Did you ever drink Orange soda? Or Grape soda, for that matter? I never really did when I was a kid…I knew people who drank both of those. I’ve *always* preferred Root Beer. But Orange soda…it just seems like such a fringe soda choice, you know?
I was thinking about how I wished that I’d crushed my editing goal yet again today, but alas, I didn’t quite…and Orange Crush came into my mind as like a soda that is not-quite a soda. At least a popular one…but it IS there, and it is sweet, and it is bubbly…I finished about an hour and a half shy of my goal tonight. Sigh…
I was just telling the Ho that I realized that I’ve transitioned in my thinking with my editing work; transitioned from falling short of a goal and feeling fear/dread that I wouldn’t ever actually make up the the work…to just feeling dejected in that I know I’ll have to fit in those extra work hours in somewhere when I’d rather be sleeping or being otherwise lazy and indisposed. I mean, I can’t say that needing to make up work is a win, per se, but the shift in mindset is certainly a major victory from where I was last year, or a couple years ago.
Writing happened today…quite a streak I have going, though I confess that I haven’t been keeping track of how long it actually is…I wrote the last scene that needed a total tear-down. I think I really like it. Tomorrow, I start reading through from the top and making edits and small revisions. Make sure I’m not repeating myself, or omitting details…make sure it’s tight and FUN to read. See, that’s something that I didn’t realize until about a year and a half ago when I was writing a short script with Josh. That a script MUST BE FUN TO READ. It’s not a technical manual of what to shoot and what to say…not when you’re writing it, anyway, and then showing it to people to try and get them excited about what you’ve written. No…it has to be ENTERTAINING. That’s the primary objective, actually, when writing a script. Make your reader enjoy themselves. They’ll see the imges clearer, pay more attention to the details you’ve inlaid…
Josh and I were getting tepid notes on the scenes we’d written, which we *knew* in our guts had really improved and were getting across what we wanted them to…but our readers weren’t responding…and so I did a pass where I wrote on-the-nose this-is-what-is-happening and this-is-what-they’re-feeling sentences with lots of CAPS and colorful descriptions into the “stage directions”…didn’t change a single word of dialogue…and all the sudden those same tepid repsonses were coming back as enthusiastic “Yes! This is great!” It was a really, really valuable learning experience for me. The dialogue only lands if the reader can visualize what’s being acted out in their minds. Words on a page aren’t enough, they’re just black and white…it’s the stage directions and acting cues that fill in all the color.
Well, it’s almost 1, and tomorrow I get up just as early as any day, even if it is a day off. And, I’m still doing “catch-up” work from earlier this month so I do have a couple hours of work to do. Hopefully, the lessons will be easy enough to make up some of the missed time today, but we’ll see. It’s better to just do less more often, I’ve found. It’s more sustainable long-term. It’s the ticket, in fact.
Good night!