It’s been an interesting past few months. [I wish you could hear the tone that I’m using interesting in. It would make that sentence sound funnier.]

Nevertheless, I have been noodling over the three things in the title and what that means for me as a filmmaker and a human being, honestly.

• Priorities

I just watched a video from Jessica Abel who has these great worksheets on how to focus your creative work and stop working on 8 little projects and focus on one to two things so you can finish them. [Novel concept, I know]

I am notorious for having several things on the stove going on at the same time. [This is the metaphorical stove in my mind – it’s four electric burners because that’s what I grew up with and the red hot iron coils are such a startling image] But I’ve been practicing prioritizing what I want to work on which is primarily:

The Feature! It’s still going on and I’ve actually started working towards it by prioritizing all my ideas against it. I’ve been weighing them and so far, The Feature is always coming out first.

It’s freeing in a way to just work on one thing. I’m doing other little projects when I get stuck on the feature, which is fine, but nothing too big.

• Joy

I directed last Saturday after pulling a Terrence Malick and taking a very long break. The honest truth was that I graduated from Film school and had no desire to direct. I just didn’t want to so I didn’t force myself to. I think that was the healthiest thing I could have done for myself. I must have thought that was going to be temporary but it ended up being 5 years.

I got the bug to direct earlier this year and I did something about it. I directed two one minute shorts and I had a blast.

I also hadn’t felt Joy like that in YEARS. It felt like something that was loose slotted back in the right spot. I don’t want to say it completed me because I’m not Renee Zellweger but  I’m still in a good mood from it and I gather I will be in a good mood from it for a while.

I felt the same joy that I felt the first time I directed something at 17. I haven’t felt that young and bright eyed and I just want to hold onto that joy right now.

• The Last 10 weeks of 2017

It’s getting close to the end of the year and it’s time for reflection. While I haven’t hit the mark on many of my goals for this year. I think I did more this year than last year which was the ultimate goal.

I have some things I want to wrap up this year: scripts to finish, research to do, outlines to write.

I may even direct again before the year is out. Who knows what the last 10 weeks hold. I do know that I plan on reading more and working out more.