Rereading, Moving Things Around, and Rewriting...

Today I finally got to work on my second draft of Little Monsters. Yes, it is due tomorrow. Yes, I waited to the last moment. I have been thinking about it and what I needed to do with the script and I admit my lack of work on it had to do with not being sure how to proceed - a blockage, if you will... so I re-read my script, and I re-read my notes from the first feedback session, and I re-read the comments from other people who had read the script. And then I started doing little fixes. There were a few lines I flagged that I felt were off so I re-worked them. Then I moved a monologue to a new place and while I was at it, I rewrote it so it worked better in the new place. Then I thought about a scene that I felt was missing and I put it in where I thought it should be. It was all these little movements and tweaks and shifts but it got me moving through the old draft and into the new one.

Is the script done and close to perfect - NO WAY - but it's closer to what I want it to be. After all the little moves and tweaks I worked through it from start to finish and I feel that I can now call it a Second Draft. The unblocking is mostly technical writing - not artistry - I can't get to that for a few more drafts, but that's okay, I am closer now.

Getting Started...

There is nothing like a looming deadline to get me writing. I don't know about you, but the calendar drives most of my productivity. On that note, I spent many hours yesterday working on my Pitch and the first act of my play, Little Monsters. I know already that I have written scenes and lines that will not make it into the final script, but I also know that I have to write the bad play before the good one will come. At this stage I try not to think about the quality of the writing. If I did I would not get much done because I would spend too much time trying to finesse each line. Who cares if I have 3 great pages if I only have 3 pages? I can do that after... when I have the whole thing out there. Then I can go back and be tough on the writing. The Pitch writing was a great exercise as it made me think of where I want the script to go. I often start with a theme or concept I want to explore and it takes me awhile to push that into a plot so actually having to think about what happens next gave me a lot of momentum. I know things will change from what I wrote in the pitch, but it is a great leaping-off point.

I am looking forward to Monday. To meeting the Circle and hearing what everyone is working on. I am glad to have this push to get me moving on the keyboard.

*submitted by Kristen M. Finlay