Some creative goals are big and shiny: finish the script, publish the book, package the film, find the team, raise the money, conquer Hollywood, and find time to sleep.
Others are smaller but just as powerful: send the email, make the call, introduce yourself, or learn something new.
Our projects move forward with people, purpose, persistence — and an occasional nap.
This month, Stage 32 is giving us encouragement to move our projects forward with purpose. I’m focused on writing my next book - and sleeping more than 5 hours a night.
(Can you tell I’m sleep deprived?)
I’m inviting fellow authors and screenwriters to wake up & join the JULY FILM CLUB. Each week you’ll find a new blog, new challenges, and new prize drawings. You have until Sunday, July 6th to complete this week's challenges to be entered into the Week 1 prize drawing.
Jump into the challenges here!
So, here’s my question for you:
What project are you are intentionally moving forward — and who do you need to connect with to help make it happen?
You never know who you'll find here.
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I’m starting to rethink what “moving forward” actually means in a long-form project.
It’s easy to measure progress by visible output — pages written, scenes completed, chapters moving. But lately I’ve found that some of the most important progress happens before anything new appears on the page.
Sometimes progress comes through rebuilding structure, refining thematic direction, removing weak narrative paths, or simply allowing the deeper logic of the world to stabilize before forcing more scenes into it.
I used to measure momentum mostly through output. Now I’m beginning to think larger narrative projects often move forward invisibly long before the visible breakthroughs arrive.
Especially with longer-form storytelling, rushing the surface too early can quietly damage the foundation underneath.
Some phases demand writing. Others demand observation, restructuring, patience, or enough distance for the story to reveal what it’s actually becoming beneath the outline.
The strange part is that externally those periods can look unproductive — while internally the project may be evolving more than ever.
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Nice post
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Cool idea. My current project I'm moving forward is, incidentally, called ForWord.io. A book marketing app that I've developed to help authors who love writing but hate the marketing piece. And also waiting to hear back on a slew of queries for my fiction project...
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My current project is completing my second short story collection. Then decide whether to make my other two projects screenplays or manuscripts. Right now, it's looking like manuscripts, since I have already written an outline for each with an ending.
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Radoslav Isakov THAT is so wise - and True! Thank you for your insight.
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I'm one of those writers who love writing & hate marketing Jonathan Jordan. Please share ForWord.io when you get your ap up & running!
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Congratulations John E. Bias! Having a book (first) to prove the screenplay is all the rage these days.
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Aven Sinclair Whoa. It's pretty obvious you're not quite who you pretend to be. This post alone shows it in spades. Two different fonts and the "moves the needle" idiom is straight AI-speak. Gotcha!
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I need to connect with those who agree with my vision. I have three low budget screenplays that have ranked highly in competitions (top ten on Stage 32) so I believe these projects have legs - just need to find others who want to assist in bringing my dreams to life.