In yet another clip from the Omni Viewer’s writers’ roundtable livestream, we discuss the sources of our inspiration for our projects. I hope you find encouragement in it!
The roundtable consists of of:
-Ryan Collins
-Nathan Marchand
-Daniel DiManna
-Neil Riebe
-Karl Dutton
-Christopher Nigro
-Matt Dennion
Watch the full livestream here.
Enjoy!
In this excerpt from Ryan “The Omni Viewer” Collins’s Writer Roundtable Livestream from September 20, 2024, he, myself, and our fellow writers discuss how we encourage ourselves to keep writing when it gets difficult. I hope it gives you the emotional boost you need to keep writing!
The roundtable consists of of:
-Ryan Collins
-Nathan Marchand
-Daniel DiManna
-Neil Riebe
-Karl Dutton
-Christopher Nigro
-Matt Dennion
Watch the full livestream here.
Enjoy!
I’ll be part of a livestream this Friday at 7pm EST on the Omni Viewer’s YouTube channel where he, myself, and several other writers shoot the breeze about the art and craft of writing and take questions from the chat. Come be entertained and enlightened!
From July 11-14, I attended one of my favorite conventions, G-Fest, in Rosemont, Illinois. Godzilla and kaiju fans from all over the world converge here for three (well, technically four) days of monster-sized fun. As usual, I was a panelist, including serving as a co-moderator for the Kaiju Writers Panel with Daniel DiManna of the Godzilla Novelization Project. While I discussed the convention on a livestream with Ryan “The Omni Viewer” Collins July 20 and will do so at least a bit on my podcasts, The Monster Island Film Vault and Henshin Power V3, in the coming weeks, here’s a rundown on what went down at that con.
Day “Minus One”
The lead up to the con was a bit stressful. I wasn’t able to save up as much money for it as I wanted, and my attempts to get a fourth roommate for me, my brother Jarod, and my friend/HPV3 co-host, Jake Hambrick, fell through—until my friend/MIFV patron Matt Walsh (no, not that Matt Walsh) called me a few days beforehand to say his friends had booked different rooms without him, and he needed a new place to stay. So, he joined us. That made the math easy: we’d each pay for a night at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare, where the con was held.
After an early morning plasma donation for some extra cash and a quick trip to the bank, Jarod and I piled into my car and made the three-and-a-half hour drive from Fort Wayne to Rosemont. We had only one minor snag, which was that I put “Hyatt Rosemont” and not “Hyatt Regency” into my phone’s GPS, so we were slightly delayed arriving. After meeting up with a few friends like Elijah Thomas (Kaiju Conversation), Kaiju Kim, Daniel DiManna, and others, we rushed to the Pickwick Theater for the first of G-Fest’s trademark double features: Mothra vs. Godzilla and Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla (1974). Thankfully, unlike years past, there wasn’t an event happening at the local park, so finding parking was easy. Afterward, we went to Giordanno’s for some true Chicago-style pizza. It’s a little less special because there’s a Giordanno’s in Fort Wayne now, but it’s my G-Fest tradition. We had a charismatic waiter (whose name I wish I could remember, because he was my favorite in my years at G-Fest), which made it an even better experience. Then we rushed back to the Pickwick to see the second double feature, albeit late, which included The Return of Godzilla and Godzilla vs. SpaceGodzilla. I won’t get into much here, but SpaceGodzilla is a lesser entry in the franchise, to say the least, but I did gain a little more appreciation seeing it on the big screen. I’d forgotten the blu-ray, which is what was used to screen it, had dreaded “dubtitles,” though. I and a couple friends kept correcting the subtitles as we watched.
Then we checked in at the hotel, unloaded my car, and turned in for the night.
Day 1
With maybe six hours of sleep and 200 milligrams of caffeine to fuel me, I got up bright and early, ate breakfast, and then Jake and I jumped into the kaiju-sized snake of a line for registration. Seriously, it went all the way down the hallway into the main lobby and around this huge dining room. Thankfully, it moved fast, and we got our badges and programs inside of 15 minutes. Sadly, it was while standing in line that we learned how terrible the Hyatt’s wifi was. I know, “first world problems,” but it hindered some communication. It’s the main reason, aside from sheer busyness, why I didn’t post much on social media about the event.
At 10AM, I helped kick off the convention with one of its first two panels: The 40th Anniversary of Return of Godzilla. This was organized by Autistic Lizard Pro and included several great friends. It, like most of my panels, was stacked. Here’s the video:
I attempted to enter the dealer hall afterward. Keyword: attempted. The dealer hall is one of the con’s biggest attractions since it always has exclusive merchandise. It was so crowded, it needed “bouncers” to monitor how many could enter. I just did a quick survey to locate my favorite vendors, which included Seismic Toys, Beast from the East, and Toku Toy Town, with the latter two being next to each other, which was great.
Speaking of Seismic, Alex Rushdy, who helps run the shop, gave a panel at noon about every Godzilla video game ever. I love his video game panels, because he knows more about kaiju video games than anyone else.
I then returned to the dealer hall to actually talk with some people, like Jay Key from Toku Toy Town, and do some networking. I say that because I met Jeff Gomez from Ultraman Connection. I’ve had him on MIFV a couple times, and he’s a big fan of my podcasts. I got some inside info from him about a “lost” American-made Ultraman movie from the 1980s that was being screen as part of the film festival at the con as well as learn that his website is looking for writers, so hopefully I’ll have a freelance gig with him.
I then hit up a couple panels that featured some friends: namely 50 Years of Godzilla vs. Mechagodzilla and Godzilla Minus One. I’d have loved to be a part of either, but it was great being there and seeing the love the fandom has for Minus One.
Next up, I and a few friends, including Ryan Collins, got an early dinner at the hotel restaurant, the Red Bar, so we could go downstairs and watch the premiere of crowdfunded indie film Kaiju Glam Metal Shark Attack. Yes, that’s a real movie made by SRS Cinema. It was…something. If and when it gets released on blu-ray, it may end up on MIFV.
Following this, we all gathered in three ballrooms for the customary opening ceremony, which introduced the special guests, among other things. What surprised me was I bumped into none other than Linda Jo Miller, one of the stars of King Kong Escapes! She was there “secretly” as an attendee and not a guest! We had a nice chat about the article I published in Kaiju United and Kaiju Ramen about her and the other leading ladies in Kong films, and I confirmed I could interview her for the show. (Score!) Anyway, the opening ceremonies were shorter than I expected. I chitchatted with one of the other guests, Dr. Jeffrey Angles, who translated the first two Godzilla novelizations by Shigeru Kayama into English. We’d been corresponding for a bit, but I was able to solidify an interview with him for MIFV. I could talk to him for hours about literature, teaching, and Godzilla.
The day concluded with an epic screening of Godzilla: Final Wars. I’ve never seen the Pickwick so full before. They had to usher people in to find seats. There were rumors that the screening would sell out. I don’t know if it did, but it was so crowded that it started 30 minutes late. (I got tired of seeing the same trailers for Twisters and Deadpool and Wolverine all weekend). If ever there was a Godzilla film where the crowd could get rowdy, it was this one. And they certainly did! I’ve always unabashedly loved that film, and seeing it on the big screen was one of the highlights of all my G-Fests. I hope someone sends a photo and/or video of that crowd to the film’s director, Ryuhei Kitamura, for some validation, since it was popular to hate Final Wars for a while.
Day 2
Saturday, like with any multi-day con, was the biggest and busiest day. I went downstairs to the Film Festival room to at least watch the first 30 minutes or so of Ultraman: The Adventure Begins with its “new dub.” All I’ll say for now is these actors do work hard to sound “of the era.” I wish I could’ve stayed longer, but I had a panel at 11AM, and I always work hard to keep my commitments.
The Kaiju Writers panel was great, as always. We had a bit of a snag because the previous panel went over, and one of our panelists was a bit late, which seems to be tradition. It was the first year where Daniel DiManna and I were the official co-moderators. The original moderator, Neil Riebe, was still on it, though. This year we included poet Donny Winter and Goryo author Dane Kroll. You can watch the video taken by my brother Jarod below.
Most of my afternoon was spent attending panels. First was the Rie Ota interview. She famously played Baragon in Godzilla, Mothra, and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack. She’s a rare female kaiju suit actor. Sadly, the panel was a bit of a mess. Only one interviewer asked decent questions, and the interpreter struggled a bit. I’ll leave it at that. Next, I went to the Creating Original Kaiju panel. It was okay. I didn’t get as much out of it as I expected. But I wanted to support Dane. I missed out on Jeffrey Anglers’ interview and him reading a passage from his translation of Luminous Fairies and Motha (the source material for the 1961 film). Darn. After a stint in the dealer room, I went to Allan Henry’s interview panel. He’s a mocap actor who, among other things, played Kong in the last two MonsterVerse movies. This interview was much better than Ota’s. It helped he didn’t need an interpreter despite his Kiwi accent. 😛
After this, I started organizing a big get-together for dinner at Caddyshack, a restaurant at the Crowne Plaza hotel down the street, where G-Fest took place before outgrowing it in 2020. There was a bit of a misunderstanding, which hurt someone’s feelings, but thankfully it was resolved by the next day.
Following this was the traditional award ceremony and always-popular costume parade. The fabled Mangled Skyscraper Award went to Toshio Miike, a designer on many tokusatsu projects, who was a guest at the show. If you’d like to see the costume parade, which includes one of the best Mechagodzilla cosplays I’ve ever seen, watch this video:
Jarod and I then went to the final Pickwick screening of the weekend: Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, which is the latest MonsterVerse flick. Jarod hadn’t seen it and told me he wanted to see it at G-Fest, so I made sure to go for him. I was a little hesitant because the last time I saw a MonsterVerse movie at the Pickwick, Godzilla vs. Kong, it was a bad experience thanks to an obnoxious crowd. I’m happy to say this was better. Yes, the crowd was largely teenage boys, so while it was slightly smaller than the Final Wars screening, it was louder. However, they didn’t just cheer for the monsters: they cheered for the human characters and their sentimental moments. This along with Allan Henry, who introduced the movie, being at the con and several cosplayers wearing costumes of the movie’s villain, Skar King, showed me how popular certain monsters were. It got my English major brain going. I’m mulling over a potential think piece for Kaiju United based on this experience.
Day 3
I was surprised to see that G-pardy, G-Fest’s trademark quiz show, was moved from Saturday night as the warm-up to the costume parade to its own event on Sunday morning. It was also under new management from Skip Peel, who wasn’t in attendance. The program said to come 30 minutes early for qualifying questions, so I and many other people did. Unfortunately, the host didn’t show up until the scheduled start time of 10AM. While I appreciated that his prelim questions were easier and more reasonable than Skip’s (i.e. they were softballs by comparison), I still missed one question and blanked on another. So, my dream of competing was dashed again. But the game itself was rushed, and I still don’t know who won because I had to leave early.
I made another trip into the dealer hall and, more importantly, downstairs to Film Festival room for the premiere of Elijah Thomas’s new short film, Edo Kami No Gyuakushu. Lucky for me, it was the first of the short films to be shown for the video contest, which gave me just enough time to rush back upstairs to the main ballroom for the Kenpachiro Satsuma Tribute panel. (Watch my interview of Elijah about his short film here). Anyway, I was joined by Nick Huber for it for the Satsuma panel. Satsuma was a suit actor who, among other things, played Godzilla in the ‘80s and ‘90s. I met him at G-Fest in 2018. Sadly, he died some months ago. We all shared some experiences we’d had with Satsuma and discussed his work. About halfway in, I opened it to the audience to share. It made the somber panel more meaningful. Sadly, this panel wasn’t recorded, as far as I know. If it was, I’ll update this blog.
I ran to autograph room after that to get a picture with Allan Henry, who chatted with me a little bit and agreed to be interviewed on MIFV. (Score!) He’s a great guy to talk to and a huge nerd, himself.
Finally, we got to the stacked panel that I expected to be one of the biggest of the weekend: Godzilla Turns 70. To discuss that iconic film, there was myself, Daniel DiManna, Elijah Thomas, Kevin Horn, and Dr. Jeffrey Angles. It was wonderful. Watch the video of the whole thing below:
I hung out with my friends for a bit after that, but I did take Jake to see the end of Kaiju Konfessions, a sing-along event hosted by Stan Hyde, because it was worth seeing once, and it’s always felt like the right way to end the con.
We all then walked to the Crown Plaza for one more dinner at Caddyshack, but it was closed for the “official” afterparty, so we returned to the Hyatt for dinner at the Red Bar. A surprising moment for me was a tall black man walked up behind me as I entered, grabbed my arm, and told me how much he appreciated my panels that weekend. (I say it was “surprising” because he grabbed me from behind). We then had our own “wholesome” afterparty by hiding in a room and playing board games like Horrified and Transformers Uno Flip.
Jarod and I left bright and early the next day to get him home for work.
Conclusion
While this wasn’t my overall favorite G-Fest, it still had plenty of highlights. The con is still having growing pains as the new generation of management continues to modernize the show. They’re also dealing with space issues. Rumor has it attendance doubled from 5,000 to 10,000 this year, which is insane. They’ll either have to move to the convention center next door to the Convention Center or take over more of the hotel going forward. I also think they should go back to three panels at a time. Regardless, the show remains the premiere con for kaiju and tokusatsu fans, especially now that more things Kamen Rider are finding their way into the con.
I look forward to next year. I already have at least six panel ideas. Haha!
See you then!
Hollywood is now infamous for attacking its audience. Directors, screenwriters, and actors have gone on rampages in recent years, blaming fans for the failure of every bad movie and TV series. It’s one of several big reasons why even the seemingly invincible Disney is on the verge of collapse. To call it grand scale gaslighting would be an understatement.
I bring this up because I recently had a conversation with a fellow creator about the importance or unimportance of audience. For him, there are auteurs who simply want to share their vision with the world and don’t care about audience. They create for themselves. That’s his own personal philosophy. While I understand that and would say a creator must be passionate about what he makes, which means there’s some self-interest, I don’t see a point in sharing a work of art if it was made only for the creator’s benefit. If it’s only for them, why release it? By putting it out into the world, you’re asking an audience to engage with it, which has its positives and negatives. (I said, “invite,” and not “engage” during this conversation, which I now realize wasn’t the best word choice). At that point, it can’t only be about the artist.
When I was in college learning how to be a writer, I was trained to always think about audience. It would determine what I wrote and how I wrote it. Sometimes that audience was only me. Most of the time, though, it was for others. Writing, as I was taught, required a level of service and selflessness. I had to know what the audience wanted and give it to them; or I had to learn how best to explain something to the audience. Different genres, publications, and mediums appealed to different demographics. Understanding them often required research. By catering to the audience, you could increase your chances of success. An audience is annoyed by most art that’s obviously made for the artist’s enjoyment and not the audience’s enjoyment.
Now, what an audience says they want isn’t always what they actually want. Or, in some cases, what they want isn’t what they need. That’s where a creator can take risks and try something different. Otherwise, an art form can never evolve. An audience may complain, but that doesn’t mean their opinions are gospel truth. An artist should have the confidence to disregard bad faith feedback but also the humility to accept good faith criticism. Deciphering which is which, especially in the polarized times we live in, can be difficult if not nerve-wracking.
Some would say the audience doesn’t matter unless they’re paying customers. I agree to a certain extent. This is especially true if a creator is sacrificing his emotional, mental, and/or physical wellbeing to please his audience. But there are other ways an audience can “pay” a creator. As a podcaster, I don’t charge listeners for my material, but they “pay” me with their time. They invite me into their day as they jog, work out, or clean their house. Some even go the extra mile and e-mail me feedback or write reviews on Apple Podcasts. I’ve gotten stories about how my podcasts help listeners get through their days or survive hardships. I don’t take any of that lightly. To do so would be the epitome of “biting the hand that feeds you.” I’d be no better than the narcissists in Hollywood.
I firmly believe art should be shared. But sharing it comes with risks. You can’t guarantee the audience will understand or appreciate what you make. That’s why in some cases, it’s best to keep it for yourself. Most of the time, though, you have to let those brainchildren go off into the world to forge their own paths, so to speak.
What do you think? How are audiences important or unimportant? How much weight should their feedback be given? Should an artist only create for himself? Leave your comments below!
Today’s blog will be a little personal and a lot theological. This isn’t new for me, but if you’re not interested in such things, I won’t mind if you skip it. However, it’ll tackle a cautionary tale of a writer’s influence. In this case, Joshua Harris.
For those who don’t know, Harris wrote and published an infamous book at age 21 in 1997 called I Kissed Dating Goodbye. It was an instant sensation, selling over a million copies. Unfortunately, as the trailer for Harris’ recent documentary on the book’s influence says, “The best-seller became the Bible for Christian romance.” He wrote a follow-up a few years later titled Boy Meets Girl since by that point he’d gotten married.
Fast forward two decades. In 2016, Harris announced that he regretted writing the book because of the influx of letters he’d received from people who were hurt by his advice. He realized, among other things,
In trying to warn people of the potential pitfalls of dating, it instilled fear for some—fear of making mistakes or having their heart broken. The book also gave some the impression that a certain methodology of relationships would deliver a happy ever-after ending—a great marriage, a great sex life—even though this is not promised by scripture.
This is prompted him to make the aforementioned documentary, I Survived I Kissed Dating Goodbye, and take this book and the sequel out of print.
Things got worse last month. He announced on his Instgram that he was divorcing his wife. A few days later in another post, he confessed,
I have undergone a massive shift in regard to my faith in Jesus. The popular phrase for this is “deconstruction,” the biblical phrase is “falling away.” By all the measurements that I have for defining a Christian, I am not a Christian. Many people tell me that there is a different way to practice faith and I want to remain open to this, but I’m not there now.
There’s been a lot of talk in Christian culture about this, and understandably so. Harris’ influence was pervasive. I myself didn’t read his first book (I thought the idea was dumb), but I did read his second because I thought it had more legitimacy. I’m sure he gave most of the same advice. While I always balked at the idea of “not dating” and letting God providentially give you a spouse, these ideas became so common in the church, I think I absorbed some of them by osmosis. I was young and impressionable and hadn’t yet learned critical thinking skills (well, at least when it came to things espoused by other Christians). Do I count myself as one of the people hurt by Harris’ teachings? Yes, but I was hurt by his “splash damage” (to use a gaming term) and not directly wounded. I’ve been working hard to shed my old thinking for a long time.
Harris has admitted he’s a recovering legalist. He took the strict rules of the crazy, stereotype-creating spheres of homeschooling (#NotAllHomeschoolers) and made them mainstream. Legalism is always destructive. The problem is rules are easier to preach, teach, and enforce than comparatively nebulous principles. Jesus said to “love your neighbor.” That begs questions like, “Who is my neighbor?” and “How do I love them?” Rules regulate behavior. Principles guide motivations. That’s why Jesus spoke against legalism and “religiousness” more than anything else. Just read the Sermon on the Mount. He makes it clear that adultery is an action that stems from lust, which occurs in the heart. It wasn’t enough to stop the actions; the internal sin has to be quelled first.
Legalism frequently drives people away from Christianity. Such an emphasis is placed on rules that it robs churchgoers or young Christians of any joy. I’ve heard countless stories of this. I’m sure the seemingly extreme methods Harris advocated drove people away. It created not only tremendous pressure on young people, but an atmosphere of parental and liturgical tyranny and hypocrisy. Teens weren’t allowed to do the usually innocent things their parents did growing up. “Do as I say and not as I did.” Maybe those parents made mistakes and had good intentions, but as the old saying goes, “The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.”
Knowing all of this, it’s no surprise Harris’ life has turned out the way it has. His personal brand of legalism wrecked many people, possibly led to his divorce, and eventually drove him to abandon Christianity. It took twenty years for it to happen, but those consequences caught up with him. Now more than ever the rotten fruit of Harris’ teachings and those of the so-called “Purity Culture” are being reaped. Personally, I think recent events have invalidated all of books (or at least his books on dating and courtship). Regardless, I do hope and pray he finds his way back to the faith.
This should give writers pause for concern. Your words have power. The power to influence. That’s something that shouldn’t be taken lightly. James 3:1 says, “Not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.” What we pen will guide and direct the hearts and minds of our readers. This is why parents often attack rappers, filmmakers, and video games after a school shooting: they think their products made kids go on murder sprees. (Perhaps that’s a bad example). My point is the knowledge and advice we share as writers, which in a way makes us teachers, creates culture and thoughts. Yes, we can’t control how people will respond to what we write and say, but we still yield tremendous power on our readers.
And as the late great Stan Lee wrote, “With power there must also come great responsibility.”
What do you think of the Josh Harris news? Are you surprised? Why or why not? Did you read his books? How did they influence you?
You get two blogs this week since I missed last Thursday!
I went to G-Fest for the first time a few weeks ago in Rosemont, Illinois. I was accompanied by my Kaijuvision Radio co-host Brian Scherschel. It’s a convention dedicated to Godzilla, kaiju, and tokusatsu. I’ve heard about it for years but never attended. There are a lot of great stories I could tell about the show, most of which you can read about on the Kaijuvision Radio Twitter feed and in Brian’s latest blog on the podcast’s website, but there are a few writing-related ones I wanted to share with you.
I attended a pair of kaiju writing seminars the Saturday of the con. The first was a session for writers to share their ideas and get feedback. Since I’ve been kicking around ideas for a sequel to Destroyer (mostly because people kept feeding me ideas that I’ve churned in my head), I thought I’d talk about it in this session. However, I realized I was the only one there who’d never been published (except for the moderator), so I decided I would let the other attendees take priority and offered feedback. If there was time, then I would share. There were some great stories and concepts presented, such as a first-person tale told from a kaiju’s perspective, but the one I found most interesting was a story treatment for a fanfilm that included a potentially brilliant meta-commentary on the Godzilla franchise. I told the presenter that it reminded me of Wes Craven’s New Nightmare. That was one of several pieces of advice that brought several people to me afterward wanting to add me on Facebook. I gave them my bookmark/business card that directed them to my website and other professional social medias.
(So, if you’re one of those people: Hello and welcome!)
Later in the day, I arrived early for a writing advice panel. I overheard the moderator say he wanted to add one more panelist (they brought on a new one thinking one panelist wouldn’t make it, but he did and they decided to add one more). I jokingly said I was a published writer with some kaiju credentials. “Oh?” he said. I flashed him the Amazon page for Destroyer and mentioned my kaiju short story in The Worlds of Nathan Marchand, among others, and he replied, “Get behind the table!”
Yes, True Believers, I got myself “drafted” onto the panel! It was only the second time in my life I’ve been on one.
Once more, the advice I offered impressed attendees and panelists so much, they came to me afterward for more advice and contact info. The moderator even said he would keep my name in mind when planning the same panel for next year’s G-Fest.
I know I sound like I’m bragging, but to be honest, I was surprised by all of this. Weird, right? The shameless self-promotor is surprised when people actually like him. Maybe it’s because I’ve yet to make it big or because I hang out with brilliant writers like Nick Hayden (I haven’t name-dropped him in a while, haven’t I? 😛 ). I suppose I take those as signs that I’m not as talented as I want to think I am. But success isn’t always a marker of ability. Plenty of gifted people (including Mr. Hayden) haven’t become huge successes and many untalented people are big stars. And just because someone is better than me doesn’t mean my talent is worthless. It’s hard to live among giants, though.
I guess what I’m saying is I haven’t been “discovered” yet.
Did you attend G-Fest this year? What did you think of it? Are do you deal with feelings of inadequacy as an artist?
I’ve written often on time management for writers and my own struggles with making time for writing. I certainly have the desire to tell my stories, but oftentimes life simply gets in the way. It sucks, but it’s true.
Except when it isn’t.
I should clarify: sometimes I don’t make time to write not because of circumstances beyond my control, but because I choose not to write. How’s that?
Besides being a seemingly rare extroverted writer, I’m a self-described “story junkie.” As in I go out of my way to enjoy as many stories as I can. Most of my hobbies—reading, gaming, movie watching, photography, among others—revolve around storytelling (or at least creativity). I eat that stuff up. You might even say I’m a borderline addict. I tend to go through phases. Right now I’m trying to read the pile of comic books next to my bed. Other times I’ll play story-driven video games or read a lot of books. Whatever phase I’m in, I usually inject something else amidst all that (like a trip to the movies to see the latest blockbuster).
The trouble is I get so caught up with other stories that I neglect my own. Consumption is easier than creation. An old adage (erroneously attributed to Dorothy Parker, apparently) says, “Writers don’t like writing—they like having written.” In other words, writing is hard work. Authors may enjoy it, but they much prefer finishing a project than being in the middle of one. Sometimes it’s a chore to grind out 1,000 words or figure out what your heroine will/should say next. I say all that to say that it’s a common trap for writers to procrastinate because they would rather go enjoy someone else’s completed story (or at least an analysis of a story) than work on their own. “Write another scene for my Great American Novel? Maybe after I binge watch a few episodes of Clone Wars on Netflix.”
This is a trap I often fall into. I’m so desperate to get my fix of story, I procrastinate on whatever project I’m working on. Sometimes I even the excuse that whatever story I’m consuming will somehow help with whatever project I’m writing (how a Godzilla movie relates to Children of the Wells, I don’t know. 😛 ). In reality, though, it’s just me making an excuse to not to the hard work of writing. This is why I’ve had to train myself to use my “story fixes” as rewards for accomplishing writing goals. Then I can use those stories as inspiration.
It’s not always easy, trust me. After a long day at my day job (a part-time job that’s been giving me full-time hours lately, making time management even harder), I don’t always want to write. I’ll just want to relax with a good book or a new video game. But as Jack London famously said,
“You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.”
Are you a “story junkie”? Does it distract you from your work? How do you deal with it?
I’m once again touching on the subject of time management, but not exactly like I’ve done before. I’ve been reminded in the last few weeks of an important writer’s mantra:
Protect your writing time at all costs.
As writers, our time is valuable. We don’t have more than other people, so we must block out sections of the day (or week or month) to sit at our desk with a keyboard (or typewriter or paper) to do what we love. But, if you’re like me, you have a lot of other things vying for your time. There are chores that need done. Day jobs that must be worked (ugh!). Friends and family who want to spend time with you. It can be overwhelming. It can also be easy to let those other things steal your time, whittling it down until you get to the end of the day and realize you didn’t write any of the 1,000 words you wanted to have completed in your new novel.
Those things, however, are the “good” ones. Writers need to be around people (writers are human, after all), and until they become more successful, they need other jobs to sustain themselves. But trouble comes when other things like social media get in the way. I’m not saying Facebook and Twitter are terrible things that should be avoided, but there comes a point where they become huge time-sucks. You may feel obligated to rummage through 50 notifications and leave 1,000 words-worth of comments on Facebook instead of focusing that energy and time into penning 1,000 words for your current writing project. Trust me, I know.
As Sean Connery said in Finding Forrester, “Writers write.” That requires time. In this (over)busy society we live in, time is even more precious. Writers can’t afford to let it be stolen unnecessarily. It is a treasure hidden in a castle and there are barbarians at the gate seeking to steal it. We writers must stand our ground. We have to set boundaries and, if needed, quote Captain Picard, who said, “This far! No farther!” when something infringes on our writing time. Otherwise, we will miss a deadline and/or regret that we didn’t get anything done.
How can you go about this? I think it depends on your particular personality and situation. If social media is an issue, consider doing a “detox,” i.e. fast from it for a time. If your hobbies are taking you away, discipline yourself to use them as a reward for completing your writing goal. For example, I try not to play video games until I’ve finished working or completed a task. Heck, a friend told me about a couple of apps one can get on a smartphone that turn goal setting into an RPG. I believe they’re called LifeRPG and EpicWin. Those might be great tools for you.
I started this blog by saying writers have to defend their writing time. I ended with talk of role-playing games. Perhaps it’s time for you to “level up” and protect that treasure!
I’ve written many times before about time management and how I tend to take on more projects than I possibly could. Well, this week, that bit me in the butt—hard. Remember how I was supposed to have a book signing at the North Webster Public Library Monday?
I completely forgot about it.
You read that right. I didn’t even show up at my own book signing. That’s never happened before. I’m the kind of person who keeps his commitments. I feel terrible if I don’t. I don’t like letting people down. Yet despite seeing promotions for my signing and even blogging about it, it completely slipped my mind. Since I was scheduled to work at my day job, I couldn’t even show up late. I spent the next 24 hours beating myself up over it until I talked with the librarians this afternoon and found out all is well. I’ve been rescheduled for June 6 from 3:30pm-6:30pm.
I had no excuse or justification for forgetting it. The problem is I’ve had a hundred other things on my mind, from writing/creative projects to family concerns to a ballroom dance showcase this weekend, and everything in between. Something was bound to get lost in the shuffle, to fall through the cracks. It’s not the first time it’s happened, but it was never something this major. It was usually just something like forgetting to blog (I’ve apologized many a time for that) or neglecting my writing time (a greater crime for writers). Never have I neglected an entire event centered on me that was promoted for several weeks, if not longer, beforehand. My only solace is the library is too nice to make me wear the proverbial bag of shame over my head whenever I’m there.
At the height of my metaphorical self-flagellation over this, I told myself I should just cut out everything that isn’t work or writing from my life to avoid more gaffs like this. Now that I’m in my right mind, I don’t think I’ll go that far. I’ll certainly put some thought into cutting back on some things, though. More importantly, I’m going to be smarter about remembering my own schedule. Put it on my calendar or in my iPhone as a reminder.
Or marry a secretary. 😛
The point is I can’t afford to make a mistake like this again. It was unprofessional and irresponsible. At least it only happened for relatively small event. If I forget Gen-Con….
So, be it known that future events will not sneak up on me like one of Master Heeyah’s ninjas. 😛