"Inside Our It"

He taught me to inside out it.

Two years ago, my friend Mike suggested that I write my own column.  Back then, I was writing a newspaper column, but not the type I most wanted to write.  Editors kept telling me that there wasn't a market for a column about moments.  And, sadly, I was beginning to believe them.

Until Mike told me that I should inside out it.  Which, he explained, meant that I should start at the end, and simply do it to be it.  So that, if I wanted to be a columnist, I should just be one, and begin writing my own online column.

So I did.

Then, he followed his own advice.  Ten months ago, Mike told me that he wanted to write a movie script.  At first, I was skeptical because, in the past, he has had some trouble finishing things.  As most of us do

But, this time, it was different.  He bought screenwriting books and struggled through crafting his story.  He spent late nights at a bookstore, working on scenes and making his characters real.  He began to talk like a screenwriter.

Then, last week, he told me that he had finished.  In ten months, he had gone from someone buying a screenwriting book to someone finishing a script.

He had moved.  It had hurt.  On some days, it had hurt bad.  But he did it.

He had taught himself to inside out it.  And, somewhere along the way to wanting to be a screenwriter, he became one.