Screenwriting : Juggling by Lee Cousins

Sacrifice sleep... The only way to do it! Write after the family is in bed!

If only Ray. I've got severe obstructive sleep apnea and dnt get much sleep as it is. The few hours i do get i really need.

I just find it hard to juggle.

I usually get 1.5 to 2 hours of quite time each day. I get up a 5:00 and am able to write while the rest of the family is still sleeping. On weekends I may even get 3 hours before the rest of the family gets moving. Morning seems to work best for me because at the end of the day I am spent from work and family things.

Lol Dale, good one.

I would have like, 4 Oscars, a couple of Pulitzers and a few best selling novels if I could figure out the secret to juggling. Right now I try to get all of my beat work done during the week, and then I do creative stuff locked in my Dungeon on Saturdays. I wish I could just do creative...but beats get the nickels.

I was working full time, going to graduate school full time, and had (still have) a family while writing my first script. It all comes down to time management. The obvious suggestions include keeping a notepad or other way to keep notes when they appear. You never know when an idea, line of action/dialogue, etc will pop in your head. I have a smartphone and used to write out stuff on it, then copy/paste and email it to myself so I can just add it to my script when I had a free minute. You don't have to have hours on end to write, just have to make the most of the time you do have.

I wrote the first draft of my first novel before my twins started junior kindergarden. Its amazing what you can get done durring Sessamie Street. (of course that was a long time ago) my point being no matter what you are writing the trick is to keep at it. If all you have a day is ten or fiffteen minutes then take that time and keep going. A paragraph or scene written is one paragraph or scene closer to the finish. Almost no one has miles of time to devote to writing. There;s day jobs and family and domestic crud all getting in the way. The trick is to budget the time and be diciplined.

It's a hard thing to do, Lee. Whenever you get free time (even if it's a minute) write something - even if it's a word, a line of dialogue, an action. Between work and spending time with the family I find that I don't want to do anything. But whenever I feel that I take myself to the computer (or phone or whatever other device you may have) and use that time constructively. The urge (at least for me) is to get something done quickly and have it be amazing, which is not going to happen. Writing a screenplay can take a while, especially if you're juggling. Take your time, use it wisely, and try to be consistent. Thanks for sharing, Lee!

Anthony has it right. Be patient keep at it and know that a sentence written is progress.

headphones!

I have a 6 year old and 2 year old twins. I work full time and yes, it is extremely hard to find adequate time to write. I have found that a good "at home" support system helps. If there is anyone you have that can take the kid(s) of your hands for even an hour. That helps. @ Anthony, I agree. Sometimes even a sentence can be fulfilling. I work during the day and when I get home it's father time. So I often think "when the kids go to bed I'll write" sometimes I do, often times I pass out on the keyboard. That's why I carry a pen and paper everywhere I go. Writing it out whenever I have a free moment keeps it fresh in my head, so when i do get those golden fifteen minutes, it's a fifteen minutes well spent.

Haha! so true! Above all keep going! one sentence, one new idea, one new plot twist!! one tiny step one foot after the other! Bravo!

The real world will not stop us! We will write on the bus. We will write in the subway. We will never surrender. And we will get the damn thing done!

Try some social judo. Confucius, he say, when the world is too much with us and we have a play, treatise, declaration of war or whatever, to write, why not put the world in there? After all, unless you're writing about a hermetically-sealed bubble into which no real-world light shall pass, the world deserves a namecheck. And after all, the old saw about writing what you know is particularly useful here...

I moved to an island, one that within 48 hours will be hit by a typhoon...200 mile an hour winds, so I could write full time. My daughter has turned into a Filipino, which is O.K I guess... and I bang out scripts.... with a girlfriend more than half my age. Mostly it's good!!!!

Hey Mark, you need any help?

yes, I have 2 kids now and a full time job. I find time here and there to write ... and that time... is precious.

Yeah Dale you got a million for a movie? I lived in Coronado for a few years, had a house on North Beach. Did the Ads and Infomercials for the Hotel del Coronado, did the first MailBox's Etc. spots. Had a great company in SD

No can do, Mark. But sounds like life is treating you pretty good.

Thanks for the advice guys, appreciate it. I'm managing to write here and there but the going is slow.

Baby steps... one page at a time... :)

ya, my 1st and 2nd feature length films both took about 1 1/2 years to write. Filming 2 years. editing 1 year.

Here...

Uh, yeah. Gotta be organized. Gotta outline - no time for writing screenplays that don't go anywhere. Gotta dedicate your lunch hour to writing, whether you're in the mood or not.

Of course it is hard to do this- the only way for most people is to be very disciplined and schedule specific time to write in your week. It is easier if you have a supportive family- some partners can become jealous of someone writing. Try and be practical about it and appreciative to others giving you space to do it. Get up earlier maybe. Then take occasional breaks away for a weekend or a week to have more concentrated burst of activity. Get used to writing anywhere when the opportunity arises. It is possible. Don't think everything has to be perfect to do any writing. Do it on a train, while waiting etc.