Mark David Gerson's Blog, page 21

It's Only Just Begun!

There's an exchange in The SunQuest between Ben, the story's main character, and Bo'Ra'K'n, the evil force that is never quite vanquished in The MoonQuest and The StarQuest.

"It's not over," Ben shouts.

"It's only just begun," Bo'Ra'K'n retorts with classic menace.

I gained a whole new perspective on that exchange Sunday evening after we wrapped shooting on The Q'ntana Trilogy preview film: All the footage may be in the can, but the road to getting our feature films onto the big screen has only just begun.

On the preview alone, there are hours and hours of editing to be done, a soundtrack to compose and final decisions to be made about the best form for this film to take in order for it and our project to convince investors to finance a MoonQuest feature. (The preview film is part of a presentation we will be making in the months ahead to potential MoonQuest-feature investors.)

Once funds start coming in, and I know they will, there will be a million additional things to consider, primary among them are finding a director, production designer and DP (director of photography) who hold a vision that can lay the foundation for the world of The MoonQuest.

I can't move forward, though, without looking back -- not only over our two weekends of principal photography, but to the months of preparation that preceded even that. And as I look back, I do so with a depth of gratitude that has no adequate words to describe it. I couldn't possibly name all those whose talent, time, skill, support and generosity have made it possible to get even this far. But there are three I must single out:

• Kathleen Messmer, who so believes in The MoonQuest that she's bucking conventional wisdom and launching her production company (Anvil Springs Entertainment) with an ambitious, SFX- and VFX-heavy fantasy, and so believes in me that she's taken me into her home to make it possible for me to devote nearly all my time to this project.

• Darryl Garcia, Jr., whose commitment to The Q'ntana Trilogy has been superhuman. Kathleen told me early on that there's nothing Darryl can't do, and he quickly proved her right. There's also little he's not prepared to do, which became clear when he stepped up from his casting-director role to fill director's shoes no one else dared take on. This was Darryl's first directing gig, and he performed brilliantly, passionately and creatively.

• Daniel Zollinger, who took on the DP role when others found it too daunting and used his vision and creative power to transcend all the equipment, location and budget limitations we threw at him.

Then there's our cast. It took us two months and three casting calls to assemble this gifted company of professionals, all of whom volunteered their time and talent. Many so embodied their roles that they will always seem inseparable from them to me. Several moved me to tears repeatedly with their performances.

Brilliant acting has nowhere to go without the support of an able crew. There, too, we have been blessed with enthusiastic and capable men and women who not only worked without compensation but went above-and-beyond, doing whatever it took to make sure we got the footage we needed.

We also had many individuals and businesses lend and/or donate resources critical to a successful production -- from costumes and catering to locations and financial contributions.

As I talked to cast, crew and donors over the weeks leading up to the shoot and during our five days of principal photography, I was humbled -- not only by their dedication but by their gratitude at being part of this grand adventure, an adventure that had its unlikely genesis 17 years ago in the Toronto writing workshop that birthed The MoonQuest book.

I don't know exactly how the feature-film version of The MoonQuest will come together. All I know, with all the certainty I can muster, is that it will...and that this amazing group of incredibly talented, generous, passionate and committed individuals will have been instrumental in what I also know will be a huge success.

To all of you, for helping my dreams come true: Thank You!

Truly, it has only just begun...for all of us!

• For more information about the stories and the production or to make a financial contribution to the project, visit the Anvil Springs Entertainment website.

Photos (c) 2011 Mark David Gerson:
#1 - Our Sony EX-1 camera silhouetted against a Sandia sunset after our first day's location shooting (camera loaned to us by Modern Camera for the final weekend's filming)
#2 - The "martini shot," which is what the final shot before wrap is called. Here, a scene from The MoonQuest
#3 - Director Darryl Garcia, Jr. and DP Daniel Zollinger setting up a shot, with help from 1st AC Bryan Jones and 2nd AC Lani Wasserman
#4 - Cast and crew enjoy lunch, catered and donated by Andre's Catering of El Paso, TX. (Andre's donated breakfast and lunch for both days of location shooting)
#5 - Our production mascot: Nala, the blue-eyed, nine-week-old pit bull who spent this past weekend on set and stole everyone's hearts. (She nominally belongs to Robert Douglas Washington, who played Yhoshi. In actuality, Robbie belongs to Nala!)
#6 - The slate, in a rare moment of rest

To see more production photos, visit these three Facebook photo albums:
• Cast Table Read
• Weekend 1
• Weekend 2

I Can't Write Until I...

"Writers never want to work, never. They all find any excuse not to sit down and look at an empty sheet of paper or a blank monitor -- the room's too hot or too cold -- they have to go to the toilet -- pencils need sharpening -- the typewriter needs a new ribbon -- the keyboard needs cleaning -- the pictures on the wall need straightening — the wastebasket needs to be emptied — or it's lunchtime."
~ Andrew J. Fenady, A. Night in Hollywood Forever

Although author Andrew Fenady may be speaking only for his book's main character -- a detective-turned-nonproductive-novelist -- what my blogging colleague Linda Stone calls "deceptive distraction" is an issue for most writers.

It certainly was an issue for an award-winning Albuquerque author who once lamented to me during a book signing that a certain computer game was keeping him from starting his next book. It's an issue for me, too, as I try to juggle the seemingly competing demands of creation (working on the final screenplay and novel in my Q'ntana Trilogy of fantasy films and novels), revision (revising screenplays #1 & 2 and novel #2), production (helping get a MoonQuest feature made) and the rest of my life.

It's not always easy negotiating competing demands, let alone dealing with the reluctance many writers feel about writing. (Canadian writer June Callwood once said, "I hate writing. I love having written." )

Sometimes, it's not time to write. We're not ready for the story, or it's not ready for us. Sometimes, too, we need a break from writing to regain our focus. Linda Stone calls such breaks "receptive distractions."

But if you've heard yourself utter any of the following, you probably are dealing with neither timing nor focus. You're dealing with the kind of distraction that prevents you from moving forward with your writing:

• I'd better check my email/voicemail/Facebook...

• As soon as I [insert task here], I'll be able to write without worrying
about it.

• I can't write on an empty stomach. I'd better get a snack...or fresh coffee...or...

• Let me just see who this is on the phone/at the door/in this new email/Facebook message...

• Let me just respond to that tweet (it's only 140 characters), Facebook message or text message...

• That bathroom floor and [insert anything here] is disgusting. I'd better clean it first...

• Oh, I really need to call/text/SMS [insert name here] before I can start.

• I can't write until I [insert distraction here]...

• Let me just Google that, then I'll be ready to write.

As I tell students and coaching clients, writers often have the cleanest windows, floors, fridges and toilets, the most up-to-date filing systems or the best record for returning calls or emails because, in the moment, just about any task seems more palatable than sitting down to write.

If you fall into that category, here are seven suggestions to minimize distraction and procrastination until you have completed your day's writing (or, at least, your first installment):

1. Keep all Internet- and smartphone-related distractions out of sight and earshot until after you've written. Don't check your email. Don't open your web browser. Turn off all notifiers for email, Twitter, Facebook, instant messaging, SMS and/or smartphone apps that flash, beep or ping.

2. Don't answer the phone or check voice mail. To avoid temptation, turn off your phone's ringer and your cell phone while you're writing and, if you use an answering machine, turn off the sound so that you can't hear who's calling. (Don't cheat by looking at the caller ID screen!) If you're on a smartphone, either turn it off or put it in airplane mode. (Don't cheat by switching the wifi back on, which you can do on some smartphones.)

3. Don't open the morning paper or your mail. Don't check to see if they have arrived.

4. Don't open your checkbook to pay bills or visit your online banking site. Don't visit any website! (Remember: You're supposed to have closed your browser!)

5. Don't start that book you've been meaning to read. Don't pick up that book you're a few pages from finishing.

6. Don't pick up a sponge, mop or cleaning rag.

7. Don't do anything unrelated to writing.

Again, perform no task or errand until you have written. If that has proven impossible, keep pen and paper or laptop by your bed and don't get up until you have written.

That was how I got through the first third of my first draft of both The MoonQuest and its first sequel, The StarQuest.

Another benefit of making writing your first assignment of the day (other than getting it done!) is that you won't waste time during the rest of the day doing all the things you normally do to avoid writing.

What kinds of distractions to you succumb to? What strategies have worked (or not) for you? Please share them here.

And when you're done, shut down your browser or phone, free yourself of all potential distractions, open a fresh page in your word processor (or pick up pen and paper), and start writing.

Anything.

Just do it.

You can write.

Now.


• You'll find additional tips and inspiration on my website, where you can read my "Rules for Writing," sign up for my mailing list and read/hear free excerpts from The Voice of the Muse: Answering the Call to Write, from which this piece was adapted.

Snap a Pic for Me and Promote Yourself / Part 4

Welcome to the latest installment of my online readers' gallery, featuring photos of people reading my books -- in hard copy or ebook form. (You'll find the previous posts here, here and here.)

If you'd like to join the online fun (and get your book, business, event, blog, website or other success promoted here and on Facebook), read on...


Do you have a copy of either of my books? If so, I'd love to include a pic of you reading either The Voice of the Muse: Answering the Call to Write, The MoonQuest or both in my Readers' Gallery Photo Album on Facebook.

I'm also happy to include you if you're listening to The Voice of the Muse Companion: Guided Meditations for Writers. Just make sure the CD cover is visible.

And to help you promote your book, event, business, success, blog and/or website, I'll include in the photo caption not only your name but your promotional info/link. I'll also post the next batch of reader pics here in a future blog item.

If you have my email address, simply email me your pic and caption information. If you don't have my email address, contact me via Facebook, Twitter or my website once you have the photo, and I'll tell you where to send it.

Feel free to send one pic or several and to include one book, both books, the CD or any combination. Just send separate photos for each item (unless you really are reading both books at the same time!).

Thanks for their reader pics to 
• Lisa Elrod (top pic, above), 
• Vicki Daigneau, Ellen LaPenna and Nancy Pogue LaTurner
• Will Reichard
• Aalia Kazan
• Elizabeth Galligan, 
• Samantha Niederhaus
• Lisa Elrod's right-hand monkey, Blueberry.
Please click on their names to learn more about them and about what they're up to.

And please send me your pics. I'd love to add you to my gallery and let the world know something about you and your work and successes..

Acts of Surrender 18: Dreams and Desires

An excerpt from Acts of Surrender: A Journey Beyond Faith, my memoir-in-progress.

"I am Tikkan Dreamwalker. I speak only what you know in your heart to be true."
~ Na'an, The MoonQuest

I've written and spoken before about how I never wanted to be a writer, about how I so feared my creative abilities when I was growing up that I denied their existence, about how my Muse initiated an extensive program of chicanery to lure me to the write side.

Perhaps that's why so much of my teaching and coaching work, for writers and non-writers alike, has focused on surrender: to the story of life as much as to the story on the page...to a story that can be buried so deeply that it's invisible to the conscious mind.

That's how The MoonQuest was born. This fantasy about a world stripped of story, vision and imagination wasn't one I knowingly carried within me. It began to leak out onto the page one spring evening in 1994 during a Toronto writing class I was teaching. Within days, that trickle had exploded into a cascade. A year to the day later, I dropped the final period on the end of a first draft written so in-the-moment that I rarely knew, from one word to the next, where the story would take me.

It's been 17 years since that writing class, 17 years during which The MoonQuest has rarely not been part of my day in one way or another -- years of drafts and dreams, years of publisher pitches and agent queries, years of staring up to the full and moon and asking, When?

I'd be lying if I claimed that I've always believed in The MoonQuest as fully as it's always believed in me. Of course, the rejections from publishers and agents didn't help. But a small part of me didn't quite buy the post-publication praise, either.

I think many of us carry a small, frightened child within us who is convinced that our talents and abilities are little more than a carefully constructed sham. "One day," he or she warns repeatedly, "they'll discover the truth that you're a fraud, that the emperor has no clothes."

A lot of us mocked Sally Field in 1985, when she gave her Oscar speech for her Norma Rae best-actress win. "You like me. You really like me!" she exclaimed to the bejeweled crowd at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion and to viewers around the world. Yet our mockery was edgily uncomfortable because, like Sally Field, most of us -- despite our unique talents and incomparable gifts -- don't fully believe in ourselves and don't altogether believe those who do believe in us.

I had a whole series of Sally Field moments this past weekend, during the first two full days of shooting on The Q'ntana Trilogy preview film here in Albuquerque. (The Q'ntana Trilogy is the trio of fantasy novels and feature films kicked off by The MoonQuest. The preview is a short film comprising scenes from The MoonQuest, The StarQuest and The SunQuest and is designed to attract investment to the features.)

Suddenly, here I was on a professional film set for the first time and everyone present -- from production assistants to producer and from featured extra to featured players -- was there because of me...because of my words and my vision. For large chunks of the two 12-hour on-set days, my mind couldn't begin to grasp the magnitude of that. I would hear my dialogue spoken by actors in costume and in character and not connect the experience with the words I had penned and the scenes I had envisioned.

In part, that was a good thing. It afforded me an ego-free objectivity that allowed me to see what worked and what didn't. For the most part, though, it felt as though I was strangely not present, even though my physical body was consuming large quantities of sweetened coffee to keep me awake and functioning after a week's anxious sleeplessness.

(In one of life's strange ironies, the last time I had that much caffeine was the night my daughter was born. How perfect that the ritual should repeat itself during another birthing!)

There were flashes, of course...moments when I did connect what I was seeing and hearing with what I had written and imagined. Those moments were indescribable validations of the power of my dreams and imagination, a power that I realized I still didn't fully trust.

I'd experienced similar moments during our casting calls and rehearsals, when actors had proven to my doubting mind that my dialogue worked and my stories were sound. I had even cried during particularly powerful readings of my lines.

But here, with re-creations of my characters interacting in re-creations of my worlds, the proof was incontrovertible. I was gratified, stunned...and scared. Like a Sally Field surprised by the depth of her gifts, I didn't quite know what to do with that proof. And like a Sally Field startled by the praise of her peers, I didn't quite know what to do when, at the end of each shooting day, actors thanked me for my stories and for the privilege of playing my characters.

It's a funny thing about dreams. There are the dreams we know about and the ones, as I wrote in the opening paragraphs, that lie so deeply buried that, when they emerge, they astound and frighten us with the intensity of their power.

If first writing and then novel-writing were hidden dreams for me, so, too, it turns out, was screenwriting.

Against all odds and despite what I thought I knew about my desires and capabilities, I'm a screenwriter. And a good one, at that.

In the end, though, I don't think it has anything at all do with the form of the writing because, in the end, I'm not sure that my dream is about writing at all. I think it's about storytelling.

If that's true, how perfect is it that, after years of creative doubts and blocks, my inaugural novel and screenplay should take place in a mythical land where stories are banned and storytellers put to death. How perfect is it that first through the writing and now the filming of this story, I am coming to believe more fully in myself, my vision and my talent and to see and understand my value and the value of my dreams.

Just as I cried the moment I held an advance copy of the published MoonQuest book in 2007, so I cried when the the 2nd AC clicked her clapper in front of the camera and announced, "Scene 10, Take 1. Marker." It was Saturday morning, the first take of the first scene to be shot.

I cried not because of the movie, any more than I had cried because of the book, as profoundly grateful as I am and was for both. Rather, I cried the cry of storytellers everywhere when they are privileged to see and experience their stories come to life, whatever the medium. I cried the cry of dreamers everywhere in witness to their dreams being made manifest. I cried the cry of surrender -- to all that I desire, in spite of my blindness, and to all that I am, in spite of my fears.

Photo credits: #1 - My hand as a close-up stand-in for that of Old Toshar, played by Michael Davis. #3 - Me and producer Kathleen Messmer, by Lu Jackson. #5 - Director Darryl Garcia, Jr. and Director of Photography Daniel Zollinger.

Adapted from Acts of Surrender: A Journey Beyond Faith, my memoir-in-progress. Please share as you feel called to. But please, also, include a link back to this post.

Recent Acts of Surrender excerpts:
• October 20
• October 23
• October 29
• November 15


While we're profoundly grateful for all the financial contributions we received in support of this no-budget project through our IndieGoGo campaign, we're not out of the woods yet.

We have an incredibly talented professional cast and crew, all working for free. We've been blessed with many in-kind loans and donations -- of costumes, paint, props, graphic design and food. And I continue to be amazed by the creative ingenuity and generosity of spirit that are fueling this project.

At the same time, some necessities must be purchased and certain expenses (production insurance, for example) are unavoidable. As a result, we're continuing our fundraising efforts past the end of the IndieGoGo campaign and we're grateful for any support you can give us. Unless you tell us otherwise, we'll acknowledge all donations (by name, not amount), even those as low as one dollar, on the Anvil Springs Facebook page.

To contribute, via PayPal or credit card, please visit the donations page on the Anvil Springs Entertainment website. You'll find more information on the project on The Q'ntana Trilogy page there.

Thanks for your support...and for helping to make this fantasy a reality!

The Q'ntana Trilogy in Posters

I'm indescribably grateful to artist Richard Crookes for donating his time and talent to create these compelling images for our Q'ntana Trilogy movie posters.



The central image in The MoonQuest poster is the king's Wall of Traitors. Here is where the decapitated heads of storytellers and those found to harbor them are displayed for all to see.












The arch-villain in all three stories is Bo'Ra'K'n, a dreamwalker gone bad. In The MoonQuest his surrogate is the king. In The StarQuest, she is the quintessence of evil. Here, her finger pointed at the stars appears to cause the constellations to implode.










In this image, a circle of snakes appears to strangle the sun. To find out why that's so, you'll have to wait for The SunQuestbook and movie!














A version of this was Richard's initial suggestion for The MoonQuest poster. But the evil-looking face seemed to so personify Bo'Ra'K'n that we convinced Richard to save it for the trilogy poster.










• If you can't wait for The MoonQuest movie, pick up a copy of the award-winning book on my website (ask for a copy signed to you!) or on Amazon

• For more information on The Q'ntana Trilogy film project, visit the Anvil Springs Entertainment website

• To make a financial or in-kind contribution to Trilogy preview or features, visit the Anvil Springs project donations page.

What's Your Vision?

Do you know who you are as a writer?
Do you have a vision for your writing?
Do you have a vision for the project you're working on?
For the project you have barely begun to conceive?

Connecting with and holding a vision for yourself as a writer and for your work can help you more easily move into writing and hold the energy of your creation through the entire process of conception, creation, revision and release.

One way to hold that vision is by creating a writing invocation or vision statement that propels you into the energy of your day's writing. It can be as brief as a sentence or as long as a page. It can speak in general terms about your role as a writer or in specific terms about a particular book, poem, article, song or story — whether you already know what it is or just that you're called to write it.

I used both an invocation and vision statement for The Voice of the Muse book. Together they formed part of the ritual that awakened me to my Muse, activated my inner writing space and ensured that all I wrote hewed as closely as possible to the book's true essence.

Invocations and vision statements are not fixed in stone. As The Voice of the Muse progressed, as I matured through the writing of it, I continued to refine both my invocation and vision statement.

Here's my vision statement for The Voice of the Muse:

The Voice of the Muse: Answering the Call to Write is about freedom — freedom to grow, freedom to create, freedom to write. Through a dynamic blend of motivational essays, inspiring meditations and practical exercises, it nourishes, nurtures and reassures its readers, inspiring them to open their hearts, expand their minds and experience, with ease, a full, creative life.

To read my writing invocation, turn to page 172 of The Voice of the Muse: Answering the Call to Write.

To help you create your own vision statement and/or writing invocation, follow the Vision Quest meditation that starts on page 174 of the book, or listen to track 9 of The Voice of the Muse Companion: Guided Meditations for Writers.

Regardless, awaken your passion, energize your vision...and write!!

• Feel free to share your writing vision here in the comments.



• You'll find additional tips and inspiration on my website, where you can read my "Rules for Writing," sign up for my mailing list and read/hear free excerpts from The Voice of the Muse: Answering the Call to Write.


Photo: Bald Eagle State Park, Center County, Pennsylvania. (c) 2011 Mark David Gerson

Why Do You Write?

A Guest Post by Julie Isaac

Why do you write?
What do you love about writing?
Why did you start writing?
What do you get out of writing?
What do you want to give others through writing?

The answers to these questions are what motivate us to sit down and write, are what get us to put writing first and everything else second.

When was the last time you sat with these questions and answered them? Do it now, and make a list of your most compelling answers.

Keep a copy of that list with you; keep another where you write. When you're procrastinating, when you're writing tweets instead of your novel, when you're stuck, read your list. Read it slowly and really feel your answers.

Award winning author & content creation coach Julie Isaac is creator of #WriteChat on Twitter, from noon to 3pm PT Sundays & the #SHINEonline Blogging Challenge that starts on 1-11-11 for 111 days.

Read Julie's review of my book, The Voice of the Muse: Answering the Call to Write.


• Note from Mark David

When Julie first asked that question on Twitter a few years ago, I knew I had to reply. This is the answer that (to my surprise) came out of me:

Why do I write? Because I can't not write, any more than I can't not breathe.

• Why do you write? Please share your thoughts, reasons and perspectives here as a comment.

On the Air with Mark David

Please join me Monday, Feb 28 at 7pm PT on Insights for the Soul Radio -- a 90-minute online-radio conversation about life, spirituality, creativity and the miraculous journey that weaves them all together into a luminous tapestry, with hosts Mark William Skomal and Charmaine Lee.

Be inspired to live your life from a place of passion, faith and surrender, and call in with your questions during the show: 347/838-8063. And if you miss the live broadcast, listen or download any time after 8:30pm PT from the episode's web page.

Hope to "see" you there!

A Vision Realized, a Passion Fulfilled

Every writer's dream is to have his or her words come alive.

For novelists, the goal is to know that their words are leaping from the page to come alive for the reader. For screenwriters, it's to experience those words both visually and viscerally, as actors both make them their own and render them universal.

In each cases, having one's inner vision be realized in a way that others can share is gratifying beyond words.

Having my first novel, The MoonQuest, published and acclaimed -- by readers and critics, and through multiple awards -- fulfilled the first dream.

Now, with The MoonQuest on its way to the big screen, the second dream is on a rocket-charged trajectory to realization.

A major milestone on that path was realized today with the announcement, by production company Anvil Springs Entertainment, of the cast for our "sneak preview" trailer, a 20-minute film that will include scenes not only from he MoonQuest, but also from each of its two sequels, The StarQuest and The SunQuest.

You can see our cast in the above image. You can find out which part each is playing by visiting our "cast album" on the Anvil Springs Facebook page. And you can hear them introduce themselves and tell you why they're so excited by their characters and this project on our IndieGoGo page (click on the "gallery" link).

No, this is neither the feature nor the final cast. But it's this short film that will inspire investors to finance the feature. And given the incredible talent and crew we've assembled, I have no doubt that we're well on the way to a full-length, big-screen MoonQuest movie. Soon.

Our 14 cast members for this trailer don't know this, but when I stood up on Saturday to introduce myself and The Q'ntana Trilogy stories to them at our first full-cast table read, it was all I could do to not burst into tears. To be surrounded be people as passionate about these characters as I have long been and to know that their commitment and craft would be bringing these stories to life in a way I have never been privileged to experience was profoundly overwhelming and deeply gratifying.

That these gifted actors (and the professional crew supporting them) are working for free is an additional blessing for which I can't even begin to express my gratitude.

Many miracles surrounded the publication of both The MoonQuest and The Voice of the Muse: Answering the Call to Write, as well as the creation of The Voice of the Muse Companion CD. The miracles that continue to unfold with this project leave no doubt in my mind that not only is this trailer production charmed, but that the three features in The Q'ntana Trilogy of fantasy films will follow an equally charmed path.

I've sacrificed a lot for my passion: I now live two states away from my daughter, for example. And I no longer have either a home or car of my own...or much of an income. But technology and love keep me connected with my 11-year-old, and none of the rest really matters. In spite of my increasingly occasional lapses, I know that all that truly matters is that I'm listening to the voice of my muse and following the path of my heart. If I've learned anything over the years, it's that that's the only way visions are realized and passions fulfilled.

I mentioned earlier that our cast are volunteers. Our professional crew is also working for free, plus they're mentoring local film-production students, some of whom are interning on their first-ever professional production.

We've also already received donations from the catering services who will feed our actors on shooting days and by people like graphic artist Richard Crookes, who have volunteered to design our trilogy posters. (Richard, by the way, live in Thailand. So the reach of this project is now global!)

Some of you have also contributed cash donations -- either to our IndieGoGo fund-raising campaign or directly to the production. Those donations are particularly welcome and just as miraculous. When you're shooting a medieval-style fantasy in New Mexico, there are some things that just have to be bought...not to mention film-location permit fees that are rarely waived.

If you haven't yet contributed to our fund-raising campaign, I encourage you to do so. Even donations of $1 help the cause! In doing so, you're not only helping my dreams come true, but you're also helping film students and professionals here in New Mexico to hone their craft. As well, you're giving them a shot at being part of a feature-film trilogy that could well employ many of them. That's because the producer's goal is, where possible, to bring many of these volunteers on board for paying gigs on the features.

Once again, you can find more information on this project and our fund-raiaing campaign on our IndieGoGo page. Thanks for your support!

Is the Write Idea Your Right Idea?

There are lots of good ideas out there in the ethers -- ideas for books and screenplays, ideas for songs, articles and poems. Your friends will suggest them. Your partner will suggest them. Your logical mind will suggest them.

You'll see something or hear about something and you'll think, "Wouldn't that make a great story?"

Maybe it would. Maybe it's yours to write. Maybe it's not.

There's a difference between a good idea and the right idea, between an idea that is anyone's for the taking and one that is uniquely yours, one that's right for you, right now.

Before you launch into a frenzy of research and writing, ask yourself: Is this what I'm called to write? Is this the call of my Muse, the story only I can tell? Or is this anyone's? Is this another good idea or is this the right idea for me?

Anyone can take a good idea and give it shape and substance. Some can do it better than you, some not as well.

Nobody can take the idea that sings to your soul and perform the kind of alchemy on it that you can. Only you can transform that idea into the one-of-a-kind gem it longs to be. That is why it, through your Muse, called to you...chose you.

Accept that you were chosen. Perform your magic. Let the right idea be the idea you write.

Right now.

~ adapted from The Voice of the Muse: Answering the Call to Write.
(c) 2008 Mark David Gerson.

• You'll find additional tips and inspiration on my website, where you can read my "Rules for Writing," sign up for my mailing list and read/hear free excerpts from The Voice of the Muse: Answering the Call to Write.

Buy The Voice of the Muse: Answering the Call to Write and The Voice of the Muse Companion: Guided Meditations for Writers from my online bookstore. Both are also available on Amazon