What is the best piece of advice/inspiration on writing that you've ever received?

"You already know the deepest truths to human stories, it's in your heart. You just need a benign organizing presence to encourage it."
-David Milch

(and)

"Writing is hard work. That's why in school it's given out as punishment."
-Unknown.

Do you ever find yourself procrastinating? If so, how do you fight it?

I'm not sure because there are different reasons why I might not be writing. If you're just lazy, then it's a matter of discipline, and maybe writing isn't for you because it's hard. But if you're not writing because of a lack of confidence or you're blocked, then the solution for me often relies in fooling myself by changing the situation. Playing guitar and singing helps. Also, I like to leave my office and go to a library or coffee house and try writing there. Sometimes I've gone for a sauna or to see a movie. Even a wild late night can be good medicine. If the problem is deeper than that, then perhaps therapy is in order. Seriously.

Do you have a certain routine that you follow when writing?

There's a saying that by writing in the same place at the same time every day, the Muse knows where to find you. Maybe it has something to do with carving neural patterns or something, but I do tend to work at the same time every day. I like the early morning and late afternoon for the creative, dreamy parts of writing. Some aspects of the job are pure business and have to be accomplished during business hours. I have found that being a pro writer in a market town like LA takes a strong salesman's sensibility (if just to be able to bounce back from countless rejections).

When was the first time that you "got paid for it"?

My first professional aired moment was not something I got paid for, but reinforced my confidence that good things were coming. I was working as an assistant to the producers on Parker Lewis Can't Lose and it was a rare late-night rewrite. That show was run so well the writers never really had late nights. The scene being rewritten was about a frightened video store clerk who was under attack by a mob of customers. I pitched to give dialogue to the customers, as opposed to just having them adlib. And I pitched that irate customer #1 asks where a certain movie was, irate customer #2 asks when they were getting in some new hit movie, and customer #3 bellows out angrily: Why wasn't Godfather #3 a better movie? That was shot and aired almost word for word what I pitched, and while I didn't get paid, people liked the moment and word got around that it'd come from me (generous producers).

How do you feel about writing with a partner?

Writing with a partner can speed up the process and when time is money, this can be beneficial to the project. But even solo writers need to "Jam" with someone. Writing is not unlike music (and all writers love music) in that musicians gotta' have someone to jam with, someone who gets their intentions, helps make his or her best efforts even better, and fixes up the worst mistakes. A writer is a thinker and a thinker often benefits from a dialectic situation where an antithesis is proposed to each thesis. Finding some harmonies helps too.

What can a beginning writer in the television industry expect to get paid? What kind of range exists?

Freelance writers get paid by the script--a "written by" credit is worth about 17 K for 30 min, double that for an hour drama,plus rerun residuals and foreign buyout. I think WGA minimum for a sitcom writer on staff is around $3000 a week (it goes up every year). A network primetime writer on staff for one season will usually make somewhere around a quarter million, maybe a half million if he or she is a producer. If you create the show, too, there's no limit. You can literally make millions.

Any final thoughts on writing?