For those looking for the presentation materials for my PennWriters 2022 Presentation, you’ll want to visit this page. For everyone else, keep reading…
Long time no see. How is everyone? It’s been a rough few years here while I’ve dealt with physical challenges (and I still am), but with the first wave of our collective zombie apocalypse drawing to a close, I’m determined to put a toe back out in the proverbial waters and attempt to recharge my creative batteries. Knock the dust off my internal story engine so to speak. Attempt to put words to paper (not for lack of trying, it’s just been impossibly difficult while wrestling my non-android body that refuses to cooperate).
On a plane to NY where I’ll pick up a rental car and head south to Lancaster, PA and the very awesome PennWriters Conference. I say awesome because while I’ve never actually (physically) been to their annual conference, I participated virtually last year (as both a presenter and a participant). The conference was a refreshing slew of topics and presenters providing many a new idea worth exploring.
This year should be all the better for those of us who’ve double vaxed and boosted. Taking place in Lancaster, activities begin tomorrow including my own presentation on Writing a TV Pilot. Somehow, I managed to boil down a 17 week course I teach at Missouri State University into a one-hour presentation. This should be interesting.
More on that need to help my own personal story engine get cranking again. Clearly, I’m missing spark plugs, but isn’t that why we go to these conferences? To reinvigorate our creative selves? I find myself wondering what else I can do to bring about a creative focus that’s been missing for the past 5+ years thanks to family and personal emergencies and a world turned upside down.
Ready to Stop Circling and Start Rewriting?
If you've got a draft and a diagnostic full of red flags, you don't need more coffee and willpower. You need a plan, a structure, and a room full of writers doing the work alongside you.
The Screenplay & TV Pilot Rewrite Workshop runs July 11 through September 26, 2026 — twelve Saturdays, 2:00 PM ET, live on Zoom. Small group. Real feedback on your actual pages, every week. A six-phase framework that moves from structural diagnosis all the way through line-level polish.
You'll leave with a rewritten script. Not a half-finished revision. A rewritten script. Registration is now open.
Ready to Build Dialogue That Actually Works?
All of this is easier said than done. (Yes, pun intended.) Which is why we do it together, live, with your actual characters.
Build-A-Dialogue is a free three-hour workshop — Saturday, June 6th, 2:00–5:00 PM ET, live on Zoom. No theory lectures. No homework. Just writing.
Hour 1: Voice. Hour 2: Subtext. Hour 3: Conflict. You'll leave with completed exercises, a Character Voice Sheet you can reference for your entire manuscript, and a Subtext Diagnostic for testing any scene in your current work. Registration now open.
More to come as I figure that out. At least I managed to get a blog post out! This is the first post in 7 years so… it’s something.
Let’s try and make it a habit because, yes, I know, habits are part of how one protects and nurtures the creative self.
Here’s to waking mine back up,.