This year I want to do something a bit different with my blog and write a post every Sunday where I reflect on my accomplishments for the week that was and preview the upcoming week; adding, what my goals/major tasks are that I’d like to accomplish in the week ahead.

Gotta admit, it’s been damn tough to string coherent sentences together since last night’s attempted coup. Somehow I was able to muster up a bit of focus and work on my new pilot about a loner teenager who reluctantly starts a punk band to save his dad from dying. I’ve got a long way to go, but I’m chipping away at it everyday.

I never thought I would live to see the American people storm the Capitol building and desecrate public property with such ignorance and unrestrained contempt for America’s traditions and values - however flawed they may be.

Seth Godin wrote a post on his blog (Seth’s Blog) the other day about investing in infrastructure so that the future of a community (and by extension - YOU) can protect itself from the inevitable changes that the future holds.

First day back at school for my kids - first grade and kindergarten. I still have another week off before I go back on Monday. Most people get excited about the start of a new year - resolutions, goals, new mindset, etc. Bull crap, I say.

We watch a lot of football on the weekends. The strategy. The toughness. The grace. Seeing a group of players operating as one. And I couldn’t help think about how football is a lot like writing and the creative life.

Beginning the new year with finishing my application for the Circle of Confusion Fellowship, which is due on January 5th. Today I wrapped up my long term goals and explained how the fellowship can help me achieve my goals.

For Christmas my wife and I bought our boys a hover board. Not something they wanted, but it’s something they loved to play with when they visit their cousins in Chicago. My kids are a few years younger than their cousins, so every time they tried to ride their hover board my boys would fall on their ass.

The last week of the year crawls it’s way to a slow death. From Dec 27 to Dec 30 everything feels meaningless - especially in a year when society went on hold.

The best thing I can do during times like these is just put one word after another. That’s all I can control. That’s all I can muster.

A rainy day in Los Angeles is nothing like a rainy day anywhere else. The gloom of rain clouds that cover the basin stops everything (at least everything that Covid didn’t stop).

Well…not everything. As the rains wash away the soot from the sky; I write. The rain can’t wash away the words on the page.

Today marks another anniversary of my birth. Another day to reflect on the year that was and prepare for the year that will be.

Today I want to take stock of the year that was and save the post detailing how I plan to tackle the year that will be.

Writing is like boarding a train: the only thing a passenger can do is step on the train and enjoy the ride.

I’m not sure where I heard this, but when I have a student who is confused about what to do next on an assignment I usually say, “Confusion is the first step towards knowledge.”

Rejection is part of the business of writing. Especially screenwriting.

But that doesn’t make it feel anymore painful.

I don’t know if there are any “tricks” to dealing with rejection. It’s either something that breaks you, or it encourages to keep at it.

Regardless, the sting of rejection hurts. And it hurts a lot if you’ve been rejected from something you really, really want.

Our word “expert” comes to us from the Latin word experiri, which translates to the infinitive verb “to try” or “to attempt.” To be an expert means you are someone who is attempting to do something.

It’s okay to get tired and burnt out from everything. Our fuel is our feelings, and that fuel burns out during stressful times. Don’t try to ignite the flames when the gaskets will blow and the engine will never work again.

My boys don’t know what’s really in the ocean; they’re ignorant to the dangers - sharks, unimaginable depths, etc. When they run into the ocean they don’t think, “I hope I don’t get bit by a shark today” or “what if I get caught in an undertow and drown?”

Yesterday I hopped on a Zoom meet-up with fellow screenwriters across the globe. It was great to not only talk to other screenwriters but to listen to their current situations and stories. We didn’t share drafts of a work in progress. We didn’t give each other feedback on what could be done better. We didn’t prod into stories to find cracks in logic. We just talked…like human beings rarely do.

Humans love repetition.

We eat the same foods over and over again. We watch the same episodes of television over and over again. Our clothes. Our hobbies. Our stories. They all repeat similar tastes, patterns, preferences, aesthetics, themes, ideas. Repetition is safe because it’s familiar.

In my (virtual) class a student decided to write an essay based on a writing prompt I shared with the class. The only problem is that I didn’t assign the essay yet. I just showed it to them and we talked about it for maybe 10 minutes? This student didn’t ask for clarification, didn’t ask for a due date, didn’t ask how long the essay should be (a rarity in a high school English class), and, get this, the student didn’t even ask if the essay was going to be graded. Hell, she didn’t even complain about writing an essay the second week of school.