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Despite growing up watching me struggle with the difficult work of writing freelance corporate scripts as well as plays and screenplays, my thirty-something daughter recently announced: "I have an idea for a screenplay. What's your advice?"
I suppose I could have done my best Robert McKee impression and talk about the craft. Instead, I had just two words: "start writing". (I did provide the screenplay format so she'd be drafting according to the industry standard.)
Writing, however, must take a backseat to her acupuncture practice. Many fledgling writers face the same situation: how to devote time to writing before or after putting in a full day at a paying job and taking care of humdrum things like shopping for groceries, working out, paying bills, etc.
But she made a commitment to write at least fifteen minutes a day. A couple of weeks later, she told me she had more than twenty pages of a first draft.
So no more excuses. If you want to write a script, set aside fifteen minutes out of every twenty-four hours.
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