I recently finished reading for the Big Break™ screenwriting contest, something that I do every year. Over the course of this months-long assignment, I evaluated approximately 300 scripts, which gave me the opportunity to see what’s going on out there in spec-script land.

Let’s be plain: Writing, revising, refining, polishing, re-revising your screenplay is an often arduous process. Keeping your eye on the prize — and Jeanne Veillette Bowerman’s 10 tips — can help you focus.

When inspiration wanes, sometimes you want to let the narrow odds wash over you and just go numb. But it’s important to remember that writers write. Chuck Wendig is a writer.

One key to marketing your script successfully is being able to trust that “the system” is fair and that the readers know what they are doing. When you submit your script to screenwriting contests, you count on it getting the careful consideration it deserves.

Big Idea Writers Challenge is a Bi-monthly contest that will take your script to the hands of Producers, Investors and Studios.