Author: itsamystery_editor82ce

Every writer and non-writer has experienced blocks. I experienced it while trying to gear up to finish or even start a project at work back when I worked at a corporation (at a job now described by the youngest working generation as “soul-sucking.”) I experienced a “block”whenever I had to start or finish a project.

I now think writer’s block is just fear compounded by procrastination, or procrastination caused by fear or dread.

I would dread starting a project knowing how much energy it would take. I feared failing (which happened sometimes). I feared getting fired from my job. With writers, it might be fear of rejection, that you’d spend a year or longer on a book only to have it rejected.

Add in ADHD or some milder form of attention deficit, and starting and completing a project becomes more complicated.

The Internet is a great help, but also a great distraction. The Internet and Social Media gives our procrastination and attention deficit fuel.

I’ve tried programs that forbid me to enter into a site until my allotted writing hours are up. I’m proud and ashamed to say I’ve defeated all these programs.

I’ve tried wondering why in the world I’m writing when I could be enjoying myself in the outdoors or knitting or cooking or doing something that produces something tangible.

For now, I’m continuing to write, if only because writing books was and is something I’ve always wanted to do. Even if I get rejected. Even if I never make much money.

Now, I think I’ll go on Insta–see what’s happening there.

You know, the guy who writes and produces shows like Yellowstone, The Lioness and Landman?

I confess that I originally thought Taylor was a woman, and also admit that I was disappointed that Taylor is a man. Not a bad thing, it just put a different spin on things for me.

What makes his writing so engaging, so liked by men and women alike? His shows seem to be the exact proportion of action and emotion, of character and a little politics thrown in.

I recently read an interview with Mr. Sheridan that was later published in a magazine.

His writing advice: “I’ve made up little mantras for myself, catchphrases from a screenwriting book that doesn’t exist. One is “Write the movie you’d pay to go see.” Another is “Never let a character tell me something that the camera can show me.” Then there’s “You always want the audience wondering what’s going to happen next, never what’s happening.” Maybe if I’d graduated college or read a book on screenwriting, I’d do things differently. But this is how I do ’em.” Taylor Sheridan.

He also uses a philosophy of keeping the plot simple. I’ve not thought his stories to be simple, but if you study them, they are simple (except for many flashbacks).

I think he’s got a handle on it. He’s cracked the code.

Can’t wait for the new Landman season.

The theme of ‘shame’ follows me throughout my life. All of us have felt it at one time or another. I wrote a little about it in my first little-known book “Surviving Teen Pregnancy.”

I was reminded of the meaning and damage that shame brings during a recent yearly health check. The Physician’s Assistant doing my exam had lost about 50 pounds during the year since I’d seen her. I hesitated to tell her how good she looked; she had not only lost weight, but ‘glowed’ up her look and her clothing.

At the end of the exam, I told her how good she looked.

“GLP-1,” she said.

“Oh. Well, you look great.”

“Thank you. Now when I look at old pictures, I’m ashamed of myself. I even burned some of them.”

She left the room, and I felt like crying. Nobody should feel shame like this. Not over who we once were. Those things about ourselves who make us who we are today, good or bad, are part of our journey through life.

Sometimes I start to feel shame over my age, over telling people how old I am. Age shouldn’t be shameful, although in society, somehow it is. I once felt shame when someone visibly did the math on how young I had children. Now, ironically, society tells me to feel shame about advancing age and the things that come with it.

I have felt shame and I have been shamed, and I am choosing to reject these feelings when they come up and are inappropriate. Shame brings you down. Shame is something you can accept or not accept.

Sure, I still feel shame about things, but I’m choosing to squash those feelings when they was over me.