Last shout out
Intense doesn’t even come close to describe how this last few months have been, so hats off to anyone who has persevered through the noise. A screenwriter in England was asked recently what his writing process was, he replied, “Get up, eat, consider the news, reject it, lunch, nap, have a hot chocolate, then I'm hard at it for a solid hour or two.”
We all have a different approach to how we work and though many suggest writing every day is a must, I don’t subscribe to that. Make notes yes, contemplate yes, but writing for the sake of writing can simply be a waste of time, or worse a distraction. The most important thing, whether in thought or writing, is to stay focused on your material. Focus sounds abstract, and it is, until you hit that sweet spot and only then does writing every day become productive. The musician Carlos Santana famously said “I don’t play the music the music plays me.” That’s when you’re writing.
Focus is a practice just like meditation. Develop it and use it.
The other day I happened to watch Quentin Tarrantino, who’s been doing a bunch of interviews to promote his new book. A lot of people don’t like his work, I do. Listening to him and watching him you experience his creativity. How it flows. He is intense and playful all at the same time. My kind of person. He said that he is always considering the audience while writing, playing them as he would if he were a conductor. Of course he writes and directs his own films which helps, but I see the screenwriter as the composer and the director the conductor who draws out the intention of the composer (screenwriter) to the screenplay’s nuanced fullest.
This is my last shout out before the end of 2022 so I want to thank everyone who have been reading my blog, with particular thanks to those of you who have worked with me this year. We grappled with and solved some knotty problems together. It took patience but we got there. To everyone who has stayed focused on their writing during a year that has pulled our worlds this way and that, in and out of tangles, big and small, we’ve all suffered a kind of whiplash. But never get discouraged. If you have something to say you will find your way.
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Wishing you a happy silly season!
Enjoy the festivities and keep the ideas flowing…