Writing Goals: 2012 [Part 2] — Assessing Where You Are
This series of daily posts, starting yesterday and going through next Friday (M-F), is an experiment. This is not about resolutions which we make on December 31 and break by January 30… or sooner. This is not about wish lists and ephemeral fantasies. This is about each of us — you and me — committing ourselves to ply the craft of writing day after day, to tell stories only we can tell, and to end up with a tangible product in our hand — a completed manuscript. Then start on another story…
Writing is hard. It just is. It’s a lonely occupation, far too often we get lost along the way, we have to fight off constant Inner Voices of Negativity, and the competition is stupid insane. In the face of that I guess what I’m hoping for in this effort is to enlist the entirety of the burgeoning GITS community to create a sum greater than the parts, a spirit of I Can Do That which grows and grows, and pours out into each of our little creative cups, feeding our souls and fueling our persistence.
Hence 10 posts. First and foremost, I believe the best way to identify simple, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely writing goals is to do a thorough job of self-examination, which is what we are doing this week, buttressed by some good, old-fashioned inspiration, which is what is on the docket for next week. But there’s also this: Each day I’m here bellowing at you is an opportunity. You may not be with us on Day 1. You may not catch up to us on Day 5. Perhaps it may take you until Day 10. But make no mistake: This is a Herald’s Call. The only way you are going to become a writer is by being a writer. And the best way to be a writer is to make goals… and meet the hell out of them.
If you missed the Day 1 post, you can catch that here.
Today: Assessing Where You Are
We started yesterday by looking back on what we accomplished in 2011. That part of the process is practical, aggregating our significant events and tangible achievements in the previous twelve months. You may read the many comments from GITS readers here. Today we assess where we are as writers. This aspect of the process is more emotional, even spiritual.
Get curious about your Creative Self. Perhaps ask one or more of these questions:
* Is this where I want to be as a writer?
* Am I writing what I want to be writing?
* What do I want to write?
* What do I need to write?
* Is there a particular story I have surfaced about which I am particularly passionate?
* Has something important happened in my life this year which has shifted my writing perspective?
* Am I in touch with my Creative Self?
* What can I do to be a better writer?
As I noted previously, I am sharing my own part of this process with you and Friday I will make my own public proclamation of writing goals for 2012. In terms of assessing where I am as a writer, I sat with myself this weekend… and confirmed some interesting conclusions.
This last decade I have been on a journey. A combination of opportunity and instinct led me to leave Los Angeles in 2002, my home for 15 years, with my wife and two sons for a more hospitable place to raise a family. We wound up in Chapel Hill, an incredible community every bit as progressive in its thinking as Santa Monica with its own unique quality of life.
Along the way I made a conscious shift as a writer, away from mainstream commercial comedies, my stock-in-trade, to more intimate character-driven scripts. One of my projects, which I hoped would be the springboard for a series of other similar films, was a month away from commencement of principal photography with a terrific cast when a complicated set of events scuttled the project.
Then things happened. I started producing TV. It was what the production company for whom I worked needed. But the pull of movies and screenwriting in particular was strong. In part, that’s why I started this blog, to follow and give expression to my passion in those areas.
Also there was the teaching. When I went to Yale graduate school lo these many years ago, I had intended to become an academic. The subject matter was fascinating enough, but it was the prospect of working with students that interested me most. So when I started teaching screenwriting in my spare time a decade ago, it felt like in a way I had come home.
One of the most intriguing aspects about teaching is it forced me to really think about the craft of screenwriting. I had to organize my reflections and ideas in order to communicate them effectively to writers in my classes. What I discovered was that I had an actual approach to writing. That fueled my curiosity about the nature of Story which in turn led me to Carl Jung. My immersion in Jung’s writing has galvanized my understanding of screenwriting, opening the door to a fresh way of approaching the craft, a character-based approach to Story.
During this journey, what I have discovered about myself is I am fascinated by the act of writing a story. I am also fascinated by writing about Story. This has been an evolution for me and caused me to recalibrate my sense of who I am as a writer.
With the launch of Screenwriting Master Class last January, I gave myself over to the teaching side of my writer’s self, as noted in my previous post churning out nearly 500 pages of lectures, in effect my current take on a theory of Story combined with a practical, comprehensive approach to Prep and Page-Writing. But as I sat with myself this weekend, I realized this: I must find room in my life to write fiction. I both want and need that creative outlet in my life.
So where am I as a writer just now? I hear two calls: To write about Story and to write stories. That was the fundamental truth I faced when I sat with myself and assessed where I am as a writer. I have come to a place where I know what my writing goals will be for 2012.
How about you? Where are you as a writer? How would you assess where your Creative Self is just now? If it’s unclear, a piece of advice: Go into a room, shut the door, turn off all electronic conveyances, and ask yourself some of those questions noted above. What is your Creative Self calling you to do as a writer?
I encourage you to share your thoughts and impressions in Comments. And I put out a special invitation to those of you who are just starting on your writing adventure. We had a lot of feedback to yesterday’s post from writers who have been doing this for awhile, noting some significant events and opportunities in their lives this year. That was great to see. However we all start somewhere. Even if you have just recently discovered screenwriting or are contemplating for the first time giving expression to your creative impulses, stake that claim here today. As a bonus, I’m giving out batches of creative juju to all responders in Comments today!
Tomorrow we switch perspectives, instead of looking back at the past, then here today at the present, we extend our view toward the future… not 2012, but beyond… by asking this simple question: Where do you want to be as a writer?
See you in Comments!
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