Left Turn?...Right Turn?

Welcome to 2009. Could someone please tell me how we got here?






I've been writing "seriously" since 2001, but I only have one actual credit to my name. I've entered every noteworthy screenplay contest with decent results, but no one is standing on my doorstep with contract in hand. I'm unemployed. At this point in time, I may be unemployable. I used to have skills (outside of writing, that is), but I very much doubt my being able to properly format a screenplay is what job agencies are looking for. I used to be a travel agent. Hell, is anybody still a travel agent?

Ideas -- I've got thousands of them. Literally. Perhaps that's the problem. I've got mental gridlock. At least that's what it feels like. Do I continue with the thriller about the embittered detective and the nun who's been targeted for assasination? Should I go with the romantic comedy about a self-absorbed actress who fakes her own disappearance to boost her flagging career? How about the action-adventure that's a cross between The Boxcar Children and Indiana Jones?

You name it, and I've probably got a story idea for it. In fact, I've got so many story ideas jotted on PostIts, legal pads, scraps of paper, napkins and the backs of envelopes that I've filled every nook and cranny of my house with them. If I lived to be 200 years old, I'd never be able to use all these ideas.

Is it possible to have too many ideas? In my case, yes. I'm constantly distracted from what I need to be doing by new story ideas popping into my head.

So, what's my point? Well, it's just that...

I'm sorry. What were we talking about? Could you excuse me? I just got a great idea for a story, and I want to jot it down before I forget it!