What if that Pale Ale I drank last night killed the brain cells that formerly retained my screenwriting know-how?

I realized on day two of blogging about The Assignment - that I am going down the same steps I did with my first 20 scripts. I'm writing about the same process I've blogged about in detail since July. I'm en route to writing the most boring and repetitive blog in the the blogasphere. And I'm not about boring people. So, change of plan. If you want to read about the specific steps I'm going to describe it starts with the post: "And So It Begins." I'll add relevant links back to previous posts as I complete this script.

I've decided to focus my blogging about my 21st screenplay - The Assignment - on the emotional process. I haven't found anyone out there in screenwritingland who's talked about the nearly insurmountable mountain of fear and self-loathing that goes into the writer's journey. And it's not because I'm the only one. If there's one common thread that links screenwriters (outside of our appreciation of sweatpants) it's insecurity.

Screenwriters who don't have the insecurity thing plaguing them quickly evolve into writer/directors. Trust me on this.

So, here it is - psyche exposed.

I am under contract to write the sequel to my previously successful movie. And as usual, I'm wondering how to start, how I ever did this in the first place?

General worries include very rational things like, "What if that Pale Ale I drank last night killed the brain cells that formerly retained my screenwriting know-how?"

I've got to be honest. The pressure is a little bigger on me because I feel like I need to write something even better than the last one. And I know better. That kind of thinking will prevent me from even getting out of the starting gate.

What I've got to do is just write, stay in the moment. It's like in golf. If you think, "I've got to birdie this hole to break 80", you have pretty much guaranteed yourself a double bogey.

So, how do I get started. Always the hardest part. Once you get that first scene under your belt - well, it's like turning on the lights and making the monsters disappear.

But right now - I'm just trying to get my plot cards up on the wall. Here's what I've accomplished so far:

1) I hung a picture that had been waiting around my office in need of a hook for months.
2) I cleared off my "outline" cork board to my "random crap" cork board on the other side of the office.
3) I cleared my desk, filed paperwork, organized project files with notes I'd been stuffing in my "inbox" since my last assignment. I even cleaned my computer keyboard and monitor.

Funny how working on the spec didn't motivate me to organize anything. Having a contract kind of puts up a force field, limiting your mobility to a six foot radius around your computer. Now my entire office is so well organized it looks like nobody has ever done a day of work in here.

There is literally nothing left to do but write.

So, now what? On-line card games, facebook, e-mailing distant relatives are all calling my name. But, NO! I must resist. It is time to get to work.

When it's really time, you feel it. You just know. It's time.

I am taking out my collection of cards. I'm opening my treatment that I've broken down into Acts and major beats. I'm transferring the big turning points first onto cards and then onto the board... I'm feeling better already.

Hope you are, too.