Quantifiability
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Anyway, the ‘four hours of working’ idea didn’t work out and I have been thinking on how to fix this problem. In a video from Lessons from the Screenplay, Michael mentioned the Skillshare class Real Productivity by Thomas Frank. This gave me one solution: give the tv remotes to my boyfriend for the day. This would put them out of sight and make them slightly more inconvenient to retrieve. I have also discovered that I can just put some coffeehouse music through YouTube. While it’s still pretty easy to go watch something else, it does keep the idea of working in the back of my mind.
Also, it turns out that I need to find a way to avoid playing idle games. They’re a huge time sink, and I found out today that I get stressed while playing them. You’re supposed to let them be while you’re doing other things, then go back to them and level up things over time. I, however, get sucked into these games. Putting them away is one thing, but after some time, I feel this overwhelming urge to play them again. I believe I have a way to combat this, though. First, I’ll be mindful of the urge. Then, I’ll play a console or computer game like Psychonauts, Hollow Knight, and even Scooby-Doo: Night of 100 Frights. Games like these are much more enjoyable, even if I get sucked into them instead. Plus, they work better as a reward at the end of the day because you can stop them after a session, then continue later. They don’t keep going while you’re away, so there’s less compulsion for me to want to keep an eye on them.
This has made me realize something else: I need to get back into yoga. It can help with meditation and breathing exercises that I need right now.
Yesterday, I had a different realization about my Crimson Red Story. After several zero days, I had been able to do a little work on it. When I went to work on a second session, however, I couldn’t write any more. I realized that I did not want to write this story anymore. So, I decided to tie up some working loose ends by finishing the outline and editing it. However, while outlining I realized that I found some of the original draft a little enjoyable. I thought that other people might enjoy some of it as well and that I might do a rough edit and self publish it as is. This made me realize that I might just need to change up my rewriting strategy.
Up to this point, rewriting for me meant having a rough outline as a guide, then working from memory. I did not look at the original draft during this process. This worked for the very beginning of the story where I needed to write a whole new scene. Once I got deeper into parts I had already written before, this began to feel like a waste of time. I had already written things out before, so why do this again?
Plus, I’d been pondering on making even bigger changes to the story as it stood.
So, I might try the rewriting process again, but while keeping the original draft out. This will be preceded by two tasks. One: reading through that first draft once more, just to make sure I truly think people might enjoy the story and decide if I want to move forward. Two: reading through it and making an outline of the plot before I get back to rewriting, adding or subtracting scenes as needed.
The second point is important because the scenes or plot points of a story are quantifiable. That means that I can get a percentage of my progress as I complete each item and feel encouraged to move forward. Now, I have been working with that concept for a while now, so I don’t know if I got the inspiration from Sara Lubratt or not. But I definitely got inspiration for quantifiability by watching her vlog where she made notes on her first draft. There are a finite number of bullet point notes, which I can work with.
I’ve been worried about the editing process for the past few years now. It didn’t feel like I could make measurable progress with just word count. I wanted to be able to focus on the story, even if I had fewer words in the end. I feel the same way about page count. So, my solution is to use a finite number of scenes and notes. Even though I might add or delete scenes during the process, it’s more linked to the story itself.
With that out of the way, I don’t plan on directly working through this just yet. My mom needs help with some house projects she’s working on next week and I’d like to take the time to work on a few other stories I’ve been thinking on for years now. It’ll be nice to have ideas and even some outlining taken care of. These projects can, of course, be written down in a quantifiable list.
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Lessons from the Screenplay channel can be found here.
Sara Lubratt's channel can be found here.
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