No commitments but writing for a while

Now that Festival is over, I find myself with minimal outside commitments that have deadlines and places I have to be. I think this is a good state for me for the time being. I've been feeling overwhelmed and pressed so much, and I want to turn my attention to writing projects primarily. So, for the time being, I will join no projects, make no outside commitments, and give myself no deadlines that aren't related to the pieces I want to be writing.

I need to write the next draft of my new musical, Puzzle House Blues. I got a lot of good feedback from friends at a reading dinner as well as from my collaborator Troy, and I need to implement it. It needs some restructuring, so I think I'm going to write a new outline and then rearrange and reshape the scenes based on that.

You may remember that last year I entered my screenplay, The Tailor at Loring's End, in the Final Draft Big Break Screenwriting Contest. I actually did really well, making it to the Quarter Finals. I want to have something new to enter in that competition this year. I won't have feedback from my professional teachers on this one, but I have a new idea that's worth a shot, so I'm going to give it a try.

My new idea is pretty weird. It's dark and a little kinky; I want to make a feminist point in a way that may be really off-putting to mainstream audiences, which could reduce my chances of having it go far in the contest. But I really like this idea and think it would make an amazing movie, so I'm going to make the attempt.

I might write about the story here, get a little feedback. The particular weirdness of it makes me slightly embarrassed to talk about it, but I do think it's an interesting idea. We'll see how I feel as I develop it a little more.