Your Own Quest actually became Own Your Quest. Sit your butt down in front of the computer and write the damn pages. Yeah, it's hard. Yeah, some of this dialogue sucks. But finish. And I did. So thanks, Scott.

Congratulations to those who got that 1st draft in the can. I have failed miserably on my quest. I'm at the 62 page mark and it's the toughest script I've written. But I have to just press through and get it done-zo.

Chris, how about a paradigm shift: You haven't failed, rather you are now 62 pages closer to FADE OUT. The only way out is through. Press on. Push forward. Day by day. You can DO this! Special creative juju for you: WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSHHHH!!!

@ Chris Doesn't sound like failure to me. I'm finished (don't want that to sound braggy). That doesn't mean I'm satisfied with the end product. But it does mean I have a tonne more to work with than I did at the start. The biggest factor I found that pushed me onwards was to stop overthinking the script, silencing the inner critic and editor. All this allowed me to get to the end of a big pile of manure. But manure, it turns out, is a great fertilizer for the imagination. Bring on the rewrites. :-)

Chris, I don't know how I would have finished mine without the moral support from Scott and from the people in the GOYOQ forums--especially knowing that other people were juggling multiple projects, real life obligations, and ambitious GOYOQ plans. You're welcome to come over and join us if you'd like the company of other people in the same boat. We'd love to have you. PS Scott--I really like your paradigm shift. :)

I hope more GOYOQ-ers will chime in and let us know how they're doing. I'm ecstatic to announce I finished my first draft today--and to make that happen I wrote over half the script this week, in a series of epic writing marathons, while my husband plied me with tea and finger foods. No placeholder dialogue, all set pieces in place--not ready to show other people by a long shot but a legitimate, 96-page first draft that in many ways surprised me and exceeded my expectations. In the process, I learned a lot about writing, how I write, and how I want to write--but I'll save that for when the reality that the first draft is finished sinks in. Thank you very much for GOYOQ, and thank you to everyone in the forum, too. I'm not sure I would have tackled something this ambitious without so much support, and I certainly wouldn't have it complete by now without the "deadline" GOYOQ, either.

:-) :-) :-)