Asked who I admire in the field of screenwriting, I suppose I’d give many of the standard answers. There’s a reason David Koepp makes the money he does. Charlie Kaufman is a mad genius. William Goldman has a career of mostly masterpieces, and Lawrence Kasdan’s credits include some biggies. Then of course you’ve some of my faves, like Alan Ball, Cameron Crowe, and of course Joss. But I just watched the first episode of the BBC miniseries Jekyll, and I’m thinking that Steven Moffat’s name belongs on the short list.

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This evening is the first all-group meeting of my online sketch comedy effort. It will be the first time the writers, actors, and directors all meet each other. I’ve been gearing up for it for some time now, so I’m pleased to finally have it happen. I still have some handouts to finish preparing, but in general I’m pretty set.

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Writing isn’t fun.

Sure, there are parts that are brilliant.  Every writer loves working through ideas for the first time, and nothing beats the moment when a flash of inspiration hits you, making your story a million times better.  And then I love outlining, wrestling all those ideas into an actual shape that might entertain people.  Similarly, editing one’s draft is immensely satisfying, shaping and wordsmithing the clay you’ve previously put in place until it looks just so, exactly how you want it.  I even love the process where you have to go back and make the deep cuts, because you know that unless you get your script down below 105 pages, it’s not allowed to be a comedy.

But the actual part where it’s you, your outline, a keyboard, and a white screen?  That can be painful and frustrating.  Writing isn’t fun. It’s having written something that’s enjoyable.

To get myself through the rough draft part, killing pages, I will often promise myself a reward when I’ve finished.  Or, more precisely, I will deny myself some reward until I’ve finished.

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One of the (many) curses of being a writer is that one never knows when the subconscious is going to toss an idea up to the conscious that the conscious thinks might work in its current writing project. It could happen as you’re driving to get groceries, talking on the phone to tech support, or clipping your toenails. Personally, I theorize that actively thinking about a story with one’s conscious can only generate about 85% of a story. The rest has to come from the ether, and if you try to look directly AT the answer to your story problems, the answer will scurry away. There’s a zen factor, in that only when you STOP trying to find the perfect elusive idea will it come to you.

Plus, one’s mind is even further slippery in that it tends to wander to perfect ideas for some OTHER story. As a writer, you know you should capture as many of those flames of insight as possible, because there will come a time that you wish you could remember what it was you had thought. But what is the best way to keep them?

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OK, before I step too far into the land of sacrilege, let me begin with the caveat that I love Jane Espenson. Not only does she maintain one of the most useful blogs a writer could hope to find, adding a genuinely useful tidbit with alarming frequency, but the woman wrote some of my favorite episodes of my favorite show. If you have the tiniest interest in writing for television, her blog is required reading.

That said, I must now officially disagree with one of her recommendations. Yesterday’s journey to the WGA “Breaking into the Box” all-day workshop convinced me.

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There came a day during college when a friend offered me some very logical advice. He pointed out that I was getting C’s in my engineering classes, but A’s in my film classes. Film seemed to make me happy, but engineering did not. Perhaps, he suggested, I should rethink my focus. Not smart enough to listen to him, I got the engineering degree, the whole time getting bad grades, the whole time not all that enthusiastic about engineering.

Given a second chance, would I do it all differently? It’s hard to say, but probably not entirely. There have been many occasions in my life when I’ve been glad that I think like an engineer. Engineering, to me, is about problem-solving by looking at all the components of a situation, then deciding where to place priority. Do we want this car to be fast, efficient, safe, or inexpensive? In what categories will we compromise a bit in order to gain in other categories? It’s a way of thinking that applies to the entertainment industry, too. Do I want this screenplay to be inexpensive to shoot, to appeal to 18- to 35-year-old males, or to attract a big star? Which of those considerations must I give up in order to get the others?

I’m also glad for my engineering studies because ultimately my computer programming classes taught me a valuable skill when it comes to screenwriting.

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The part of my brain that is good at math behaves like a puppy. It has always come to me whenever I’ve called, and it’s happy to do anything I ask it to do. Estimate the cost of these groceries and calculate tax? Explain the quadratic equation to an 8th grader? Fetch your slippers? No problem! Woof. Far more like a cat, the writer part of my brain shows up whenever it damned well pleases and does whatever the hell it wants. I’m working to build a group of writer/actors who will put comedy shorts up on the web. More on that soon, but for now let me just say that a lot of my time has been going into recruiting and meeting cool people who want to play. Meanwhile, my evenings for this last week have been poured into the half draft of a feature that I turned into my writers group on Thursday. On Friday, I had a rare day with very few responsibilities. A Nothing Day. What does one do with a Nothing Day?

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