So. Here we are again.
The difference between yesterday and today is that today we have a blank page and I have to start all over again.
Wait.
That's not different at all. that's how yesterday started too.
That's how it always starts.
The greatest idea in the world! It's brilliant! Quick! Quick! Write it down before you...
[The Blank Page]
Well. Maybe. It could..
well.
stop intimidating me!
Once I'm passed that point we get into the next few stages of aggravation:
The false start.
The, no, maybe it would work better if I just moved this word here or here.
The delete key or the angrily scratching out and ripping the page out and throwing it at the cat.
Staring blankly into space.
Then at a point it happens. It comes out. Sometimes I'm not even aware it's happening. The words flow. The long Tetris piece falls from the sky and suddenly the blockage is cleared. It makes sense.
Then the distractions:
The cat decides now is the time to sit on the keyboard.
The library is closing, it is 12 after all and I've been sitting there for 5 hours.
The phone call.
The annoying phone call.
The Low Battery. Are you kidding me? Really MacBook? 4 Hours my ass!
The distractingly cute girl. Why is she dressed like that? Why is she coming over here! Wow! Green eyes! Where's my sketchbook...
Invariably we've come to my biggest distraction (No, not cleavage!), Drawing. Suddenly (again suddenly Kev?), focus becomes a problem. There's a pencil in my hand. Or a pen. Or a stylus. Or whatever is closest. Yes, it's most likely a drawing of a girl or maybe it's not. Maybe I don't know what it is. Not yet anyway.
Finally I get back to writing. It's finished. Do I proofread it? Yeah, it's me, I need to. But I can't simply proofread. I can't see the comma splices or the spelling errors. I can only see that there's a problem with the flow. This sentence is first but would work better last. The opening topic is a much stronger ENDING topic. Isn't that going to cause the entire thing to be rewritten? Probably. Sigh...
Now do I let someone else read it? No! They're going to hate it because I'm terrible! Or more likely they're going to say something like:
"Hey, Kev, where are you going with this?" or "Uhm are you missing some words in this sentence?"
Well it made sense in my head! (Honestly, I'm not sure how THAT'S possible!)
So, there you go. A horrifying insight into my brain's writing process.
I initially intended to write this about my perchance for overusing music lyrics (mostly by the incomparable Steven Page), such as the title of this post which might invariably make it to the title of everything. For now.
I think I'm going to switch to a WordPress blog, it has a better iPhone interface.
Sunday, August 8, 2010
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Hey Kev, just write something.
So, here we are again. Hi, how are you, it's been awhile.
This is not exactly the way I'd like to use this, however this is the way I will have to use this.
I'm not exactly fond of writing stories like, "here's what happened to me in the cereal isle: savings." So many people are better at that stuff than me.
What I have found myself doing is creating lists of things. "Top Things That I Think Are Awesome And Here's Why" and so on. In fact, I have several "lists" already written up and ready to go. There's some pretty funny bits, too. The problem I'm finding with the list formula is that well, it's incredibly formulaic and, well, lazy. That doesn't mean that there wont be lists, it's just if the only thing I can think of writing is 12 different types of lists, I'm in trouble.
No, if I'm going to do this and make it interesting for me, I need to keep it, well, interesting. How..? I don't know. I'm working that out.
I'd love to transfer some ideas or things over from my notebooks. I run into problems here. The stuff in my notebooks is usually written very quickly with little regard to spelling or grammar (isn't that always the case, Kev? Haha. yes....).
The problem I have is maintaining the innocence of the stories. Not compromising the simple charm by endlessly re-writing. In the notebook they exist as something. I worry about the translation. I worry that I won't be able to do it without destroying them.
I have a bad habit of spending so much time on everything I write - no really, everything - Twitter, emails, texts, stories, etc. I spend far too much time trying to make the flow work, the words work, the joke work, everything work, that I'll sometimes psych myself out and give up all together.
I'll get to the point where I don't think the whatever it is isn't any good because I'M not very good. Then it goes back in the box for retooling. There it either gets forgotten or it stays in the back of my head trying to dynamite it's way out back.
So, what exactly am I saying by this? I don't know exactly. I'm not making any promises, except that I am trying.
Trying to do what...?
This is not exactly the way I'd like to use this, however this is the way I will have to use this.
I'm not exactly fond of writing stories like, "here's what happened to me in the cereal isle: savings." So many people are better at that stuff than me.
What I have found myself doing is creating lists of things. "Top Things That I Think Are Awesome And Here's Why" and so on. In fact, I have several "lists" already written up and ready to go. There's some pretty funny bits, too. The problem I'm finding with the list formula is that well, it's incredibly formulaic and, well, lazy. That doesn't mean that there wont be lists, it's just if the only thing I can think of writing is 12 different types of lists, I'm in trouble.
No, if I'm going to do this and make it interesting for me, I need to keep it, well, interesting. How..? I don't know. I'm working that out.
I'd love to transfer some ideas or things over from my notebooks. I run into problems here. The stuff in my notebooks is usually written very quickly with little regard to spelling or grammar (isn't that always the case, Kev? Haha. yes....).
The problem I have is maintaining the innocence of the stories. Not compromising the simple charm by endlessly re-writing. In the notebook they exist as something. I worry about the translation. I worry that I won't be able to do it without destroying them.
I have a bad habit of spending so much time on everything I write - no really, everything - Twitter, emails, texts, stories, etc. I spend far too much time trying to make the flow work, the words work, the joke work, everything work, that I'll sometimes psych myself out and give up all together.
I'll get to the point where I don't think the whatever it is isn't any good because I'M not very good. Then it goes back in the box for retooling. There it either gets forgotten or it stays in the back of my head trying to dynamite it's way out back.
So, what exactly am I saying by this? I don't know exactly. I'm not making any promises, except that I am trying.
Trying to do what...?
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