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By Gary, June 22, 2010

I have a question for any readers out there who are screenwriters: What’s the market like right now? Tougher in recent years, or about the same as it has always been? Is it possible for screenwriters to make a living without living in California, specifically in the Los Angeles area?

It has been years since I’ve read a screenplay, or any sort of play for that matter. I’ve never tried writing such a specialized form of fiction, and have no advice for how to write plays or screenplays.

But I would suspect, as our culture turns more and more toward television, DVDs, and other types of home entertainment centers, “live” theater on a major scale is dying. Outside of Broadway and other venues in New York City, I suppose only scattered local “little theaters” and dinner theaters are doing much of anything.

I suppose screenplays are still in some demand, if nothing else by small, independent studios and direct-to-video producers. But then I think screenplays, even at their height, were always pretty localized to the L.A. area, weren’t they?

I would love to know more about the craft of playwrights and screenwriters. If you have experience in these areas, please leave a comment and share your expertise with us.

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By Gary, May 26, 2010

What are the best writing tools you have? From computers to printers to fine pens and pencils, and everything in between — what tools do you find valuable for your writing.

More and more in recent years, I’ve turned all “geeky” and use a lot of online stuff, and a pretty fair smattering of high-tech stuff off line. But I almost never use a couple of tools that were my favorite not many years ago — namely, my trusty AlphaSmart Neo and plain old pen and paper.

Instead, my latest writing tool is a beautiful little netbook — one of those mini-computers easily carried to our local library or my favorite coffee shop. What tipped me into buying it was the battery life. My full-sized laptop won’t run much over 1-2 hours on a charge. My trusty little netbook will go around 8 hours on a charge. (I think the first time I used it, I got just over 8.)

It runs all the software my full-sized laptop runs, yet it’s small enough to fit readily into a small bag/briefcase and works just fine for most of the online writing I need to do.

What sort of writing tools, whether high-tech gadgets or software, do you use most? Are you keeping software upgraded and are you able to take advantage of some of the stuff out there to help writers.

But beware, also, of the gadget trap. Don’t think new or faster computers are going to make you a better writer. Writing is the only thing that does that.

I once worked in a retail setting where I had to run a cash drawer. I took in money, handed out change, etc., for an 8-hour shift. It wouldn’t have mattered if I had been using a fancy mmf drawer setup or an ancient hand-cranked cash register. The point of the job was simply to take in parking fares, give proper change — and get the till total to balance every shift.

I’m pretty good at math, and I’m very honest and very conscientious at such work. But for whatever reason, there were two or three occasions when my totals were off during my three months at the job, and I came up short.

Likewise, not matter how good your tools as a writer, if you don’t work at the writing and get it done, the writing tools you use really won’t make much difference.

But since we’re on the subject: What are your favorite writing tools? What would you recommend for other writers? Leave us a comment and tell us.

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By Gary, May 25, 2010

After a few weeks or perhaps months of steady writing, especially if your writing involves work that you don’t truly love and have a passion about, you can easily find yourself overextended, even facing a sense of “burnout.”

This is sort of a cautionary tale to serve as balance to my “pep talk” the other day about writing every day. Because daily writing can easily become daily drudgery if you are like me. I tend to be either totally lazy, or I swing to the other extreme and become my own worst taskmaster. (Bipolar? I dunno.)

When I first started writing online by setting up several blogs and affiliate marketing sites, I was really gung-ho. I was determined to find something that would make money for me and absolutely dominate it. The sky was going to be the limit to the number of profitable websites I would set up. I foresaw HUNDREDS of websites in my great and lucrative empire.

Then I discovered that I not only could not think of hundreds of profitable websites — I would be crippled and dead from trying to set them all up and legitimately maintain them.

My plans quickly overwhelmed me and I went through a period of almost a year when I could barely stand to go online, much less write something for a blog or something to do marketing.

Presently, I have around 15-18 websites (no, I haven’t actually counted them recently) and I am working my way down to a total of perhaps 10. Of those 10, I anticipate three of them requiring daily or twice-weekly updating. The other seven will be affiliate marketing sites built around datafeeds and require minimal maintenance.

I found the old build a niche site, then another, then another, etc., approach to online marketing and writing was keeping me chained to a treadmill I simply could not keep trotting on.

Not long ago, in one of my early posts about the terrific methods and resources at The Keyword Academy, I spoke about the importance of writing about your “passion.” Indeed, I’ve made that comment several times. That, I believe, is the essence of writing online and off-line, if you wish to be successful as a writer. Find what you really love to write, and forget about a lot of the rest of it.

I discovered I like to write about history, especially the history of the Old West. And I discovered I’m fascinated by clocks and stuff about what makes them tick. (Yes, pun intended.) So two of my major websites that I intend to get back to updating daily will be one on clocks and one on the history of the Old West.

What’s your passion? Focus on writing about that and avoid overextending your writing/marketing efforts.