The beginning of the end of the beginning

And then there was silence.

If you had been wondering – all two of you – where I had been hiding this past summer, rest your troubled minds with the knowledge that my life has been a series of planes, trains and automobiles. A cross-country trip, an Oceanside vacation and a 107-page screenplay have stripped my weary body of most of its free time. Blogging, it seems, is one of a handful of activities that fell to the wayside.

Coincidentally, my pal, confidant and producing partner, Mike Knowlan, has abandoned his inferior, but oddly enjoyable blog. Could this lull in activity from both prolific bloggers be connected? If Scott Pilgrim is released in theaters, and nobody is around to see it, did it even really exist?

(Sorry, Edgar. Still love y’ah.)

It’s hard to describe the summer of two-thousand and ten, an enjoyable creative and spiritual odyssey for myself, without delving into details. But details are scarce in this business and readers shall receive none. Instead, you shall receive a synopsis:

I flirted with romance, I conquered the road, I got some behind-the-camera experience, I ran on the beach, I lost a small person in body weight, I saw Christopher Nolan run a clinic on how to direct a blockbuster, I finished a book, I bought two CDs, I reconnected with nostalgia, and most importantly, I finally completed the first draft of my feature-length screenplay.

Now the important work begins.

I must turn a waffling, mediocre first draft into something fun. Something - as the Hollywood lingo goes - “electric”. Something that my brother would pay good money to see, and my mother (a woman who asked me to write a romantic-comedy starring that “lovable” Zac Ephron instead) would avoid like the plague.

For once in my non-existent writing career, I feel relatively confident about a project. Not necessarily because of the people involved (or in spite of them), but rather because the material is flexible and capable – two prerequisites when dealing with an unknown property with absolutely no capital.

Ideas are brewing. Previous etchings are being erased. And October, the birthing ground for most of my creative ideas, is just around the corner. And who knows, maybe some blog posts will be written.

Shots fired, Mr. Knowlan.