New Projects

Going back to grad school and taking a battery of friend-taught writing classes has left me with a whole mess of projects, all of which are vying for a piece of my brain, as well as a bunch of projects still in the "To Write" file.

I am currently working on a screenplay, a short story and a novel. Starting small and working my way up. The script and the novel are both part of my creative thesis; the culmination of my work in grad school, and the final work to be done in my MFA in Creative Writing.

A lot of work, to be sure. But a labor of love. And hate. But isn't that the way it always goes?

I'm Back

So I got a bit wrapped up with another blog, then moving from Sacramento to Portland, then going to grad school...in short, a long series of events has conspired to leave this little slice of electric eccentrica unattended for the better part of a year. Well, here's an end to the hiatus.

Too Many Projects

Sometimes, it gets a little hard trying to sort it all out when you suddenly get a HUGE flood of ideas. Here are my main projects right now.

Screenplays
1) Muse: A Japanese rock star travels to Seattle in a desperate bid to find her lost inspiration and save her band.
2) For the Love of Death: A teenage love story of life, high school, love...and death.
3) The Grey Butterfly: A cyborg assassin finds love and betrayal in the cold city streets of a colony world in the far future.
4) Dark Tamsyn: A sociopathic detective battles mobsters and crooked cops in the dark streets of Moonlight City.

Short Stories
1) The Only Book You'll Ever Read: A scientist creates the perfect book; a smart book that can read your mind and alter its pages to show you the perfect book. It seems ideal...except the book itself is smart, and has plans. For you.
2) Don't Call Me Basketcase: A young boy meets a schizophrenic girl and attempts to solve her mystery while dealing with his mother in the asylum.
3) Cold Fusion Graveyard: Two treasure hunters attempt to eke out ancient knowledge from the wreckage of a world that was destroyed by cold fusion technology.
4) Universal Asset Management Disaster Report 402A: A celestial accountant is assigned to tabulate the exploits of the galaxy's most disaster-prone man.

Must...concentrate...on....one...or two...projects...

Diversify Yourself

You never know when something will come in handy. When I first graduated from college, I didn't expect my degree in Game Design to get me anywhere; I was just expecting it to give me what I needed to publish my own games. But lo and behold, it got me my first freelance job writing game guides. Come to think of it, my degree probably had a strong hand in acquiring all my other freelance jobs related to games.

As if that weren't enough, some of my recreational interests have also started to turn an unexpected profit recently. I am a long-standing sketch artist with an extremely bipolar relationship to the subject (love-hate, you know how that goes.) This affinity for analog art has landed me not one but two gigs, designing both a movie poster and doing storyboards for another friend's film.

I also have a long-standing interest in wargaming. I've painted and collected several different armies over the last twelve years, including:
-Dark Angels (my first)
-Imperial Guard (I had a tank division with more tanks than infantry)
-Grey Knights (one of my favorites, especially with the new models)
-Sisters of Battle
I've also painted orks, elder and chaos models when my brother was unwilling or unable to paint his own models. This interest in Warhammer 40k has attracted the notice of one of my customers at my p/t job, who recently contracted me to paint his models.

While all of these don't really add up to a full-time job, let this be a lesson to you: if you're good at something, there's always a way to turn a profit with it. It may just take you a long time to find it.

Getting Back on Track

It's funny how things turn out. I know I say that a lot, but as time goes on, the more and more I think about just how strange it all is. Just as I was ready to shelve my script, I hear a little voice in my head that says "well you spent the time and money to print the damn thing, you may as well read it."

So I do. I sit down, I put on My Bloody Valentine (the band, not the 3D horror film) and I start reading. And it all comes back. I relive the drama, the burgeoning love, the heartache...and in a heartbeat, it hits me like a breaking wave. I remember why I wrote the script, why I created these characters. I wanted to feel life through their eyes, to see things as they saw. I lost that for a while, and I felt the loss as surely as if I had lost my own sight. But things change, and I found my muse.

Go out and find yours.

Shelf It

Part of being a competent writer is knowing when something isn't working. While Writer's Block can play a part in things, there may come a time when a particular project hits a brick wall and you, in turn, need to take a break from it. It's not easy, and may be one of the most painful experiences of your life. But if nothing is happening and not because of Writer's Block, it may be time to put the project on the shelf for a little while. And I'm not talking "20 years" kind of "a little while."

Three to six months on the shelf can help you gather perspective on a project. You needn't ponder it every waking moment, or even think about it on a daily basis. Just keep it on the back burner, give it the occasional thought and come back to it when you feel ready to work on it (or when six months has passed, whichever comes first.) Putting something away for a little bit can give you a much-needed rest and prevent you from getting burnt out on something that has promise.

Let me reiterate: this process can and probably will be quite painful for projects you really care about. But as with so many things, you can prove your love for it by letting it go for a little while.

Keeping Sane

As with so many things, my fiance pointed out to me yesterday that there may be something of a flaw in my logic. Normally, I pride myself on writing every day and doing things I find inspirational in order to fuel my work. My recent/ongoing bout with Writer's Block has forced me to reconsider this perspective and consider the possibility that by doing so, I may have inadvertantly burned myself out.

I'm sure some people can write every single day and not burn themselves out, but it seems that I'm not one of them. It took quite a while for me to figure this out, but I suppose it's better than I learn the lesson now and not when I'm in the midst of a mid-life crisis.

That being said, consider some new words of wisdom. If you find writing every day to be tiresome, don't. Write three times a week, every other day, every second day; whatever you find works for you. Try to find a balance of maintaining your creative steam and keeping your sanity intact.

My fiance was also kind enough to point out that perhaps I should enjoy the things I find inspiring simply for the sake of enjoyment. I had completely lost sight of the fact that I was using things I loved (not people, mind you) for inspiration, but wasn't actually stopping to enjoy them for what they were. Not everything needs to be a font of inspiration; it really is ok to just sit back and enjoy some things.