Writing: the core passion

The writing life: Just a man, a vision, a keyboard, 8GB of MP3s, and a cup of chai tea...

Writing is my first passion. I've been doing it most of my life. My folks had a manual typewriter that I'd use to write plays on when I was a kid. I used it so much it broke. Then my father bought me an electric typewriter. And I drove that into the ground, too. So we got an Atari computer. And I started playing video games (much to dear ol' dad's chagrin). Seriously, that Atari was less than ideal, but I wrote my first "novel" on it.

My writing is eclectic. I've written for newspapers, magazines, screenplays, comic books, an animation pilot, an e-newsletter, a couple web sites...

How often do I write? Often as I can, really. Sometimes hours a day for weeks on end. Sometimes a couple stolen minutes to write before bed. I have a wife, two daughters, and a dog that keep me busy...but there always needs to be time to write.

This is a summary of my writing credits. I don't have the room to include everything I've ever done...if you're interested in tearsheets, contact me.

Check out my Amazon.com author page.

You can follow me on Twitter. My handle is tmorgan_2100.

Print Work

Listen magazine: My work with Listen has been eclectic to say the least. I first got involved with them back in 2003 with an article on paintball. Since then I've covered topics like drugs, gangs, skimboarding, and even mountain unicycling.
Nashua Telegraph: I cut my teeth writing business profiles for a couple years. These were my first paid assignments.

Online Work

Absolute Write: Back when AW had a newsletter I wrote a few articles for them. I covered working a comic book convention and made a go at a technical writing series. (Unfortunately when the economy was humming, geeks are busy working and have little time to talk about writing)
ScreenCraft
- Two part series on self-publishing for screenwriters
- 5 Reasons You Should Produce Your Own (Short) Movie
- Everyday Author guest post on writing with a day job
- Write and Author interview with me - how I got started, writing advice, tales from the trenches

Screenplays

Ah, moving pictures. It's one of my favorite formats and one I've been groomed for. The screenplay is full of challenges you just don't get in other forms of writing. And if you persist, you can go places...

Awards:

2015 - Granite State Film Festival, Best Super Short, Remembrance
2005 - 20/20 Screenwriting Contest, honorable mention
2003 - Shriekfest, honorable mention
2003 - Hollywood Scriptwriting Institute contest, 1st place

You could say I've studied the screenplay...

Course work:

Rivier College - master level courses in screenwriting
UCLA Extension - summer intensive, master level screenwriting workshop
Salem State - every screenwriting course they offered...
Hollywood Scriptwriting Institute - intermediate and advanced courses

Writing Advice

Read my August 2016 interview with Denise Gossett at Shriekfest. I talk about writing, filmmaking, and motivation.

I've moved this content into my blog to save space.

Read some of my advice to writers, and check out my blog if you're interested in my ongoing thoughts and adventures.

2015 Shriekfest Judge

I'm a 2003 Shriekfest alum; in 2015 I got to be a Shriekfest screenplay judge. I got to read a lot of interesting scripts from writers looking for a big break, being accepted to a major festival. It was a lot of fun, if you get a chance to do something like this I strongly recommend it. When the festival wraps up I'll be writing some blog posts about the experience.

I enjoyed it so much I returned in 2017 as a judge for a second time...