The Festival. Day Two.

Woke with a start by the Reverend, dressed nicely in a button up collared white shirt tucked into his slacks, ready for life. He reminded me the workshop Making a Scene was happening in approximately an hour. I could deduce he was going and wanted me to go as well, since he woke me and we are both interested in writing and maybe I agreed to this the night before, drunk as a skunk. I assumed all of this and dressed quickly and met him downstairs in the Super 8 lobby.

We walked and talked over to the Four Points while I ate my mobile breakfast: one Nature's Valley Oats and Honey granola bar, one Sunbelt Oats 'n' Honey granola bar, a small can of Dole's 100% Pineapple Juice, and a ripe banana. The workshop was neat. The Workshop Leader was very eccentric, old and amusing. He told us about breaking down plays into scenes, scenes into beats. Each beat was it's own moment, with characters that had Wants, and Conflict. There were Stakes, and in the beat, there was a beginning, middle, and end. He challenged us to write a one page scene, about one minute long, with two characters, and that single beat, that moment, had to convey something important. Important to the characters, thus, important to us. I can't wait to start. Don't worry, I'll post it.

We have to present it tomorrow.

Then I met up with an old friend from Fitchburg. We went and bought some booze necessary to the night's activities, and also grabbed some Starbucks coffee from a Borders. Then NYC Pitfalls for the Young Writers workshop began. This what I learned on being a writer, starting a career:

1. Don't be a writer. Find something else.
2. Get a plan!
3. Enter every content/opportunity you can.
4. TV is easier to write for than everything else.
5. Youth is a virtue. Being young is a commodity.
6. Everyone (in the Business) knows Everyone. So watch your mouth.
7. It's Easiest to get in on the Bottom floor. Find work. Start working.
   
8. Self Promotion. You must sell yourself. Arrogance. You become what you truly hate. Make phone calls. Kiss ass. Be that douchebagasshole nobody thinks about becoming, but eventually does. A necessity in this line of work.
9. You must eat a lot of shit. Accept rejection, deal with criticism, come to terms with failure.
10. Agent. Sample. Tenacity. These are things you've got to get going for you. Find an agent, have a repertoire of plays but one sample piece you're proud of and best exemplifies your work, and be tenacious, eager, confident, and all kinds of fun productive adjectives.

He was a good guy. Clearly not as successful as he wished to be, but he conveyed that, and used his mistakes as examples. Told us to do what he did not. Warned us against doing what he did. Then we did some writing exercises. It was cool. I'll go hear a reading of his most recent play tomorrow.

Then I came home to write a couple of things, this included. It's 5:15. It's getting dark. Night Two begins...

1. 
   
2.