Yesterday, for some reason, I was able to sit down and write out the salient points of my Civil War story, covering about 80% of the entire script. If you twist my arm, I'll call them "beats". But only if you twist my arm.

What I have now is clear direction about the plot, character interactions and a big ah-hah! moment that I really hope to preserve for the final script. I have motive, conflict, goals and character arcs.

I have a story.

I cannot point to a single moment or thought or fact that lead to this flood of sequences that resulted in my story. Something just switched on and out it came.

I'm letting it sit there in Word, staring at me, so I can read and re-read, and tweak and make sure that what's looking back at me has my voice, heart and soul, that it makes sense, that it stays interesting to me and that has potential for being a movie-of-the-week targeted to specific audiences.

I'm finding the ending now, and will then turn it into a prose treatment to submit to my critiquers and Jo-Ann.

There's a hiking trail in Yosemite that leads up to an overlook of El Capitan. It has a set of switchbacks that sits in the direct sun for all of the interminable climb. Back and forth, back and forth, walking 100 yards for every ten in elevation.

I've been on that switchback for a while, but now I'm starting to see the trees at the top!