As I continue to be insufficiently employed I have returned to a lot of the homebody activities I did before having a job was a real thing. Reading, feng shui-ing my room, "trying recipes" at dinner... is this what retirement feels like, minus the ungrateful grandchildren and dementia?
Of all the things I've spent my time on, wouldn't you believe it, one of them is writing! Now granted, we are not talking some romantic ideal like, "Jessica saw her unemployment as an opportunity to finally devote all of her free time to writing. During this crucial point in history she wrote 12 to 16 hours a day and completed what would eventually become the most critical piece of literature of the century, 'Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei'." Not at all. It's more like I am so deprived of distractions that I have no choice but to actually write and work on stuff again.
Actually, it's not even that. It's that I finally drug my pilot script's ugly, gimpy ass to the 1st draft finish line and am at last able to go back and work on 2nd and 3rd drafts. It differs from writer to writer, but for me personally, I am a more productive and motivated writer when I'm editing and revising rather than starting from the very beginning. Many of the folks at my writing group talk about how much editing and revising stresses them out, but I honestly find it relieving.
Why? Because the pieces are already there. Look, you've got a torso, a couple arms, some fingers, a spinal cord... and hey! Even if they're far from fully assembled, they're at least partially put together for you. All you gotta do is go from this...
...to this:
It's a lot harder playing god and having to figure out what sort of pieces we're even working with. For me, anyway. I don't know the first thing about building bodies.
This energetic burst of (re)writing is coming at a perfect time, since August is when the semi-finalists for a couple of the fellowships I applied to receive notice. By that I mean they are blindsided with an intense phone interview during which they will be asked if they have any other scripted material. If the answer is no, you're out of the game. On the atomically thin chance that I am asked to be a semi-finalist, I would at least like to be able to say with a coy little inflection, "Why, yes, I have an original pilot and a second spec script, thank you so much for asking. Would you like to read them?" And then boom. Champagne and bitches.
To wrap things up, I wanted to mention that this past Fourth of July is the first one I ever spent out here in LA proper. I did the same thing I do every year, which is barbecue at a friend's house and watch someone else's fireworks, so I have no comments upon the unique experience of an LA Fourth of July. It was just as wonderful as every other year. Thanks for not dropping the baton, Los Angeles.
Of all the things I've spent my time on, wouldn't you believe it, one of them is writing! Now granted, we are not talking some romantic ideal like, "Jessica saw her unemployment as an opportunity to finally devote all of her free time to writing. During this crucial point in history she wrote 12 to 16 hours a day and completed what would eventually become the most critical piece of literature of the century, 'Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei'." Not at all. It's more like I am so deprived of distractions that I have no choice but to actually write and work on stuff again.
Actually, it's not even that. It's that I finally drug my pilot script's ugly, gimpy ass to the 1st draft finish line and am at last able to go back and work on 2nd and 3rd drafts. It differs from writer to writer, but for me personally, I am a more productive and motivated writer when I'm editing and revising rather than starting from the very beginning. Many of the folks at my writing group talk about how much editing and revising stresses them out, but I honestly find it relieving.
 |
| Pictured above: the great-grandfather of BuzzFeed. |
...to this:
And then occasionally to this:
 |
| One hot potato. |
...Probably because I don't go to the gym!
BA-DUM TSSS
This energetic burst of (re)writing is coming at a perfect time, since August is when the semi-finalists for a couple of the fellowships I applied to receive notice. By that I mean they are blindsided with an intense phone interview during which they will be asked if they have any other scripted material. If the answer is no, you're out of the game. On the atomically thin chance that I am asked to be a semi-finalist, I would at least like to be able to say with a coy little inflection, "Why, yes, I have an original pilot and a second spec script, thank you so much for asking. Would you like to read them?" And then boom. Champagne and bitches.
To wrap things up, I wanted to mention that this past Fourth of July is the first one I ever spent out here in LA proper. I did the same thing I do every year, which is barbecue at a friend's house and watch someone else's fireworks, so I have no comments upon the unique experience of an LA Fourth of July. It was just as wonderful as every other year. Thanks for not dropping the baton, Los Angeles.
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