8 seconds of awesome

Kill him again

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 09:15:34 -0600

What sort of planning, if any, are you doing this year before you start writing?

None. I usually jump in fresh, without guidelines. It’s easier for me to up word counts when I’m not focused on strict plot paths and whatnot. I’d rather kill a character. Bring him back. Kill him again. Then bring him back as an undead antihero before making NaNoWriMo more than the chore it is.

- Britney Rhodes in an interview with Dustin Wax

jennw: amyyy: Cat riding a Roomba hahahhahaha (via...

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 15:17:19 -0600

jennw:

amyyy:

Cat riding a Roomba

hahahhahaha

(via thedailywhat, via, sabine)

Be the change you want to see in the world

Thu, 06 Nov 2008 17:22:50 -0600

Vocation as Marriage

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 10:25:19 -0600

“The deeper truth is that until you decide to do something, all the deliberating in the world means nothing. Your vocation, as it turns out, is a lot like marriage. You’re entering into a relationship with something – music, painting, or poetry. (Or marketing, money or widgets.)

When you enter a relationship with something, you are almost certainly going to love it sometimes, hate it sometimes, obsess sometimes, and want to take a one-way flight to Anything-But-This sometimes.”

Christine Kane, Does “Going Pro” Squeeze the Joy Out of Your Passion?

Kids Halloween Candy Code

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 21:58:00 -0600

Kids Halloween Candy Code

The Stakes

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 15:56:57 -0600

From Blake Snyder:

“If you are not getting 4-10 responses for every 100 email or query letter you send — it’s not the agent, it’s your pitch!”

4-10 responses for every 100.

What amount of effort are you putting in?

I love the lines on this. Powerhouse’s Villa 1, found on...

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 15:49:00 -0600

I love the lines on this.

Powerhouse’s Villa 1, found on modern living

“I live on [West] 95th Street. And there are probably 15 screenwriters on my block who are...

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 15:48:19 -0600

“I live on [West] 95th Street. And there are probably 15 screenwriters on my block who are freaking geniuses, right? And they can’t get the right person to read their screenplay because it’s so freaking hard. So I’m not dumb. You have to have a connection and you have to use it.”

Jenny Lumet, in the Washington Post

Make a list for yourself

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 15:28:00 -0600

“The Rules - *I challenge you to make your own list. The only catch? You can’t include a single person you know on your list. No “I love the way my husband laughs” or “I love hearing my little girl call for me.” It’ll be tough, I know. But this particular little exercise is about stripping away everyone who defines you and figuring out what you (not his partner; not their mother/daughter/sister/friend) love.”

Originally found here.

My Internet

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 15:22:00 -0600

When I first saw this, I wondered if there could not be a similar list for scriptwriting.

Any ideas?

The original is from Design Notes by Michael Surtees

Always new projects to create

Thu, 30 Oct 2008 15:11:00 -0600

“It’s hard to turn off when there’s no “finishing” my work.”

Jennifer Worick in LifeDevv

This has been doing the rounds but I’m a cat person,...

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 13:33:10 -0600

This has been doing the rounds but I’m a cat person, so…

Creepy. Via Neat-o-rama

Tue, 28 Oct 2008 15:25:13 -0600

Creepy.

Via Neat-o-rama

ffffound: on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Sun, 26 Oct 2008 10:55:56 -0600

ffffound:

on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Luke's Plan

Wed, 22 Oct 2008 13:30:00 -0600

You: “What? Why would we get everyone captured like that?”

Luke: “Now I’ll show up, use my Force powers to get in to Jabba’s fortress, get past the guards to an audience before Jabba and then use my Jedi mind trick to get Jabba to release everyone. If that doesn’t work, then I’ll get captured.”

You: “Okay, if you can just use your Force powers to get in to the palace and all the way to Jabba, then let’s just have you go in right now and get Han out.”

Luke: “No, that’s stupid. I’m going to get myself captured. Because then you see, we’ll be taken to the sarlacc pit and then, when we’re on the skiff, I’ll get sent out first and then R2-D2 will manage to get to the top of Jabba’s sail barge and shoot out my lightsaber, and then with Lando’s help, we’ll just—rescue everyone and then everything will be fine!”

From The 5 Reasons Luke Skywalker Is a Complete Idiot

I love the clean design. More after the click. Via Behance...

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 16:54:00 -0600

I love the clean design. More after the click.

Via Behance Network

Creativity lies within

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 09:50:30 -0600

“Creativity lies within each of us. Anyone can learn the technical functions of a camera, it’s the unique vision we each have that brings a personal touch to our images. Too often photographers get caught up in the technical aspects of photography wanting to capture the perfect exposure & composition. More important than what aperture we select or which lens we choose, is digging deep down within ourselves and creating the image we see with our heart and our mind.”

Laurie Excell - Photoshop Insider

Fixing the world

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 09:35:20 -0600

Here is a good question to ask your script from Blake Snyder:

“Not only does your hero have to have a whole bunch of personal “things that need fixing” but so does the world he lives in. And how will those problems eventually get fixed?”

Follow the link for more.

Important Project can become Imperfect Steps

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 11:09:26 -0600

Luciano Passuello says in Overcoming Procrastination Instantly Using Self Talk on Litemind that we sabotage ourselves with our own thoughts and we can change our destructive self talk by reframing what we say.

One of these applies perfeclt to the blocked writer:

“4. Important Project → Imperfect Step

Constantly reminding yourself how long and challenging the upcoming undertaking is only adds to the feeling of being overwhelmed, and thus of procrastination.

Any undertaking, no matter how daunting, can be broken down into small steps. The trick is to, on each step along the way, focus solely on the very next smallest, doable chunk of work. Ignore the big picture for a while and just tackle that next short task.

Don’t write a book; write a page.”

Follow the link for more ways to change self-destructive thoughts.

The past few days

Fri, 17 Oct 2008 10:22:00 -0600

For a couple of months, I was secretly moonlighting at a different site, uploading some of my ideas on scriptwriting and not telling people that it existed.

I quit posting at the start of September, finding it too much to maintain.

Over the past few days, I have been placing those posts back into 8 Seconds of Awesome around the periods they were originally posted.

Sorry for those who have been inundated by the clog of posts that I dumped on them and for those interested, use the search feature and enter “writing” or “script” and you should uncover most of them. I will someday implement tags to help you find them.