Writing goals

It has been a challenging week.  The weather is just not cooperating in my quest to begin cycling (or really doing any outdoor exercise) and that is putting me in a bad mood.  I only have limited will power to extend to exercise, and this is just knocking me out.  Next week should be better.

But on a positive note, I managed a couple of weeks ago to get one project ("Final Exam") entered into a competition, only 15 minutes before it closed.  I managed to get 1/3 of the script finished, and I really ought to get back to that.

Today, there was another deadline.  No time was specified, so I assume it closes tonight at midnight.  I decided that in many ways I want to get the "Straying South" project finished, so I entered it.  I went back to my outline and decided that it could stand to be a 2 act play, so I reformulated it a bit.  I also reformatted it, since apparently I have been writing everything in screenplay format, not play format.  While I had the opening scene written out (more in conventional story format), I still needed to type it up, and I also worked on the scene to follow, essentially doubling my progress.  By my current reckoning, I now have 4/10 of the script complete, which is pretty awesome.  I sure hope I can get it produced one of these days, but I also think it will serve as the spine for the novel that I started many, many years ago.  In some ways, the play is more of a highlight reel of the novel, since I would have much more on Jonathan's misadventures in Toronto trying to find another job.  What is nice is that the characters are starting to come to life again, after being somewhat inert.

I have to admit, both are extreme long shots, but I have a slightly better shot at having "Final Exam" accepted.

So my general thinking on this is to finish "Final Exam" first.

Then "Straying South."

Then "The Study Group."

All of these have somewhat compelling characters, though probably in terms of how attached I am to the characters it would be "Straying South," "The Study Group" and finally "Final Exam."

At some point in the near future, I think I'll join the TCR Writing Group and perhaps try to get back to edits on "Corporate Codes of Conduct" or "Dharma Donuts," but I don't really have the time at the moment.  Still, I feel I have made a lot more progress on the creative writing front in the first three months of 2017 than I did in all of 2016.