Where Do I Start?

Many, many years ago, I began writing a blog about playwriting for youth when I was the Director of Education at Writers Theatre of New Jersey (then called Playwrights Theatre). One of my favorite programs there was the NJ Young Playwrights Festival (NJYPF). Unfortunately, both the company and the program are no longer around, but some of the advice and articles that I wrote for the blog still remain. As we look to reboot this blog, I thought it would be interesting to go back and take a look at some of the information that I shared on the NJYPF blog. Where better to start than at the beginning?

Here is an edited post from September 2008 with a link to an article about youth playwriting around the same time. Since I ran the NJYPF blog, I still have access to it, so I am linking to that site here and including some of that post below. Enjoy!

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Figuring out what to write is frustrating. The stops and starts you experience when first sitting down to write are just the mind’s way of sorting out all the potential places from which to begin. For some writers, starting is simply about putting pen to paper… or fingers to keyboard… and letting the ideas flow. The important thing to them is that words get written on the paper… or screen. Other writers will take time to think things through; perhaps creating detailed outlines or sketches before diving in. And still other writers have other methods - the ways to begin are as numerous as the people who sit down to write. There is no “best” way to start, but the best thing is to get started.

We'll begin with an article written by Alexandra R. Moses for Edutopia Magazine, an online and print publication from the George Lucas Educational Fund (yup, that George Lucas). The article centers on young playwrights programs across the county (including those sponsored by Playwrights Theatre) and is mainly geared for classroom teachers. However, there is some good information in there for young playwrights, particularly in the links to writing samples and guidelines/tips from other contests and festivals. The link is http://www.edutopia.org/student-playwrights-project-playwriting

Keep checking this blog for writing tips and more information. For now, get writing!