A couple of years after Deb and I got married, we were living at my Grandmother’s house because my Grandfather had passed away. My aunts had made the suggestion because it would give Deb and me the ability to live rent free and my Grandmother wouldn’t have to make any major life decisions right away…
I was talking to someone about one of the plays I’m working on and they made a comment on the subject matter. “That’s unfortunate,” they said. “People are sensitive about that topic now.” The comment made me oddly defensive and before I knew it, I said, “You write what wants to get written.” I didn’t…
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about how long it took to write the first draft of a play I’m working on. I said it was an interesting question. I recently finished the second draft of the same play. How long did it take? It’s still an interesting question… I finished the first draft…
“How long does it take you to write a draft of play?” she asked. Such an interesting question! How long does it take to create something? If I take a look at the play I’m currently working on, A Killing at the Cottage (AKATC), it took me 8 hours of writing to complete the first…
Seth Godin talks about the importance of “shipping”. Shipping is basically putting your “stuff” out there. It is about doing the thing that you want to do and getting it out into the world. If you are a playwright, shipping is sending out your play to producers or theatres to see if they want to…
Happy New Year! I’ve decided to start this year in April, instead of January. Why? Well, it took me a while to get ready for the New Year and I wanted to start the year off right! One of the books I read in 2018 was When by Daniel Pink. Pink suggests that choosing “when”…
Last weekend, my wife found an old contract I had made with her almost 25 years ago. It was signed August 1994. And in it, I committed to writing one page a day. That was back when I was writing fiction and short stories. I chuckled when I saw it. My contract with Deb was to show…
For almost four months I was trying to get started on my next playwriting project. It wasn’t that I didn’t have any ideas. The trouble was finding an idea that I would feel passionate enough about to overcome my inertia. What was the idea that would keep me away from the TV for hours on…
I have a bad habit of taking long breaks between writing projects. I finish one project and it takes me months to gear up and start working on the next one. Why? It’s not from lack of ideas. I’ve got more ideas than time to write them all. It seems to be more from a…
Last year, I had intended to document the journey to getting my play The Lost Years ready for the Hamilton Fringe 2017. Unfortunately, I never started the documentation and before I knew it, opening night was upon us. This year, I wanted to do the same thing, but I found I was letting procrastination get…
peter gruner 