Hope really does float...

Hope is a funny thing. Now that my screenplay is safely in Hollywood (by the deadline I might add) I am left here to...wait. I have to do this a lot in the publishing industry. I feel like I am in waiting mode 75% of the time. Boards have to make decisions, people take their time and I sit at home and wait to hear something.

But during the waiting hope comes and goes. It probably depends on my mood more than anything - feeling positive - I'm hopeful - feeling depressed - my career is over before it ever started. There are days I think no one will ever offer me another contract ever. And days that I think it's just a matter of time (and the right project).

It is the same thing while I wait and wonder about the contest.

How many entries did they get?
Who is reading my screenplay?
What do they think of it?

I can't know the answers to these questions yet I still obsessively think about it. The deadline, though, is mercifully close. Quarter finalists will be announced February 1st. I'll either hear or...

How do they contact the finalists?
Do they call?
What does it mean to be a quarter finalist?
How many quarter finalists will there be?

See, I'm just driving myself nuts now! And why is January so long anyhow? Do I even have a shot at this thing or am I being completely delusional?

At least there's a new LOST on tonight. I can comfort myself with JJ Abrams' brilliance and get through one more day of waiting...