This may sound like a harsh or ridiculous advice especially if you have been living a life of luxury, the definition of luxury and distraction is relative, but you do what you have to do to pursue your writing career path. You can always start with simple physical attachment to things that can easily sway your from writing. To some, giving up TV is achievable at the snap of the finger but to another it may be the most difficult task ever. I refuse to have a television in my home for many reasons. When I was much younger I find the remote TV control addictive. One of the things I used to do when I was at home was to turn on the TV and go channel surfing for hours even if there is nothing that I want to watch. It was exactly the same with the internet when it was first was introduced. Surfing seems like a fun thing to do but it does take up a lot of your precious time while dulling your senses. Instead of following the TV stations which set schedules of their programs I only watch movies and TV series that I like whenever I want.
Games, whether online or offline is yet another temptress that can bewitch you like a vampire and bleed you dry. Game players will know what I'm talking about. Again some may say it's a form of stress relief but others might disagree. I remember purchasing my first laptop that comes with free games. Since they were already installed I played the games almost every other day for a few months before deciding to get rid of them. Though it broke my heart to uninstall the card games that I enjoyed playing because I knew it would be better for my sanity and writing vocation.
There are many other distractions and obstacles that can fall onto the path of a writer and to overcome them can be as bad as doing it cold turkey. What if there is a person in your life that is the greatest distraction of all you may ask? Emotional attachment is yet another impediment you have to deal with even if you are not too crazy about the idea. Of course you don't go around getting rid of people close to you in your life. But an understanding can be achieved when there is communication.
The one thing that some of us writers ignore is the fact that writing is a full time job or work or call it what you want. Yes, you can write in between meals, first thing in the morning or the last thing you do at night but it still demands time from you. Time to sit down and write what you set your mind on without being distracted. If you can work with the TV blasting away, fine. If you can work while someone is talking to you, great! If you write without a cinch in a room full of people partying away, well that's amazing. But if you can't then you can tell yourself all you want about the greatest novel you will be writing but it will never see the light of day anytime soon.
When you think about it, the distraction is actually you yourself. It's all about how you perceive yourself. How you handle your frustrations and anger, how you come to terms with your emotional upheavals and how you deal with them. If you believe in the myth of the writer's block then it will always be there barricading your every move. If you believe smoking, drinking or getting high will help write the next word, then it will actually work for you. You are the only one who will know best why you do what you do because ultimately no one can do it like you do.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
On the 5th of July
On March 22nd I was given the task to finish 12 - 22 minutes scripts for a children's educational animation series and the deadline was 25th of June.
I thought it would be okay since I have about a week to finish each script, more or less. But when I sat in front of my laptop to begin the journey I realized writing for children is one thing. Writing an educational children's series is another. And writing for children about science with an animated pace and humor is completely a whole new ballgame.
With discipline, I seated myself everyday for the next 3 months to write and write and write. There were times when everything was good but there were times when nothing went my way. One of the worst experiences in writing educational materials is the research, which isn't too hard, but the contradictory conclusions, debatable theories and opinionated ideas were of no help. While one scientist or researcher believes in one thing, another says something altogether. I had to filter all the findings and decide on the safest or more accurate hypothesis.
Another tough nut to crack is the one liners, humor or comic relief. And on top of that, mind you, it's for kids. Luckily, after writing several scripts I feel so blessed to have watched hundreds and thousands of movies and series and read tons of materials that helped with my writing. I could repeat the same formula for each episode but I wanted more, just like how I want more from the TV series I watch.
Some scripts took me only a few sittings but some took weeks. Whenever a script passed the deadline I had to start the next one to even out the flow. I did not have the pleasure to wait around for ideas to fall from the sky when I was groping in the dark, I had to write everyday no matter what. Some days, some really bad days, I wrote only a line. Yes, one single line. But the good days could fill up to ten pages.
Although I completed all the scripts on the given deadline I wasn't satisfied with the last three and extended another 2 weeks to polish and fine tune what was missing. And on this day, on the 5th of July, I sent the last three scripts and completed my contract of twelve.
I have never been happier and exhausted from the brain draining sessions everyday. Waking, sleeping and dreaming about the plots, punch lines and messages to get across. If you've been there, you would know how I feel. The elation, the ecstasy, the Rapture.
Though it was challenging, took a big chunk out of my life and drove me up the walls at times, I am so thrilled I managed to handle this genre and got a good feedback for them too. The first thing I did was to celebrate the joy with friends. The second thing I did was to go back to my hometown to veg out, and the third is to blog again. And I'm wondering what next? I know I have another series of children's books to look into, an indie movie script, a new short story collection and a novel that is begging to be written. What can I say? To relax in between scripts I play code breaker puzzles, scrabble, text twist and sudoku.
I thought it would be okay since I have about a week to finish each script, more or less. But when I sat in front of my laptop to begin the journey I realized writing for children is one thing. Writing an educational children's series is another. And writing for children about science with an animated pace and humor is completely a whole new ballgame.
With discipline, I seated myself everyday for the next 3 months to write and write and write. There were times when everything was good but there were times when nothing went my way. One of the worst experiences in writing educational materials is the research, which isn't too hard, but the contradictory conclusions, debatable theories and opinionated ideas were of no help. While one scientist or researcher believes in one thing, another says something altogether. I had to filter all the findings and decide on the safest or more accurate hypothesis.
Another tough nut to crack is the one liners, humor or comic relief. And on top of that, mind you, it's for kids. Luckily, after writing several scripts I feel so blessed to have watched hundreds and thousands of movies and series and read tons of materials that helped with my writing. I could repeat the same formula for each episode but I wanted more, just like how I want more from the TV series I watch.
Some scripts took me only a few sittings but some took weeks. Whenever a script passed the deadline I had to start the next one to even out the flow. I did not have the pleasure to wait around for ideas to fall from the sky when I was groping in the dark, I had to write everyday no matter what. Some days, some really bad days, I wrote only a line. Yes, one single line. But the good days could fill up to ten pages.
Although I completed all the scripts on the given deadline I wasn't satisfied with the last three and extended another 2 weeks to polish and fine tune what was missing. And on this day, on the 5th of July, I sent the last three scripts and completed my contract of twelve.
I have never been happier and exhausted from the brain draining sessions everyday. Waking, sleeping and dreaming about the plots, punch lines and messages to get across. If you've been there, you would know how I feel. The elation, the ecstasy, the Rapture.
Though it was challenging, took a big chunk out of my life and drove me up the walls at times, I am so thrilled I managed to handle this genre and got a good feedback for them too. The first thing I did was to celebrate the joy with friends. The second thing I did was to go back to my hometown to veg out, and the third is to blog again. And I'm wondering what next? I know I have another series of children's books to look into, an indie movie script, a new short story collection and a novel that is begging to be written. What can I say? To relax in between scripts I play code breaker puzzles, scrabble, text twist and sudoku.
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