Encounter Horses

Not a great deal to report yet. I'm courting some excellent job opportunities, and I finished David Jauss's Alone With All that Could Happen; you can see my review here. 

In short, though, it is worth checking out. It helped me plow through another script and the middle of a short story I'm wrapping up about a woman who joins forces with her brother-in-law to exact revenge on her husband's abductor. I read new books, wait on submissions, make more and encounter horses. 

The script is under review. There's already a team of enthused people who are softly committed to its production, which is a blessing. I started it for practice and contests, but it seems there's a chance it will get produced, now. 

Bye Bye Social Media

It was fun while it lasted, but it was distracting. I'm glad I gave it a shot. It seems to me, though, that updating instagram and twitter (on personal accounts) merely waters down the ideas and research that I could otherwise bake into something meatier, like a new book or script ;) 

Yes, I'm writing a new script. That's all I can say for now, though. 

I've also invested my downtime into new research (another thing that was not especially helped by my social media habits), I'm studying more about story structure, as always, and the history of violence (truly fascinating). I would recommend Steven Pinker's book, The Better Angels of our Nature, if you're at all interested in that topic. 

The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined

By Steven Pinker

Buy on Amazon

little bits

The accumulation of little bits, particularly with regard to Van Gogh, generates something other than the sum of its parts. With regard to the paintbrush, a mass made of just bristle and bristle and bristle (for instance).

It's not the sudden ambitions you take on that will have significance. It's the small things over time. Small habits, small considerations, small things made, and even small listenings. It's taken years of watching and listening to others for me to confidently price my time and my worth. It took decades of scrawling and erasing to generate a novel, and not just a novel, but an ease in writing new things. 

The key is not just to develop new things, it's also to develop abilities. This is, in fact, where I have a challenge: when a sustained effort over time does not develop ability AND new content, I get discouraged. The modern sensibility would have us believe that learning to do anything (like how to apply for college or how to do your laundry) is useful, and has universal, applicable lessons, but you have to dig to get them. A lot of lessons are disposable. You learn them quick, they serve their purpose and then there's no point in studying the matter further. Submissions, for instance, discourage me in this way. You learn to do them and then you just keep sending. You can only learn how to take rejection once. Once the lesson is learned, nothing new is gained except more chances and finding a good fit for your work. No skills are sharpened, few new challenges arrive. You just keep sending. 

So if you find something that is sustainable, that is small bits over time, that can help you make things AND develop your skills, keep doing it!