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Today I am working on an animated TV pilot. Age range of 3-8, and writing a spec based off of the hit SyFy tv show "Sanctuary".

This entry was penned yesterday, but my writing got temporarily derailed by unforeseen circumstances. So here is yesterday's blog.

There is nothing more daunting that the look of a blank page/computer screen. Like a blizzard without end, the page/screen stares back at you, knowing it is the three-ton giant in the room.
Three hundred fifty page novel, One thousand page novel, One hundred thirty-five page screenplay, Thirty five page sitcom. Looking at the task from the end point the challenge seems insurmountable, and yet it has to be done.

What is the alternative? Put the screenwriting, and TV writing books in a box and forgot about the dream? Withdraw from the graduate program designed to teach you to be a better writer?

There is a line from the movie Galaxy Quest spoken by Tim Allen’s character. His crew from the TV series realizes they are in outer space and want to go home. He states: “If that’s what you want, just say the word, we’ll go. Pay out taxes, feed our fish, and miss out on all of this.”

Just say the word, put all your writing in a box and store it; sell your writing books at a garage sale. Get a job, pay some bills, walk the dog and soon the echo of your dream clamoring for your attention becomes just that. A dull echo that soon becomes nothing at all.

Plop yourself down in front of that TV watching episodes of your favorite show. Go pay $12.00 to see your favorite science fiction-action flick. And when you shut off that remote, and when you leave that movie theater, ignore that empty feeling inside. The one that says-hey I wanted to do that. Because you were too afraid of a blank page.

Day One

This morning I was curled up in bed with my bible and journal reading in James. "Faith without works is dead." I take it to mean, that if I truly have faith, I would put it into action, seeing the fruit of my faith in motion. Like Noah building the ark. Noah had faith in what God told him to do, and he built the ark.

Day one of the new year and I've been at work since 10 am (it's 5:50 right now), and by work I mean writing.
Editing, revising, looking up screenplay resources on the web, checking contest deadlines, finalizing my writing schedule for 2011.
Oh yeah that,
If I was strictly writing just novels, I could plan out the entire year of writing. The issue I found is that since I am writing scripts, they don't fall into a rhythmic pattern.

I took the contest deadlines I have coming up, and the scripts I want to write and enter into those contests. I then took the two scripts I want to "shop" around Hollywood, and put all those into my calendar first.
The end result is January through April are planned out. That's not to say if an opportunity is presented to me to write a screenplay for someone, I wouldn't take it. I would. I would fit it in.

Today was a good day of writing. I have one more day of vacation. Part of my planning today was going over my Monday through Friday writing time frame and seeing if I could tweak it to get more time in the day to write. I have a plan that I will implement on Monday.

I have enjoyed my two weeks of daily writing. As my stomach grumbles to remind me I've only had a bag of microwave popcorn since lunch I feel like I could push on for at least three or four more hours, and in a way I am.
I will be watching episodes of a tv show on netflix to make sure I have the character's mannerisms correct before I start writing the script for the tv writing fellowship.
I will sit with spiral notebook and pen in hand and watch TV for the remainder of the evening.