Notes

Giving and Receiving Notes

I just redrafted my latest script again over the last two weeks. I fixed a structural issue (I hope) and sent it back out for notes.

Getting notes is painful yet essential for a writer. Writing is rewriting. We struggle to hear criticism as much as we seek validation for our works in progress. If you can’t take notes, reviews on the finished product will hurt. You must accept that you will not please everyone, and notes are inevitable in honing a script. I’m very grateful to those who have helped me with reading and notes. Especially as I’m aware, I’m under five years in, so I'm no maestro.

I'm not writing this to give advice; I'm just writing to cement in my mind what I’ve learned over the note-giving and receiving process. What I’ve learnt over the last twenty-five years since I first picked up an instrument, through my careers as a musician, comic, broadcaster, and now writer, is the only way to get better is to work at your craft consistently and with joy and obsession to some degre…