Category: Productivity

Oh No! You’ve Run out of Inspiration! Now What?

It happens to us all – the dread creative dry spell. Here’s one of the best articles this TVWriter™ minion has seen on solving the problem:

20160216180426-handwritten-hand-notebook-pen-designer-cafe-workspace-paper-wireframes-concept-ideas-sketch-writerby Steve Tobak

The human mind has a funny way of shooting itself in the foot. Just when you need to come up with an inspirational idea or a solution to a thorny problem, it has a nasty habit of over-thinking, locking itself into an endless loop and destroying any hope of a breakthrough.

You know what I’m talking about. It’s insidious. But fear not, there is a way out. You simply have to break the loop. Change things up. A simple change of place, process, players or perspective usually does the trick. If that doesn’t work, I’m afraid you’re out of luck. read article

Peggy Bechko on the Writer’s Curse: Overthinking

980x

by Peggy Bechko

Yeah, it’s a curse. And, it’s much worse for some people than others. Overthinking pretty much everything and that includes writing. Or maybe it’s especially writing, I don’t know. But a while back a novel writing friend of mine asked me if I had trouble with over thinking. So I thought about it and probably overthought about it. And that’s where we all get stuck.

We’re all guilty of it at times. I mean hasn’t there been a time when perhaps you were waiting for someone to arrive at a party you were giving, someone very special to you and he/she didn’t show up? So you immediately start thinking. Did this person just say they’d come? Was that person blowing me off? Did I do something to offend? And the brain goes on and on. But you can put a stop to that in life and in writing. Look of the person didn’t show up and didn’t have the decency to call (this IS the cell phone age) then return to the other guests and forget it. Move on. Refocus.

Now, how does that apply to screenwriters, novel writers and the like? Well, the trick here is to stop the overthinking and letting your brain wander in fruitless circles. Don’t think about it too much, just do something. Act with confidence and your writing will blossom. If you find yourself overthinking, focusing on some bit of minutia and going in circles maybe you just need to turn your back on it for a while. Take a walk, go get a cup of tea. Get the blood flowing or find a way to relax. You can’t force creativity but you can let it relax. read article

Jumping in Defeat First: A TV/Film Writer Examines His Creative Life

All too many writers toiling away in the fields of TV find themselves falling into the “can’t win for losing” frame of mind created by an environment in which it often seems as though every single little creative thought or impulse is the cause of a life or death battle with the powers that be.

Talk about self-defeating! But how do we escape that frame of mind? What can we do? Well, um, maybe we can start with this:

Jumping_inby David S. Simon

I just spent the last hour writing a heartfelt piece…and just as I was finishing the very last sentence, my wrist accidentally hit the delete button and wiped out every single, hand polished word. read article

Three anti-social skills to improve your writing

When we saw the title of this TED talk we knew we had to share:

Have You Made Your Goal Your Priority?

Amazingly, it turns out that a lot of us don’t. We have to earn a living first and write the Great American Screenplay second, and besides, we’re so terrified of failing with the screenplay that life is much more comfortable if we just keep thinking instead of writing. You know, that kind of thing.

Time to look inward, Future TV Writers of Tomorrow, and, as the following makes clear, “make sure you always put your Top Priority first:”

4_Signs_Your_Big_Goal_Isn_t_a_Priorityfrom Craig Jarrow & Time Management Ninja

You have a big goal. (Everyone does…) read article