Darn you English

When I first got the idea of pursuing writing as a career, I wanted to be a screenwriter. During that process of learning as much as I could about writing for the screen, as well as actually writing screenplays, I dabbled in the short story. I even wrote what some would consider a novel, or close to it. I continue to write in long hand, ignoring screenwriting. I've had a lot of fun writing in long hand but, after reading stuff that I thought was grammatically correct, I realize that I might be over my head. My first thought is that this whole thing is all about story. Telling stories. The second thought is that I should just write, no matter what style of writing I'm doing. As long as I'm writing, I'm telling stories. Enough said.

The problem with all of this is that I can't switch back and forth from "novel" writing to screenwriting. I have ignored and have, basically, stalled my progress in screenwriting just to pursue writing stories in long hand. The biggest obstacle with writing in two different styles is that writing in two different forms has a different skill set. I used to think I could switch back and forth. I have realized that you cannot do that. You must choose. I know that choosing one direction over the other is going to cause more pain and suffering. I can't hide from the frustration of creating a screenplay that can sell, with a story written in long hand, thinking that maybe I may have a better chance at getting paid for my writing if I keep writing in long hand.

Here's the dilemma - I can't do both. If I continue to postpone screenwriting, I lose valuable time learning the craft that I spent so much time working on before I started with the short story/novel writing thing.

If I choose to write stories in long hand, I will have to spend way too much time on the whole grammar thing. The biggest frustration I have with writing is that I spend way too much time on editing and grammar - not the story. I used to think that I understood where commas, semicolons, colons, dashes, and hyphens went. After writing 100,000+ words (not counting screenplays) in the last year or so, I have become increasingly frustrated in figuring out if I'm being grammatically correct. After reading my stuff, I know that if I continue to pursue writing in long hand, I will have to go back to school. I will have to learn, or re-learn more grammar. This is not fun - nor should it (should I use a semicolon, a comma, or a dash? Should I have gone with the period before, or after the word "it"?) - Is it okay to have three symbols in a row? Should I have used italics instead of quotation marks? From what I remember [comma after remember?], I can't use a semicolon because there should be two independent sentences before and after a semicolon. Fuck that!!!!!)

Screenwriting it is.

Erik -

Finish the story your writing and get back to screenwriting. You're enjoying your movies, if you're watching them, way too much. Go back to dissecting scenes, thinking about story structure, dialogue, and all that other stuff.

Good. Done. Period.

(The coolest thing about screenwriting is that you can ignore many rules and get away with it. The problem with screenwriting is that it's much easier to get published, therefore, get paid if you write: Novels, short stories, articles, blogs, etc...)

I think I used the colon properly there. "Colon properly there" doesn't sound right. No, wait. It should be colon properly there.