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I remember when I first heard the term, “casual encounters.” It was sometime in the 2000s BC (Before Columbia.) I was at work and a friend of mine was laughing far too loud and long at questionable personals ads from a popular classifieds website. I don’t know about you, but when I hear someone busting a gut I want to know what’s so funny.

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I peeked over her shoulder and read. I became suddenly aware of all those people my mother warned me about…and it was hilarious. That was the “inception” moment. There was a script about the magic of casual encounter dating scratching to get out. I wanted an odd couple. I wanted to give them impossible odds and insurmountable obstacles. I wanted it to feel satisfying when they finally reached that goal. So, I did the responsible thing and backed down. I forgot about my story and went back to work.

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Fast forward to 2011 AC (after Columbia.) The idea would not die. It resurfaced in my first semester Screenwriting class. I was pushed on the script and thought I wanted to kill it. But I didn’t. I remembered one of the lessons I learned from my professor (I won’t say his name but it rhymes with Joe Steiff.) Script writing takes time. So it’s okay that the idea kept swimming around. And though it wasn’t easy, I found that a bond had formed between that story and myself.

Now that I was committed, it became personal. My goal was to see these characters come to life. From treatment to outline to step outline to index cards to script-– my desk was a total freaking mess. But it was my mess. I was falling in love with my story.

The further along I got, the more fragile it became. The closer I got to finishing it, the more worried I became that no one else would love it like I do. It was introducing your new girlfriend to your buddies. I hope they can see how special she is! Like I said before…it was personal.

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I was all in. It didn’t matter. Draft, rehearsal, rewrite, and other rehearsals– this was going to work. Sometimes it takes a while for an idea to develop. Sometimes you have to be patient. Sometimes you have to fight yourself to get the best project.

Maybe it’s because I’m emotionally exhausted from my journey. Maybe it’s because I’m still a little bit scared that people will pick on my story and not see how special it is. Or maybe it’s just because I want to get some much needed sleep. But I realized that each project is special. And the only one that can judge you is you.