarily about writing.

Afterward, we would all be so amped, we would rush home, turn off phones and TVs, and write until a slip of light leaked through blinds, alerting us to morning.

Many of the points McKee makes in his introduction weren’t new to me, but they were food for my literary stomach and filled me completely.

Story is about principles, not rules.

Story is about eternal, universal forms, not formulas.

Story is about archetypes, not stereotypes.

Story is about thoroughness, not shortcuts.

Story is about the realities, not the mysteries of writing.

Story is about mastering the art, not second-guessing the marketplace.

Story is about respect, not disdain, for the audience.

Story is about originality, not duplication.

Want to know what these mean?  Get the book [here].  If you’re a writer, any style of writer, you owe your writing spirit this book.

As I read McKee’s thoughts on these points, my own thoughts were reaffirmed, solidified.  Things I have been thinking for years but allowed the market or others to sway my thoughts had been made firm again.

I went to bed with McKee’s words swirling about my head and my latest screenplay idea beating in my heart.

I was excited for the fourth day of Script Frenzy, for I would start a new screenplay – negative thoughts be damned.

The goal of Script Frenzy is to write a 100-page screenplay in 30 days.  Sounds easy, right?  I mean what’s 3, 4 pages a day.  No one says they have to be good, LOL

It’s not so easy when you have life and sickness and obligations coming from every direction and your writing begins to seem…so…hobbyish as opposed to being an integral part of what makes you, you.

So, today, I vowed to do coffee first and writing second.  NOTHING else would get done if I didn’t get pages written on the script.

I read through my outline I wrote a week ago and I charted what parts I wanted to get done by what dates to insure a script was done by the end of the month.

I sat and thought about my characters and the storyline.

I remembered McKee’s words.

And I wrote.

And I’m pleased.

Today, I wrote 21 pages. I’m 1/5 of the way through the 100 pages though in the end, I’m worried more about having a story written than having exactly 100 pages written.

Writing is on the agenda tomorrow.

McKee is on the agenda as bedtime reading.

Maybe he’ll inspire me again.

We shall see.

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