Managed to write a few more pages today. If I manage to keep this pace up I really should have this screenplay done in a couple months. Then it’s just getting financing to get it made, which, as I have said before IS THE EASIEST PART (see two or three posts ago).

Just kidding, I will probably have to go through one or two or a million new drafts and THEN the money will roll right in.

Anyway, I think I may be writing too much so I’m sure I’ll have to cut a lot of stuff down, but I’m really trying not to do that before I get the first draft down. In the past I have edited as I wrote, but I want to see what happens if I just put absolutely everything that comes to mind on the page and go from there.

I also managed to play some Skyward Sword. I’m progressing slowly but surely through the game. I think I’m about 22 hours into it, which I’m sure is nothing considering I’ve had it from day one. I just can’t play more than one hour a day (two every now and then) without feeling guilty.

EDIT: Yes, I’m still looking for a title for this screenplay. I have a working title right now but I kind of hate it.

“Movies are the only thing I make that puts me at the mercy of financiers, which is partly why I make other things too. Writing is free, and I can rehearse a performance in my living room; ir may turn out that no one wants to publish the book or present the performance, but at least I’m not waiting for permission to make the thing. Having a screenplay and no money to make it would be almost worse than not having a screenplay and maintaining the dream of being wanted.”

From Miranda July’s new book, It Chooses You. I find myself with the same problem (only worse - I don’t have Sundance and Cannes awards under my belt) as I try to write a new screenplay. I wish I could make other things.

Almost three yesterday, two and a half today. And so far I like them all. I really like this method, I spend the whole day thinking about the next two pages and when I sit down to write, it’s all there! Maybe slow and steady does win the race.

After watching the excellent PBS documentary on Woody Allen (seriously, if you haven’t seen it yet, go look for it) I felt inspired to start writing more. Woody puts out a movie a year, which means he has to write them all very quickly. His sister talked about how as soon as he is done with one movie he’s already writing the next one, and how that helps him to keep going instead of getting lost in the previous movie and whether or not it was well received.

I have a fair amount of time on my hands right now. I do have lots of things to do with it, but at the moment it’s pretty much flexible, I make my own schedule. With that in mind I decided that I’ll take at least a couple hours every day to write. I do have lots of ideas lying around, which I usually keep in my head until I absolutely have to put them down on paper. I will try to write at least a couple pages a day, aiming to finish the first draft of my new movie by the end of February. I’m pretty sure I can do it, and I’m curious to see what I’ll end up with. I don’t know when or if it will get made, but at least it will exist. And when I’m done with that, I’m moving on to the next one.

Of course in between I’ll be working on my other projects, some of which also involve writing, which is why I’m giving myself a little more time than I’d need if I was actually writing two pages a day.

I’ll post about my progress (or lack thereof) in the coming weeks.