Planning a 30 Day Script Writing Schedule

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I decided to put together a 30 day script writing schedule for Play 2. And so it begins…. Well, next week it will. I recognised that I was allowing myself to get sucked into a procrastination trap. All the goals and challenges facing me at the moment, in acting, writing and creating the business, were seeming overwhelming.

Start Writing now. No more Excuses

So, I will wait until I catch up with that online workshop, until the housework is finished, until I find more time, for the neighbours to stop being so damned noisy, as well as the wind and that bird that sounds like a squeaky wheel, until I have enough money to afford to grab a drink, so I can write in the coffee shop, when I have worked a bit more on the characters, have more detail of the plot, when I can wake up early like real writers do (that is never going to happen, it’s 3 am as I write this), when inspiration comes, when I am in the right mood, when the sun rises in the West and sets in the East.

No more allowing fear to get in the way. I’ve set a date for a definite start and end date (from 31st of March to the 30th of April) and how many words to write per day. Words I am going to write no matter what.

Even if I have to free-write until I get the words down or my hands curls up like a dead spider, whichever comes first. I may become a little frazzled over the coming month.

What’s the 30 Day Script Writing Plan

I just planned a writing schedule for the first, rough, ‘don’t-you-dare-edit-as-you-go’ draft. I have an idea for the play, a handful of characters that I’ve been working on (although they have no names as yet, known informally as A, B, C, D and E ), a rough plot (very rough) and now… a plan. 

With just 667 words a day needed to meet my 20,000 words, rough draft target, by the end of April, it’s now feeling achievable. The deadline I’m actually aiming for is June, so I will still have the whole of May to work on editing, tidying up and making it all make sense. I’m (imaginatively) calling this work ‘Play 2’ for the moment.  It’s the second full length play I’ve started and I don’t want thinking of a title to be another excuse reason to delay my making a start.

I’m using Pacemaker to put my Schedule together. Mostly because it’s free. Otherwise cost would have been another obstacle in the way. I’ve not used it before, I read about it on Medium, but I’m assuming the graph will automatically update itself as I enter my progress.

I’m going to get my work area ‘just so’ over the next few days, remove distractions, make sure I have everything I need (that the coffee supply is in abundance), create my title page, ‘Play 2’ to fool my brain into thinking I have already started and make a public declaration of my imminent productivity. 

I’m also going to get a copy of KM Weiland’s Writing Manifesto below and pop it on my noticeboard above my desk. I was going to write my own personal writing manifesto…. but that would be just another distraction.

Writer’s Manifesto