The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the author . . .

So, I've been writing a particularly intense scene in Citizen Z.E. D., one that pushes several of my personal buttons.

And dammit, I'm letting the anger and vitriol flow. Mostly because it's a first draft, and that's what first drafts do--I can get this crap out of my system and then go in and edit it down so that it's not quite as painfully obvious. Nobody wants to get beat over the head with the message when they see a movie. Not even me. Not even when I agree with the message. Which I do, in this case, the title of this post notwithstanding.

It's coming along pretty well. I'm maybe a third of the way through it now. After I reached the end of the first act I thought I'd take my traditional week off before diving into Act II, but just couldn't stay away. Which is a good sign.

So, I'm going to keep banging away at this thing, and hopefully I'll be done with the first draft by the end of July. Or even sooner, maybe.

I know I've said this before, but it can't be emphasized enough--don't expect the first draft to be perfect. If something isn't working, don't worry about it. Get the whole story written down first. Then you can go back and start hacking away at it. It's amazing how much easier it is when you take that attitude. It's also amazing how often you'll think of something later in the story you can use to fix a problem from earlier. We're using computers now, so it's much easier to do rewrites!

Just so you know, episode two of The Metasaurs is available. Check out episode one, if you missed it. Just so you'll be caught up. I'm mulling episode three right now, when I'm not hammering away at the first draft of this feature film thing.

So, I've been hacking away most of today. I think I'm due to give myself a break and let the well of inspiration start filling up again. I'm also about to kill off one of my central characters, so I sort of have to brace myself.  I'll take a nice walk and let my subconscious start putting the pieces together. Nothing like moving around to get the juices to flowing!

Okay, that's all the unasked-for advice I'm giving out today.