Thursday, September 04, 2008

Back into the game


My writing has been in a bit of a mess lately. After finishing a (rough, rough, rough) draft of a screenplay earlier this summer and a particularly busy late summer on the work front, I've been bouncing around between miscellaneous screenwriting and prose projects, unable to commit myself to any one of them. It's been frustrating, to say the least. I'm writing, but I'm not getting anywhere.

I had a very relaxing Labor Day weekend, sitting around bonfires and walking on the sand on Lake Erie. I started thinking about my recent draft for the first time in a while. Unlike Cake-o, Onyx and DOA, who've been pouring sweat in re-writes all summer, I've avoided rewriting altogether, choosing to start new projects and exercises instead.

I think I'm ready to dive back in with a big overhaul. Taking a bit of time off was probably the best thing I could've done for this one - the distance has allowed me to get over my initial feelings that the piece was a masterpiece borne from a genius and see it as it really is: a genius-borne masterpiece that needs a lot of work.

I see a lot of things I want to change. Big things. I feel like scrapping 50 pages and trying another route with it. (Is it possible to misunderstand the meaning of your own idea? I think I might have with this one... It's weird wishing you could see what the writer was really trying to get at when you're the writer.) So, I don't know if such a huge rewrite is a good idea, but I'm eager to try, and at the very least maybe it will help Onyx forgive me for my last draft. (Yes, Onyx, I'm doing this one for you!)

So, re-write time now. That is, after FOOTBALL tonight.



Mmm. Goodbye, productive Sundays!