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Dear Script Frenzy Participant,

We are in the home stretch my scriptwriting friends! You have made it through the hardest part of the Frenzy, and the great FADE OUT is around the corner.

If you've crossed into the latitudes beyond Page 70, your journey is nearly at an end. You're likely typing away leisurely from some shipboard hammock, enjoying the light breeze on your laptop.

Like most Frenzies, I'm many, many leagues away from that hammock. I'm four days behind schedule, still trying to right my page count from the storms that have blown me off-course these last few weeks.

But the way I see it, a little struggle is a good thing. It means we're getting in over our heads, tackling something larger than we are. Sure, our wrists are sore, our brains are tired, and the quest for 100 pages has brought a little chaos into our lives. But chaos is a sure sign that we're dreaming big dreams, and daring to get these oversized dreams down on paper. Chaos rarely befalls couch potatoes.

Which brings us to the key question: What happens when we reach 100 pages?

So much happens you won't even believe it! People will ask for your autograph on the street. Traffic will part and let you pass. Your kitchen will magically produce three gourmet meals for you everyday. (This is all true.) The grumpy memories of having forgone all those prime TV-watching hours will fade, replaced by a lifelong sense of pride.

Do whatever you need to do to reach 100 pages if you are within striking distance. If you are roughly a third of the way to your goal, the finish line is within your reach. It may mean less staring out the window daydreaming, less people-watching, and definitely many more cups of coffee. Tell everyone you died, or have been relocated to Middle Earth, but do not let the storm push you off course. I'll be watching.

If you are less than a third of the way along, you also have to keep going. Even if you're absolutely sure that there's no way you're going to hit 100 pages, every page you write now will do a couple great things for you in the long run.

First off, it will build up your idea bank. Each situation, plot twist, character tic, and witty line of dialogue you write in the next eight days can be filed away for future use. These are ideas you can draw from for the rest of your writing life.

Second, every page you write now will be a tremendous gift to your future self. There is a huge difference between needing to write the final 20 to 30 pages of a script and having to draft the second and third acts of a script. Because of the helpfully menacing deadline of Script Frenzy, it will be easier to write now than any other time of the year. Use and abuse this writing window. When April is over, there will be a sad 11 months until the next time we'll all get to write with thousands of others.

And now, a quick word about winning. Starting April 25 our official page-counting robots will go to work checking script lengths, handing out winner's certificates and web icons, and adding names to our Winner's Page. In order to be crowned a Script Frenzy winner and receive one of the amazing 2008 certificates, you'll need to upload a PDF version of your script to the robots for verification between April 25 and April 30.

You can practice uploading a PDF to our validator nowjust head to the Script Info tab of your Edit Profile page. Remember: Winning goes live April 25. You can read the ins and outs of scrambling and winning on our site.

Good luck to everyone this final week of the Frenzy!

Writing for sunnier skies,
Jennifer

PS. Back up right now!