Can’t talk. Busy.

Mega-shorty post today.

Got some incredibly helpful notes for the animated fantasy-comedy, so some major revising is in progress.

Bonus – one set of notes was from a longtime associate who’s always been a big fan pushing me to do better. They thought this script did exactly that, and that it really shows how far I’ve come since my earlier work and what I was capable of. You love to hear that – especially from somebody whose opinion you hold in very high regard.

There’s a contest deadline coming up in a few weeks, so I want to make this thing as rock-solid as I can before sending it in.

Confidence levels feeling strong and steady.

Hope you have an excellent weekend that also involves feeling good about your writing, and maybe some pie because it makes things that much better.

There it is!

The past few days have been all about doing some major rewriting on the animated fantasy-comedy.

A lot of it has remained the same, but I can also say that a lot has changed about it, and coming up with new stuff – or at least new approaches to what was already there – seemed more effective this time around.

I started with the mindset of “do what needs to be done, no matter what”. Apart from the core of the story, nothing was safe; not even material that had been there since the very first draft. I knew what was needed and would do what I had to to get there.

It wasn’t as tumultuous as I expected. In fact, it was a bit surprising how much ended up being changed, and even more surprising was how easy it was to come up with new stuff; almost as if some kind of door had been kicked open and the ideas wouldn’t stop coming in. If only it could be like that all the time, right?

This is the part of the writing process I truly enjoy. Just being creative and putting it on the page. It felt like I’d lost touch with that, and got a real kick out of experiencing it again.

Next up – sending the script to some beta readers. Fingers, as always, firmly crossed.

The timing of this burst of creativity was also fortuitous because I’ve been feeling very non-productive lately, so this was a nice remedy for that. Being able to recharge one’s batteries is an underrated skill.

With this rewrite now in the past, I can now focus on a few projects that got put on hold because of it.

Looking forward to taking on all of them.

Fingers + brain + keyboard

Another shorty this week. I’ve been busy on several fronts, including the latest round of work on the animated fantasy-comedy.

Several sets of extremely helpful notes have been received. I’m quite happy with how it’s coming along. Definitely feels like a stronger script.

When it’s ready, off it goes to another batch of readers, which will most likely result in another draft after that.

I’d initially decided to skip contests this year, but am still on the fence about the Nicholl. One deciding factor is their new limit of total number of entries at 5500 (currently standing at a smidge above 650 as of this writing).

If in a few weeks I’m happy with the end result and they haven’t hit the 5500 mark, I’ll consider it. Early bird deadline is March 1st, with a still-reasonable entry fee of $50 USD, then regular deadline on April 1st for $70, and finally late deadline on May 1st for $120.

And if in the end I still decide to skip it, it’ll definitely be ready for next year.

I’d rather take the time to fine-tune it as much as possible than send in a draft considered “good enough”.

Hope you have a productive writing weekend, and for my fellow Californians – stay dry.