Dan is a very good friend of mine, despite the fact we’ve never met in person. Though I’m a writer and he’s a filmmaker we love bouncing ideas, inspiration, and encouragement back and forth. The two of us are constantly trying to improve our crafts and break onto the stage in a big way. The other night we got to chatting on Facebook and I started talking about some of the struggles I have as a writer; namely, my tendency to put ideas and projects in the drawer because I feel I might not be good enough to pull them off properly. We exchanged tales of how we each choose which projects to work on out of the multitude of ideas always bouncing around our skulls…and then Dan came back with this:

“Steven, I don’t want you to have the mentality that you are underneath the material you are writing. I meant to tell you that in my previous post, but I got caught up with everything else. I’m serious, though. You’re a very talented writer, and I think the only way we can improve is just from continuously writing.

“I remember when I first started writing when I was kid, and I’m fortunate enough to still have some of those earlier works, and they are pretty bad. In comparison to the stuff I write today, which isn’t anything extraordinary, but much improved, you can see the progression, however gradual. I think as writers we just have to write, write, and write. We can push off stories because we don’t think we’re ready, but I think that’s just our creative sub-conscious playing tricks on us.

“I think you’re ready to tell any story that you want to tell, and I think with the proper allocation of time, thoughtful examination and research you can do any story justice. In the end, I think the only thing we can do is just try, and write to the best of our ability. It might not be perfect, but after all we are always evolving and improving, and that’s what matters most.”

-Dan Marcus, October 27, 2011

I’ll try to remember that, Dan. Thanks.

To find out more about Dan and see a couple of his short films, check out his blog. But his most up-to-date resource would be his Facebook page. Tell him I said hello.