Words Are Wind, or How I Learned to Stop Procrastinating and Write!

Procrastination has always troubled my mind soul. There are so many distractions in this modern day and age. (Fun fact: this first sentence took me about 3 hours to write because I kept get distracted and procrastinating! EGAD!)

Aaaand, blaming procrastination on other components (such as this modern day and age) is just ONE of the classic excuses to excuse not working or writing. In fact, I could list an almost endless list of reasons why procrastination is easier to come by in the year 2015, but making that list would, in fact, be just another sad attempt to procrastinate! It's a never ending spiral down the existential rabbit hole and before I stumble down, I am going to stop myself.

Wow, okay. So, if anyone could follow the above paragraph, I applaud you because I'm not so sure it makes sense and at this point it very much just could be a meaningless ramble of "Ben" thoughts.

It has been a little more than a month since I last updated my blog and, looking back, have I accomplished much? Eh... Once again, that was an "Eh..." I feel like every time I come to this blog it is just me, promising to write, and then failing to do so. There are lots of big events, competitions, and seminars coming up and I need to make sure the material I have (feature scripts, spec scripts, and original pilots) are polished, perfect, and ready to submit. I am the type of person who usually waits until the last possible moment to submit an assignment. One time, in college, I did just that on the end of the year paper. I pulled an all-niter, promising myself I would write this paper. Welp, I stayed up all night, yes, but didn't write anything until about 2 hours before the class. Why put myself through that torture?!? WHY?!

Well, this time, I shan't. (P.S. "Shan't" is probably one of my top 3 favorite words/contractions. It just fills me with Steampunkian joy). So aside from my novel, WHICH IS ALMOST DONE dear God yes (And by almost done, I mean the first draft. Cause, whooey, I gots to edit/rewrite/fix a lot of it. FUN.), I am currently prepping these below projects:

Feature Scripts: 11 in development.
That may sound like a lot, but some of them are nothing more than general premises/outlines. For the upcoming Nicholl Fellowship, I am planning on submitting 3 (and that's being optimistic). At least one script is my hope. "Help me, Obi Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope..."

Spec Scripts: 3
Spec Scripts are notoriously hard for me. I feel like I am writing a fan-fic and I don't really like writing for characters that aren't mine. Unfortunately, a lot of competitions require a spec script, so gotta do it, to it. Really just gotta push this one out somehow. I have 3, okay 2.5, options going right now...so we shall see.

TV Pilot: 2
One drama, one comedy. These two are my babies and my loves. I want to make sure they are perfect and I feel very attached. I need to release them from my helicopter parent grip and get them out there because holding them close to my chest isn't making anything happen.

COMPETITIONS: 8+
There's a lot out there to submit too, which is nice, but that doesn't make things easy. The Nicholl, NBC's Writers on the Verge, ABC/Disney, WB, AFF, Script Pipeline, CBS, etc. The most important thing is to write and submit, otherwise there is no chance at success!

So, thank you for coming along on this journey of me procrastinating actually working on said scripts, but instead writing a blog post about it. Oy! And if you want to read any of my TV Recaps/Reviews on shows such as Bates Motel, Once Upon a Time, Gotham, Salem, etc. Check 'em out here at Whedonopolis.com.

K, BAI.

-ben josé