Dullest rollercoaster ever.

Why do so many screenwriters have blogs?

I mean, it's not exactly life or death stuff here.

You sit at a desk and think "I'm great" "I'm terrible" "I'm wonderful" "I'm hopeless" in a never-ending cycle of triumph and despair.

Oh, just like real life. Now I get it.

Slacker excuses:
God, the weather in LA is so beautiful, who can sit inside and type?

At the North Col, low on O2

It was all going so well. It really was. Then everything. Stopped.

My second act is gnawing at the inside of my brain, like tiny mice on a lump of moldy cheese. Is it really set up right? Will it capture the attention of an audience? Is anybody going to care what happens to these characters?

I know exactly what happened. The second scene of my second act was supposed to be a showstopper. Fun. Funny. Action-packed. An exciting harbinger of things to come.

Instead it's just flat. Dull. Boring. Lacklustre. Unshiny. Boooo.

So for the last week, instead of writing whatever comes next, I've been rolling this one scene over in my mind, trying to elevate it to the lofty place I imagined. I'm so far away from that goal... the scene is at base camp, I want it to summit. Damn, I'm gonna need more oxygen.

Of course this leads to all kinds of new questions. Like: Why should I bother? What's so great about being a screenwriter anyway? Do I even have what it takes? Maybe I should go watch TV instead?

Which is why I love the internet. What would I do without the other writers out there sharing their doubts and torments?

Mr Man Bytes Hollywood and his faithful commentors have given me a boost. As has Ms Bootstrap. So go have a look and then get back to work.

And all you bloggers out there, keep writing... so I can keep writing!

Slacker excuses:
My Mom came to visit. We ate, we shopped, we conquered. (I bought some new comfy writing clothes from Lululemon. Hurrah.)

Can you picture this?

I just found a quick solution to a problem that's been niggling at me for weeks.

Every time I sit down to visualize a scene, I can see the place my scene is set, hear it, smell it. But my character's faces tended to be fuzzy. Or worse, they'd be subsumed by faces of friends.

Thankfully, Nordstrom sent me a catalogue the other day. As I was flipping through it I realized, aha! That's Lucy. That's Nicole. And that's Alda.

Now I've got those pictures, and a few more I found in other magazines, pinned to my board, it's a snap to focus my brain and picture my characters as they speak.

I just finished act one! Yay me.

Slacker excuses:
I've been working on my screenplay 5 or 6 hours a day. Am I a slacker no more?