2016: The Year of Forced Creativity

That title is something my good friend Carrie came up with. We’re both screenwriters and met during Stowe Story Labs in 2014. We’re about to embark on a co-written screenplay (murder mystery, but that’s all I’ll say). And so we talk a lot about writing and filmmaking and creativity.

I was telling her about my goals of finishing all of my in-progress screenplays this year, and publishing a blog post every day in 2016, and somehow the whole “Year of Forced Creativity” came about.

And so that’s my motto for this year! I have goals. I know I’m capable of meeting them. But it means keeping the pressure on myself and forcing myself to be proactive about things. I can’t sit back and think  “I’ll get to that later” if I want to get everything done before December 31, 2016. I have to plan and organize and keep myself motivated.

Hence the forced creativity thing.

The thing about it is that we’re all capable of achieving things if we’re willing to put in the work. Set goals that you have control over. Saying “I’m going to make a movie that makes $1 million this year,” isn’t necessarily realistic. Sure, it might happen. But you don’t have total control over how much a movie makes. Even if you do everything right, it could still flop. But setting a goal of “I’m going to make a movie this year,” is something you can control. You can figure out how to do it. One way or another.

Set goals that are within your control. And then put your nose to the grindstone and get that shit done!

Who out ther wants to join me in the Year of Forced Creativity? We need a hashtag…how about #FC2016? #ForcedCreativity16? Chime in in the comments!