"To Be a Writer, One Must Write!!!"
I don't know who said that or even if someone said it before me. It's been at the top of my mind for several days now and I just wanted to get it out there for posterity.
I survived the holidays better than expected. Usually I'm battling such a sever holiday depression every year that this is all new to me. I actually enjoyed the holidays and for those of you who don't know me personally, my birthday falls amidst the holidays, so I only have this time of the year to celebrate the major milestones. Once again, surrounded by family for the second time this year, I got to see the dynamics of my family at work without becoming entangle in them. In years past, I was the center (read: cause) of the ensuing arguments but lately I've been more the observer. Thus I've been able to avoid many of the reasons for my depressions. There are still those occasional reasons that have very little, if anything, to do with my family that can still send me spiraling down into the depths of my depression.
But that being said, something kept me from writing through the holidays. Other than an occasional journal entry (and New Years Resolutions - one of which is to write and another which is update this blog more regularly) I didn't even attempt a single word on any writing project. I lugged my 20 pound briefcase with laptop, screenplay, a few other writing projects and books and I barely even cracked open the spine of one of several books that made the trip with me. And I don't even feel guilty about it.
Well, maybe just a little. I think I needed a little recovery time, some self-nurturing, before I could progress any further. I think that I just needed some distance from the screenplay to tackle this issue of connecting with the audience early on in the script and how to go about doing that. I think my NaNo project from 2005 has been calling my name, distracting me from the projects I'm working on now.
Something about "upsidedown" has been calling to me to pick it up again. It's in the vein of Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. In the opening chapter, there is a horrible accident where a little red Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder convertible tangles with a big black train engine and loses. My main character is inside the Spyder when it stops on the rail road crossing and loses her life. The rest of the book covers the year after she is killed, how her friends and family deal with her death and move forward in their lives while trying to uncover the truth as to whether it was an accident or suicide, and how she, the main character, comes to terms with her life while in the hereafter.
Does it sound like something you'd enjoy reading? It had been a joy writing until my holiday depression hit (a year ago) and I gave up on it. Maybe what my screenplay needs is just a little distraction on my part for a little while. So, tomorrow, (procrastination strikes again...naw, I'm house sitting and I can't get my hands on the manuscript until then) I will pull out the 70 some pages and add words to the word count to see where that takes me. (I know I'm bad about run-on sentences. Sometimes the period [.] just stops my train of thought.)
In the meanwhile, I'm also going to get my hands on some of my poetry and post it on my newest site: http://shawnannmurray.blogspot.com/ that will be devoted to sharing my poetry and short excerpts of works-in-progress. Currently there's only one poem, my favorite poem (the one already posted here) but check back frequently and let me know what you think of my stuff.
TTFN & Happy New Year
sam
I survived the holidays better than expected. Usually I'm battling such a sever holiday depression every year that this is all new to me. I actually enjoyed the holidays and for those of you who don't know me personally, my birthday falls amidst the holidays, so I only have this time of the year to celebrate the major milestones. Once again, surrounded by family for the second time this year, I got to see the dynamics of my family at work without becoming entangle in them. In years past, I was the center (read: cause) of the ensuing arguments but lately I've been more the observer. Thus I've been able to avoid many of the reasons for my depressions. There are still those occasional reasons that have very little, if anything, to do with my family that can still send me spiraling down into the depths of my depression.
But that being said, something kept me from writing through the holidays. Other than an occasional journal entry (and New Years Resolutions - one of which is to write and another which is update this blog more regularly) I didn't even attempt a single word on any writing project. I lugged my 20 pound briefcase with laptop, screenplay, a few other writing projects and books and I barely even cracked open the spine of one of several books that made the trip with me. And I don't even feel guilty about it.
Well, maybe just a little. I think I needed a little recovery time, some self-nurturing, before I could progress any further. I think that I just needed some distance from the screenplay to tackle this issue of connecting with the audience early on in the script and how to go about doing that. I think my NaNo project from 2005 has been calling my name, distracting me from the projects I'm working on now.
Something about "upsidedown" has been calling to me to pick it up again. It's in the vein of Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. In the opening chapter, there is a horrible accident where a little red Mitsubishi Eclipse Spyder convertible tangles with a big black train engine and loses. My main character is inside the Spyder when it stops on the rail road crossing and loses her life. The rest of the book covers the year after she is killed, how her friends and family deal with her death and move forward in their lives while trying to uncover the truth as to whether it was an accident or suicide, and how she, the main character, comes to terms with her life while in the hereafter.
Does it sound like something you'd enjoy reading? It had been a joy writing until my holiday depression hit (a year ago) and I gave up on it. Maybe what my screenplay needs is just a little distraction on my part for a little while. So, tomorrow, (procrastination strikes again...naw, I'm house sitting and I can't get my hands on the manuscript until then) I will pull out the 70 some pages and add words to the word count to see where that takes me. (I know I'm bad about run-on sentences. Sometimes the period [.] just stops my train of thought.)
In the meanwhile, I'm also going to get my hands on some of my poetry and post it on my newest site: http://shawnannmurray.blogspot.com/ that will be devoted to sharing my poetry and short excerpts of works-in-progress. Currently there's only one poem, my favorite poem (the one already posted here) but check back frequently and let me know what you think of my stuff.
TTFN & Happy New Year
sam
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