draft

Embrace the change

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After a slight delay, work has resumed on the fantasy-comedy rewrite. Averaging about 2-3 scenes for each writing session. If I keep this pace up, I might even wrap it up by the end of the month.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

A significant part of this rewrite is shifting the focus of each scene to make my protagonist more active and have her be the one moving things forward. More than a few times it’s involved having a scene play out from her perspective rather than that of another character. Some of these are proving to quite challenging, so I’m doing what I can.

Also factoring into this is forcing myself to let go of how the scene was before and making whatever changes are needed. This can be kind of tough because I initially think the scene is good enough as is and don’t want to overdo the tinkering.

But if it’s going to get better, some degree of tinkering is needed, if not a necessity.

Once I accepted that and started actually doing it, things got a little easier. And because the new version works better, I’m not missing how it was before. The changes that have been implemented are a better fit overall, so anything from previous drafts is left by the wayside.

I’m trying to be better about approaching the rewrite process so each draft is noticeably different (and stronger) than its predecessor, and not “I’ve rearranged the furniture in a slightly different configuration”.

Further proof that no matter how long you’ve been writing, there’s always something new to learn.

-A friendly reminder that the window to submit your script’s info for The Maximum Z 2026 Script Showcase is open through Thursday Dec 17, so don’t put it off for too long. All the details here.

-I’m putting together a list of movie, TV show, and book recommendations to include in the last episode for 2026 of my podcast The Creative Writing Life. Just one from each category, please. Those can be sent here.

And that’s three

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My goal for this year was pretty simple: complete two rewrites and at least the first draft of the new action-comedy.

Rewrite #1: done

Rewrite #2: done

First draft: done

This first draft was the closest I’ve ever come to actually churning out a proverbial vomit draft. As has been documented here over the past several weeks, it was primarily just writing down what was in the outline with a bare minimum of going back and editing.

It ain’t pretty, but I got there. To put the most positive spin on it – it can only get better from here.

I won’t say that it’s bad, but more like this first effort is severely lacking. It needs an absolute shit-ton of work, along with adding in somewhere in the neighborhood of 25-30 pages. I already know a lot of what’s missing and what needs to be added, so no panic mode as of yet.

At the top of an continuously-getting-longer list: fleshing out both the protagonist and antagonist, building on the subplots, and at least a few more sequences to enhance the overall story.

The foundation is there. Now it requires some major work on revising the blueprints.

All of this is going to be challenging, but I’d much rather have an awful first draft to work with than no draft at all.

So what now? Going to let this one simmer while I conduct a bit of an experiment on a previous script. When that’s done, I’ll return to this one, red pen in hand and ready to have at it.

I was pretty certain I’d be able to get the first draft done, and my sights are now set on finishing a second (and much-improved) draft.

And I’m quite confident I can do that.

Rough week. Yet I carry on.

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If establishing a writing career involves hills and valleys, this week was a valley.

A really long valley. With snakes. And poison ivy.

Among the events worth mentioning…

Being let go from a side gig I’d enjoyed doing and a few more “Not Selected” notifications for my short film on the festival front – including Austin, which I knew was a longshot going in.

Sometimes things just don’t go the way you’d like them to, and there’s nothing you can do about it.

Weeks like this can be really tough on one’s motivation. Nothing seems to go right. You feel totally helpless, and maybe a little hopeless.

There are lots of ways to get through this. You just need to figure out which one works best for you.

Some might decide this is the last straw and stop completely. Or opt to hit pause and take a little break.

Or, like yours truly, think that things will (have to?) improve and start working on helping that come to fruition. It ain’t easy, but it’s better than the alternative.

As is my standard M.O., some time was spent wallowing, and then it was back on the proverbial horse to take care of stuff that needed doing, including…

-Got some solid notes on the fantasy-comedy, with more on the way (plus a Zoom call for more in-depth notes).

-Came up with a twist on an older script that would really change things up.

-Passed the halfway point on the action-comedy spec. This “write now, edit later” approach is great.

-A few more festivals to try with the short film. Hoping in the end it gets into at least one or two. Fingers crossed.

I sincerely hope I don’t have another week like this, but there most likely will be. Probably more than once.

When that happens, I’ll muddle through to the best of my ability, then get right back into the thick of it.

Here’s hoping the number of hills in my future outweigh the number of valleys.

Two down, one to go

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The past week has been really productive.

My goal for 2026 was to complete two rewrites and a first draft. The two rewrites can now officially be checked off. I really like how each turned out. Currently standing by for notes on both.

Now it’s all about getting this first draft of the action-comedy done. Target date: Dec 31. Pretty confident I can swing that. If things go the way I’d like them to, a second draft is not out of the question. But let’s not get too ahead of things.

I’d also forgotten I wrote about 32 pages a few months ago – before the rewrites took over – so those have already undergone a quick polish-edit. Now on to the next 70-80 pages.

Taking a look at the outline, the subplot front definitely needs some shoring up – especially in terms of having some. Rather than spend time on that now, I’ll stick with what I’ve got. Inspiration, ideas, and possibilities have a tendency to make themselves known along the way.

For the most part I’m keeping details about this one under wraps, but the small number of people I’ve pitched it to were very positive about it. I’m very much looking forward to when this draft is done and can start spreading the word.

Sidetracked, but in a good way (x2)

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Much as I’d like to give a status/progress update on the first draft of the action-comedy spec, I can’t because there ain’t one. I didn’t work on it at all this week.

But what I did work on fulfilled one of my goals for 2026: a quick polish on my western.

While many readers have enjoyed it, more than a few said it was uneven in tone. Parts of it were a hard R, while others were more PG/PG-13. Since I’m going for a wider range of audience, I’m leaning more into the latter.

(This could also contribute to the script’s lack of success in the big contests, but that’s another issue)

One batch of comments had suggestions of more creative ways of having those scenes play out. It didn’t require as much overhauling as I thought. So I hit PAUSE on the action-comedy and dove in.

Wrapped it up a few days later with the page count still the same. Waiting to hear back from a reader.

Work was going to resume on the action-comedy, but I decided this might be the perfect opportunity to check off another 2026 goal: a light rewrite/polish on the fantasy-comedy. Figure once I got that out of the way, I could dedicate the rest of the year to the action-comedy.

Earlier this year I’d written out a brief scene-by-scene outline that hopefully addresses that which needs to be fixed. Armed with that and 3 previous drafts, I’ve been slowly working my way through it. Currently around p65, with a good chance I can wrap it up in the next week or so.

Once that’s done, it’s all about the action-comedy. With how these two rewrite/polishes have gone, feeling pretty confident about how that’ll go.