but, oh well. Sometimes I know when I am wasting my time, and other times I think, "This just might come in handy..."
This morning's writing session got shoved aside as I checked out Do-It-Yourself blogs, economic news, and grant/funding sites. To my credit ( if I don't give myself some, no one else will), I did make lists of today's goals for writing, along with lists of stuff that MUST be done today, such as visiting the accountant, changing names on accounts, filing annual reports, and checking on my cell phone bill.
Along with finding this fun blog: Little House in the Suburbs, I discovered an interesting little phrase that I could use for future use: "Dead Cat Bounce." It's a slang term used in the market (stocks) as it describes the temporary recovery of losses but does not imply a reversal of a downward trend in the market. I love that! Dead cat bounce...what a title for something. I just don't know what, yet.
I've been licking my wounds caused by my own self-doubts and decided, rather than rewrite for the sake of rewriting, to take time to analyze films and stories I've seen or read that work and work well, watch as many films as I can ( both documentary and narrative), and read professional scripts.
My problem is, that I do get easily distracted, either by external, unpredictable forces or by my own wandering mind. As I read scripts I am often distracted by something I’ve never noticed before, a way of doing something -- something I’ve never thought of, and something I want to do in the future with my own writing. I become excited and feel the need to note it on the nearest scrap of paper. For example, in the introduction written by Danny Boyle from the published "shooting script" of SLUMDOG MILLONAIRE, Boyle writes: "Every scene has a beginning, a middle and an end: a trigger, a purpose, and a destination." It's not as though I've not known each scene should have a beginning, middle and an end - but that phrase: a trigger, a purpose, and a destination, I could see. I can visualize it as I write a scene and keep that thought handy as I go.
So I noted it, with the intention of reading further -- but by then it was too late. The phone rang. Nora needed another princess dress. The soup boiled over, the dog wanted out, the cat tripped me and the doorbell buzzed. The doorbell? Oh -- just UPS.
There is brief pause as I remember I was reading. That's right, a script. I set it down somewhere. (Where is it? It was right there. Right?). Never mind, no time. Go get the boys. Turn on the drier, again. There's my coffee... Zip a coat. Tie some boots. Find the keys. What should we have for dinner?
