Hello my lovely, sublime, and perspicacious 7th graders!
Today, we've had a fascinating day with our guest speaker, Alex Burnett. From his experience working on a number of screenwriting projects in Hollywood, Alex has shared some powerful words of wisdom with us today.
You all asked great questions about life as a professional writer, and about the journey and the work that it takes to get there.
One of the most poignant things that Alex shared concerned baseball batting averages. He said that, as a scriptwriter for television, often only 20 or 30 % of the ideas writers create and craft end up being "good ones." In essence, just as a baseball player is considered a great player if he can bat .300, the same can be said for writers. This is a powerful antidote to the lie that tells us that writing should, be easy and if not, we are not supposed to be writers.
No!
Not true!
Writing is hard for ALL of us, but if we are willing to stick with it and rewrite and rework and revise and then do it all over again, we can end up with writing of which we are proud. No one sits down and writes a perfect draft: it's all about revision and trying again. This is a beautiful thing!
I enjoyed spending the day listening and talking about writing and I am so grateful to our guest speaker for sharing his wisdom and experience with us today!
For this weekend, be sure to read Chapter 8 in ROLL OF THUNDER, HEAR MY CRY. We've got a powerful few days coming up.
Peace!
Mr. R
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