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.

https://writerblueprint.com/writing-memes/

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, β€˜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.Β 

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 β€˜Play 2’ for the moment.Β  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.

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I’m going to get my work area β€˜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, β€˜Play 2’ to fool my brain into thinking I have already started and make a public declaration of my imminent productivity.Β 

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

KM Weiland’s Writing Manifesto

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