My Testimonie….

Fam, it’s strange…

But I think that the creative craft of writing — especially when you’re still challenging yourself, learning and growing — is an art form that makes you doubt your ability to do it again the more you’ve done it.

So much of what I do as a screenwriter is tied to passion.

Yes, I’ve trained myself to be committed to practice and process. But without passion, my words lie limp on the page, leaving me dead in the water.

Then, as I do more rewrites, what happens to my passion? It gets diluted or chipped away, so much so, that I don’t like or I’m not excited about my story anymore.

Which begs the question — If I, the writer, am not thrilled about what I’m rewriting, how the hell can I expect anybody else to give a damn either?

Fam, welcome to the space I’ve been languishing in for the past couple of months.

See, I know my screenplay is good. In fact, it’s this close to being great. But I’ve been overthinking it so much that I’ve sapped all of the joy out of what was originally a fun concept and I’ve been dreading rewriting it.

So, to stop myself from throwing my laptop out the window, I distracted myself with some Spring cleaning, and I made a prime discovering: Old drafts of my screenplay.

My first thought was to toss them. (I knew the drafts were on my old laptop and besides, who still prints out copies of screenplays anyway?) But then I decided to read my very first draft.

And guess what I found in those pages? Passion. Yep.

Now, the draft was hella shaky — Underwritten at 86 pages. But I found myself laughing, was surprised by plot twists I had forgotten and most importantly, I was excited by my characters and my story.

Surprise, surprise! Happily enjoying what I originally intended for my movie reminded me why I wanted to write it in the first place. It also helped me reclaim some great stuff I had abandoned, and now, I’m not only ready to rewrite my screenplay again, but I’m also excited to do it.

Ok. I know what you’re thinking – Monice, this ain’t exactly brilliant advice. 😄 I know. But If you’re also struggling to stir up your passion for a project you’ve been rewriting for bit, give your first draft a read.

You’ll find the passion you’re seeking there. Trust.