My Big D
Last night, I did something that was long over due. I read a script. You are probably thinking I probably read scripts all the time, after all I am a screenwriter. And while my goal was to read a minimum of a script a week since we rang in 2011, I wasn't following through with the task. I was reading a script about every 6 weeks, if that. I'm happy to report I'm ready to change this pattern.
I had the pleasure of reading Auntie by Deirdre Patterson. Deirdre is a fellow screenwriter in the Connecticut Screenwriters group that meets on the last Wednesday of each month at the West Hartford Public Library. Auntie, her feature length script was a top 10 finalist in the 2010 Emerging Screenwriters Competition.
Before I got to the script I was busy doing my usual tasks like cooking lunch for the next day and then getting myself ready for work. These tasks tend to derail me and by the time it's time for me to read I don't have the energy to upload a script and read it. I could have easily slipped back into that pattern again, but something pressed me to break my pattern last night. I'm glad I finally did. By the time I finished the script it was close to 11 o'clock, not bad. I've stayed up later to watch a favorite show like True Blood or Sons of Anarchy.
Reality check. I'm half-way through 2011 and have not made the progress I outlined for myself in the beginning of the year. Last week, I read an article about discipline and it's link to an individual's success. Long story short, the people who are most success in life have to be disciplined. It isn't enough to have a dream and a plan to achieve that dream. One needs to show the discipline to tackle the hard work that will turn a dream into reality. After I finished reading the article, I let that author's advice sink in. It was hard for to accept the fact that one of the main ingredients I've been missing in my screenwriting is the discipline to do the work. I think I've subconsciously known it, but reading the article made it concrete for me.
Discipline is my big D. I need it in order to write. It's something I have to internalize and make a priority. There in lies my work. I feel like I'm on a path to be more disciplined, however life makes it so easy to get sidetracked. The good thing is I know what I'm working towards, now it is up to me be disciplined to do the work.
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