Justin Marks offers a look at what it’s like to be a working screenwriter you’ve [never heard of](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/my-life-as-a-screenwriter-520979):
> I had the fantasies of what this life would be like — a life that, for most, never will be a reality. I’ve wanted to write movies since I was 12 years old. I wanted trips to backlots, premieres, moments of seeing my movie on the shelf at the video store. That’s what we sign up for.
> Then there’s the other 90 percent: waking up, walking the dogs, grinding away at my computer in the clothes I slept in. Occasional fits of creative euphoria interrupted by phone calls from agents, arguments on Twitter or the dogs barking at squirrels in the yard. But when it picks up — when there’s a movie being made or a star being attached or a deal being closed — man, that high feels like it’ll last forever.
For the record, I’d heard of Justin Marks. In fact, he wrote a piece for this blog urging writers to ignore my advice and [get a manager](http://johnaugust.com/2011/get-a-manager).