Writing is a journey. A lifelong journey. Having now written 22 spec. scripts, two completed novel manuscripts, and a third that's in-process, I would equate the writing process to hiking up and down mountains. Hence, the title of this post.
Having completed "The Commune III" for that past three weeks or so I've pretty much been at the top of the mountain. Re-reading the script doing the minor of working tweaks. This is the top of the mountain because for intents and purposes this project, "The Commune III" is done! A writer can ALWAYS go back and improve on past material. The thing is you can't camp on top of the mountain. No, eventually it's time to move on to the next project.
My frame of mind is that a writer is a writer for life. It's what they enjoy doing. So as a writer lives his or her life, they go through cycles as writing projects ramp up... and later, hopefully ramp down. If you're a healthy writer your writing life should be be like an extended hiking trip in the mountains.
Right now I'm staring at an old mountain I left back in December of 2018. The mountain of "Love at Great Cost; A Legend in Thars: Book III". Not going to wimp out on this mountain. No, just like all other mountains I've set out on, it's getting climbed all the way up to the top.
Endurance. A writer's life is one of endurance. You gotta keep going. Never let any of your "mountains" get the best of you either. Climb them all. Even if some of them take longer to climb than budgeted for. All things said, "The Commune III" was a relatively straight forward mountain. Saw it in late December of 2018. And had it climbed by the middle of June, 2019. Other "mountains" that I've endeavored to climb weren't so easy. Lost my permit to climb on the "Planet of the Apes" script I wrote. Still got that one in a file, but I don't know if I'll ever be allowed by the owner of that mountain to reach its peak potential. "The Commune" was a tough mountain to climb because prior to that I had never written in a story that was so vested in the U.S. military. "A King for God's People", though I had a rough map going in, having based on the life of Israel's king David from the text of the bible, was a challenge because it was my first adaption of previously existing source material -- and since it was based the account written in the word of God I felt I had to be careful and do the story the justice it deserved.
The great thing about the writing life, going through projects, and reaching the top is the view from the top. I always feel a great sense of relief when I'm there, cruising. The hard work is all done. All that remains is minor tweaks, and enjoying the finished product. Listening to completed script in Final Draft is a joy. When you internal editor can't find any more mistakes to fix, and you're just enjoying the finished product. This is like drinking a beer after a hard day's work. Satisfying.
But writers are explorers by nature and no matter how in love you are with the tale you've spun eventually you're meant to start all over and take on your next challenge. So now I'm going back to the mountain of "Love at Great Cost" and I'm going to scale that third mountain in "The Legend of Thars" range. Moreso, I'm going to start eyeing bringing all three manuscripts into book form. YES, that is my next goal! Then after that the 2nd movie in the "Thars" series. I've already got the first one done. Yay!
The longer I'm at this the more I see the need to CELEBRATE MY SUCCESSES!
This is E.C. Henry after he completes a script or novel.
I know what you're thinking, "E.C. you don't have any 'successes'; you're an undiscovered talent." Trust me, I face that doubt all the time. But one thing I do have is completed projects! The state of the publishing world is a mess, the state of the movie-making industry is frustrating. I may never get discovered. But one thing that is my control to do is writing. And finishing projects. And that's what I aim to do.
So yeah, I'll probably listen to "The Commune III" a few more times just for my own personal pleasure. Always wanna enjoy the view from the top of the mountain. But even as I stand atop this peak, my eyes are on the horizon. Realizing that I'm going to have to go down into the valley again, and WORK to climb up the mountain of "Love at Great Cost". The beauty of all is that I'm open to doing such things. For if you're a true writer. It's never a one-off kind of thing. No, the more notches you get in your belt. The more notches you want to add.
Writing is a journey. Writing a climb. But the view from the top, makes it all worth the while.
