A couple of nights ago, I finished the first draft of a short screenplay I was asked to write by a bloke I work with. It felt good to finish, partly because it's not just my work but came from the ideas of a few other people, and because I'm half-way to filling a commitment. I gave it to him before I left work, and the excitement on his face was extremely gratifying, not to mention a little nerve-wracking, cos what if he thinks it's crap? Either way, he'll read it, let me know what he thinks and what he thinks we should change, because this is something they're already planning on filming at some point this year. So he'll read it, and I'll go through and edit, and we'll film it, and hopefully it'll be good.

But there's a part of me that hopes I don't need to edit it. For some reason, and I think I've mentioned this before, I seem to do much better at first drafts than I do with editing. And I don't think I have the problem that some writers have-- I'm not too attached to my own words to cut, change, or move them-- I just don't like to edit.

My life is filled with first drafts. My writing folder on my laptop has (holy crap, just counted them) 14 short stories, 12 of which haven't made it past the first draft stage. When Jo and I do the panto scripts, I always write the first draft then palm it off on her to make it produceable/directable/actable/watchable. Editing Atlantis stalled about a month ago, so it's going to be a slog to get the first edit done by the end of March like I wanted to.

But to take the analogy further, it's more than writing. I get half-way through a project, and call it good then lose interest (the paint in my downstairs bathroom will attest to that. I built a computer to run two operating systems, never put a wireless card in it, and only got around to installing one OS. I started to learn the harmonica, and once I could get one tune out of it (Rivers of Babylon) I called that good enough. I manage to wash the laundry, but never put it away.

And to get really obnoxious with it, it seems to relate to relationships too. Do any of them, either friendly or romantic, get past the first draft stage? I get as far as names, but I couldn't tell you birthdays, or music types, phone numbers, or favourite colours, goal, aspirations, for fewer than a handful of friends And of those friends, I don't know all of those facts about any of them. I could sit here and blame society, or social networking for not having to learn those things about friends, but it's a bullshit excuse. Just because something like a birthday is easily accessible on Facebook doesn't mean we shouldn't take the time to learn those things that used to comprise of really knowing someone.

So my goal is to finish more drafts. Maybe take a few friendships past that stage. Edit the things I write. Finish painting the downstairs bathroom. I'll let you know how any of it goes.