This is Finish Your Monsters, a weekly blogletter about the creative process. I'm sharing adventures in art and life as well as setting CLIFFHANGER goals for myself, so--

DID I MAKE MY GOAL?

My goal for last week was to complete the SECOND draft of the script for a new short film.

I accomplished this goal and, shockingly, had fun doing it.

It shouldn’t be shocking and yet, here I am, re-re-re-re-re-learning.

I met the goal because it was reasonable. It was something I had time to do and I was in the right headspace to do it.

I had fun doing the second draft because, for me, the second draft is always more fun.

In a way, a second draft is like having a conversation. When you’re writing the first draft and you have nothing but a blank page, you’re just monologuing something in to reality. And you’re painfully aware of every ridiculous, incorrect thing you might be spewing onto the page.

But once that first draft monster is finished, it’s a conversation. The thing on the page TELLS you where it feels off. And instead of spewing a whole monologue, you get to tell your first draft monster, “You’re right! That limb bends seven times. That must be painful. I’ve got an idea to fix that.”

I think a lot of art is decision making. I often get overwhelmed by the volume of decisions in a first draft. A second draft winnows down those decisions. You can sink into a specific idea and feel it and savor it.

That’s what happened on this second draft. I spent a lovely Saturday afternoon with some jazz music and only three decisions to make and savor.

And one of those decisions was deleting a thing that I spent a long time vacillating on in the first draft.

Another good reminder to just hurry up and finish my monsters.

A NICE THING THAT HAPPENED THIS WEEK

As I write, I’m also feverishly running through my to do list for the Nevermore Film Festival this weekend.

It’s been a busy day of packing, pre-production for the short film, and fun very fun super fun taxes work.

So I’m going to keep my nice thing for the week short and, hopefully, sweet.

I was fighting a cold this week and sadly had to skip a fun event a friend had kindly invited me to. I was bummed to miss it, but it led to a very cozy evening of recuperation.

When Sara got home, we made a nice dinner, some hot tea, and discussed what to watch to relax. The current show we’re watching is Andor. A fabulous show that has received many accolades, but “relaxing” is not one that I’m aware of.

Sara and I had caught bits and pieces of the Winter Olympics coverage and, like many folks, found ourselves enthralled with the figure skating. I’m fascinated by the mix of art and sport. The art of it speaks to Sara’s career in dance.

Earlier that day, I had seen news on social media about who won the gold medal in women’s figure skating so in a way it was less stressful to watch. I very much wanted to see (SPOILERS) Alysa Liu’s performance. So I asked Sara if she’d like to watch the entire replay of the figure skating finals.

She was enthusiastically onboard. I was ignorantly onboard. When one of the first skaters competed I said, “How can someone be in 19th place?” And Sara answered, “Because there are that many skaters.”

Anyway, long story short: We sat cuddled in hoodies, sipping tea, and watched amazing artists and athletes share their skill. And stayed up way too late doing it. But it’s hard to feel like an irresponsible party animal when you haven’t moved from the couch in three hours.

I think a lot about the balance between comfort and adventure. How we need both in our lives. I’m excited to fly off to Durham for the film festival. It will be a great adventure but it will be made even better by having experienced such a wonderful night of comfort.

LIGHT PLUGS

DEAD MEDIA’S FIRST FESTIVAL APPEARANCE: Our horror film will play twice at the NEVERMORE FILM FESTIVAL in Durham, North Carolina. I’ll be there at both screenings to do an intro and a post-film Q&A! Tickets and info here!

DEAD MEDIA MAILING LIST: We’ve got a mailing list for Dead Media. I’m only going to send out messages occasionally with concrete info and asks for help—screening dates, sales news, help getting the word out, etc. You can sign up here if you’re interested!

SHORT FILMS ON YOUTUBE: I’m still planning on releasing three of my short films on YouTube. I want to release one a week. I really want to promote these extensively on social media, but I keep wrestling with whether it feels right in this moment. But it would still be a huge help if you subscribed to my YouTube channel and hopefully it will feel right to put out the short films soon.

DONATIONS TO DEAD MEDIA: We need all the help we can get for film festival submission fees, advance money to book theaters, etc. Through Film North, you can make a one time tax deductible donation here. Thanks for all the help and support!

MY GOAL FOR THE WEEK--

I don’t have a ton of work time this week because of traveling to the film festival but I still want to keep moving forward so my goal is to complete a THIRD AND FINAL draft of the script for the new short film.

YOUR GOAL FOR THE WEEK--

I would absolutely LOVE to hear what you're working on this week in the comments below. What's your goal? How can I help you literally finish your monsters?

A LITTLE SKETCH--

When I got my degree in visual art at the University of Minnesota, one of my parts of class was gesture drawing. Very fast sketches that tried to capture movement, energy, and flow. I’m also excited about playing more with shapes and abstraction in my sketches. So here’s an abstract, gestural tribute to figure skating energy. I will try to remember this energy tomorrow when I’m squished into a seat on an airplane. Thanks again for reading and supporting!