Climbing Small Hills
Posted on www.jberryman.com on June 30, 2004.
Trying to write an assignment for ACT ONE for screenwriting...
Sitting here, staring at a blank screen, trying to write a two-page visual scene (no dialogue) of the moment in which a young mother realizes she's lost her child in the midst of a huge parade. Why am I resistant to this exercise? It is the final exercise in preparation for the class. I'm getting coffee, working on the web site, blogging here...this is the moment in the writer's process that makes all the difference. Regardless of feeling state, bow the neck and pound it out.
Watch the scene in the mind...details...write what you see...
Now three hours later, at the end of a first draft. Not too unhappy with it, though I'm sure its rife with cliche. Will rewrite a fair amount before next Monday, I'm sure. But the point is this: felt lousy starting, the mind began to latch onto the imaginative images, and after that, here it comes. Now, there is something rather than nothing, and a small hill has been climbed. Perhaps that's all it means to get stronger...the climbing of small hills daily.
7:38:34 PM 
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