The Answer Is...No,But The Push Goes On.

So here we are, a year after I started this blog in an earnest attempt to spark a grab at a writing career. I came into this game sick of the books, the lectures (to be fair, all of which have gone unattended by me, but I seem to get all of their advertising), the videos and the debate between other strivers I'd encountered online over which teacher/bible/act structure/margin setting/brad was correct. I suspected then, as now, that these debates mainly existed so the initiator could validate their own choices, kind of like that mutt you see at a sports bar during a football Sunday with a Cowboys jersey, even though you live in Baltimore and you're not even playing the Cowboys that week, but this goon has to jump in your face and tell you why his is America's team and yours isn't worthy of discussion.

Lately I'd been trying to find online guidance through Zoetrope (dot) com, and while I'm sure there are some able-minded folk there and I got a little bit of genuinely thought-out criticism, the atmosphere there descended into thuggery. Opinions weren't to be valued, there were to be pissed on and spray-painted over with your own. Just as I was on my last few weeks there, Scott The Reader spotted my name on a posting and contacted me, having known each other years back. He told me about his blog and I liked it a lot. The more I thought about his blog, the more I wanted to try one out myself, and I thought it would be a good idea to use mine to track a goal-driven effort to get noticed 3000 miles away from the action with no representation.

In the year that passed, however, "The One Year Push" became less about The Push and more about The Obstacles: The Daygig, The Disappointments, The Procrastination. The obstacles I'll face shouldn't be stopping me, they should be inspiring me. I'm awfully good at letting myself stop progress so I can rewrite what I don't like or throw out the page. I should be getting the hell out of my own way more often than I am.

Something else happened over the past four months that impacted my life both inside and outside The Push. It's a personal issue within my family, a health issue for my son. He's fine, and the condition he's got will mean very minor routine medication, but for two months, my wife and I could not think of anything else. Our focus on his well-being pulled us both off our own tracks. She's the stronger one, she's back on track now, learning more about the condition, talking regularly with his doctors. She's better at this than I could be, asks all the questions in the room instead of thinking of them five minutes after we've left like I'm apt to do. My family consistently inspires me to be better and will continue to be the driving force to my Push.

And here we are in March 2007. Over the past twelve months, I've entered two of the most renowned screenwriting competitions (yes, lost, but you can't win without entering), talked to a producer about hiring me to weave her story into a screenplay (she took my "I'll say I'll call you but really won't" rejection virginity) and laid a bit of my soul out in the open. I've tried a new (oy, is it time-consuming) manner in which to build a script before typing FADE IN:, a 180-degree departure from my usual approach. I've corralled my stable of ideas and picked out the healthiest ones to prepare for market.

I'm ready for the second year. Hope you are too.