Don't let another season slip through your fingers!

Greg is offering a SPRING FORWARD SUPER SALE on his creative consulting. Get 12 hours for the price of 10 and commit to weekly check-ins for the next 3 months while you...
Draft your script
Write your show
Outline your book
Finish a book proposal
Create your online profile
Transform your standup act

Veteran screenwriter, story editor, teacher and writing coach Greg Miller will get your creative work on track with concrete suggestions, fresh perspective, strategic planning and regular deadlines.

"It's like magic!" - Parker (outlined and drafted article)

If you have material you've already generated, e-mail your pdf or link(s) or mail to: 137 N. Larchmont Blvd. #107 LA CA 90004. Greg is an expert reader and will help you focus the project, re-ignite your excitement for the material and chart a course to a finished draft (or performance).

"Terrific insights!" - Noah (re-wrote a script)

If you don't have any material generated... then you really need to saddle up and get started. Call Greg directly at 323-717-4731, explain your particulars and schedule your first session today.

Once you're writing and the words start flowing, you can get totally carried away.

A little carried away is a great thing for creativity. Too much and you hit hurdle #4: Losing Perspective.

This is tricky because a crazy person doesn't know they're crazy, right?

So here are several ways you'll know when you've lost perspective -- and what to do about it:

#1: Your latest version of the material seems oddly familiar and you realize that you're re-written yourself in a circle and have arrived back at your original version of the material.

You've started generating material. You've defined the boundaries, genre and format of your writing project. Now get ready for hurdle #3: Making a lot of words flow.

I’ve seen many writers define their project clearly and even get as far as a detailed outline that is completely ready to draft and then… they hit a wall.

Why aren’t the words coming out?

Reason #1: It’s not the right project. It's completely possible that with every rational reason to write the project you're trying to write, it's just isn't the right project for you right now. (Or maybe ever.)

Solution:

There are several hurdles that almost every writer has to get past in almost every writing project; scripts, books, plays, or even a substantial essay or article.

As a writing coach I've helped many writers and talented would-be writers get over – or around – these hurdles. I've also written over a dozen scripts myself – plus many projects that never got finished because of one or more of these stumbling blocks.

Webster's defines a 'hurdle' as: “an artificial barrier over which racers must leap”. I think the key here is remembering they're artificial blocks, usually psychological, and they're almost always put in your way by you. Of course, they seem - and act - pretty real.

HURDLE #1: GETTING STARTED

You might be one of the lucky ones who has no trouble here. If so you've probably gotten started on way too many projects. If you’re one of those people, you can skip directly to the second hurdle. But if you’re having trouble getting going it’s probably due to one of the following reasons:

“I’m too busy with other things!” aka “I can’t find the time!”

Solution #1:

David Cross was one of the first wave of performers to work at the Un-Cabaret, also one of the most honest and darkest. The stories about his father that he refers to below are one reason why we started doing theme shows.

In our first year, we happened to book a show that happened to fall on Father's Day, and happened to feature David, Bob Odenkirk and Dana Gould all of whom had... let's call them 'strained' relationships with their dads.

What followed was so disturbingly scathingly funny that it scarred several audience members for life - one had unwittingly brought his father for a night of fun comedy - and made us realize that we had to harness that energy consciously in theme nights like 'Daddy Dearest', 'It's a Mutha', 'Bleeding Hearts' (Valentine's Day), etc.

David, who with Bob Odenkirk, wrote and starred in Mr. Show, has become emblemmatic of a transgressive no-holds-barred style of alternative comedy. He was recently interviewed by Todd Jackson of the excellent comedy blog Dead Frog and was originally posted here. It went a little something like this...

There's still plenty of time to get your creative work on track before the end of the year. There are 2 more classes of The Comedian's Way Workshop in December. Get onstage at M-Bar in Hollywood where you can work on your shows, performance, pitches, patter - or change your patterning.

Work with comedy guru Beth Lapides and me to supercharge your creativity. Or give a really meaningful gift to a creative friend!

SUNDAYS, DECEMBER 6 & 13, JANUARY 10, 17, 24, 31, FEBRUARY 7, 21, 28 1-4pm at M-Bar, 1253 N. Vine 90038

Single classes $60
Any 2 classes $110
Any 4 classes $200

SUPER SPECIAL HOLIDAY SALE - Only guaranteed until the end of 2009. Commit to your creativity and get any 10 classes for $400 or any 30 classes for $1000 (that's just $33 each!).

What happens when a piece of material gets stale? How do you keep the audience - and yourself - interested?

Get some great advice about how to keep your material fresh, find the material that will stay fresh the longest, and tips on integrating this freshening practice into your creative process and your life in this inspiring rap from Beth Lapides at The Comedian's Way workshop.

Audit, register for a single class or get discounts on multiple classes. Upcoming classes: Sunday, Oct. 4 & 18, 1-4pm at M-Bar, 1253 N. Vine St. LA 90038.

Click here for more info about The Comedian's Way workshop or call 323-993-3305.

btw, this video was taken with the new Flip UltraHD Camcorder. Yes, the HD takes a long time to process and upload video, but the resolution and color are way advanced, the camera now holds up to 2 hours of video (instead of the previous version's 1 hour capacity), the sound is a lot clearer and, most importantly, it has retained virtually all its cuteness.

As a book coach and writing consultant, I have worked on a number of proposals with authors and agents, and almost every one is different. They vary pretty widely with the particulars of the project. Nonetheless, some guidelines are useful, so here is a good model, courtesy of Judy Brown, journalist (LA Weekly), author (The Comedy Thesaurus) and editor (National Lampoon Books).

Of course the entire publishing industry is in such chaos and contraction right now that pretty much all bets - and rules - are off, so if this outline somehow doesn't serve to convey what's so great about your project... don't use it.

HUMOR BOOK PROPOSALS, IN SHORT

Each of the below sections can be a couple paragraphs, or a page (at most) in length (With the exception of your sample chapter, which might reflect an actual chapter’s length.)

These are guidelines, so don’t get too hung up on the particulars, and you can skip the least important aspects.

The most important sections:

All you need for Beth Lapides's simple and easy-to-follow recipe for creative breakthroughs is a place to work and a wall to beat your head against.

1. Work hard.
2. Work harder.
3. Hit your head against a creative wall.
4. Walk away in frustration.
5. Let the solution find you.

The important thing about this recipe is that you can't skip any step. You can't just work a little, then walk away. You have to really beat your head bloody against that wall trying like hell to figure out your creative problem. You also can't skip walking away - or the frustration. It's only when you admit the problem is insoluble and walk away all together that the solution usually comes - often while showering.

The image, by the way, is a NASA photo of a jet breaking the sound barrier. That's actually what it looks like. Beth points out what a great iPhone app it would make if everytime you had a creative breakthrough... POOF! You emerged from cloud of smoke.