Day 189: Monday Progress Report

It's official, I'm insane.  I have scheduled a reading: booked a room, lined up actors and invited a few select attendees for a small, informal reading of this not-yet-finished play on August 9th.  Two weeks from today.   I'm sure most people would say it is complete insanity to schedule a reading of a play you have yet to finish, but this is how I work.  My performing partner Kat and I did this with all the cabaret shows we have written -- we set a date and then had to write the show by the date.  It's a great way to make sure you get shit done and don't get distracted.  Like I said in my post about deadlines, it makes decisions a lot easier.  So even if I don't make my initial deadline of this Friday to finish the first draft, I have a drop dead deadline of August 7th (in order to get it to the actors ahead of time).  Impossible?  Surely not.  Insane? Surely.

I made a lot of great progress this week.  I finished a scene I didn't know how I was going to write, and am now deep into the meat of the culminating conflict scene of the play: a confrontation between Frank and his daughter Vivian.  I have written to the point where Frank actually apologizes, something I wasn't sure he was ever going to do.  I know it needs more finessing and tweaking, but I think the arguments are solid.  At least I hope so.

I scanned through the whole play today, as I was looking for scenes to have an actress read for me tomorrow.  I was a little scared to do so, as I didn't know how it was going to hang together.  I haven't read the whole thing for quite sometime, so I feared I might have gotten off-track.  I have to say, I think it works.  Some scenes even surprised me -- I had forgotten a few things I had written, and I have to admit I liked them.  I saw a few things that need to be tightened up, worked out a little better, but overall, I really do feel this holds together.

I can't wait to hear this whole thing out loud.  I want to finish this so badly, it is a palpable ache in my chest.  I may not finish it by Friday, but I am hell bent on finishing it by the end of Sunday.  Wish me luck.