Now that wasn't so hard, was it?

I did it. I FINALLY did it! Finally, after all this putting-it-off, researching and grumbling, I FINALLY DID IT!!

I wrote the first chapter for the scriptwriting section of my WIP. Woo-hoo!!

The reason why I had such a hard time with it is because I'm not a scriptwriter. Oh, sure, I've written ONE lousy script. Which has never been critiqued, I might add. I have read articles and the blogs maintained by scriptwriters. And I'll occasionally wander into the scriptwriting forum on the Absolute Write Water Cooler. But I don't have any REAL experience with the genre. Zip. The closest I ever came to that sorta stuff was being offered a chance to be in a movie (which ended up never happening). That's. It.

I honestly thought of asking a scriptwriter to offer some pointers for this part of the book. Sort of be an "expert consultant" type of person. But I always worried that, upon learning I have no experience in scriptwriting, they'd get all ballistic and say something like, "YOU have no business writing ANYTHING about scriptwriting until you have lived it!!" So, I...never asked anyone. For some advice.

I pretty much struggled with this on my own. I considered whether or not I HAD to put this into my book, and I kept remembering how a friend of mine who IS a scriptwriter said that it should be in the book. So I HAD to write it. And write it now. It is the very last section of the book to write. Just....six more chapters to go.

Six chapters on SCRIPTWRITING!!!!

I researched like heck, partly to see if the topics I'm covering are valid ones (they are) and partly to get a feel for all those professional scriptwriters out there and what kinds of things they are saying about these topics. I also read through my TWO books on scriptwriting. Finally, I tried to approach this topic in a way that is familiar to me. Nonfiction I can do. Fiction? No trouble at all. But, scriptwriting? Hmmmmm. I tried to see it differently. I told myself "well, scriptwriting is like writing stories." But a strong voice of authority told me it WASN'T. So I thought, maybe I can just interview a bunch of scriptwriters and make the chapters like an article. Nahhh. Then I thought, well, I can just write about what those pros out there are saying, but in my own words.

So I figured that is what I would do. Just echo what the others are saying, but go into it in more detail.

With this idea, I sat down to write the first chapter, taking a deep breath before I began. 'Here goes nothing,' I thought, and started typing.

Soon it was like something took over me. It was like one of those pros came to life in me and took over the writing of the chapter. I was amazed at how fast my hand flew over the keys. Words just poured out and the ideas came.

When I was finished, I had to admit I was proud of what I had put together. I have to admit, it was pretty good. Even one part made me laugh.

Even so, I wanted to get input on it. A comment from someone who is a professional scriptwriter, just to make sure I got it all right.

Meanwhile, I'm just glad I got over my fears and started to work on this section. Now I'm anxious to get those other five remaining chapters written up, too.