When to stop writing by Ken Levine
"Sitting down to start writing each day is tough. And so is knowing when to stop. If the two events are usually within fifteen minutes of each other pick another profession. But if you’re really putting in the hours, and there’s no foreman telling you when quitting time is, when is quitting time?..."
Monday, 24 March 2008
A rant
I've been reading a lot of TV scripts in the past few months, which inspired me to dust off Babylon 5 and have a bit of a B5 Marathon in my spare time...
It's not procrastinating, it's research. Honest! Bah, suit yourselves.
...and right in the middle of DRAMA!, the phone rings. Grrr. Except it could be my sister, I was waiting for her to return my call. Hit pause. Grab phone.
CHIRPY, ENTHUSIASTIC AMERICAN ACCENT: "You have been selected for a once in a lifetime opportunity! Press 9 for more details as operators are standing by."
BRITISH MUTTERING: "Try press off, for b*gger off."
(Here's the thing, I have a paranoid habit of checking that the phone has disconnected when I put it down; none of these crafty reverse the charges scumbag scamster calls for me, oh no! -- Actually it's mainly because I have found the occasional line problem where BT seems to leave you connected with the person you were talking to even though one or other of you has hung up. And then no one can ring you. It's happened enough that I check now.)
OFF ... listens -- still connected to Chirpy, Enthusiastic American Accent chuntering away about my once in a life time opportunity.
It better be once in a lifetime. Grrr.
OFF ... "-Press-" OFF! ... and they were still there, so I unplugged the phone
...
... plugged it back in "-9 for more details-" ARGH!
OFF OFF OFF OFF OFF OFF OFF
...Eventually they got the message.
Crap. They'll probably ring back.
It's not procrastinating, it's research. Honest! Bah, suit yourselves.
...and right in the middle of DRAMA!, the phone rings. Grrr. Except it could be my sister, I was waiting for her to return my call. Hit pause. Grab phone.
CHIRPY, ENTHUSIASTIC AMERICAN ACCENT: "You have been selected for a once in a lifetime opportunity! Press 9 for more details as operators are standing by."
BRITISH MUTTERING: "Try press off, for b*gger off."
(Here's the thing, I have a paranoid habit of checking that the phone has disconnected when I put it down; none of these crafty reverse the charges scumbag scamster calls for me, oh no! -- Actually it's mainly because I have found the occasional line problem where BT seems to leave you connected with the person you were talking to even though one or other of you has hung up. And then no one can ring you. It's happened enough that I check now.)
OFF ... listens -- still connected to Chirpy, Enthusiastic American Accent chuntering away about my once in a life time opportunity.
It better be once in a lifetime. Grrr.
OFF ... "-Press-" OFF! ... and they were still there, so I unplugged the phone
...
... plugged it back in "-9 for more details-" ARGH!
OFF OFF OFF OFF OFF OFF OFF
...Eventually they got the message.
Crap. They'll probably ring back.
Time flies by...
Been a while. But was I procrastinating, or writing? -- A little of both.
For the most part I've either been putting words on paper, or mulling, so I have been writing one way or another almost every day. So that's good...
What's bad is: my brain can't settle - I'm allowing myself to be distracted - so the writing and mulling has been for several different projects that I have on the back burner.
And most recently, I've had a nibble of interest in one of my Tarot books, which has lead to some frantic procrastination in the form of editing and rewriting. This counts as procrastination because I'm supposed to be screenwriting, not book writing. Naughty Eleanor.
It probably won't result in anything, but it's nice to get the nibble. :)
I do need to give myself a bit of a slap upside the head though. I've fallen back into my old pattern of flitting from project to project, rather than forcing myself to stick to one thing. I am going to pick up my fantasy screenplay again and concentrate on the rewrite for that. I've said it now, in public, so I have to do it.
Darn!
For the most part I've either been putting words on paper, or mulling, so I have been writing one way or another almost every day. So that's good...
What's bad is: my brain can't settle - I'm allowing myself to be distracted - so the writing and mulling has been for several different projects that I have on the back burner.
And most recently, I've had a nibble of interest in one of my Tarot books, which has lead to some frantic procrastination in the form of editing and rewriting. This counts as procrastination because I'm supposed to be screenwriting, not book writing. Naughty Eleanor.
It probably won't result in anything, but it's nice to get the nibble. :)
I do need to give myself a bit of a slap upside the head though. I've fallen back into my old pattern of flitting from project to project, rather than forcing myself to stick to one thing. I am going to pick up my fantasy screenplay again and concentrate on the rewrite for that. I've said it now, in public, so I have to do it.
Darn!
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