Hi Brooke,

I am an aspiring writer and two years ago started my journey as I was trying to find ways to earn money as a writer. I started blogging, wrote some poetry, short stories, one film screenplay, started a self-help book, then a memoir, I was all over the place. None of these brought money, by the way.

Last week I met with a former professor of mine from film school and just before we said goodbye he saw an old colleague and decided to use the opportunity to introduce me.
When that man asked me what do I write and I listed all the above, he thought for a second and said – ‘Simplify. Narrow this list down. Get really good at writing just one thing that people will be willing to pay for and make yourself a name by that. You are too spread out. And if you want my advice – write for TV.’

I dedicated an hour to figuring out how your constraint model fits with that and suddenly it relieved me so much. Rather than half-assing all the above, focus on writing TV pilots for a certain genre and start producing a body of work.
I know the thought feels good. The beauty of its constraint.