Tired but riding the creative high

Because I was finishing the Adonis script right up to the contest submission deadline at the end of July, I never really got to lead up to 31 Plays in 31 Days here on the blog. I just had to jump in! But thing are going strong— REALLY strong. Despite feeling somewhat burnt from the intense focus and creative demands of finishing Adonis, that script weirdly energized me. I am IMMENSELY proud of it. Bernie and I collaborated so well on it, and we impressed ourselves by how fully we realized the very particular vision we had for it. Not only am I proud to have it as another significant work to add to my portfolio, I think it may be one of the best things I’ve ever written. I do think we have a real shot in the contest we submitted it to, but regardless of how it does, we wrote a movie I would want to see.

But as I said, had to leap into 31 Plays in 31 Days pretty much immediately after finishing. 31P31D is pretty low-stakes—things have to be complete, not good, so as long as you bag out a page a day, you’ve nailed it. That’s one of the great things about doing it, it just encourages generation and experimentation. But I’m still riding the wave of creative enthusiasm Adonis gave me, which feels great, as well as keeping up the excellent work habits I needed to enforce to get the screenplay done on time. I started the month tired and with my extended family in Pittsburgh, so I was concerned I wasn’t going to have time and get behind only three days into August, but I’ve been gangbusters. In fact, I’m a whopping FOUR days ahead, I’ve been so able to keep up my productive mode. Sam even suggested I just see how many scenes I can write in a month and forget about limiting myself to thirty-one. I doubt I’ll be able to maintain that level of output— I’m sure I’ll get busy, or stuck for ideas, and get behind again the way I did in the two previous years. But so far I’m proud of my productivity.

As I mentioned, I’m aiming more for pieces of projects that have yet to be fully drafted or developed rather than standalone shorts. I’ve already started making progress in that direction, and I intend to continue developing Base Instruments, the third in the Mrs. Hawking series, and Disgraced, my idea for a series about a young English heiress in 1914 who is sent away to America to escape a scandal that ruined her reputation back home. I’m also going to depict moments from my newest larp Brockhurst—of which Disgraced’s plot is an offshot —and I find myself particularly inspired to finally work out that Cabin Pressure fan fic I’ve had in my head. Fan fic probably shouldn’t be my priority when I have so much of my own original work yet unwritten, but since I need to fill out the piece a month thing, why not?

I have so many ideas. There’s so much that still needs realizing. But I’m really pleased and proud I have so many cool things in my head.

31 Plays in 31 Days, #7 - "Repute"

This piece is also part of "Disgraced," my idea for a series about an upperclass English girl in 1914 who is forced to move with relatives in Newport, Rhode Island to escape the shame of a scandal and build a new life.

This piece takes place before "#3 Companion" and "#6 - No One Knows You Here," and is about Rosaline, the maidservant obliged to go with Elise into exile. Rosaline would be the other major character of the series.

( Day #7 - "Repute" )