Thigh Day

Last night's Robowriter's meeting was a lot of fun. The 8pm - 10pm group had the assignment to write a brand new ten page scene. Now, if you're primary experience is sketch writing, you're used to writing in 3-5 page increments. Trying to write a ten page scene can make your internal editor scream quite loudly and make your heart panic a little. Only three of the seven writers were able to accomplish this. Nat Topping wrote his in two hours the afternoon of the meeting! In the 6pm-8pm group, Scott Levy had similarly written a scene hours before the meeting based on one of the assignments from two weeks ago. It's the assignment I used last week to write my scene in forty-five minutes, also on the day of the meeting.

The interesting thing is, all three of those scenes were actually pretty good. All three need tweaking, but not a lot. There's a lot to be said for just sitting your ass down and writing. Especially under the pressure of a deadline. All three of us had the experience of not having much more than a sliver of an idea and all three of us were surprised by the results. I think it might come from trusting oneself. Or at least trusting that something good will come of it, even if it doesn't work on the whole.

NEXT WEEK'S ROBOWRITERS ASSIGNMENT: Develop a character based on a family member you may not know very well, living or dead - like an uncle or an aunt or a cousin. Write a scene where this character encounters something unusual.

MOM UPDATE: As of writing this, she is supposed to be released from St. Vincent's in Toledo and back at Edgewood Manor in Port Clinton by this afternoon. Julie, my girlfriend, and I are going to drive to Ohio this weekend to visit. Just our luck, it's also the weekend of The Walleye Festival!Yippeeeeeee!

TREAT: Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry are two very brilliant guys in their own right. I was surprised to find out not too long ago that they used to perform comedy together. Hugh Luarie did an outstanding job hosting SNL, so I sought them out. Their stuff's a little too clever for its own good, but still a lot of fun. Hugh Laurie's songs are hysterical. This sketch is a bit old-fashioned and punerific, but pretty darn funny.