Jet Lag and Writing

So though I'm back in L.A., I'm still on New York time, which is messing with my head.

Usually I'm a night person. I go to bed around 1-1:30, then get up around 9. But the last few days, I've been falling asleep around 9PM, and waking up around 4:15.

If the human race was meant to be up at 4:15, then there'd be something on TV at 4:15. I don't know if you have flipped around the channels in the wee hours recently, but pretty much everyone is well into infomercials by then.

I also have trouble focusing on writing when I'm tired, though I'm trying, particularly since, because Hollywood hasn't gotten up to speed yet in the new year, I have nothing to do but write.

So yesterday I pushed myself into brainstorming more of the second half of my new script, which I'd knocked out about 8 pages of in December. Since the first half of the script is pretty much all structured, I actually feel confident putting words on paper while the second half is still in flux, and playing with the pages is helping bring the story into focus.

Yesterday I also reworked those 8 pages, and added 4 more. So I'm up to 12. Today's plan is to write like a madman, at least until paying work falls on my head.

My slot in the writing group comes up on January 22. The plan is to have a solid first act, 25 pages for the actors there to cold read, so I can hear how it sounds and get feedback from my fellow writers. So far I'm on schedule, and I hope to be well beyond the 25-page mark by then.

Deadlines help.

Otherwise, I've been wading through season 2 of The Office, which was a gift from my lovely wife (after I hinted for it heavily, naturally). The great thing is that each episide has about 8 minutes of deleted scenes that are just as strong as anything actually in the episode; editing down what would be solid 30-minute shows into the 22-minutes they actually have must be tough every week, and its great that they throw all this material on the disk.

The commentaries are fun too. I can't recommend the DVD enough, especially if you are a fan of the show.

I'm caffeinated, and still tired. But it's time to suck it up. Back to the script...