Approaching the halfway mark of the Challenge. Notice an appreciable lack of comments the last couple of days. Perhaps folks retrenching after the awful events in Paris on Friday. Certainly understandable. Perhaps some folks flagging in their zeal for their story. Also understandable. Maybe a combination of both. I am slogging through some tough pages myself right now, swung back to Act One to write some pages I had skipped over. How to make exposition and setup entertaining, always a tough task. Wherever you are with your story, even if you've slowed or stopped writing, you still have 15 days until the end of November. Let's redouble our efforts. This is where we need to get in touch with our inner warrior and fight through the doldrums. To that end, here is a very special batch of creative juju. Feel that boost! Onward!

I finished the scene from yesterday and than wrote another one. So one and a half scenes for today. I had a long day at work and than watched the Warriors game. But still wrote a scene and a half. I also noticed the lack of comments lately. Maybe this quote might be of inspiration to people. "First drafts are a lot like a one night stand. You have to lower your standards, have zero attachment, and just say Fuck it!" Dana Sabrowski: my 2nd grade English teacher

David, you had one helluva 2nd grade English teacher! If GSW can't inspire with their performance on the bball court, not sure what can.

Yeah she was a great teacher. She would of had a great career. Before the felony charge that is. Anyways Yeah I love the Warriors. That Curry can really handle his balls. Wait. What?

Going to bed. Good night Scott. Damn that sounded gay.

Stories are like relationships. You can date around and meet people but at a certain point you gotta put in work, and discover what makes that person special. 4 more pages today, reached the beginning of 58. Glad to be writing with ya'll.

I wrote 20 pages today! 20 pages of vomit but still pleased. This brings my grand total to 50. Job sucks at the moment, having to work a lot of overtime. So had fallen behind on my pages. Going to keep the next couple of weekends free so I can use the time to write my vomit draft. It really is a boost to be progressing with my script, even if it will need a gazillion rewrites. Can't wait to write FADE OUT. So awful what has happened in Paris :( My heart goes out to those impacted by the tragedy.

Halfway. And way behind with my screenplay. 36 pages in, end of Act 1. To motivate myself one thought keeps coming back to me, day after day. Maybe it helps your motivation too. I owe it to my younger self to finish this screenplay. My self from 3 months ago. My self from 2 years ago. And even my 12 year old self, playing in the fields, building treehuts, imagining the world was there for the taking. And only the skies were the limit. Let's write for us. For our younger selves. Thank you for listening to this rant :). Sidenote: world peace event yesterday was magical, 1500 people were silent for 2 minutes in the wake of the Paris bombings. We sent a whole lot of love your way Paris.

I am honored and humbled, Scott. Mr. Trumbo for the win/win! Oddly, words are failing me to adequately express to you how much we appreciate you and all your hard work. It just doesn't seem like enough to say a simple "thank you" for this ray of light that is Zero Draft 30 and your blog over all these many, many years. Your insight, encouragement and inspiration is relentless! I've read almost every post, every day over the last five years and didn't know how to say it eloquently enough to you to show you how much all your efforts have mattered. So if there is one thing that ZD30 has taught me, it aims to skip all that fancy shit and just say it. Thank you, Scott.

Yesterday was pretty cool because I got another 4 pages, bringing me to 60 total. Halfway home. I also am probably within about 2 pages of the actual midpoint of the story, so it's kind of nice that my rough outline is working out. Will write more today.

Isn't your drawing/quote from the great Maira Kalman? Me thinks she should be credited. She is sublime and everyone should check her out!

Susan, thanks for that. I have been super scrambling the last day or so, forgot to include Kalman, but now corrected. Thanks again!

Hey, all, great to hear about progress on your respective stories. Wish I had more time to do more than tip my hat, but I'm trying to finish something in advance of my upcoming 2 hour writing scamper. So as always... Onward!