Well, we Brits aren't very good at boasting, but I'll have a go... After a long development process, I got a children's TV series greenlit, spent the year writing it, and we should be filming in February. Years don't come much better than that! That meant that film writing wasn't my top priority, but I did bash out a first draft of a horror feature, and developed three feature ideas that I'm looking forward to actually writing sometime soon. So yes, I shall be raising a glass of Christmas punch to my achievements this year. Cheers!

Debbie, this excellent news! Could you share the name of the series? Happy to promote it when it goes live! Cheers! And good luck in 2012 on the series and your feature film projects.

I'm not sure I should jump the gun on the official announcement, but it will be a fantasy-tinged drama series for 8 - 12-year-olds, for the BBC children's channel, CBBC. I shall be sure to keep everyone updated on progress throughout next year...

My 2011: Writing: Finished three short memoir, two short stories, two flash fiction. Started several more. Finished Natural Habitat (feature screenplay: drama) first draft, two big revisions, and started complete rewrite. Finished Radish Hearts (short screenplay: drama) and registered with WGA. Scribbled notes on story ideas for one feature, one short, and one short story adaptation. Publishing Credits: One short story, four short memoir published or accepted. Learning: Took advanced screenwriting class at Austin Community College. Read 6-8 screenplays (not counting classwork). Read 46 books (4 on screenwriting/filmmaking, 1 on fiction writing). Networking: Joined a writers group. Joined Austin Film Society. Went to a few AFS screenings. Attended Austin Film Festival. Pitched Radish Hearts to a new director and he requested a script (then nothing! of course)

Ray, you had a super active and productive year. Let me ask you, how much planning did you do in advance? Was this part of some grand scheme you'd figured out beforehand or did you approach the process more organically and in the present? In any event, congratulations on accomplishing what you did in 2011. Now onward to 2012!

Finished four features and a short. Hoping to finish a fifth feature before the end of the year. (Technically I'm 11 pages in, but this isn't as big of a crazy-desperate race against the clock as it seems as many of the scenes are written in long-hand and just need to be put in screenplay format - and I'm just shooting for first draft quality. I <3 first draft quality.) Moved to L.A.. Saw lots of movies (probably not enough) and read a number of scripts (definitely not enough). So, looking am back, am very pleased with my page writing, but will do more reading and watching in 2012. Oh -- and am now hip-pocketed by an agent, so that's something, too.

Annika, 2011 was a year on the movie for you, not only geographically, but also creatively. I'm reminded of a conversation I had recently with seven top young screenwriters who in aggregate have sold 12 spec scripts in the last 2 years, and it was interesting to see how some of them have a similar work rate: 4-6 scripts per year. For a certain type of writer, that can be a viable approach. And congrats on the agent. Hip pocket is still representation as now you have access to all those producers and studios which in theory don't accept material from unrepped writers. Will you be coordinating what you write now with your agent? Are you targeting a certain genre in which to focus your writing? Well done for 2011. Onward and upward to 2012!

Like Debbie, I'm not one to toot my own horn (I suffer from American Midwestern-ism, though, not U.K.-ism) but since Scott is giving us a stage and a mic... I did it. A life goal. I wrote and directed my first film. Is it a short? Why yes it is. Is it low budget? Of course it is. But it's beautiful and it's mine and dammit I unabashedly love it. (I've been given the gift of having a professional editor cut the thing, thus I didn't have to sit in a room alone with the footage for days on end, hence why I still have notions of affection for the thing...) In any event, the film should be premiering as part of a benefit for the Children's Hospital of Wisconsin (if your kid ever gets sick, heaven forbid, there's none better than this joint). Since my movie was EXTREMELY Hitchcock inspired, we're doing an "old fashioned night out at the movies" with a newsreel, an old cartoon, some classic trailers, my little film, and then Hitch's ROPE. Should be a gas. So not only did I score my primary goal in 2011 but it would appear I nailed a LIFE goal as well. And does that feel pretty good? Oh you betcha'. Stop on by the production company I work for over at www.etalfilms.com. Presumably my film will be up there eventually.

Definitely my best writing accomplishment this year relates to screenwriting. It's a totally new genre for me - started my first course in it in Sept. 2010. So, in 2011, I came up with three feature film ideas (two of which I actually like!) and have developed one to the stage where I have an extremely detailed scene-by-scene treatment, and have written a pretty good draft of the first half. And since the rest is now so well outlined, writing the remainder doesn't seem like such a huge challenge. Also, had a non-fiction piece accepted to an anthology, became a regular contributor to The Guardian newspaper (UK), and completed several short stories.

Annika, congrats, that's some pretty impressive output! And, excuse my ignorance... but could one of you guys explain what you mean by "hip-pocketed by an agent"?

Hip-pocketing means she's willing to rep me just on this one script she read. I'm not signed - nor would I sign with her - as she admittedly does smaller, Indie fare and the scripts I have written right now are more commercial. She says she doesn't have the contacts I need. So, I still have to do the leg work on this one, but I can put "WGA Represented" in the subject line of my email queries and refer all replies to her. So, it's still something good. I'll be looking for more appropriate representation in 2012, but I'm happy to work with her right now on this one script. She also told me to use the fact that I'm hip-pocketed with her to pursue representation with bigger agencies, like an "I've been vetted by one person so I can't be that terrible" kind of thing, which I think is such a common mindset in this industry for any number of things -- from buying scripts to signing writers to what to make to what to see on a Saturday night. Overall, though, I'm really glad to have the contact with her that I do have, as she's super blunt, which I love. In 2012, I'll be focusing on the genres that I've really taken to: horror (with a lot of action in it) and action/action-adventure.

Jeff, do you mind if I take a little extra dose of pride in this project because of your longstanding relationship with GITS? When it goes online, please let me know and I will be happy to promote. What did you learn from the process? Has it influenced your writing? And what about 2012? Don't need to answer that last one yet as we'll be processing next year during these upcoming two weeks. In the meantime, congratulations!

Jacqueline, I'm glad you chimed in, not only to share your accomplishments, but as an example of how the items don't need to be earth-shattering in where they ended up, rather those that are in the formative stage are by all means worthy of mention and merit. To riff off Joe Campbell, you have trekked some more miles on your writing adventure. How have you found it balancing screenwriting with non-fiction? Same or different muscles? Can you bring something special to bear on screenwriting from your background in non-fiction? And while you're at it, why not shoot us a few URLs from your Guardian articles. Congratulations. Now onward to 2012!

Oh Scott. Where to start??? What I learned - - actors truly ARE the most important part of the puzzle. I think we as writers forget that the dialogue we WRITE actually does have to be SAID... and not just SAID, but PERFORMED. They are the FACES of our scripts, the people who actually SELL our ideas and notions. If you haven't guessed, I have a newly found adoration and respect for actors. We were blessed with four of the best, as far as I'm concerned. Also - - patience. In spades. Not ONE part of this process goes "speedily." Take after take, set-up, breakdown, lights, audio (THIS, fellow filmmakers, is the biggie, by the way - - SOUND. Don't EVER EVER EVER neglect sound. I'd would actually submit that it's THE MOST important technical component to the entire procedure). Impatience kills all. To answer your second question would take up volumes. So the best thing I can say about how film production influenced my writing is to say that it should be a REQUIREMENT for anyone who writes scripts to at least TRY this once. Until you become part of the nuts n' bolts (emphasis on the NUTS part) it takes to bring an entire film to life, you'll never have a true understanding of that which Scott features every week here at GITS - "SCRIPT TO SCREEN." Until that becomes a tangible in your mind... well, let's put it this way... you'll never again have a problem CUTTING THE CHASE of the scenes you write. When you direct, you FEEL. EVERY. BEAT. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe for others that kind of thing is innate. For me, I feel that everything I wrote for the 25 years leading up to the first moment I called "ACTION" was nothing more than prelude. And finally Scott, for what it's worth, the influence of GITS is ALL OVER my project. Every bit of inspiration and education that you dole out here is somewhere in every frame of my film. "My" film, hell. "Our" film! No GITS, no film. Can't possibly express enough appreciation or gratitude to you for what you do here. Onwards to 2012, Mayan calendar be damned!!!

I think this is a great exercise. Not just putting out there what you want to accomplish next year, but acknowledging how far you actually can come in a year's time. I'll play! 2011. I began the year with a bang. I finished an adaptation I was asked to write on spec that I had been working on all of 2010. And by finished, I mean a very rough first draft. It is a bear, spanning a decade in the early 1900's. I spent the rest of 2011 revising...and revising...and revising. Until one day, I sent the script to my producing partner and it was met with several expletives(the good kind) He felt it was ready, and although I could have kept working on it for all of 2012, I let it go. So far, I have received great feedback from all parties involved(the author of the book, agent, etc.) Fingers crossed, everybody! I've moved on to the next project. Hoping to finish off a first draft as 2012 rings in, true to form. Oh, and I had a baby. :) 9lbs 3 oz.

That should read "cutting TO the chase" up there, of course. Never cut the chase... especially if you're writing for Hal Needham or something.

Jeff, your comments re directing sound like the beginning of a great GITS post. I've done a pretty significant amount of field work producing TV during the last several years and even though it was primarily non-scripted content, just dealing with a crew, logistics, set-ups, The Earth And Its Elements (e.g., wind, rain, sun, airplanes, chain saws) gives me insight as a writer into what I write. So I concur with you: go out and make a film, at least one. Don't be surprised to see your comments in that regard the basis of an upcoming post.

Summertime, so what is the bigger production: The script or the baby? Congrats on both fronts. Re script: Period piece, covering a long period of time, adaptation. Those are some very difficult story elements to handle. Kudos to you for managing that. And now with baby in tow as you bustle to the local coffee joint to pound away on your script, you've got another mouth to feed... and that much more motivation to succeed! Huzzah to 2012! May it be your most creative - and productive - yet! And if this is your first child, welcome to that special club: Parenthood.

Such amazing accomplishments, congrats to you all. Color me "Inspired." Great idea, Scott.

Started off 2011 on a high note, by getting an agent (Brant Rose of the eponymous, if unimaginatively named, Brant Rose Agency.) In addition to several general meetings, I: -developed one of my spec pilots to the point that I got an established producer and director attached (both from film, but still.) Developed that enough to have it go out to network and cable channels, and got two meetings with a programming director at a reasonably well-known cable channel to pitch the series. Didn't get picked up, but still feels like a relatively major accomplishment. -interviewed for a staff position on a show that's tied into the movie that first inspired me to start writing. Nailed the interview, didn't get the job because I didn't have three years on staff for The Mentalist like all the other applicants. Still a very heartening situation--until that moment, I had no idea how I'd perform in an interview situation. 15 minutes turned into half an hour talking to the showrunner and producer. -started talking with a reasonably well-established director about developing a horror idea for film. That one's currently on the backburner while issues with his current film get worked out. -had my comic book DONE TO DEATH collected in trade paperback form for the first time from IDW Publishing, with a foreword from Steve Niles, the writer/creator of 30 Days of Night. -started a novel, which I actually believe I'll finish this time. -began work on 3 new comic book proposals because good artists sought me out wanting to work with me. -wrote a procedural pilot spec, which was like pulling teeth, but I got it done. -am on schedule to complete another spec by the end of 2011. Also, I managed to do all of that without leaving my home in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. I don't feel like I did nearly enough actual writing this year. On a bad day I don't feel like I accomplished a whole lot, either. Fortunately not a lot of bad days since the procedural finally got put to bed.

Also, sorry for playing coy with the names of the people I worked with/pitched to. My agent (still can't believe I've got one of those) has soundly rapped my knuckles for my habit of speaking directly and in detail about my experiences with Hollywood.

Just a few small steps but I'm proud... First completed script in '11 and worked my way through query hell! Contacts were made and networking is well underway which is great, however, I didn't write consistently. So with that said I've taken Scott's advice... I'm going public with my goal via Facebook... which is to complete two scripts before November 12th 2012. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Fade-Out-or-else/309867879046312 Feel free to check out the page and "like" if you wish to help pressure a fellow writer to obtain his goal... Or humiliate him if he doesn't! If you decide to join in please drop me a line. Always looking to connect with my fellow GITS peers. Wish me luck!

Andrew, thanks for sharing that litany of accomplishments and adventures. Here's a whole side benefit of this series of posts I hadn't anticipated, but it's clear that screenwriting and TV writing is a high energy thing. Tomorrow I'll be writing about assessing oneself as a writer and one thing is to do an honest take on whether one has the type of energy you obviously had to have, Andrew, to manage all that in a year. If not, perhaps novel-writing is more appropriate. That said I know lots of screenwriters who write novels as well, just like you are doing, Andrew, but it's part of a more active approach to writing than say the more prosaic image of a novelist... living in a house in the woods... taking long walks in the woods... smoking thoughtfully on a pipe. Film writing and especially TV writing is a whole other dimension of time compression. Which is a long-winded way of offering you major props, Andrew. March on into 2012!

Courtney, that is the spirit. Part of this process in these posts will be to allow people to make a public commitment of their writing goals. There is nothing quite like it in terms of cementing it as a reality in one's consciousness. You have crossed perhaps the single most daunting task of your whole writing adventure: Completing a first script. That in and of itself separates you from a vast number of writers who aspire to become screenwriters, but never finish a script. Galvanized by that, I should think two scripts by November of next year is doable. Even at one page per day you can get there. I'll be joining you in my public proclamation later this week. Until then, forward into the breech! The breech that is 2012!

Wanted to be realistic but who knows, I may bang out more with the newly found Jerry Seinfeld inspired "Don't Break the Chain" before that particular date... which is my birthday... So the last thing I want is to get beat down on that day!

Scott-- Honestly, I find prose the more draining thing to write. The only reason I think I'll be able to finish this novel is because it's written in the voice of one character, which makes it easier to deal with the language of descriptive passages. My talents, such as they are, are primarily dialogue-oriented. As for screenplays, I do tend to write quickly when I've got the scenes broken, but the outline process can be a killer. The procedural was five weeks of trying to make a story that did what I needed it to in five acts and a teaser, followed by a week of frenzied scripting. The script I plan to finish by year's I've been working on for near six months now--I rewrote the last four acts from the ground up four or five times before finally realizing what wasn't working for me (the protagonist wasn't the character I'd planned to have that role and the first act needed to be completely rewritten as well.) Now that I've identified those problems, I expect to relatively smooth sailing actually writing the thing. I got six pages of bad draft done today, and that was working around all sorts of distractions (bad draft is the draft I have to polish a couple of times to make a first draft I'm comfortable showing the reps.) I haven't had much in the way of externally imposed deadlines for scripts yet, so it sometimes feels like I am living the Artist's Life (at least for the four days a week I'm not at my dayjob.) I'm not in the woods and don't smoke, but I do take long walks with the dog and spend a lot of time sitting/lying around not getting anything tangible accomplished. I'm not concerned about how I'll deal with deadlines when they finally come--I've been fortunate to do enough professional comics writing and editing to know how to produce work under those circumstances. In fact, I wish I had more external deadlines, as I tend to get more accomplished when I know someone else is waiting on me. That's part of why I feel like I didn't accomplish as much as I wanted to this year, writing-wise: I know how much time I spent *not* involved in the physical act of writing. I waffle back and forth between wanting to honour my muse/personal process and wanting to act like a #*(&ing professional writer for once in my life. :)

I wrote 575 script pages this year, including 2 hour-long pilots, a half-hour pilot, an "Archer" spec script, and a ton of webseries experimentation. I earned a unique internship with a reliable Canadian production company that has me under the mentorship of a seasoned producer, which I'll start in the spring. I wrote a short film for a student producer that got filmed, and got me my first IMDB credit. I wrote 177 blog posts at two blogs. And I'm about 4 months away from getting my BA in Television and Radio. It's been a good year. Looking forward to 2012. (Now I just have to figure out what my goals should be for 2012... Maybe my first screenplay.)

Really started writing this year, after a false start with a writing partner and his manager last year. I needed to find a way to measure my progress and develop certain skills, so I decided to do that by entering screenwriting contests. My first, at the end of May I entered a 1st 10 pager competition, where I was a runner up. And then submitted my first pilot TV script that made it to the semi's of the Creative World Awards. Revised the TV script, and entered it into Scriptapalooza and Acclaim TV competitions (still waiting, fingers crossed). Also, I managed to finagle a read for this script with a major management company. I've nearly finished the 1st draft of a second TV pilot, the first draft of an indie/drama movie (which I intend to submit to the Nicholl), plus I'm am more than halfway on three other movie projects: action/black comedy (expansion of 10 pager runner up), action/rom com and a sci-fi/action movie.

Pliny, first off congratulations on the work you put in on your numerous writing projects. You zero in on one of the biggest benefits from submitting scripts to screenwriting contests: It forces the writer to meet deadlines. Of course there is the feedback you receive and the chance you have of winning, but if the mantra "if you don't write, you can't sell it" holds water, we need whatever motivating elements to get us to finish scripts. Evidently you're exploring several different genres. Is that by choice, part of a strategy to see where your talent and interests lie, or are you simply following your muse? You may have read this TBOS post before -- They will pigeonhole you -- but may be worth reading again. I'm all in favor of a writer following their passion into whatever stories they want to write, however Hollywood -- if that is your goal -- by default tends to lump writers into certain genres and categories. So perhaps what happens with you is you find one genre which is particularly interesting to you and you focus energy on that for a year or two. In any event, it's good you're writing and showing the energy you are. Tally ho into 2012!

I'm so impressed by everyone's accomplishments. Congratulations to all! My creative brain is kept occupied in another field so I've had little time and headspace for actual writing this year. However, 2011 was the year I truly immersed myself in the world of movies. I watched a lot of them. I always have, but this year I really paid attention to the story aspect. I read a lot of scripts and participated in some great and spirited discussions on this very site that has become my second home of sorts. Thanks to Scott and the GITS community, my screenwriting hobby grew into a real passion. So next year, I shall implement the third part of Scott's mantra: write pages. The goal is to finish a feature length script before December 21, 2012, which I believe is the end of the world. One year. One script. Sounds so easy. Let's see how it goes. Happy Holidays to everyone!

Teddy, I always admire people such as yourself who already work in the film business, but respond to that pull to go deeper into Story. It's a strong gravitational pull: Story itself is powerful, but nowhere - in my view - is Story so profoundly made present than in movies. Re 2012: I like your clarity of vision: One year. One script. That is S.M.A.R.T. Kudos to you and know that the GITS community will be here to accompany on your great adventure next year!

So, I should say up front that I'm most focused on writing TV scripts for hour long serial Action/Thriller/Drama type shows (which feels like my natural oeuvre). The one that semi'ed in the CWA is a very commercial "Castle/White Collar meets Dan Brown" show, and the new one doesn't have a hybrid yet, but it's an action drama about a female hacker, released after 15 years in prison, with more skills than she entered with, and a burning desire for revenge/justice. Problem is that it's insanely hard to break in to the business through TV. Moreover, the most prestigious contests, such as the Nicholl and Zoetrope (where you will often get reads from major agencies even if you only semi), are movie only, and far more oriented towards dramatic indie style fare. The indie movie (Sideways meets Moonstruck) was written specifically for the Zoetrope, and was inspired by Bill Goldman's story about Year of the Comet. It ended up being a labor of love, but it's also the right kind of story for the Nicholl. Same is true of my action/rom-com (Local Hero meets Riding Giants). Still, if I am to be pigeonholed, I'd like to be known as the guy who puts together smart and unconventional takes on the action genre, that can be made with either big or small budgets. So the other two scripts were written with that in mind. First one is basically a feminist action movie (Nikita meets 9 to 5); and the second is a Techno/Superhuman action movie (basically a take on European Gypsy/Witchcraft lore, viewed through the prism of the Matrix. What if gypsy/witch powers were real and could be enhanced by technology?). What am I trying to do here? Well, representation, particularly by management companies changes everything. My intent is to build a decent sized body of work, that if I am fortunate enough, those people representing me have options. That someone reading my scripts would think that I could produce a fresh and original take on a project they have, and hire me on that basis.

Thanks Annika. And good luck with it all.

Sometime during the middle of this year, I decided I really wanted to pursue screenwriting, after only just thinking about it for years. So I wrote 3 short films, about to shoot one of them which will be a springboard for a webseries I'm developing, and wrote a TV pilot. I came up with concepts for two other TV shows, two features, a play for a local church, and a series for 5 or 6 novels. And then I found an MFA program nearby, applied, and now I'm in, paying next to nothing for tuition. So I'm just starting out with this whole screenwriting thing, hopefully in 2012 I turn those concepts into scripts.

Wow, Scott, I could write a real lot in answer to your questions. Will try not to go too overboard! First, the link to my Guardian articles: http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/windh-jacqueline If you look at the titles, the themes that interest me (science and the environment; and, especially, First Nations (indigenous) people and issues relating to colonization, land rights) are exactly the themes I am writing about now in my fiction and my screenwriting. So, YES!, there is a lot I can bring from my non-fiction to my screenwriting. Basically all those years of research, all my background knowledge - which is not only facts, it is also all of the people that I have interviewed as well as become friends with, all the personal insights about their personalities, their history, their passions, their hurts - which I can bring to the characters in my stories. As far as your question "same or different muscles?" I'd have to say completely different muscles. (And motivation, more on that in a minute). Whereas in my non-fiction I would try to either educate or sway people on an "issue" by way of the facts, with the fiction and screenwriting the journey is an emotional journey. For example, if I am writing about the arrival of Europeans on the west coast here a century and a half ago, in a non-fiction article I would talk about the facts, how many native people were displaced or died because of the epidemics. But if I am portraying that in a film, my aim is to have my audience FEEL those emotions of being colonized, feel what it is like to have your land taken away, feel what it is like to have your family members, your children, dying before your eyes, horrible suffering deaths as they turn black from smallpox. And that brings me to the motivation. I used to be a well-paid exploration geologist. I left that industry to hopefully leave a more positive mark on the planet, rather than just participate in feeding consumption of resources (small though my mark may be - I still want it to be positive). So that's why I turned to writing professionally - to contribute by educating people about these issues, and hopefully motivating people to do something positive. But the problem with writing non-fiction is that you are kind of preaching to the converting. Not many people are going to read my native land-rights article unless they already have an interest (and therefore some knowledge) in the subject. The Guardian is a good place to be published, so I imagine those pieces get an audience of 1000s or tens of 1000s - but it is still kind of preaching to the converted. But then look at something like "Avatar" - how is that for a story that talks about native land rights and resource extraction? How many people saw Avatar? Hundreds of millions, or even close to a billion? I don't know - but a lot. And that is not a "preaching-to-the-converted" audience - it is just people who wanted a good story, a good show. Even if only 1% of them really got the land-rights part of the messsage and started thinking about it, that is still a hell of a lot more who will ever read my non-fiction articles on the subject. So to me, that is the exciting part of writing fiction and for the screen. The two things: - reaching an audience that is "new" to the subject I am talking about; and also, - the challenge of reaching them on the emotional level rather than try to stun them with facts. And I think that, when people receive a message emotionally, they are much more likely to act upon it. So that's why I am very inspired with the fiction-writing and screenwriting right now!

Wow, congrats Andrew. Sounds like you have had a great year. It's especially inspiring for me to hear that you have done that from Edmonton! (I am on Vancouver Island).

I had my first screenplay optioned and got repped by a manager and agent at UTA. We now have a director attached and are out to actors. Thanks so much for what you do, Scott. In the lonely world of screenwriting, GITS always helps to keep me focused and feeling connected to a larger community. :)

The first TV script I've ever written, a pilot, got into the hands of some managers through pure, dumb luck in August. I got repped, the pilot has gone out, I'm meeting with people that I never in a million years thought I'd be meeting with. It's been a totally life-changing few months and the truth is that it's really only starting. I'm working on like four things at once right now. For me, the biggest struggle has been and continues to be my struggle with my own head -- fear of failure and unhealthy perfectionism, both of which can cause my workflow to seriously stall out. I've discovered that success can be completely terrifying. So I've gone back to therapy for that. And I'm developing an entirely new set of life habits, including specific work hours and even what I wear when writing. Oh, also, I'm about 90% done with my MFA, so a goal for this coming year is to finish the f'ing thing!!

I think my only grand scheme at the beginning of 2011 was "I need to write more". Then as my second semester of screenwriting started wrapping up, I realized I might actually be good at it, so I dove into AFS and AFF. I actually still feel like I don't write enough.

Wow...you guys blow me away. I'm so impressed at the folk who can turn out 4-5 screenplays in a year. Scott, I'm also impressed by the sheer tonnage of words and info that come streaming forth from NC. From the classes to the comments to the blog, the GITS solar system is a fantastically helpful place for a screenwriting newbie to hang about. This was the year when I decided to move from hobby writing to Serious Writing. In the past 6 months, I've slogged through my first draft (including 3 different outlines and a format change from TV script to feature) and I'll meet my personal deadline of completing it within this calendar year (even if it means taking next week off from my day job). I'm inspired by the number of pages people turn out so I need to up the ante next year. I already know what I'm going to start working on come 1Jan plus the MoviesWeMade posts have started me thinking about some 5-7 min shorts I've been wanting to write and shoot for some time. A big thank you to Scott and The GITS Community for keeping me inspired and motivated, whether you know you're doing it or not.

Bob, you did all that while working on a BA degree? Hell's Bells, you are one busy and productive camper! That will serve you well, especially if you land a TV writing gig where days, nights, weeks, months tend to blur into each other. And I wish the insanity of that creative experience happens to you! 2012: Make it happen!

Tim, all roads seem to be leading you somewhere in the arena of storytelling. I will be curious to see what you learn through your experience producing this upcoming short film. So much can be learned from being involved in physical production. And yes, turn a concept into a script in 2012. You. Can. Do. It.

Hey, TrG, that's great news. And if what I do here on GITS contributed even a tiny bit to your success, that news will have made my day. Keep me posted about developments with your script project. Look forward to interviewing you when the movie debuts! 11 days until 2012!

Alex, take a minute and read this week's Screenwriting 101 by Frank Darabont. He talks about how Hollywood is the Wild West, a person can come out of nowhere and end up sheriff. So damn true. All you need is talent... and proof of that talent in the form of a script. Keep me posted on how things progress, okay? May 2012 be a breakthrough year for you!

Mike, your choice of that verb -- "slog" -- speaks volumes about the writing experience. There's just no way around it for most of us, we just have to slog through from FADE IN to FADE OUT. The great thing is -- if we choose to believe it -- our stories WANT us to find them, so there is almost always a light at the end of the slog. So slog on in 2012!

Rationally, I know it was a great year. Emotionally, it was another year I didn't make a whole lot of money (possibly any...ugh) from writing. I try to stay as emotionally neutral about this stuff as possible, but...

Taking stock of my year... Finished a TV spec (Walking Dead), wrote a pilot (now rewriting), wrote/directed/produced a short for Celebrate the Web (in one week!), wrote another pilot (now rewriting), re-sold a webseries (former buyer changed directions, got the rights back, so we went out again and got a new buyer), started yet another pilot (writing it now)...oh and I got a great job as an assistant to one of the hottest writers in town. All in all, a very good year. I still feel like I lack a great pilot script for my portfolio, but I'll keep working at that...

Here's what I do for motivation... I have (and keep) an extremely shitty day job with a micro-managing boss that barely pays me enough to make my student loans. After eight hours of misunderstandings and translational difficulties, I speed away from Century City to Venice where I rent a room in a friend's house, a large room where my furniture consists of an air mattress, a lamp and a lawn chair. I write every day because if I don't, this madness, this discomfort and frustration will only continue. I look around and think the only way out of this is to write my way out. It's uncomfortable, but I was comfortable in Texas and that got me nowhere but a nice office with a view so I could look outside and wonder what my life would be like if I moved to LA and actively worked toward becoming a screenwriter. I have been here one year now. This year I wrote: Two short films A third short film that is becoming a pilot Three TV specs - Modern Family, Mike & Molly, Nurse Jackie Three features in development I learned: To outline To spend ample amounts of time developing characters (no matter how much I think I know them already) I (along with some like-minded friends) crashed two WGA parties; two nights of some of the best fun ever. Writers seem to know how to get their drink on. ;) I attended multiple panel discussions at the WGA Foundation. The last one I attended included meeting and getting personal writing advice from Sheldon Turner, Audrey Wells, Wesley Strick and Scott Frank. I admire all four and so it was a very inspiring moment. Then I spent the next few weeks writing daily, regardless of how I felt or what was going on and I began creating actual product, meaning, scripts I would let someone read (Nurse Jackie and the two shorts). Then, a couple of weeks ago, my roommate had a party and I met a producer in our kitchen as I cooked my dinner who asked to read a feature when I've got one completed. He's looking for content to develop and possibly direct. So now, I write during work, during lunch, while at the doctor's office, sitting on the beach on the weekend, whenever, wherever. If only I could figure out how to write in my sleep... P.S. Scott, I have been following your blog for years now and want to say thank you for all that you do and happy holidays!

Shawn, aside from your productive efforts on the writing front, this is what grabbed my eyeballs: "great job as an assistant to one of the hottest writers in town." This is what I tell all my college students is the Holy Grail of Hollywood Gigs. Incredibly hard to come by, so I'm sure you bless your lucky stars to have landed it. Indeed you may have seen this about Lauryn Kahn, who was Adam McKay's assistant for several years before writing and selling the spec "He's F***ing Perfect" for a cool $1M. So good for you and for your 2012!

Lisa, I can not express the degree of admiration I have for people such as yourselves, who left one path of their life because it was not fulfilling, to follow another much more arduous course that hopefully is. It saddens me to think of the millions of people who do not summon up the courage that you did to get out of their comfy office and pursue their dreams. What a shame! One life. A mere blip in cosmological time! We HAVE to seize it, we HAVE to pursue that which excites and animates us. And you have done that. Who knows how things turn out for you or any of us, but the very fact you responded to the Herald's Call, that has a value beyond measure. Keep doing what you're doing, Lisa. It all sounds great. Push, push, push yourself, dig deeper into your stories and characters. You can get there and indeed in some ways you have already done the hardest part: Turning your back on the Old Life and plunged into a New Life. Here's to a breakthrough year for you in 2012!

Looking back, I'm quite happy with 2011, even though at times I've been very frustrated. Back in February, only 8 months after graduating college with a degree in Music Industry, I decided to end my drive to be an artist manager, and pursue screenwriting, something I'd been thinking about for a few months. From February up until now I wrote my first screenplay, which was quite bad. I wrote the first and am almost done with the second draft of a script I have a lot of belief in, and one that I hope will launch my career. I've also come up with another 5 or 6 story ideas that I plan to explore more next year. I've started writing a children's book that I plan to turn into a feature. More importantly, I've moved forward as a writer. Just from those almost 3 drafts I've learned an enormous amount about myself, about writing, and about what I want from my life. I can attribute a good amount of all of that to this blog. It's been a massive help. And as I told Scott a few months back, if I'm ever lucky enough to win an Academy Award, he will be one of the first people I thank! On another related note, I was fortunate enough to meet a fellow writer who has helped me take the script I'm working on to a place I could not have on my own. Even better she's someone who will be helping me do that for as long as I'm lucky enough to be a writer since I plan on spending the rest of my life with her! (sorry for the cheesiness) Thanks for your hard work, Scott!

[...] of where you’ve been, and keeping an eye on where you’re going. So when he recently suggested writers write down what they’ve accomplished in 2011, with an eye on making goals for 2012, I [...]

Haha, thanks Scott! Starting scriptwriting at 15 helped a lot. Looking forward to days, nights, weeks, months blurring together... Can't wait! Since I run a blog where I discuss my writing and social media adventures, I thought I'd write a longform personal response to this post. For anyone interested in the 2011 of a random person on the internet... http://thediversionist.wordpress.com/2011/12/21/writing-looking-back-on-2011/ Thanks for the post, Scott! Doing this exercise really prepared me for breaking down by 2012 goals.

I quit my lousy job, came up with 2 tv concepts, met up with this producer guy and wrote pilots for those 2 concepts for him. Then: nothing! The bustard must be still thinking or something (oh, sure)... Then I wrote a short film for this competition and it got short listed but nothing more and thatīs all about that. I just finished the first draft of my very first feature film script! Whoa, way to go me! A lot of re-writing ahead but still...

It feels like ages ago now, but I finished (edited and released) my web series, Quarter Life Crisis, though all the writing and production was finished in 2010. Then I worked with a bunch of people on a short film script, which I then shelved and returned to a few months ago with a new take and a completed first draft. And now I have some thoughts in mind for the rewrite. There are other creative things in the works, most not too far advanced, so I won't touch on them here. I have watched a bunch of movies and tv (fell more in love with Community), read a bunch of scripts, and played a bit of video games. Works as entertainment/decompression for me, as well as exploring the worlds of storytelling in various media. Thanks Scott, looking forward to the rest of the series :)

So Marc, if I'm reading this correctly: By choosing to pursue writing, one thing led to another which led to another and you found a soul-mate? If that's the ONLY reason, as it turns out, you took this path, then it's worth i! Congrats on that front. Hopefully you'll be as productive creatively as well!

LF, I remember featuring QLC as part of the Movies You Made series, didn't I? Kudos on that and you'll find some creative juju for you in the Comments thread of another post.

You did indeed :) Nine episodes later, we finished up in March. Now it's on to the next one!

I'm a little late getting to this "Writing Goals: 2012" series, so I apologize. I was never happy with my output in 2011, but I'm excited to really put in work in 2012. Still, this year I accomplished: -Finished feature length script, which was named a Second Rounder at the Austin Film Festival Screenwriting Competition -Finished two short scripts -Received a film grant to produce my own short -Produced that short film and am really happy with the finished product. Submitted the short to a number of film festivals and will hear back next year. -Spent six months interning with the San Francisco Film Society -Attended the Austin Film Festival Thank you Scott for your site and particularly for this goals series.

[...] go into more detail about goal-setting but truth be told I’d just be stealing from Scott at Go Into The Story – so go there for some excellent advice. Bottom-line I’m getting my shit together for [...]

[...] Part 1: Looking Back [...]