Some Covers Should not be Made

Like a country version of Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy." What? I know, right.

I did something terrible this weekend. I went to Connecticut to visit a Red Sox fan. But no, that's not the terrible thing. I broke my habit. My '5 page a day' habit. It was only for Saturday and Sunday. But I found Monday... I didn't really want to write. So I didn't. And today, the first thing I did when I got up? Played Zelda on the Wii. Well, it *is* on my 101 list.

This just goes to show how important discipline is. Writing is tough, especially something you're not too enthusiastic about writing (ahem, Current Draft). But really, Current Draft is all about practice and discipline. That's why I don't really care if it's crap. It's reinforcing important aspects of being a writer - most importantly sitting your butt in a chair and writing.

When David Koepp told me that the best thing to do was make time to write, every day, I believed him. But I don't think I really believed the every day thing. Just, most every day. Five days a week. Twenty minutes on a regular basis. Not anymore. A daily page count. It's the only way I've made it to 70 pages on Current Draft.

Since Current Draft has hit 70 pages and will soon no longer be the Current Draft (it's going to be done before Script Frenzy), I thought maybe I should start referring to is by its title. I called it "Making It," and it's a story about a teenage garage band that goes on a road trip to Nashville. It's a terrible, underdeveloped idea, and I'm a little embarrassed by the lack of enthusiasm, dedication, and professionalism I show it. And I've complained about it a lot, it's true, but I was writing today and I noticed something. I really liked the sequence I was working on.

In fact, there are a couple of sequences where I really think I'm hitting some good dialog, some worthy plot points, and some of the intended themes. It's horribly awkward and everyone sounds the same and the lack of research is appalling, but there are some things I'm getting right. And that makes me happy, even if my justification for all the things gone wrong is that Making It really is about teaching me discipline. Now it's more than just an exercise. It's a bit of fun, too.