Training starts this week. Tess and I have flirted with the idea of running the Long Beach Half Marathon in October. We got fitted for and purchased running shoes about a month ago and we “unofficially” start the training program tomorrow. It’s unofficial because the 12-week program should actually start in July in order to finish right before the race. But I thought it would be a good idea to start a bit early so I can get used to how this commitment will affect my time budget.

I’ve also made it a point to work in some writing. I’ve recently finished hammering out the first draft of a treatment for a script that has been festering on my computer for the past two years. I feel I still need to insert some plot points for the second and third act, but I’m comfortable with the main tentpoles of my story. Most people are unaware of how much structure goes into the writing of a screenplay. And if you’re ever unsure of what will happen during the big events throughout your script, it’s VERY difficult to get there – you’re lost and the scenes you write have no purpose. This is where I’ve been the past few years. I was only sure of a few destinations on my itinerary. And because I did not have it all laid out for me, it was hard to make any progress.

So now it’s all about focus and discipline. My goal is to hammer and hammer and hammer out this treatment. I have to know how each scene will lead to the next before I start actually writing the screenplay. Some of it is already written, mind you. In fact, I have about 30 or so pages. A good chunk will stay intact, (these are the destinations I was absolutely sure of) while others will either get cut or re-written. Part of maintaining focus and discipline is budgeting the time to write.

I’ve heard you’re more productive when you’re busy. When you know you have things to do within a certain time frame, you want to make every second count when performing a task. And now that I have this half-marathon training and this screenplay I’d like to finish this year, I really have to be disciplined.

Like the half-marathon training regimen, my writing regimen will start off small – maybe 30 minutes per day. As I get into a good rhythm, I’ll up it to 45 minutes, then maybe cap it 1 hour. It may not be mathematically possible to allot time for say, a 5 mile run AND a 2.5 hour writing session on a weeknight, you know?

So it all starts on Monday. As far as I’m concerned it’s in writing, so I HAVE to follow through. I’m done being all talk – it’s time to work for real results.

Progress reports – from both marathon training and writing – will come. I may even put up some excerpts of my script for folks to read.

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