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May 10, 2005
short attention span
"The Short Attention Span Screenwriter" is a good article on what stops us from finishing a project. It easily applies to my neck of the woods. Link courtesy of my fellow E3 slave laborer Brian, who does not have a webpage anymore but does IM me often with jewels such as this.
A bit more about my moratorium on writing in the extended entry link.
Simply because I have stopped writing while I'm in Overtime Hell does not mean the narrator in my brain has shut up. She's still talking and feeding me information, and that's good -- and bad.
See, my brain is now trying to tell me the book is ALL WRONG and I need to FIX IT. This is a trick. This is doubt (not yet fear, but a close cousin) weaseling its way in and convincing me that what I've written up to this point has no merit. I'm very familiar with the feeling at this point.
The answer is to take notes for her and do only that. When I have time again -- and by time I mean at least four or five hours while I'm wide awake, not two half-asleep and stressed -- I'll read over the notes, consider what applies, and move them off to the list of "things to fix". The rest get added to the pile of "stuff that will be neat in a later work". Otherwise, I'll be here for another year, editing my career to death.
I took down three pages of notes from the brain-thing last night, and drew numerous firebirds (like the one to the right). I've drawn so many now that I think the book's going to need one in the title.
Posted by sdshaver at May 10, 2005 09:47 PM