Just One Line

Why your next creative breakthrough might be laughably small.

I’ve been rewriting a script I began eons ago, originally titled Meet My Wife, Dick. If you can't guess, it's a "body swap" comedy. I never finished it. Probably because I was told nobody makes these movies anymore.

And then I saw Family Switch with Jennifer Garner, which I found entertaining but only garnered (pun intended) 45% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Reframed as a Christmas movie set in San Miguel de Allende—because I’m determined to see a movie shot here, and the town is truly magical during the holidays—San Miguel ExMas MixUp is grounded in magical realism. And I was humming along... until page 100, when I found myself staring at the screen. What next? How do I wrap this up? I thought I knew the end, but it didn’t feel right. So I stopped writing.

And in the middle of the night, it came to me.

Just one sentence. Two, actually: Mesmerized, they watch the flame dance. The power goes out. Darkness.

Not a grand finale. Not even a resolution. But it moved the story forward. And suddenly, the end wasn’t so far away. I could see it again—like candlelight at the end of a tunnel.

Which is why we're big believers in this small but mighty mantra:

Lower the Bar: One Scene, One Sentence.

When the pressure is too much, make the goal laughably small. Write one sentence of the scene you’re dreading. That’s it. You’re allowed to stop after that.

Spoiler: you probably won’t. Because momentum doesn’t need a masterpiece. Just a start.

Photo Credit: Cottonbro Studio