Took me quite some time to figure out what "Trust the process" means. Now that I do, my writing has improved. It used to be whenever I get stuck, I talk to myself and figure out what to do next. When nothing comes up, I stop writing. When I learned to let go and trust the writing process, I began hearing my characters talk to me and I only stopped because I needed to stop. I've had trouble meeting my daily page goals before. But now, with no extra effort, I easily double the goals I've set in the past. I might not like what I've written because it's not me but it doesn't matter because it's all about my characters. And that happened because I learned to let go and trust the process. Thanks for writing this series!

"...we may get caught up in seeing the story as a bridge from our life today to our imagined life in Hollywood as a working screenwriter" Wow, that really illuminated the fact that my daydreaming whatever script I'm writing is "the one" could be adding unproductive pressure to the process. Cause man do I love that daydream!

A fantastic set of posts to move us into the new year. Thanks, Scott - and good luck and good writing to everyone out there...

I second that, Debbie. These posts have been insightful and inspiring. I am excited that I have set aside time this weekend to reflect and set intentions for my life as a writer in 2012. Thank you for that, Scott. What a great idea! This week I trusted the process and today I "broke story" for the first time while developing a character. It was like opening the door in a hot room to a cool blast of air. Relief. Happy New Year everyone ~ a toast to all trusting the process!

Thanks for the kind words, everyone. Maybe a midyear check-in would be in order. In the meantime, I have an inspirational post scheduled to post tonight a 6PM Eastern (U.S.) to round off this series. Write well in 2012!

A little late to the party now... but I just wanted to say I really enjoyed this series as well. There were several moments that had me thinking..."Geez... it's not just me." Also thought I'd mention that I really enjoyed your story/journey and the personal anecdotes. I don't know if there is somewhere else on the site where I can find more of this, or if you're keeping it all for a screenwriting/autobiography book, but I'd be interested to read more of your personal experiences. Thanks Ant

Anthony, glad the series resonated with you. Re personal anecdotes: I try to strike a balance on the blog. My focus is on screenwriting, writing, movies and creativity as I want to provide really solid content and ideas here. However I do know that readers, such as yourself, enjoy a more personal take on things, so I do some of that on occasion. Actually if you check out the Business of Screenwriting links [under Lists], several of those are framed with personal stories.