A Leap of Faith & Wonder
Sci-fi screenwriter Jenna Avery on letting go and leveling up with screenwriting.
I’ve wanted to be a writer since 6th grade. My parents advised me that I “wouldn’t make any money” as a writer, so I took a different path . . . for a while . . . through urban and landscape design, then coaching and various other twists and turns, including building an online community for writers and supporting them to do their writing, sometimes to the exclusion of my own.
But like a rubber band returning to its original form even after being stretched too thin for too long, I snapped back to what I truly want to do: write my own stories.
. . . which is all well and good, but one has to learn how to actually do that work well in order to succeed at it.
And for better or worse, I’ve fallen head over heels for screenwriting. Though I’ve always also intended to write books, I can’t seem to leave script pages alone, at least for now. They’re just so deliciously perfect and terse and economical and moving when they’re done well. And hard to do well, at that.
So I hit a place last year where between the age clock and insight that my personal fulfillment meter was on the low side, it was crystal clear that it was time to make a leap of faith and wonder toward screenwriting, once and for all.
And while that sounds like a one shot deal — “once and for all” — I don’t mean it that way, but rather that it’s time to stop flirting around the edges of my own screenwriting career and work to move it forward more seriously than I have in recent years.
A Leap of Faith
I see this as a leap of faith because it requires a certain optimism, trust, and belief to put one’s efforts behind so challenging a cause.
A sort of irrational zealotry, if you will.
A refusal to give up. A willingness to believe beyond reason.
A leap across the chasm, not being entirely sure of landing on the other side.
It’s a Leap of Wonder, Too
I see the commitment as even more than faith: it’s also a leap of wonder — appreciating the awe and delight storytelling evokes in us as readers, viewers, creators, and writers. The surprise, the innovation, the passion, the unexpected. Creating our own wonder books of wonders.
This is particularly apt for my chosen niche of science fiction, in which wonder is one of the founding storytelling principles writers use. “What if” is so often the hallmark of a great sci-fi tale.
In order to make this leap toward screenwriting, I’ve been focused on both letting go and leveling up. Let’s talk nitty gritty.
Letting Go
In terms of letting go, over the last year, I set about letting go of as many expenses and services for my coaching business as I could — that paid calendar booking system, the monthly video platform, the mailing list software, the hosting plan for the second domain name, the plugin on my accounting . . . well, you get the idea. I was paying for a bunch of stuff and jumping through hoops to keep funding them. Silly. (And I’m still working to extricate myself from a couple more.)
My thinking is that the less pressure I have on myself to earn income from the business of Jenna as coach, the more I can focus on the business of Jenna as screenwriter. (I promise to report back if I’ve made a terrible financial mistake, which is entirely possible. And I should add that part of what makes this all possible is the fact that our financial situation, while not exactly prosperous is OK.)
And to be clear, it’s not that I’m quitting coaching, but rather that I’m focusing on one-to-one client and editing work, which is more efficient in terms of income and results for my clients. My goal is mainly to run a tighter, leaner (space)ship so I have more space and time to put my writing front and center.
Leveling Up
Here’s how I’m leveling up with screenwriting:
- Me first. Each day, I’m starting with a “me first” philosophy, which means putting my well-being and my writing first. The goal is to walk every day first thing after our kiddos leave for school, and get to my writing projects after a short transition upon my return. In practice, this is mostly working, though I’m finding when I have a big editing project (I’ve edited two books in the last six-ish months), I need to juggle a little more to stay on track. I walk before writing, mostly because it’s so darn hot here anytime past 9:30 a.m. especially in not-winter months.
- Screenwriting immersion: While I’m walking, I listen to favorite screenwriting podcasts to keep my mind focused on story, craft, and business. I find this motivating and inspiring, generally speaking, other than the occasional compare-and-despair moments we all run into from time to time. I find story insights and ah-ha’s popping in while I’m listening, so I’m primed to write when I get home.
- Craft: I’m also taking a new round of screenwriting classes (there’s always more to learn) and working with my screenwriting mentor to keep myself on track in terms of my own learning, accountability, and momentum. I want to level up my craft skills so I feel more confident in my writing and can write more effectively and efficiently.
- Accountability: An additional benefit of taking classes and working with my mentor is keeping myself on track with writing so I can bring more of my many ideas fully to fruition. This is the primary method I’m using to stay motivated without professional industry deadlines: setting meetings with my mentor and using class deadlines to keep myself in action. I may use some contest deadlines to help with this as well.
- Body of work development: I’m building my slate of spec scripts (and a pilot) so I have a solid body of work to take out into the marketplace. I have a few “learning scripts” I may revisit as part of this, though my current goal is to have two new marketable scripts and a set of three to five marketable pitches so I’m ready for that hoped-for question, “What else do you have?”
- Business and career: Speaking of marketing, I made a recent decision to hire a screenwriting career coach. While I’ve taken screenwriting marketing classes, I find myself having more of an off/on pattern than I’d like. So my intent here is to have someone on my side who will help me position myself and my work well in the marketplace.
What’s funny about all of this is that nothing I’m doing is entirely new to me. I’ve been writing for years now, including landing a paid writing assignment I’m quite proud of both receiving and writing. But at the same time, I’m making a big shift toward Jenna as screenwriter as my primary focus and business. My other work is my support job. I still love and value it — and — I want to keep my primary identity more firmly rooted in screenwriting.
I’m reminded of the transition I made at the end of grad school from student to paid urban designer. Or from urban designer to coach. It starts with an intention and a decision. Followed by action after action, until it becomes the thing one is doing all the time.
So that’s my leap of faith and wonder: treating my career, professional identity, focus, work, and business as screenwriter.
In this new Leap of Wonder column, I’ll be sharing waypoints, insights, and ah-ha’s along the way with you every other month, and I hope you’ll come along for the ride, ideally gaining inspiration and ideas for your own screenwriting journey too.
The vision is to share more about my writing process (ever evolving, and hopefully improving), navigating rewriting when it comes up, building marketing materials, dealing with fears and doubts, learning more about getting out there with my work, mindset shifts, and more. Hopefully not too many face plants though I know that’ll be part of the process as well.
Let’s go!
In the between times, find me on Bluesky, here: @jennaavery.bsky.social.
