Tonight, for the first time ever, I watched the entire four hours of The Oscars. I’m not an award show fan. I should have been content with skimming a list of winners tomorrow morning, but my wife has never seen The Oscars at all (because in the UK the show starts at 1 AM and ends at 5 AM), so we decided to watch.

For anyone who doesn’t know, I’m trying to be a writer. The most difficult thing for me is seeing where I want to be and knowing I have all the tools to get there, but not being sure exactly why I’m not using those tools passionately. Part of it is knowing what a long road it is from blank page to finished product. Another part of it is not feeling like a writer. I ask myself how, other than just calling myself a writer, can I get from being a guy who works with computers to a guy who is an actual, paid writer?

Tonight’s Oscars inspired me. Better yet, seeing Diablo Cody win the Oscar for Best Writing this evening inspired me. See, she worked in an ad agency, then quit to become a stripper. That’s what she was doing when she wrote Juno. I don’t feel an if-the-stripper-can-do-it-so-can-I-type feeling. It’s more an if-this-regular-person-can-do-it-so-can-I-type feeling.

So that’s it. There’s no time to waste. Nothing but a blank page stands between me and where I want to be.

Here I go.