So, I've always heard it said to begin with the end in mind but anytime I used that advise for a writing project, somehow the story veered so far off course that it never ended where I had originally pictured it. But with this screenplay, it seems that I'm throwing caution to the wind here and trying everything. I was visited by the muse and was given a vivid picture of a couple of scene's for the end credit sequence where Mattie and David, her adopted son who's going to be such a handful, are picking out a bedroom suit. One of the reasons he's such a handful will be because he feels he doesn't really belong in the new family arrangement. He sleeps on a futon bed in the exercise room since Mattie hadn't expected to have such a large family so quickly. So in the end, he finally feels like he fits in by getting his own bedroom to himself (but eventually he'll have to share it with his younger brother).

Another scene I pictured was one in which TJ (played by Michael Imperioli of Soprano fame, I hope) proposes to Mattie and they plan to live as one big happy family. So I asked myself, "self, what would it take to get my screenplay from where it is to where I envision it to be?" and abracadabra seven other scenes come to me.

One of those scenes entails Mattie sleeping nude when a 4 year old Bobby startles her out of her sleep and wants to crawl into bed with her. Guess that's one way to break old habits. Of course, being a creature of habit, she's pulled a loaded gun from under her pillow and aimed it at Bobby, who, in the dark doesn't see, but it sure does scare the crap out of Mattie. She later ends up at TJ's just hysterical about it and completely overwhelmed with all the responsibilities that go with adopting three troubled children.

And the saga continues...