Thanks for this. I just completed my first script and when I have gotten stuck I have often turned to your blog. Your encouraging guidance has helped me to analyze my process and finish the thing (for now…).

A beacon of light. Thank you so much. I discovered this site a few months back, its pulled me from the dark and set me in motion to finally work and finish my first screenplay. Your daily dose of inspiration and encouragement has rekindled the lost fire. I'm forever grateful. All the best to you and your own aspirations for the new year. Cheers

Mine's simple. I'm finishing my PhD dissertation right now (on theology and theatre). I'm on schedule to have my first draft completed this week. But I have a couple ideas for screenplays I've batted around while I've been writing as an academic. I've also dabbled with poetry and short stories in the past (even got a couple small awards for my poetry as a child and in college). But I've never quite believed I'm "creative" enough to write a story. I took a playwrighting class in college, and the teacher told me she thought my vision was cinematic rather than theatrical. (This was not a compliment.) She also told me she thought the fantasy stories that I love (my stories involved elements of the fantastic, like sea monsters and unicorns) were juvenile rubbish, and the only stories worth telling were gritty urban dramas about real life. Her approach to "teaching" was students bringing in pages each week, which we'd read aloud, and then she'd critique the dialogue. She said playwrighting was something you couldn't teach - you either had it or you didn't. And she made it clear I didn't have it. As I've read your blog and other blogs about screenwriting it's introduced me to, I've realized what she said was BS. I can learn structure. I can learn character. I can practice and get better. I already know how to break down a script as an actor, which is a skill I learned. I can learn how to break it down as a writer. And I can call "BS" on the idea that you're either creative or you aren't, and that writing either comes naturally or you'll never be able to do it at all.