Midway through my twenties, I realized that although “Friends” provided me with memorable gems  like “Pivot, Unagi and a Cow’s point being Moo,”  it also promised me several lies.

•  I haven’t had a stream of guest star love interests. 
  
•  I don’t know a single person who lives in a rent-controlled apartment. 
  
• You actually do have to go to work to make all the money you blow at your local coffee house.  And no one gets the same seat at the coffee house everyday. 
  
• I never have time to leisurely discuss events over breakfast with my friends on the week days.  Breakfast itself seems like a luxury some days. 

Due to these lies, I often found my friends and I feeling like we weren’t truly living up to our twenty- something potential.  Then while watching Chasing Life this Season, I realized this might be the most accurate portray of how life really is in your twenties.

1. Friends are at Different Stages
When we first met Beth, she was barista at a coffee house and April was an-up-and  upcoming reporter. Now, Beth barely can put down her two cellphones. After years of being in the same place with your friends (kindergarten through college), the twenties is a this huge shock.  You are the only person on the your exact path.  All you can do is try to support each other like Beth and April do.

2. You might Still Live at Home.
I love that April lives at home.  She lives in one of the most expensive cities in the country and, for once, the main character doesn’t have some amazing loft fresh out of college.  That doesn’t happen. Instead, April shares a bathroom with her teen sister. That’s real. And when she does move into her dream apartment, we will cheer even more for her.   Maybe it will be with Leo and my shipper heart will burst.

3. Your Career Matters
Yes, I adore Leo and April, but what I root for more than anything is April’s career.  Since the moment April lied her way into a blood drive, she has been unapologetically career focused and it has been glorious. You spend eighteen years in school, add on some grad school and unpaid internships, devoting yourself to your chosen career.   Yet,  sometimes people act like your Match.com profile should be more important than your LinkedIn one.   But not April and Thank God for that.

4. Your Parents are Your Friends
There’s a great scene where April and her mom settle in to watch their favorite TV show. I remember thinking, "this is your twenties."  It is one of many scenes where April's second BFF, after the amazing Beth, is her mom.  You think your twenties are going to be clubs and Sex and TheCity antics, but a lot of   times your first call is still your Mom.  

5. Life Gets Real
The premise of the show is April gets diagnosed with Cancer at twenty-four.  Now, I did not get diagnosed with cancer, but I did get diagnosed with endometriosis at twenty-four.   Like April, I spent that year in and out of the hospital.   There is something about your twenties. It is full of surprises and sometimes they are not always great.

I am not sure there is a single decade where people are at more different stages than during their twenties.  You can be single, married, divorced, have kids or even be sick.  It’s so unique that it’s often not portrayed correctly.  When a show like Chasing Life nails it, it should be celebrated!

The spring finale of Chasing Life airs tonight on ABC Family 9PM.

I am thrilled to announce that my Arrow Spec, "Second Chances"  won the WILDsound Festival.   
The cool thing about this contest is they have actors read the winning scripts. 
 I wrote this script last spring, so for Arrow fans this will be a stroll down Season Two memory lane.   

Also, the nice people at Wildsound interviewed me, so you can check that out here. 
http://wildsoundfestivalreview.com/2015/03/22/interview-with-margaret-driscoll-winning-tv-spec-writer-arrow/

For my writer friends I really encourage you guys to try out WildSound. Great feedback, honest people and a really nice experience all around!
Arrow "Second Chances" (TOP FIVE Final Draft's Big Break Contest and WildSound Festival Winner)
OLIVER questions his mission and family loyalty when DIGG’s former lieutenant RICK FLAG threatens to make MOIRA pay for her unpunished crimes. Meanwhile, SARA visits LAUREL in rehab and ROY struggles with leading a double life from THEA. Back on the Island, Sara warns Oliver of SLADE’S increasing erratic behavior.

In Vampire Diaries, Caroline and Stefan recently flipped their humanity switches.  Now, normally this would lead to very bad things like murder, blood sucking and over all "vampire on the lose” craziness.   I have to say, given the Catholic guilt conscience I carry around, there is something alluring about flipping the good ole’ humanity switch.

Six Things I'd Ditch with my Humanity Switched Off

1.Ditch the Cart
After I load the last grocery bag into my trunk, the distance between the cart drop-off and me somehow now rivals a 5K.  Of course, I begrudgingly push my cart back because I am a good citizen of the world and not some Satan worshiper who leaves their cart in the prime spot you want to park in.  With my switch flipped, though, I am ditching that cart to the tune of Tom Petty’s “Free Falling.”

2. Ditch the Customary Text
We all do it.  Either we totally forget about a text or just plain ignore it.  Unfortunately we have a conscience, we feel obligated to send some courtesy “I’m just seeing this, just got out of work or my bad for being MIA” text.   Without humanity, you cut out all of that and simply respond with “what’s up.” No explanation.  Just I’m here now and you are welcome.

3. Ditch the Early Merge
When I see a lane is closed ahead of me I do two things.  1. Freak out because “oh my God, my precious route has been compromised.”  2.  Try as quickly as possible to merge, while acquiring new sweat rings on my t-shirt.  Now, without my pesky humanity, I’m that girl who flies up the open lane and then merges at the last minute.  That girl saves time and probably has a dry shirt.  A plus side to no humanity is no more prescription strength deodorant because nerves…what nerves?

4. Ditch the Apologizing.
I am not suggesting a full Kayne level apology boycott, but with the switch flipped, I definitely would stop saying sorry to inanimate objects.  I bump into things a lot and I find myself apologizing to trees, trashcans, doors etc.  Also, if we are giving out vampire abilities, maybe I could get their speed.  I am really clumsy.

5.   Ditch the Pass on Crowded Elevators
The elevator doors open wide revealing a crowded car.  Now, of course, even though I have places to go I wait for the next one.   Without that pesky humanity voice inside my head, I’m strolling on to that crowded elevator.  And, hey my humanity’s off, I might as well blast my music on my iPod headphones.

6. Ditch the Poop Bag
My Maltipoo, Maddie, loves to drop a deuce and then run away, basically pinning the poop on me.  I, of course, pick it up with my California approved recyclable poop bag.  And one particularly ingenious time, when I ran out of bags and used an oversized leaf.  I always run across Maddie size poops, so clearly plenty of people have flipped their humanity switch when it comes to dog defecating manners.

Honestly, we have probably seen people do all of these annoying habits.  We wrote them off as jerks or selfish A-holes, when we are clearly in some vampire without their humanity epidemic.  So next time someone cuts you off or doesn’t take her cart back, remember she's got bigger problems.  She's probably a soulless vampire.  That’s got to be it, right?

March 8th is International Women's Day.  To celebrate, here are eight inspiring women on television that make us blast Destiny Child’s “Independent Women.”

1. April Carver
From the moment her uncle uttered the word Cancer, April’s been Sara Bareilles’ “Brave” and Kelly Clarkson's “Stronger.”  Even without her cancer diagnose, April would have made this list.  When we met her, she talked her way into a blood drive to get the story.  "A little setback" like cancer    has not stopped April. It’s refreshing to watch a young woman focus unapologetically on her career.   We might be drawing Leo and April forever on our notebooks, but the line we really cheer for is her byline.

2. Jane Rodriguez
I already wrote about how I think we all should be #JustLikeJane.   In tennis, people always say you play better against a better player.  Somehow your play just rises to the occasion.   Jane is like an expert level tennis player surrounded by mediocre ones.   She makes everyone around her better simply by being herself and that is nothing short of inspiring.

3. Cookie Lyons
Sure, dealing drugs is bad, but everything else Cookie does seem so good.   It is a good thing she kept Lucious’ last name because she is a lioness especially when it comes to protecting her family.  She can give a speech to stuffy Wallstreet investors and outdrink a bunch of gangster rappers. The question really is…is there anything Cookie can’t do? 

4. Peggy Carter
The chick is a freaking SPY in a time when women were told the only things they should be listening into were their husbands’ dinner orders.   She is stronger and more independent than most modern women on television with half the rights.  For some weird reason, the 1940's characters didn’t hear me yelling at the TV, “It was Peggy!” when the government gave all the credit to Thompson for saving the city.  Peggy doesn’t need my useless screaming defense, though, because she already knows she was Badass B.  

5. Felicity Smoak
Barry might literally run circles around her, Oliver can kill himself on the salmon latter (shirtless please) and Ray can fly around in his suit, but the real strength behind these heroes sits in an office chair behind her beloved computers.  She’ll never strap on a mask (eyeholes are confusing) or fight on the streets, but she’s a hero.   Maybe the greatest of them all because Felicity ‘s moral code is the constant in this journey, making her the guiding light.  I mean you've seen the light every time #Olicity kiss, right?

6./ 7.  Stef and Lena Foster
Life never seemed to give the Foster kids much of a break until they met Stef and Lena.  If you are lucky, you get one amazing mom, and after heartbreaking backgrounds, the Foster kids now get two.  Independently these ladies are strong but together, they are force of nature. 

8. Olivia Pope
Somewhere last season in the love triangles, we lost Olivia a bit. Then she got kidnapped and, although taking Olivia away from the best wardrobe on television is a crime against humanity, it did give us back Olivia.  She is the original gladiator who saves herself every time.   Whether you are #TeamJake or #TeamFitz, the winning team will always be #TeamOlivia.