Nano Is Coming!

If you're cool, you call it Nano. If you're not cool, you say National Novel Writing Month. "Whoa, whoa, whoa" you're thinking, "I thought you were a screenwriter?" Well, I am (okay, so I'm not, but go with me on this), but novels are fun, especially novels that have to be written in one month. 50,000 word novels that have to be written in one month. If you don't think that sounds fun, then how weird are you?

It's a literary vacation is what it is. You just sit at your computer and take a trip far away from structure, style and sense (yeah, this book is going to be greeeeeeeat). It's dangerous. It's super dangerous, and being dangerous is fun, especially when it's done in the privacy of your own home or a well lit, public coffee house (and not late at night at the coffee shop. And not the coffee shop with the one guy that stares at me sometimes when he doesn't think I can see him out of the corner of my eye).

What I'm kind of driving at here is I think you should do it with me. Mostly because it would be really good for you, but also because misery loves company. But mostly because I think misery loves company. Just do it. Do it. Dooooooo it.

This is going to be fun!

People Are the Greatest Stories

Thanks to Roger for reminding me of that. And that's the most awesome thing about being a writer (okay, so everything is the most awesome thing about being a writer, but for today we'll just make this one the most awesome), every part of your life, even when it has nothing to do with writing, has everything to do with story. Being a stressed out, Oreo addicted nursing student is a story. Granted, not my kind of story right off the bat - too melodramatic, and way too much crying. I'd have to throw something in there, like, all the faculty are actually aliens, but really funny aliens that are terribly unorganized and have no idea themselves how to take over a planet like ours, but they're still dangerous because they like to suck our brains out. That's a better story. Still, it's there.

I'm not writing anything creative right now because of school, and that is profoundly frustrating to me. But I have to remind myself of the concept of phases. Sometimes the writing process involves periods of not writing, or "incubation" phases. I'm just in a really, really crappy incubation phase right now. And, considering I have three distinct, and pretty well planned out screenplays up in there, this incubation could last a while. Probably about as long as, say, a typical first year of nursing school would last. I may be able to eek out a little something over Christmas break, but even the thought of that is getting my hopes up, and that I have to avoid altogether. First, the hopes go up, then the expectations rise, then I resolve on writing something, the resolve comes and goes without anything to show for it but the incredible guilt associated with letting myself down. So, yeah, no hopes up. Hopes must stay down, way down.

Who's tired of hearing about this? I see that hand. I see that hand.

Look at this instead:

Go see this movies. Shhhhhh, don't ask any questions, just go see it. You can catch a matinee, I don't even care, just see it.

There. That was for you.