This again

Learning how to get out of my own way.

Greetings all. I’m back in the mode of writing. I’ve outlined one screenplay, I’m rewriting the outline for another, and I’ve spent the past year researching one of those weird corners of showbiz that contains the kind of larger-than-life characters and stories that (eventually) make for excellent fiction.

As soon as I’m done with the two screenplays and pilot outline I’ve got on deck, and I’ve started on the other two projects I’ve gotten involved with, you’ll see that. Give me a couple years.

Oh, did I mention it turns out I’m literally the last member of Generation X to get diagnosed with ADHD? I’ve told a couple friends, and they both - their very first question - responded, “What did they prescribe?”

They did not give me a party drug, I’m sorry to say. In fact, I had to insist on not receiving a scrip for a party drug, which is probably very rare in that psychiatrist’s experience. As soon as I realized what she wanted to prescribe - not by my request, but genuinely pushing it on me - I put my foot down. Now that I’m finishing school, now that I’m making some moves professionally, now is not the time for beginning a speed addiction.

Also, for me ADHD isn’t a party. I don’t get one-and-a-half pages into a book and then pull out my phone and watch 30 second cat videos until the sun comes back up because I’m looking to party. Although if I did want to look for a party, I’d probably get ninety seconds in before I’d open a new browser window and start watching cat videos on Instagram.

So why am I back at this Substack? The answer is, simply, that I miss writing for the pleasure of writing. I had big obstacle for a while even sitting down to write to do this Substack, and as is always the case it was me:

In my 20s I had a very popular blog. Back when Gawker was a thing, they would plug my blog once a week. In hindsight, I realize that I should have used that to get a sweet but not well-paying book deal. Instead, I used it to push myself to write better like an idiot. In my head, my blog was consistently the best writing you’ve ever read.

Look at all that hair! Wall Street Journal

I’m currently going through my back pages to self-publish my old writings from my 20s. And yes, some of it was quite good. And then, some of it was bad. And some of it was me for some reason apologizing for how bad my blog was, or for missing stretches of it.

It reminded me that when I had a manager around that time, all he wanted me to do was write a spec script so I could make millions writing for sitcoms.

But I couldn’t. Every time I sat down to write, my brain would remind me of how great show like Cheers and The Cosby Show (sorry) were, and how I’d never be as good a comedy writer as Ed Weinberger or Ken Levine & David Isaacs.

What I learned much too late, talking to an old pro sitcom writer, was that those shows were the product of the best comedy writers sitting around a table pitching their jokes. And that their hit rate wasn’t 100%. And he said that what you need to do is just write something that shows your voice and what you can contribute in that room.

RIP NORM

Ah well.

So get ready for a flood of crap going forward. Enjoy?

Buy the way, my first “Notebooks” volume goes live June 6th. It’s the best of the serious poems I wrote in my 20s when I wasn’t sure what I was doing or if I enjoyed standup comedy or writing scripts or what. Maybe I’ll include a sample on publishing day. That’d be easier than writing one of these posts, that’s for sure.

The next volume I’m currently editing is a collection of essays and humorous verse titled “Liam McEneaney’s Golden Treasury of Classic American Literature.” That’ll be announced in a few weeks.

But you can preorder “Shadowdancing in Flame: The Notebooks Volume 1.”