Hey y'all! So back when I blogged in January, defending the month and mentioning by attempt at tackling the screenplay format, well I'm happy to report a screenplay has been written. It's adapted as a pilot for a TV show and I sent it out to a TV/film director-writer friend, fully expecting him to come back with 'yeah, it needs serious work'. I was ready for that :) - but it seems to have gone done well - and I have to confess, that feels good. A boost of confidence never hurt anyone, though getting more expert opinions on the same piece is always healthy.
With that in mind - and being aware of my goal to engage more with writerly activities and writers themselves - I had a gander at 'Meetup' and will be giving it a go. That is to say, I shall join one of the groups and mosey-on-down to one of their meet-ups. I am particularly interested in a writing group that has an emphasis on critiquing. Sure, that's scary as hell but it's gotta be done. I stumbled on one group that described itself as being a group for writers who wanted to write with other writers and that the set up is to meet somewhere and just quietly write together in the same space. No talking apparently. Granted the aim of this is to make sure you get the words out - the first and imperative act. But I also read that with a loud 'huh?!' escaping me lips cos I thought that sounded kind of a bummer... particularly as it stated that socialising was optional and dependent on the organiser. Victorian boarding school much? Heck, each to their own. But my part in this scenario would have played out thus:
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| Ok! I'm ready and raring to go- |
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| Find a seat. No talking. |
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| HUH?! |
But if you're like me and find you've inadvertently spent all your years pretty much writing by yourself, in your own cubby hole, you can check it out too. I'm looking forward to reporting on my findings once I've been to one and I keep at it.
Other news, I've passed the 50K mark for the novel that I'm currently penning. It's set in Ancient Greece - I know! SHOCKER. I'm not giving anything else away but if you're truly a soul-brethren of mine, just the mention of 'Ancient Greece' would have you on board, right? I'm right, right? I'm also tempted to do an audio-book reading for it because I needs to be expanding my voice-over portfolio anyhow. It's kind of a milestone for me, either way, because I've not got to the 50K mark so swiftly in my entire life. If I keep this up, I would have finished writing a novel within a year. That's huge deal for me. *Selfie high-five* (I have no idea how that works ><)
I know, I've blogged all about 'me, me, me.' But honestly, the lesson I've taken away from all of this is: 'Just go with it.' (**cliche alert**) I had put off writing a screenplay for years - technically since graduating uni
- I don't know the screenplay format/I haven't studied it enough
- I don't have a solid enough/clear enough idea
- I don't know who I am writing it for/what the market would be
- I should only be focussing on fiction writing, screenwriting is a whole other discipline'
- yada yada yada - the list can go on.
And with regards to the novel writing, the same patterns:
- I can't write two novels at once
- I won't be able to plot well if I'm working on more than one story
- There aren't enough hours in the day
- You're betraying the first novel (no jokes, honestly, particularly if it's your 'first love' novel)
It will sound familiar to so many of you. Just throw it all out of the window. ALL. of. it. And send out the manuscript(s) to others once you realise all you're doing is tweaking minor words and not really editing it at all. It's ready to be seen by other eyes then. If only to get your mind off of it and let someone else deal with it/pick it apart.
I'm going to meet with my writer-director friend next week to discuss the script and so I'll have more take-aways. If nothing else comes of this script itself, one lesson it did give me: I can do it. All the excuses in the world got nothing on me.
Oh my, I sound inspired. Bets on how long that'll last? :) Psssht!
PS - I know I said I'd write something about 'My faves' in my last post - I'll get on to that!
A cup of soothing Darjeeling while Benjamin Francis Leftwich's 'Shine' plays. Only because I'm into this song this month.