6 rules to success

I just wrote a blog post of the same title about how hard it is to write at the moment. It was just going to be that and a video. Then I wrote about four pages of something that can help me become a better writer.

I'm keeping it to myself because I'll put it into my work.

It's scary but I will be changing.

Go on YouTube and loo at Arnie's six rules to success.

Recracking

I started today by thinking the opening to my screenplay was rubbish. No one wants to see a family talking at a pub. Especially with horrid dialogue.

My approach to it at the moment is to write it with Annie Hall in mind. It is however, nothing like Annie Hall.

Then I sat down. Page 29. Waiting to write. Having no idea what to write.

If you cannot think of anything, just get on with the day. Clean, cook, exercise, watch films, read books, listen to podcasts and read blogs and get some sunshine.

Then it came to me. A flash forward of a moment that I didn't intend to write, then it won't be a boring repeated moment. It would instead get into a readers head that the script is going in a distinct direction.

When flash forwards are shown in films, eventually we get to it and it doesn't surprise me. So it is a technique that'll work.

Not too sure if I am ready to write this screenplay. I'll just force it through, one of my lecturers had a great rule for writing that is common, but still worth remembering. Don't get it right, get it done.

Cheers for that Morris. Just got to break on through to the other side.

Every time I feel that the writing is easy and fun. I go away positive and when I come back to the keyboard the next day. The angst returns. I have to keep recracking. As someone who hasn't written a lot of anything, constant stop and starts, not knowing what I'm doing is part of getting away from failure. By embracing failure, it makes things more interesting.

Life is an experiment. You have the beakers, the liquids and a bunson burner. You can do whatever you want. Mix the liquids. Use the bunson burner. Or just throw it on the floor.

Failure #1

This failure 1 and a very small one at that. Skipping rope. Something I taught myself to do in my late teens, because, well... Boxers do it. It took time till it became second nature to get the timing right. I've come back to it again and again, adding different things each time.

So I went back to skipping for a 7 minutes. Running would antagonise my recovering knee, so this was the alternative. I decided to try that trick where you swing the rope to one side of you and then bring it back to jump over it. That worked, tried the other side. Kept trying that to get it down.

Then I decided double jumps, took a lot of attempts and counting up to 10, prior to doing it. Mixed those moves into a routine.

Rested.

Why the fuck don't I try triple jumps. The success rate wasn't high at first. After my time for training was up. I just wanted to keep going. I can do this. Even my lungs couldn't stop me from trying over and over. It wasn't just determination that pushed me, it was seeing what was possible. If people can squats three times their bodyweight, I can do triple jumps.

I achieved my goal. It was impossible to stop, I can do more. So I kept doing triple jumps on their own. After however many times, I decided to see if I could do it and then keep going. I got that.

In all my life I didn't imagine I could do this. Is it a necessary skill, no. I think it adds nothing more to my life apart from the chemical high that comes from doing things like this.

Failure #1 - Triple skips

Jotted down 5 pages for my screenplay. I have learnt one thing from this. Never show anyone your first draft. I could possibly write another 4 today, depending on how the rest of the day goes. I can't wait to figure out my second draft, it will be fucking amazing.

What did I learned from skipping was to approach it not with numbers or time, but technique. This led me to focus on getting it right no matter how many times I failed. This is working out.