I am in the process of trying, once again, to become a screenwriter. It ain’t easy, but this time I’m getting help. I have enrolled in a mentorship program with a Hollywood professionals, Chris Soth, and that led me to program on creative content from Philippa Burgess. This, I am sure, is a good way to go.
But it is still a long shot. The biggest challenge right now is taking away time from family to make this happen. Family can be demanding, and deserves its time. I don’t want to short change anybody or miss anything. Still, I want to take care of me.
The other big distraction is work, and I do need my day job. I have never been busier at work in my life. I have never been more productive, either, I should add—all my productivity tricks are actually working.
This blog entry is not a great example of my best writing, but it keeps me in the game, at least mentally. I have had some interesting posts, and I’m sure I’ll have more. In the meantime, I’m also working on a memoir piece I hope to get published somewhere. Did you know that Amy Tan’s original stories that evolved into The Joy Luck Club were published in a regional magazine, and then noticed by an agent? Well, they were.
For the screenplay mentorship, I’m currently working on a list of movie ideas, trying to train my brain to think in that format.
I’ve written novels in the past, and I’m also thinking about starting a new one, on top of all this activity. I’m thinking of writing a thriller, which would be fun, but I also think funny stuff is wired into my brain, and I may go for a comedic novel, or a funny thriller. Probably a latter because the former can simply mean that everyone gets married at the end, as in “Much Ado About Nothing.” With the latter, you get to kill people off, but crack a bunch of jokes along the way, rather in the way that Die Hard is a much better Hamlet than Hamlet was.