The Book Of Procrastination July 24, 2009
Posted by James D Hartland in Guitar, Life Hacker, Procrastination, Writing Schedule.add a comment
I’ve been meaning to write a blog post for weeks, but you know how it is. Life gets in the way and what not. Especially when you have decided to step up your guitar practise time so you finally don’t suck at the instrument.
It is ironic that the blog post I have been meaning to write for a while is actually about an anti-procrastination measure. Something I have affectionately named the Book Of Procrastination.
It goes something like this: Get yourself a notebook or a piece of paper and every time you get an urge do something procrastinationy, be it take the washing downstairs, look up the history of the water pistol on wikipedia, or just check Facebook once again, whatever it is just write it down in this book instead. Then during your lunch break or after you have finished you can then look at the list and deal with them.
If what I have described sounds like a simple To-do list it is kinda, but there’s more to it than that.
The idea is not just to write down all the important tasks you need to do, but literally write down every little distracting impulse you have, so that at the end of the day you can look back at the list and realise how pointless a lot of the things are, and thus not even have to do them. It is basically a psychological trick, you take away that impulse to go do whatever it is because you know it is written down as if it is in a To-do list, but by giving yourself that time to ‘cool off’ you can then cross half of the stuff off when you realise how pointless it is.
It’s like that thing of forcing yourself to wait when you have an impulse purchase in mind, and finding that often, when you have cooled off you realise that you don’t really want the thing you were going to buy after all.
At the end of the day should you actually find you have written some stuff on the list that needs to be done for realz, stuff that might benefit your life, then you can just go do it in one big splurge of activity rather than little chunks disrupting your writing. So the Book of Procrastination does work as a To-do list, as well as filtering out the random crap.
This idea might sound a bit self helpy or touchy-feely (“writing down my impulses?!”) but if you are as bad at me when it comes to procrastination then trying this out might help a lot. If nothing else it has stopped me watching stuff on iPlayer until after I have gotten my work done!
[Idea inspired from a Life Hacker article]
Screenwriting with parental guidance – How to write without distractions April 8, 2009
Posted by James D Hartland in Computer, Parental Controls, Procrastination, Writer's Hangups, Writer's Lifestyle.4 comments
I got a new computer a few weeks back, and now that I’ve got everything set up how I want it I have turned it into the ultimate screenwriting machine. What makes it better than any other computer for writing? Well I’ve set up a second user account with the Parental Controls turned on to block everything not work related.
Parent settings are designed to stop your kids from downloading pr0n or spending all night on the computer, but they are also great for stopping you from getting distracted. I’ve set up my work account so basically every website I’d ever want to visit is blocked. No facebook, no digg, no nothing. I could have gone further and just blocked the internet entirely, but I like googling stuff to inform my writing so I’ve left that option open.
Aside from blocking intenet sites I’ve also turned off my ability to open all but a handful of the applications on my computer. Basically if it aint Final Draft or a PDF viewer then I can’t open it. This is particularly important as part of the reason for me getting a new computer was so I can do music production stuff. It would be incredibly easy for me to say “I’ll just record this riff so I don’t forget it” and then find 3 hours of my time have gone, so by blocking all that stuff I’m safe from the distractions.
I could have gone even further and limited the number of hours I can log into my “Play” account, like saying I can only log into it between 5-11 but I’ve not gone quite that far yet. Hopefully this won’t end in tears! So long as I don’t log into anything but my Work account I should be able to get my head down.
If you are using an older operating system like Windows XP then you are going to have to download 3rd party software in order to do all this parental blocking, but if you have Vista or the latest version of Mac OSX then all this stuff is super easy to set up. If like me you find it really easy to do nothing during writing time then think about setting this stuff up. 30 minutes spent setting up the parental controls could save you 100s of hours over the coming years!
Incidentally, I’m logged into my Play account to write this. Blogging doesn’t count as work! I’m off to my Work account now. Catch you laters.
How to motivate yourself as a writer February 9, 2009
Posted by James D Hartland in Dennis Palumbo, Motivation, Procrastination, Writer's Lifestyle.add a comment
I always joke that if I had only worked as much as I should have done I would have won a few Oscars by now. It seems the hardest thing as a writer is just forcing yourself to work as much as you should.
The dangerous thing is I’ve heard so many successful writers willingly admit that they always leave everything to the last minute that I’ve almost tricked my brain into thinking this is the way I should work, when clearly that is crazy! Clearly I would be better off if I got myself organised and started things early and worked on them consistantly, nibbling away at them, rather than trying to shovel it in at the last minute.
Of course this is what I always plan to do! Every new project, every new week represents the time I am finally going to start nibbling away at things in an organised, time-tabled way, but I never do.
So what do I need to do to finally do this?
I think the secret is to give yourself very definable, attainable goals. Just saying “I am going to work my balls off today” doesn’t seem to work so well, where as saying “I am going to write 10 pages today” does.
Setting a timer for 30 minutes and making yourself splurge rough ideas for scenes until the beeper goes seems infinitely easier just telling yourself you need to come up with a new ending tonight.
Of course the problem then is it takes a fair amount of organisation and energy to keep to give yourself these bite sized work units and to stick to them. The upshot though is making yourself a time table or formulating the plan is good procrastination in and of itself, plus it quickly makes you forget how depressed you are over not doing any work yet, as you get all excited about the new improved you.
I find the page count method is particularly effective because it allows you to grow your project organically. By that I mean Day 1 you write yourself a 1 page synopsis, then the next day all you do is add some more details, expand it and you have 2 pages, then just keep filling in more detail and a few days later you have a 4 page outline, then by the end of the week you have 8 page treatment, and if you keep going eventually you have enough detail that all you need to do is throw in the slug lines and the rest of the formatting and you have a script.
I love this method of working because it doesn’t feel like you are ever starting a script from a blank page, you are always building upon something, even if it started off from a simple 1 sentance log line which you expanded and expanded and expanded. Everyone has at least a few rough ideas of scenes and a general structure for the thing, just write this down and then you will be surprised how easy it is to expand it with more details.
It is also great in that it forces you to get everything sorted before you start writing the full screenplay. If you have just kept adding more and more detail to the end of your document but the beginning is still pretty vague then tomorrow just spend your page count goal on adding more stuff to the beginning. By the time the document is ready for slug lines and specific formatting then you should have pretty much the entire story laid out already.
It goes without saying also that this method of development is great even if you are too busy to do writing. Even if you work long hours and have 10 kids to look after and think you will never get time to write your killer feature film idea, fact is you will always be able to spare 30 minutes to splurge another half a page of stuff.
So all in all, the page count method seems to me like the killer way to get a project started and get it up to its first draft.
Rewrites
When it comes to rewrites things get a bit more tricky. How do you quantify rewriting?
My current work flow is to cover my scripts with as many notes as I can think of after several read-throughs, then I go through fixing them 1 by 1, ticking them off with another coloured pen once they are done. Naturally, I start with the easiest problems – typos, and build my way up, thus avoiding actually dealing with the major problems for as long as possible.
It is a well known productivity technique to prioritize your jobs by ease of completion, starting with the the most simple to complete, thus making it easier for you to feel motivated to do them. This is the way we naturally approach life in general. I’m not sure that this really works when it comes to writing though, as dealing with those big problems is the key to moving the script forward. Normally I find the big problem in draft 5 is the same big problem that was in draft 1 so the more time and energy spent on those the better.
But how do you motivate yourself to tackle that bitch of a problem when you would much rather be doing the typos?
In general I haven’t really wrapped my head around rewrites. People talk about them as being the fun part of the development where you finally get to write the script you wanted and you fix all the problems and everything is great, but I always find rewrites to be just as much of a bitch, if not more so than the early development work. It is a bitch in a different sort of a way but a bitch none the less.
Maybe I am just too attached to my first drafts? As Graham Linehan said on Screenwipe, writing a first draft is so hard that writers don’t wanna change it for fear of having to go through that pain again. Maybe so, but that is for another blog post another time.
My thinking at the moment is the longer you put off doing something because it is hard, the more of a perceived effort it will require to fix it. I describe these long standing problems I am avoiding as “an albatross around my neck”, in other words, I’ve spent so long putting off fixing that problem that it now has this additional baggage attached to it.
I guess maybe you should be bold and aim to take on the trickiest problem first of all. Maybe see it as a challenge, “I am going to break you Mr. Problem!!”
I dunno, I’m just thinking out loud here. Motivating myself to fix long standing problems is definitely my motivational failing. It gets especially hard when you have tried to tackle the problem before and failed. Then it is doubly hard to get motivated. But hey, no one said writing was easy!
The Early Bird …
I know a lot of writers say they work best late at night, for those people I have no help, as I always find the earlier in the morning I get started the better.
I am not naturally an early bird person. My natural body clock is to go to bed late and to rise late, but I find this is an absolute productivity killer. I need to be up early and working early if I wanna make any progress.
I just find that if I get up and get ready early in the morning I wake up in a productive mood. I think maybe it is because my body is used to getting up early on work days and days when I need to get up and out of the house for a certain time, and used to sleeping in on weekends/lazy days. So by getting up early my body thinks it needs to be productive that day.
I also really love the feeling of knowing I met my goals for the day and there is still hours and hours left for me to do whatever I want. I’d hate to have it the other way round and feel like I now need to squeeze my work in as quickly as possible before bed.
The downside is like I said, getting up early isn’t my natural body clock so I really need be dedicated to getting to bed on time. A few late nights and I’m screwed for weeks trying to get up on time.
I guess that is the bottom line really. Whatever you do to make yourself more productive is going to take motivation, there’s no way to get around it.
Mind Tricks
When I do put off doing any writing it is always because I am scared that it is going to be draining, stressful, and just hard work, and then when I finally do the writing I am pleasantly surprised by how much fun it is, and how much I am enjoying myself. Sure there are days were writing is a bitch and nothing works, but for the most part I enjoy it. So why do I always feel like writing is gunna be bad? Objectively I know that I’ll probably enjoy myself if I get working, but I always feel the fear.
I think ultimately motivating yourself is about getting over this fear. If you can do that then you can write no problems. A sentiment shared by Dennis Palumbo in the excellent Writing From The Inside Out, a book no writer should be without.
Procrastinating with multiple nerdgasms July 29, 2008
Posted by James D Hartland in Procrastination, Puzzle Quest, Random.add a comment
Keeping focused on things has been a struggle over the last few days, no thanks to discovering the PC version of the incredibly nerdy but addictive game Puzzle Quest. I should have known better than to install a game that was renowned for it’s crack like ability to make you forget about everything else in the world and just play it constantly.
Consider this a public health warning. Screenwriters of the world do not pick up Puzzle Quest for your gaming system of choice. Not only is it super addictive but the entire quest takes weeks to complete. Arg!
Check out this very potty mouthed review so you can recognise it and avoid it in the future (NSFW).
Normal service will return to this blog as soon as I can pull myself away from Puzzle Quest.
Too many deadlines and not enough time (Updated) May 7, 2008
Posted by James D Hartland in Deadlines, Procrastination, Training, Writer's Lifestyle.add a comment
Arg! It seems like 90% of all the training and funding schemes that an up and coming writer would wanna get onto have deadlines during the same 5 or 6 week period of the year. It’s just a crazy period at the moment. Thing’s have been super busy for me lately and will continue to be, especially as I need to hand in a final rewrite of my LA Features script in a few weeks.
It’s kinda stupid because for months on end there has been nothing to apply for, which wasn’t a bad thing as it meant I could get on with my feature film, but it would be better if all these things were spread out more over the year.
Anyways, I need to get back to the grind stone if I am to have any chance of getting all this work done. Wish me luck. I might have to do a few all nighters in the next few weeks me thinks.
It’s days like today you regret the days you spent procrastinating 
Update: I thought maybe things were dying down now and it would be a while before another big splurge of schemes, but nope, every day I seem to find out about a new training or funding scheme that I would like to get onto. I’ve already had to ignore 3 of them this week as I know I just don’t have time. It’s weird that everything is coming all at once. It’s annoying too because it means you’ve gotta ignore schemes that are perfect for you just because the deadlines clash with something. Oh well. This is life I guess.
Screenwriting new year’s resolutions January 1, 2008
Posted by James D Hartland in About Me, New year, Personal, Procrastination, Writer's Hangups, Writer's Lifestyle.2 comments
I’m not normally one for making resolutions, but what I am always doing is trying to become a better screenwriter so these are some of the things I’m aiming to do over the coming year.
Work Harder
They say success is attained from 80% perspiration and only 20% inspiration. Well frankly I’ve been relying too much on inspiration and not quite doing enough of the perspiration. So this year I’m gunna aim to put more hours in.
The more hours I put in the more progress I can make. Which writer out there doesn’t wish he could have put more hours in?
Read more kick ass screenplays
People talk about how producers and people in the money hate reading screenplays and they are looking for any excuse to put one down. But really this applies to everyone. I think even the most dedicated film maker will admit that reading scripts is a bit of a chore. Which is why up until now I’ve never really read all that many screenplays.
Part of what makes a screenplay less of a chore to read however is having a good writing style. Of course good characters and plotting and all that stuff is essential as well, but it’s improving my writing style which is my reason for wanting to read more screenplays. I wanna make sure the way I describe my action is as good as it can be, and the only way I can do that is to see how the best guys out there are doing it.
Be more organised – have a schedule – and stick to it!!
This is kinda an extension of the working harder idea, but this year I want to try to be more organised in how I approach my work. By this is making sure I get to bed on time, making sure if I say I’m gunna work X number of hours I actually get that done. Just generally have a time table and approaching things with more of a schedule.
Remove more distractions
Again to help me get more work done I’m going to ensure I get distracted less by making sure email is turned off and stuff like that.
I think part and parcel of what makes me a good writer is the way my brain likes to skip from one thing to another; I’m always day-dreaming and going off on weird tangents. This is great for when you are brain storming ideas, but it also makes me very prone to getting distracted. The internet is such a blessing and a curse!
Ask for more help on LA Features
As I blogged a while back, I dont really feel as if I made the most of the wonderful resource that is Wendall Thomas on the LA Features scheme, so this year I’m gunna aim to get as much out of her as possible.
That’s all the stuff that has jumped out at me.
I’m sure there are other things as well, but I guess the common theme is that I feel like I need to bust my ass a little more and get a little more work done, because right now I feel like I’m on the verge of some big developments in my writing career, just so long as I make the most of my potential.
Procrastination March 25, 2007
Posted by James D Hartland in Procrastination, Rants, Writer's Hangups, Writer's Lifestyle.add a comment
I keep telling myself that I am too busy with my feature film at the minute to write a blog entry. Well that, and the fact that I cant think of anything really juicy to talk about.
But I just thought about it and I’ve come to the conclusion that actually my problem is not a lack of time, but that I am simply too good at procrastination.
Put simply: I waste so much time when I should be writing my feature that I give myself a guilt trip when I think about doing anything else meaningful besides writing the feature. The little voice inside my head says “You cant go write a blog entry Mister, you need to go work out those thematic problems you said you were going to.” Of course the voice stays silent if I think about doing completely meaningless crap to waste time, but as soon as I think about something productive it pipes up to remind me that I should be working on my script.
Why is this? Why is it that if its something productive other than my script taking up my time then I feel guilty, but if its something totally random and useless then I feel fine about wasting my time with it?
In case you are wondering what’s with the rather lush picture of a certain Anne Hathaway it is because I have spent the last 90 minutes deciding on the perfect wallpaper for my desktop, with that image being the one that finally won out. What can I say, my favourite things in a girl are thick textured brunette hair, big brown eyes and general cuteness, which this picture has in abundance.
An aside: Girls with thin hair generally suck (unless its an uber funky haircut). Thick, textured hair, preferably wavy or curly is where its at. Also long nails are vile, all girls should have short nails. I mention this because all girls seem to want overly manicured nails and thin straight hair, and that is DUMB.
Anyways…
That 90 minutes spent picking a desktop image could have been put towards writing the greatest blog entry ever to grace this site. But had I actually thought about spending that much time on something like a blog then the voice would have told me off. Wallpaper searching though is just fine!
I once read a book called Writing from the Inside Out about all the mental hangups faced by screenwriters which I cant recommend enough. Its a while since I read it, but if I remember rightly it said that procrastination was basically about fear. Fear of having to work hard; fear of failure; fear that your idea might not actually work come the end of the process. Basically the author put forward the idea that its much easier to think about starting a masterpiece tomorrow on than dealing with the realities that what you do today might not actually be any good.
I guess the solution therefore is to realise that its about fear, rather than beating yourself up with guilt trips, because once you have realised its about fear then you can give yourself the necessary permission to ignore those fears, E.g. Permission to fuck up if you’re scared of your work not being very good.
Also if I remember rightly, it said that since writing begets writing if you are struggling to write your screenplay then you should go write something else, anything at all, a list of things you like doing, a report on a film you watched, whatever you fancy really…. because even if its just random stuff, the very act of writing will allow you to go do more writing, and more writing.
And you know what, now I’ve written this blog I feel like I might be able to do some more writing on my feature!
