Rusty Wheels

Every summer I try to write a spec completely for myself; like my alternate future sci-fi which hinged on the political career of Aaron Burr, and last summer's modern dress/original prose adaptation of an obscure Shakespeare play set in the dotcom boom and bust. These are usually met with thunderous silence, but at least once a year, with no compromises or input, I have written something that I--and perhaps I alone--would love to see on the big screen. I actually realized the other day that I have never worked on a project for somebody else that didn't already come with its own title, a curious thought.

Now the summer is almost half over and I am finally, finally creaking to life on this summer's spec after percolating on it for a while. My cat Pandora woke me up at 5 a.m. to be fed (and seriously, what's a true blog without a reference to a cat now and then?) and all of a sudden the pieces started clicking into place and I just stared at the ceiling and started thinking it through. I knocked out a few pages today and out of nowhere it all seems to be sitting there in front of me. A pleasant feeling.

Give me a shout at johnoakdalton@hotmail.com.