Writing The Malaise Away

It’s been a crazy six months since my daughter was born, and I’m only just starting to get back into the grind of writing these screenplays I’ve got sitting around on my computer. I remain hopeful even though progress is dubious at best.

There’s the revenge western that seems to be in a continual state of rewrite; the more I tweak, the more there is to tweak. I’ve got a cynical romantic comedy that I’m writing that I’m pretty enthused about, but can’t seem to lock down in terms of plot. This has slowed the momentum considerably. I’ve got a sci-fi mobster flick I’m tossing about in the idea stage. Pretty stoked about that one, but it suffers from the same issues that the romantic comedy currently faces. And then there are at least three to four ideas that are merely “what-ifs” and “hey wouldn’t it be cools.” I’ve also got some produced projects I’m working on parallel to this, but those are shorter form and are not the most favorably received.

All of this adds up to a form of screenwriting malaise, which is exacerbated by how little time I have to devote to the act of writing in general (30-40 minutes a day). I assume – like all things – that it will get better, and I push forward with that in mind. After all, if this weren’t my jam I would have given up by now.

There are a few bright spots in all of this that might be worth pointing out (presented without organization):

  • Making silly noises/faces with my daughter is a REALLY fun distraction from my writing.
  • That cynical romantic comedy I’m working on has been really fun to write, oddly enough.
  • Despite poor reception, I’m having a blast writing those aforementioned projects. The two key characters have a voice that’s fun to play with and subvert. I can’t wait to see where they end up!
  • Interacting with writers on social media. It’s nice to chat (however briefly) with people who write for a living.
  • Daughter is starting to crawl.
  • Met John August and Craig Mazin during the taping of the 100th episode of their podcast. That was encouraging in ways I should probably know how to describe as an aspiring writer but don’t.
  • My daughter and I will be playing with her toys on the floor and she’ll look up at me and wait for me to make eye contact before assaulting me with perhaps the most devious smile I have ever seen….and then falling over.
  • I’ve been reading a bunch of screenplays. Those suckers can be kind of tough to find. Well, the ones I want to read, that is.

Huh.

May have just written myself out of that malaise.

Okay. Back to the busy.