This ain't no pedestrian shit!

Sorry I've been ignoring the Blog lately. I've actually had some very productive days in the last two weeks, getting a lot done creatively (if not in other areas). I've had some great new script ideas and it's been taking a lot of time to shape them, to figure out what works and what doesn't. But it's all been really energizing in that new-idea way. Sometimes when you get the momentum you just have go to with it, because who knows how long it'll last?

I actually made a decision earlier this week to try to change my way of living. (Sounds pretty radical, I know, but hopefully it won't turn my world upside-down right away.) Basically, I need to shift my focus more to the creative, to self-expression. I need to look at areas in my life more as how they would benefit me creatively than how they would benefit my social life or my bank account. Not that I'm going to quit my job, turn into a hippie and throw my TV out the window, but I do feel like a lot of aspects of my life are fairly devoid of creativity - and, in a few cases, actively retard any form of self-expression. So I want to do what I can to reverse that. It won't be easy or immediate, but no permanent lifestyle change ever is.

(Weirdly enough, when it comes to changing aspects of your life, I think the slower the better: ten years ago I couldn't have imagined exercising 2-4 days a week. Now, thanks to a slow immersion into that lifestyle, it's weird if I don't get that much exercise. And technically I should be exercising at least 5 days a week, so there's still room for improvement; again, it's the slow immersion that's key.)

So it's starting off relatively simply. I'm keeping a stack of notebooks around, and am trying to get into a habit of using them to record any flash of a good idea I have. Creativity can't be controlled or predicted; so, if my mind is shooting out random ideas, I have to be ready to catch as many of them as I can. I figure one for names, one for plot points, one for funny stories, maybe a dream journal, and so on. Many, many creative types already do this, and I've known about the technique for a while, but I've shied away from it for so long because God, it's so much more work... but actually, even more than that, my egotism has always convinced me that if Idea X, which occurs at let's say 4:45 pm on Friday, is a truly good idea, of course I'll keep it in the back of my mind until it comes time to fit it into a suitable story I'm writing, whether it's 9 pm on Friday, or Sunday afternoon, or six months from now. Surely my brain will help me and hold onto Idea X for as long as I need it, right?

Well, that's a laugh.

For me, part of being able to improve your craft is recognizing your faults. And it goes deeper than "I don't know much about Science" or "I have trouble writing female characters" or whatever. It's an embrace of the idea that You, Yourself, Are Not Perfect. You are not going to just remember every awesome detail or name you think up on a whim. Your first draft is not going to be flawless. Your grand ideas are not beyond criticism. Most of your "original" stories have, actually, already been told by someone else before you. None of this is a knock on your skills or your drive; it's just an acknowledgment of our shared histories and our very human imperfections.

It's the same in many other fields. Kobe Bryant didn't get to his skill level without improving his weaknesses first. But for us to improve our own weaknesses, we have to be able to recognize them. And sometimes that can only be done through trying new things, a third-person perspective, or sheer, brutal honesty.

Anyway, keeping the notebooks around (or, if I'm traveling, the Notes application on my phone) is a good start. It's admittedly a small step, but hopefully a serious first one on the road to a lifestyle that's more attuned to (and a greater product of) my creativity. Maybe it'll lead me to other, greater ways of harnessing my creative potential. Maybe someday, God forbid, I'll even be that hippie wearing homemade clothes and painting the dog. At least that hippie will also be exercising 5 times a week.