Sitcom screenplay

I finished my screenplay on the 7th and today I revised and sent it in. I have never entered a contest before and I am pretty excited. They are picking the winner at the end of September.

I have also been freelance writing 400 word articles for a website. I just received payment for them and that was pretty great. I have to travel for work this week, but when I get back, I am going to write more. It is a great, easy way to make money.

I also received an e-mail on writing informative books and was invited to send my resume in. Again, I don't have time at the moment because I have had to travel for work this past week and again next week. The pay is between $1,200 and $1,600 and the word count is 65,000 words. I will have to see on that one.

Besides the freelance writing, I am going to get to my book. My mom was just telling met that three people from my area just had romance novels published, so books are still being published. I would love to be able to send out my book by the end of the summer. Now there is a constant refrain!

Screenplay news

I finished a screenplay I was working on for a contest. I am very happy! I was worried I wouldn't get finished in time, but I did. I don't really have more to say. I am a little wiped out. Except for: YIPPPEEE!

Script frenzy winner!

What a long month this has been! It took me forever to finish this script and I am wildly unhappy with how it came out. When I started the month, I was trying to follow Sid Field's Screenplay: The Foundations of Screenwriting. But it was such slow going, that I was unable to. Writing a script is a lot harder than writing a novel. But I won! And it is over.


WOO HOO!

Script frenzy

It is Day 10 of Script Frenzy and I have 3.3 pages of script written. It seems my Script Frenzy is moving at the same speed my NaNoWriMo did. I am trapped in a pit of despair, unable to move forward and miserable because of it. I have entertained every distraction until I am no longer unable to distract myself because I can't stand it!

So enough! I have re-calculated my pages and I need 4.6 pages from here on out to reach 100 by 4/30. And so I will write my pages and stop being such a baby about it.

***Update***
That wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be. I pounded out the 4.6 pages fairly quickly and worked ahead a little bit so I only have 3.5 to do tomorrow. I am not sure why I make writing into this horrible thing. I guess because I have no confidence in myself. I am not sure how I can gain confidence. I guess I will muddle through.

Chapter 2 and a new challenge

I started editing Chapter 2 tonight. I am infinitely inspired by The Writer's Almanac podcasts, which my husband downloads for us to listen to. I recommend it wholeheartedly. I am going to up my editing schedule to get the book done. It is hard work! I have come to a conclusion about myself which I may or may not have mentioned previously. I have realized that my problem isn't about writing everyday. It is not about not being able to find inspiration. It is about wanting to avoid the hard work of writing and editing. Are my edits good enough? How the hell should I know? I guess I will find out!

I have also signed up for another writing challenge, Script Frenzy, where participants write a 100-page script in 30 days. This is scheduled for April.



I am excited because the rules say you can work on a script that has already been started or you can start something new. Either one works for me because I already have a script started and I want to turn my latest NaNoWriMo novel into a script. It is nice to have a choice! I have a week and a half to decide what to do.

Progress report

I wanted to check in with a progress report on the edits to my first chapter. In my previous post, I said that my goal was to finish editing/rewriting the first chapter of my book by last Sunday; I gave myself the weekend. Of course I didn't make my goal, however, I did get some of it finished before running into a brick wall.

I knew I wouldn't finish. It is my nature to do things this way: make a goal and not meet it. For me, the very act of making a goal and at least attempting it is important because it gets me moving. In this instance, after I ran into the wall, I spent the entire following week working on how I was going to resolve it. In the book, Self-Editing for Fiction Writers, the first chapter is titled "Show and Tell." Basically the point is to show your story through dialogue not narrative summary. The one thing I don't like about my book is it's breathless narrative, like it's being related in short bursts over the phone. My goal in the rewrite was to slow down the novel so you get to know the people, especially the main character; she could be you.

The gist of all of this typing is that I figured it out and can proceed. More progress when I make it.

On Edit:
I have finished the first chapter. I guess that is all it took: a week of anguish over edits. I may not survive the rest of this book.

Jumping in

I have allowed myself to become distracted these past weeks, so I have made a goal for this weekend: rewrite the first chapter. I bought a really great book, Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King, and it has been very useful. I am coming to realize that there is a formula to writing books.

I will keep you updated on my progress and let you know when I reach my goal.