Hey Scott! Thought of you when I read this great excerpt from a presentation by John Lasseter: Technology and The Evolution of Storytelling https://medium.com/art-science/technology-and-the-evolution-of-storytelling-d641d4a27116 Watching A Matter of Life & Death/Stairway to Heaven, a 1946 British filming starring David Niven; very intriguing. Ever hear of it? Best, Deborah

Hey Deb, Marija from Craft class here :) Hope you're well and getting some writing done. Thanks for the link, very insteresting. As for this blog post, I don't have much to add to what's already been said except that I feel as if I didn't choose writing, it chose me. I'm a creative soul - I draw, I paint, I create pearl jewelry, I do mosaics, I sculpt, I do engravings - basically, if it can be created with a pair of hands, I try it out. Why? Because it makes me happy :) I enter a state of bliss, of complete well-being, of patience and satisfaction - all the feelings that I don't get out of life. I'm also cursed with hyper sensitivity. It's good for creating but it's a drag in everyday life and also in my relationships with others. Everything is X100 for me - noises, light, movement, people... I need solitude every day in order to recharge my batteries. My childhood dream was to write novels but it seems that novel writing isn't for me. I tried out script writing despite not feeling very attracted to it but suddenly, new doors swung wide open. I think that what appeals to me is being creative inside a predetermined structure. There are so many technical aspects to writing a script - setups/payoffs, acts, logical character behavior, etc - but when you start to get a feel for all that, creativity takes over. And that feels great :)

So the mates from class are here... Hi

Deborah, I have that flagged, want to go through and get a transcription of it for a blog series. You know how much I love Pixar! Have you seen Inside Out? Excellent, their best since Up. Have not seen the David Niven movie you mentioned. Is it any good?

Marija, that's the thing, isn't it? If a person has a creative instinct toward the arts, even though it's a struggle to make it a career - long odds and all that - one at least has to embrace it as an avocation. Otherwise denying an essential aspect of their psyche. The very definition of Disunity! As you so eloquently suggest in your comments, the quality of life-experience in immersing oneself in his/her creativity... cannot put a dollar figure on the value of that. Re screenwriting compared to novels: Every writer is different. I'm like you, I just really feel at home with the screenplay form. That said, I do have a novel in mind I've been researching over the years. Will be interesting to explore that after I get some other writing projects off my plate. "Because it makes me happy... And that feels great!" Really, that's all one needs to explain why one writes!

Angie, welcome! This is exactly one of the original reasons why I started the blog: A place for people who take writing classes with me to congregate after the classes are done. Indeed, there are writers who took classes with me from over a decade ago who track the blog. Writing can be such an isolated experience, it helps us to find community and inspiration wherever we can. Every day, I try to bring that spirit to the blog. Glad you're here!

I write to relax after work, or before it - my day job is not the most thrilling so it is a good way to start the day on a high. But also because I want to say I had a go. I am under no illusion that I am going to be able to easily make a living as a writer - I would be very happy to make what I make now though to be honest, if I could just continue to support my family as I do now. What I don't want to do is be lying on my deathbed thinking, "I wish I'd had a go". I may fail, but I can have fun in the process! Oh, and Scott, A Matter of Life and Death is a wonderful film - if you can track it down, it is very much worth the time!

"Because I can't sing or dance." - Rocky But in all seriousness, I write because I want to entertain, plain and simple. And if I can do that, I consider myself a pretty damn good writer.

Hey Marija! Great to see you here! Can relate to your apt description about the sensitivity thing; thanks for putting words to the feelings. Am taken with script writing; novels seem overly wordy now--and don't play a film in my head from the visual writing!!! :)

Great, Scott! I do know how you love Pixar, and am right there with you. Yessss, have seen Inside Out three times--the first being the opening at the El Capitan; very special. Finished the David Niven film; very unusual and unique! Would recommend you try it; it was created by the British writing-directing-producing team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Matter_of_Life_and_Death_%28film%29

Hey Angie; great to have you here, too! Lovely to be connected to everyone again; another win for your site, Scott; thanks!

Thanks, Mark; agreed that the film is wonderful. We got our copy from Netflix.

Good injection of humor, David; lol.

Also ... Brilliant Article know you will love: Effective Feedback: The Little Known Secret To Pixar’s Creative Success http://www.creativitypost.com/business/effective_feedback_the_little_known_secret_to_pixars_creative_success