Odd Job Chronicles

Life is Messy, Just Like a Rough Draft

Written by Tony LaScala Sunday, August 12, 2012, 5:55 PM

Tick-Tock,

It’s been a long couple of weeks my fellow Odd-Jobbers…

1.)  Notes compiled on Musical play going into production in Spring.

2.)  Rough draft of new Screenplay commenced.

3.) Elimination from prestigious Screenplay competition.

4.) Prepping for upcoming week in Florida.

5.) Rough draft of new Screenplay completed.

6.) Oh yeah, and I’ve worked over 100 hours.

Let me start by saying I’m not complaining. I much prefer being busy to stagnantly wallowing on the couch, flipping through a bunch of TV shows I don’t really care about and trying to will myself to get up and write something of consequence. That being said, it’s time for the Summer to be over.

Read more: Life is Messy, Just Like a Rough Draft

Musicals, Writing Competitions, and Staged Readings

Written by Tony LaScala Monday, July 16, 2012, 10:36 AM

O Frabjous Day, Callooh! Callay!

Oh Odd-Jobbers I have been Writing, oh how I have been writing. Most writers have been at this point before, when time seems to stand still while your fingers click-clack-click away at the keyboard. Everything you write seems like golden prose and witty articulate dialogue that will make readers squirm with anticipation to flip the next page. When I’m writing something I’m really deep into, the hour hand passes in a hazy time smoothie of intermingled periods of furious writing, pacing, and crashing from exhaustion. Work, writing, sleeping, and eating all tend to leapfrog each other with no real detectable pattern. I catch a nap when I can, and on a normal day can accumulate the four to six hours of sleep necessary to keep me walking and talking until I reach the pinnacle moment of staring at a first draft and muttering triumphantly “I’m done” (Or something equally insightful) I then reward myself with a full night of sleep, in which I dream of a full night of sleep.

Read more: Musicals, Writing Competitions, and Staged Readings

Follow Your Dreams, Leave No Regrets

Written by Tony LaScala Friday, June 22, 2012, 1:04 PM

Happy Un-Birthdays Odd Jobbers,

I stared at the candle desperately searching for the right wish. It seems a silly tradition at my age, but the Peter Pan in me still clings to the hope that if you really believe, that your wish can come true. I should forewarn you that this will not be my “funniest” article.

With the blowing out of the candle, I had figuratively turned the big three-oh-shit. After spending the past two weeks in a near diabetic coma from multiple cakes and pie parties with various members of both mine and my wife’s inner circle (her birthday was last week), I can once again get into the rhythm of life. Back to taking my morning vitamins and jogging, low salt foods, Uber veggies, and a healthy consistent writing regime. Now I’m thirty, and I might be knee deep in a mid-mid-life crisis.

Read more: Follow Your Dreams, Leave No Regrets

When You’re a Writer: Live to Smell the Roses

Written by Tony LaScala Monday, May 28, 2012, 10:43 AM

Sigh,

I’m not really too worried about plagiarism from my fellow Odd-Jobbers, so here’s what I have so far of my new screenplay…

INT. OLIVER’S APARTMENT – DAY

A beaten down apartment filled with empty pizza boxes and cola cans. OLIVER (35)

…And that’s as far as I’ve gotten. Feel free to steal that doozy of a scene if it should work in your screenplays, Odd-Jobbers. Damn, that reads like a page-turner, doesn’t it?

I’ve done all of the prep work: character breakdowns, multiple drafts of the outline, etc. It’s hard for me to admit, but I may have over prepared. I didn’t think it was possible, but here I am staring at a blinking cursor completely burned out and uninspired. My usual drive to write a great scene has been replaced by a drive to veg out after work and eat dried unsulfured/unsweetened mango. (My new favorite treat. It’s like fruit jerky!)

Read more: When You’re a Writer: Live to Smell the Roses

The Re-Re-Write and The Writer’s Diet

Written by Tony LaScala Wednesday, May 16, 2012, 8:15 PM

Nom, Nom, Nom Odd-Jobbers,

I’m staring at a blinking cursor. My re-written screenplay outline needs to be re-re-written, and nothing worth re-re-writing is entering my stupid head. My bloated stomach’s grumbling and it really shouldn’t be; I’ve just eaten a good-sized portion of Eggplant Parmesan. I should be dwelling on how to fix the slump in the second half of Act II, but all I can think about is thick and creamy cheesecake.

Read more: The Re-Re-Write and The Writer’s Diet