I usually get stuck in the editing and re-editing loop. I tend to look back to the last scene I wrote so as to get back in the zone. As I read, I immediately start editing... which reminds me of something I did not write in a previous scene... which gets me to editing that scene too... and so on and so forth. In a couple of occasions, by the time I get to writing the next scene, I spent all my available time editing and I need to move to some other activity (like work, laundry, cooking, play time with the kids, etc. (I am a domesticated wolf)). On the other hand, the benefit of this is that the first draft is usually very close to the finished product (in my head, of course; further revisions down the road usually show me that it was not even close to ready.) It's very annoying, but at least I can be certain that the first draft will not have any spellung spelling mistakes. By the way, this is the third fourth iteration of this comment as I have gone back a couple of times already to revise and edit.

Excellent topic. Patricia Verducci, one of our mentors at CineStory this year, posted this today: “Swoopers write a story quickly, higgledy-piggledy, crinkum-crankum, any which way. Then they go over it again painstakingly, fixing everything that is just plain awful or doesn’t work. Bashers go one sentence at a time, getting it exactly right before they go on to the next one. When they’re done they’re done.” ? Kurt Vonnegut I'm an unapologetic basher. A fully designed living room will tell me what the kitchen should look like (and vice-versa). Two steps forward, one toe reaching back. The good news is that I've never had issues with deadlines. It's just my kooky process. And as Ricardo suggests, revisions are very much a part of it! Onward and upward, ya'll.

Ricardo, there is certainly nothing WRONG with editing as you go. Check out this video featuring Oscar winning writer Eric Roth who begins each writing session on Page 1. That means he must revise those first set of pages 50, 60, 70 times or more. The problem for some writers is that loop. I known writers like this. See them, How you doing? Them: Writing this script. See them a year later. How you doing? Them: Still writing this script. Editing can become a tool of the Voices Of Negativity to inhibit progress. Every writer is different. Each of us has to find the way that works best for us.

Chance, love the Vonnegut quote. I guess the ZDT Challenge is for swoopers. OTOH I'm more of a basher, working out stories in detail in prep, then working and reworking pages as I write. So taking part in this 30 day challenge is a challenge on multiple levels. Can I swoop and bash at the same time! Or find some sort of middle point. Swash. Bwoop. I see a blog post in the making... Thanks for that!

Indeed--I think we all fall somewhere along the bell curve. #Bwoop That mic is dropped!

Scott Frank commented on this very topic in his BAFTA lecture. He said the average contract is for 2 1/2 months and then joked that he can't even write a title page in 2 1/2 months... He also said that he can't proceed when something really bothers him act 1...so he edits it to get it right so that his subsequent pages are headed in the right direction. I don't know how others feel about this, but sometimes fixing a flawed set up in your early pages helps you move faster and in a better direction in the rest of your script... or just looking over what you wrote warms you up and jolts you into ideas for new scenes in the rest of your script. Regardless of where you fall on the spectrum, it does seem like writing is a very messy process...it's not like an accountant just running through numbers... it feels like wading through the forest trying to figure out many things at the same time.