We’ve made it through week one of the quarantine! Huzzaah!! Just… four more weeks now to go in Los Angeles. In some ways, this has been great. I have spent my career either working on development desks on projects that I wasn’t as passionate about as I would have like to be, or doing freelance stints where y schedule was erratic. Both were things that had elements that I loved but I never felt like I could really embody the positions fully as I wasn’t in charge of my day-to-day.

That probably sounds really ungrateful. I have loved and learned something from every job that I’ve held. There are always moments when you’re working for someone though where you are doing things you might not agree with. They’re not bad tasks, but when you’ve been in a position long enough, you might see a route to take that the person giving the orders either isn’t willing to do or not even acknowledging as an option.

For the next month, I get to look for work, yes. I have to find new ways to network and sell myself for development positions to companies that are less likely to hire while offices are remote. It’s tough. I also get to work on my writing for as much as I want every day and I don’t have to mentally beat myself up for being too tired to do it when I get home from work. And I still have time to pursue my other interests in art.

It’s a terrible circumstance that we’re facing as a world right now. It’s also a great opportunity for us to take a look at how we’ve been living and what we need to feel fulfilled.

As for today’s exercise. You’ve taken the past three days to beat out your first act. Now is the moment when you look back over those three sequences to make sure that they’re cohesive and see if you need to add anything. Once you’re good to go, you can start outlining.

The other thing you can do: Don’t write. You’ve been going hard for three days. Just read over what you wrote and make some notes, but don’t worry about outlining yet. Give your writing muscles a rest day and come back hard tomorrow. Allow your mind to take a break of output and absorb new art and ideas. There’s no reason to wear yourself out when you’ve got another month to go. I’ll see you here tomorrow to kick off Act Two.

Happy Writing!