books

A darned good use of one’s time

Maximum Z books, comic books, editing, entertainment, proofreading, reading, science fiction, screenplay, screenwriting, script , , , , , , , , ,

After a few very hectic weeks involving once again delivering the inimitable Ms. V to school, I’m settling back into my regular routine of reading- and writing-related activities.

And then some.

I did a whirlwind edit/proofread for a friend’s manuscript, read and gave notes on a couple of scripts (with a few more to go in the ever-expanding queue), and started the “wrap it up” phase of the outline for the microbudget project.

Apart from a smattering of fatigue, I’ve been having a great time working my way through it all.

There’s a special kind of buzz that comes with completing a project, and that’s certainly the case here.

I just enjoy the reading part of being a writer.

I don’t think I can maintain this kind of schedule indefinitely, but intend to do so as long as I can. Luckily for me, the responses to those that required notes and/or feedback have been positive, which helps.

This isn’t to say it’s all been work-oriented reading either. During our travels, I picked up a couple of books at a used book store. One a throwback to a sci-fi show from my youth, the other a collection of short stories set in our host city. Both made for some excellent “sit back, pass the time, and enjoy yourself” time.

I hope other writers get that special kick out of reading, whether it’s scripts, books, comics, or whatever. There’s something to be said for feeding the mind in such a way.

Plus, it helps you be a better writer. It’s definitely done wonders for me.

Thank you for the positive reinforcement

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Got some notes back on the animated fantasy-comedy spec.

I’ll be the first to say it still needs work on a few fronts, but the overall consensus is “I really enjoyed it”, which means a lot. On several levels.

Added bonus: they liked the jokes. Always great.

Despite all this, for as long as I’ve been at this, I still feel a twinge of anxiety as I open the email to see what the reader thought.

Impostor Syndrome? Possibly.

I know I can do the work, but there’s always that hidden fear that somebody’s going to say “wow, does this suck”. I suppose it stems from that initial sense of just hoping the reader likes it.

While it’s great to get notes of a positive nature, I tend to focus more on the sections that deal with what didn’t work or needs work. Every writer wants their script to be the best it can be, and notes of a critical nature can be invaluable in helping you get there.

And a lot of the time I find myself agreeing with what the notes have to say. Sometimes they even help me navigate my way out of a problem I already knew was there, but was having trouble finding a solution. Those are fantastic to get.

Even as I wait to hear from a few more readers, I’ve already started jotting down ideas to incorporate the strongest suggestions from this batch into the next draft.

Which I will then send out, once again thinking “I hope they like it.”

-Just a friendly reminder that my two books – GO AHEAD AND ASK! INTERVIEWS ABOUT SCREENWRITING (AND PIE) VOL 1 & 2 are available on Amazon and Smashwords.

Now available for your reading enjoyment

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Well, today’s the day.

My book – GO AHEAD AND ASK!, VOLUME 1 – is officially available.

It contains 42 interviews with script consultants, and offers a wide variety of helpful advice that could benefit any screenwriter, no matter how much or how little experience they have, as well as each person’s contact info (where applicable), and of course, their favorite kind of pie.

And as the title indicates, this is the first volume. The second and third, featuring interviews with not only more consultants, but also screenwriters, filmmakers, and writers in other mediums, are slated for release in the late June/early July and mid-September timeframes, respectively.

In the meantime, I hope you’ll be interested enough in wanting to take a look at this one.

Thanks for reading, enjoy the book, and have a piece of pie with my compliments.

Clear some space on your bookshelf

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Coming soon to a trillion-dollar online retailer near you!

This one’s been a long time in development, and I’m quite thrilled to be able to finally discuss it.

Over the past few years, I’ve done over 100 interviews with script consultants, screenwriters, television writers, filmmakers, and writers across several mediums on this blog, and my intent for quite a long time was to collect them all in a book.

Turns out all of those interviews in print form would have resulted in a book approximately 700-750 pages long, so the book then became two.

After some additional editing and formatting, along with a little more re-evaluating, it was decided that the two would actually work better as three.

So…

My 3-book GO AHEAD AND ASK! series will be coming out over the next few months.

Volume 1 collects the original set of interviews that kicked the whole thing off, and will be available in paperback on Amazon starting on 22 April.

(All three books will only be available in paperback. Sorry, e-readers.)

Volumes 2 and 3 contain the interviews that have come out since then, with Volume 2 slated for release in either late June or early July, and Volume 3 wrapping things up in September.

I am truly elated to finally be able to offer these books to the screenwriting community, and hope they prove to be both informative and entertaining, as well as inspire you to enjoy a piece of pie while you read them, because what else would match so perfectly with something I wrote?

A little effort with big results

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Who doesn’t like hearing that somebody liked something you wrote? Great feeling, isn’t it? You’ve put all that time and effort into it, and this is the response?

Now look at it from the other side – you read something and really liked it. Did you like it enough to let the writer know?

Go ahead and do that. It doesn’t even have to be somebody you know, or who asked you for a read.

It could be somebody with a script you read after hearing good things about it, or who wrote a book or a movie you really enjoyed.

Since so many creative types have an online presence, it’s becoming easier and easier to drop them a line and tell them what a great job they did.

I’ve done this a few times over the past few weeks. One was a veteran comic book writer, one was the creative team behind a show on Netflix, and another was the writer of a great low-budget horror-comedy. The latter two let me know how much they really appreciated it, while the former never responded, which is also a possibility. I just file it under “one of those things” and move on.

This isn’t saying you need to send a gushing lovefest of an email or tweet; just a few lines telling them you liked it. Probably take you all of a minute or two.

It can’t be stressed enough how much of a positive impact this sort of thing can have on a creator. Maybe they were having a rough day, and then your email or tweet pops up. Mood lifted.

It’s tough enough to succeed as a writer, so getting this little bit of encouragement out of the blue could go a long way in feeling like all the work you put in was worth it.

Even better – being the one who sent it.