Serial monogamy

Nothing like a new mistress to get the juices flowing! At least, what's left of them. The mistress, in this case, a new screenplay story that I outlined this morning. The one I was working on isn't going anywhere. I usually start like that, sink or swim, a "forest" person, and in a few days I know if I have something or not. This morning, however, I sat down and wrote a sequence outline, beginning to end, of a story strategy that's been bugging me for decades. Easy enough to do since it's a well-worn strategy. I'm using the same technique used by SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE -- retell an often told tale in a package so different and exotic that no one recognizes that it's "the same old story." That is, we respond to FLESH, not the SKELETON, of a story -- but it's the skeleton that holds everything together in the right structure. So there's a skeleton, tried and true, I've been wanting to put new flesh on for a very long time but only since 9/11 has this even become possible. So I have the outline of the full story, which gives me a beginning security, though I know problems await me, and I'll begin this weekend. A new mistress! Works every time. I'm just not the writing stud I once was, no more 18 hour writing jags for me, man.