Find your spark.

Welcome!

Prepare to be Inspired! I’m so glad you’re here.

I hope reading this newsletter will get your wheels turning, your sparks flying and your juices flowing.¹

Every Friday morning I post about movies, art, the creative process, or whatever else is inspiring me at the moment. I also write personal essays about my experience as a professional screenwriter and interviews with other artists of all types out there making a go of it.

Every Wednesday morning I post exclusively for Paid Subscribers screenwriting tips and career insights I’ve gained over the years in this crazy business we call the film industry.

Once a month, I host a screenwriting workshop for Paid Subscribers where I talk about a topic and we discuss anything else you guys want to ask about.

Feel free to explore, maybe starting with my favorite post:

Beyond that, posts are currently organized into 4 categories:

• THINGS TO INSPIRE - movies, art, stories and people that might inspire you (like they did me)

• INTERVIEWS WITH ARTISTS - delving into what inspires artists and what they do with that inspiration once they get it

• PERSONAL ESSAYS - insights I’ve had while on my journey as a screenwriter to capture lightning in a bottle

• NEWSLETTERS & LINKS - bits and bobs of ideas, links, tips, resources I’ve found

I’m constantly updating this as I refine the direction I want this substack to take, so keep your eyes peeled for exciting changes.

Go forth!

But first, if you’re curious to learn why I started writing here in the first place, continue reading below.

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As a screenwriter who struggles with anxiety and depression, when I try to write something new I often find myself at war with… myself. I get ideas for stories all the time. I’m excited to write them. But then when I start to type my big old disordered brain pops up like an ad for virus software and no matter how many times I click on the X, it doesn’t go away.

The problem with this is no one wants to read a story written by my anxiety. The ones written by my depression are even worse, frankly.

I’d go to write and wonder, “Is this me? Or is this my anxiety? How can I tell?” And then spiral into a neurotic puddle. If I wasn’t anxious before, I sure was anxious now! I knew I needed to find a way to handle this. It’s not that I’m not in therapy or anything, I am, but I still needed a way to tell those parts of myself to take a hike when it was time for me to be creative. So I started my quest.

I explored, and continue to explore, all sorts of things to help me get out of my head: mindfulness, routines, journalling, movement, etc.

What I found was, once I was able to turn down the noise, I was finally left with the one thing that mattered. The one thing I had needed to make my stories come alive:

Inspiration.

Honest to God inspiration, I have goosebumps, I feel like I just drank four espressos, my mind has separated from my body, kind of inspiration.

Boys and girls and theys and thems, don’t leave home without it. Or, at least, don’t write without it. Mine had been drowned out for so long I wanted to throw it a big ol’ party once I found it again.

So, now I’m obsessed with it. I want to learn more about it, how other people find it, better ways I can use it, and where it comes from in the first place.

Welcome to my substack: Inspired.

1. Am I the only one grossed out by this phrase? Like, do I want to know where that one came from?