Winner!

30 days, 101 pages (plus title). Yay! I finished. I'm not sure this is the script I want to rewrite and get professional notes on. There are scenes from at least three different movies in it. I will set it aside for a while and come back to it after I work on some notes about a novel. Whew!

Day 29 PM: 96 pages

Looks like only 2 more pages, but really 2.5. I should be able to get 4 more in the morning. And that should be it for this month.

Day 29 AM: 94 pages

I'm pretty sure I can make it now. Was again discouraged on Monday. The story seemed to be trying to go in three directions at once, none of them good.

This morning I woke up with yet another change, but this one feels more right than any of the others and helped me put together a nice scene. I should be able to get a couple more tonight and count it done (until the rewrite).

Day 27 AM: 91 pages

I did get 'caught up' over the weekend. I'm now on track to get over 100 pages by Thursday, if I just write 9 or 10 more in the next 3 days. I'd hoped for better, but I now know for certain that I did not do anywhere near enough work beforehand to pull together something close to a real story for this. My story line has now changed at least 4 times and I'm not 100% convinced that what I have planned now is really going to work either.

So, the plan of record is to squeeze out 3 or 4 more scenes, so I can say I 'won'. Then let it sit for a bit and work on some other stuff. Then get back into it and do a proper treatment before diving into the actual rewrite.

Day 25 PM: 82 pages

Bogging again. Slogged through two sessions of writing - most of the day - for only 5 pages. Thinking about what to do to at least cross the finish line (only 18 pages to go for that), considering I will probably have to toss 1/2 of what I've got anyway. I'll reconsider if I come with a doozy of a climax that will fit.

Day 24 AM: 76 pages

Things are becoming even clearer, as far as characters and motivations go. But I'm still foggy on the plot, especially the big showdown. I guess I'll figure it out when I get there.

Not much time left. Just figured out that I need 44 more pages in 6 more days in order to reach 120. That's about 7 a day. Not freakingly huge, but still scary. If I can knock out 24 or more over the weekend, things become more manageable. We'll see.

Day 22 AM: 71 pages

The rest of the plot is starting to gel a little. I'm still not 100% certain how to get from point A to point B, or even what point B is, but I'm still following the center line on the road, when I can see it through the fog. Filled in most of a missing scene from the beginning of Act 2.

Day 21 AM: 67 pages

A pretty good morning after yesterday's sorry showing. Since Sunday was also not very productive, I was feeling pretty icky about everything. Better today. I pushed the index cards around a little and came up with what I hope is a better angle on things. Got about 5 pages written (not bad). And I think I know where (some of) this is heading.

Day 18 PM: 60 pages

This was a hard week. Several days of limited output and a couple with none. I felt like I just didn't know what the next step was in the story. Finally, I came up with the 'big incident' that felt right and took a whack at it today. It was hard to do, since it was mostly action, and didn't take up that many pages. But I think it clears the way for some more stuff to start happening that will get me to the end. At least I'm back on track for the pages needed to reach 100.

Day 13 AM: 48 pages

Kind of an up and down weekend. Felt really off on Friday. And had trouble getting started on Saturday, but got cranking about mid-morning, before being thrown off track by a visitor and errands. Celebrated the Resurrection on Sunday. This morning I woke up early, and figured I'd get a bunch done. But by the time I got to the keyboard, I was easily distracted and then didn't feel well. Not a good sign. But now that look back, I see that I got almost an hour of writing and managed to add about 4 pages. Not bad.

Day 9 PM: 38 pages

Woke up way too early this morning. But just read. At least I was reading a screenplay: Shawshank Redemption. Pretty good. And I did get a few more of my own pages down.

Day 8 PM: 35 pages

I sloughed off this morning, but made up for it tonight. Not sure if the seen I wrote is really necessary, but for now it fits.

Day 7 AM: 30 pages

Got a couple of pages in, plus some notes about how some other scenes should go. I'll have to be more diligent tonight.

Day 6 AM: 28 pages

Wrote a couple of pages last night and a few more this morning. I wouldn't say the film is writing itself at this point, but it does seem to be getting somewhere. I just need to pay attention and try to guide it where it ought to wind up.

Day 5 AM: 23 pages

With a more solid story, there are some easy to write scenes. This was one of them. And if I focus on scenes where something interesting happens and make it happen, I think it will continue to go well.

Day 4 AM: 18 pages

Really only wrote a couple of pages, but am now going to include the couple of others that are just outline headings, in order to make it easier. The file reports 18 pages, so that's what I'm going to report.

Besides, I made a sort of breakthrough last night on the story and spend some time this morning revising my outline. The changes mean I have to throw out a couple of scenes I've already written. But that's OK because I like the story more. It's easier to explain and (I hope) will be easier to write.

Day 3 AM: 14 pages

Yes, the first couple of days were too easy. I had those scenes already worked out in my head (although I have better ideas for both of them now). Where to go next is proving harder. I'm having to fight my predilection for people to just stand around and talk about nothing that important. I have get them doing something.

Day 2 AM: 12 pages

I found it all too easy to start a scene off in the wrong direction. I've written three quiet, talky scenes in a row because they're easy to write. But this is supposed to be a comedy and things need to start happening. At least I'm getting words written down and characters discovered.

Day 1: 8 pages

I had another scene lined up in my brain and got it out this evening. Another 4 pages or so. Nice.

Day 1: 4 pages

It's finally time to get down to real business with this year's script. I think all the planning and discussion will pay off. I don't have the entire plot laid out, but I'm pretty sure of the general direction and the characters seem to be working out OK. I got one easy scene done and know what the next one should be.