I’m currently in workshops for two different scripts – Scaredy Kat Presents for the 12th Annual Playground Festival of Fresh Works at Purple Crayon Players and Ally for the New Script Workshop at Utah Valley University. My mind is a bit wonky at times, trying to transfer between the two stories. However, workshopping both of them at the same time has cemented one, simple, important, truth.

I love rewriting.

That may sound odd. Rewriting is, by its definition, re-doing work that you’ve already done. It’s proclaiming to the world that what you did isn’t “good enough.” It’s sending you back to your computer and, sometimes, the drawing board.

And yet, rewriting is where the magic happens. At least for me, anyway. When I get the chance to hear actors read my work, and have discussions with other creative minds about what I’m trying to accomplish, all sorts of new ideas spark into my head. I get impatient to put them down onto paper. I get excited about what new discoveries I’m going to make. Sure, sometimes the new stuff still doesn’t work, but sometimes you find something that blows open your whole story.

Which is joyous. Because I know myself as a writer. My first draft is always super lean. The bare facts of the story. Lots of planned out structure. The quickest trip from the beginning, through the middle, and on to the end. There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s a very important step in my process. But, it’s just the bare bones.

Rewriting is the chance to flesh things out. To dig deep into characters. To explore motivations. Backstories. Thoughts and fears. In fact, with Ally, I have found myself focusing on a different character each week. The more I learn about them individually, the more the play has made sense as a whole.

The trick now, with two readings coming up, is to see if the rewrites are any good. Fingers crossed.