Chasing that Cheese

Kurt Vonnegut once said that “writing is not a way to make a living; it is (instead) a very human way of dealing with life.”

That phrase always stuck with me since my biggest (and by far least attainable) dream in life is to be a professional writer – the kind who gets paid to write in the style he so chooses.

In my case, it’d be playwriting. (or blogging?)

And now that you’re done laughing, I’d like point out that I came close to achieving this dream when I first moved out here to Los Angeles. I somehow found a theatre company willing to read my work.

However, this is where the “came close,” comes in; I never actually got paid for doing this. Quite the opposite, actually – I ended up having to pay them (as did everyone else in the company for the theatre space)

I learned a lot while writing there, but eventually my day job(s) got the best of me and I had to quit due to lack of time. I don’t think I wrote very much since then, even after I had time again. I think it had a lot to do with how social I was being: birthdays kept coming up, people kept asking to hang out; I kept traveling to all sorts of places…..! I just didn’t want to make the time to sit down & write because something better always came along.

I think that’s part of the sacrifice that writers make for their art – and something I really need to start doing if I ever want to even pursue this. Not that I actually think I’ll ever become a professional writer – but I feel I need to “get this out of my system” while I can or else it’s always going to bug me.

So here’s where I bring up my New Year’s Resolution of mine by vowing to spend my Sundays writing. (maybe Saturdays & Wednesday nights, too) Right now, I have two, possibly three ideas that I’m working on – one of which includes that screenplay I talked about last year. I worked on that one for maybe three months before deciding I hated where it was going and tossed it. (that’s another one of my flaws – I take too long to realize something is shit)

Anyway, if any of you wants to read anything I’ve written so far & give feedback, please don’t hesitate to let me know and please don’t hold back on the criticism. The only requirement I have on critiques is to elaborate on why you like /dislike something. (just saying “I hate this” doesn’t help me make it better)

Man, I’ve really gone Hollywood. I’ve become one of those “Read my screenplay!” people. *groan*