Tags
author, first draft, new writer, novel, revise, revision, rewrite, screenplay, unpublished, unpublished author, unpublished writer, Writing
It had been a long time since I’ve posted anything here. 138 days to be exact. Long enough, I would expect, for someone to think I might have abandoned this blog.
I haven’t.
I’ve been busy, though, and as I’ve mentioned before, if there is one thing that will likely get set aside, it’s going to be this blog.
So what have I been up to?
I finished transcribing The Novel. Next step is editing/revision. It turned out to be about 1300 pages in total. My tentative plan is to break it into 3 parts, and I think there is a large section, about 25% of the total text, that I’m going to remove. It doesn’t really fit in with the rest of the story. Maybe I’ll turn the excised part into another volume, like a side-story or a sequel. Maybe I’ll never use it all.
I’ve started an editing pass on Script #2. That finished out at around 180 typed pages. About 1/3 of that is going to have to go. Since my name isn’t Quentin Tarantino, I won’t be able to get away with anything over about 115 pages.
Script #1 is getting a polish/minor revision. That is still the project closest to being ‘done’, if there is such a thing.
The first draft of Script #3 is done. That one I pushed out pretty quickly – it took 19 writing days over 41 calendar days, and I’ve started transcribing it. I expect it will end up at about 105 typed pages, but we won’t know until we’re done.
Script #4 is underway now. I started work on it 12 days ago, and I’m about halfway through the first draft.
This isn’t to say any of it is any good. There’s a good chance that most of it isn’t. But I’ll tell you one thing – having first drafts done for a novel and three screenplays sure makes me feel a heck of a lot more like a writer than anything else. My confidence is improved, and that probably helps with my speed, and my desire to sit and write every day is also increased. On Script #4, I’ve written every day since I started, except for one, and each one of those days has been at least a five-page day.
I will try, in the next week, to post pictures of ‘finished’ products – or the stacks of paper that make up the first drafts.
Anyway, the big lesson learned is that writing gets stuff done. Not writing doesn’t get anything done. Talking about writing doesn’t make things happen. Wanting to be a writer doesn’t, wishing you were a writer doesn’t, dreaming about writing doesn’t.
Writing makes you a writer. So what are you waiting for?
~James