Love the idea of the Pats starting yet another much-hated dynasty. But also love me some Sam Darnold come back story. So I'll be good however this game goes. Predictions: Pats. Crucial mistake cost Darnold in the 4th Quarter. Situational football rules the day. But... this takes me back to The Goat, TB12. And the horrible start vs Atlanta, years ago. They fell behind 28-3, before storming back and winning in overtime. And maybe nothing looked worse than when Brady threw a pick 6 when they were down 14, to let the score go to 21-0. But he gathered himself and his team. "Come on now, laser focus! We gotta play harder! Tougher!" And led the greatest comeback in sports history. I've often felt this way when battling a script. Trying to figure out the way forward. Feeling lost, but knowing it's not in my DNA to give up and being determined to fight my way through. I genuinely look to Brady as a model for that. Selected 199th in the draft. 4th quarterback on the roster, behind the first QB ever to sign a $100M contract. But showing up everyday in practice and staying late, with the mentality that this would be his team one day and his work ethic would make that inevitable. I'm curious, who's your model for the way you work, for how you move forward when things get tough? Oh, and what's your pick? I'm going 27-24 Pats. Vrabel's got this team dialed in. I could be wrong, but even if I am, with the mentality Brady set down for that organization, even a loss will be a learning experience on their way back to greatness IMHO. Then again, I'm the same guy who was at a huge Super Bowl party years ago and everybody was making fun of me when the Pats were down 28-3. And I said, we've got them right where we want them. Then I might have turned around and flipped them all a double bird when the Pats won. I'm not saying I did. But I'm not saying I didn't either. Go Pats!

Looking forward to seeing more great work from the Writer's Forge crew! You guys are leading the way and setting the standard for writers who are willing to show up and be accountable and really build themselves, one day, one session at a time. That's where the magic happens. Zoom Link: Premier Coaching, Friday, Feb 6, 12 p.m. Pacific Time. If you haven't experienced these coaching sessions, jump in, with pages or without. And just see what's happening here, that you just can't find anywhere else!

Huge turnout today! This was our biggest yet. Every one of these is a learning experience for me. Especially seeing how the pages play out now that we're doing table reads and seeing how other writers respond. Curious what came out of today for you guys. @Temycka Carpenter Carlton @Jason Byrley @Jason Smith @Chad Desrochers @Anna Fermin @Pia Crawford @Shauna G @Iii Party @Krystel Biasotti @Chris Dyer @Ian Campbell @Lena Lieuvin @Piter Marek @David Hinnebusch @Godfrey Virgile We couldn't get to everyone and will get you in future sessions. Meanwhile, I need to create a sign up sheet of sorts here, so we can schedule more than one session out. But this platform doesn't allow me to do that, so any suggestions on how to do so would be appreciated!

This call was a great snapshot of the actual process — not theory, not formulas, but real writers wrestling with real pages and making real breakthroughs. We had three writers present material, and together they showed the full arc of development: rewrite payoff, first-time pages, and radical rethinking of an opening. 🔹 @Krystel Biasotti — Rewrite Payoff Krystel brought in a second rewrite of the opening of Soulmate. Same story. Same premise. Completely different experience. We did a live table read, and the reaction in the room was immediate: - The pages moved faster - The comedy landed - Most importantly — people cared about her immediately Nothing new was added in terms of plot. The shift was emotional access. By opening on a deeply human moment — trying and failing to fit into a high school dress — the audience was pulled into her interior life without explanation. The information was always there. Now we felt it. This is the thing I’m often trying to get writers to find without knowing exactly what it is yet. Krystel found it. I’ve asked her to post earlier drafts as well, because this is a textbook example of: Same movie. Same information. Radically different reader experience. 🔹 @Eva Titova — First Pages, Strong Voice Eva joined us for the first time and brought brand-new pages from Mainstream Uninvited, a character-driven family comedy set around a Christmas dinner. Right away, a few things stood out: - Clean, professional formatting - Strong tonal control - Character dynamics doing the heavy lifting We did a table read and paused to talk about how specificity builds trust with a reader, and how small descriptive choices quietly communicate confidence and voice. There’s a strong Wes Anderson–style sensibility here — idea-forward, character-first, and quietly tense in the best way. This wasn’t plot-driven writing. It was presence-driven writing. For a first session, this was impressive work.

I had some chores to do today. I scheduled and blocked out 4 hours for creative editing. I was only able to do 2, (depression writers block). Some of you may experience these kinds of things too. We got this. Everyone wins when we pull together. Do what you can when you can. I've been enjoying the community zoom meetings.