I have been hustling. Like, seriously, any time not at work I’ve been writing. You see, I still have nine weeks of my teaching contract to fulfill. Even though I won’t be returning, I am giving these kiddos everything I’ve got until we part. That’s just who I am. Unfortunately, that doesn’t leave me a lot of time to work on my writing, hence the whole quitting teaching thing. As Stephen King said in his book, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft,
“teaching school is like having jumper cables hooked to your brain, draining all the juice out of you.”
It’s not that I don’t like teaching, I love the students and designing creative lessons, but it’s really hard to move forward on my writing. That leads us
to now. Nine weeks left. So why am I trying to write a bunch too? Well... there are two writing fellowships I am applying for in May. I don’t want to wait an entire year, so now is the time!
The first is Disney/ABC’s Writer’s Program. To apply you need two original pilot episodes. If you get in, you take part in a 12 month paid program with the goal of being staffed on one of their shows at the end. Plus, you get other sweet Disney benefits, and did I mention they pay you? Yeah. Great gig. The only problem? I only have one pilot episode. Clearly I am missing something if I want to apply. A whole new tv series! Good news is that I’ve got the idea juices flowing and know my basic premise. And no, I won’t tell you yet what it is. I’m writing with the door closed as Stephen King also said in his book On Writing. By the way, I love him.
The other fellowship is for WB, which isn’t paid, but if you earn it, you basically have a job audition with them. The goal is once again to be staffed on one of their shows at the end. They do things a bit differently than Disney. Instead of two originals, they want one spec script (although I read that if you move forward, they will ask for an original). For those of you who don’t know, you write a spec script for a present day TV series. It is more than likely this script will never be filmed, so why are they asking for it? Spec scripts show that you can write, that you can study a show and contribute to it, basically that you could do the job of a television writer. So I found a show off the approved list, Nancy Drew, and am happy to say I have an outline for the episode.
So... things I have: one pilot episode. Things I need: one original and one spec script. Hence the hustling. But here is the thing... if you never give yourself a break, your body will design one for you. I woke up this morning with a debilitating migraine. I had to admit defeat at work and ended up sleeping for five hours! This evening I have banned myself from working on the scripts and grading (hence me writing this post). I am relaxing (this is relaxing!) and getting myself ready to go back at it tomorrow. But... I plan to cut myself off at a reasonable hour from now on. Hopefully, my body will no longer feel the need to revolt just to get me to listen to it.
For those of you who are interested, here is more information on the two fellowships listed above: Warner Bros and Disney/ABC .