Sunday 10 July 2011

Gotta love them delays - Deal with them?

No updates lately, huh? My bad guys. I've been tangled up with birthdays, work, family matters, funerals, and a few hangovers to top it off. All this generally adds to writers block and thus, delays in getting things done.




Which brings me to this week's topic: Writer's Block and finding a Plan B. We all hit that wall in our written essays (for those who have them - media tards like myself can avoid them), and you have absolutely no inspiration or idea as to where to begin/continue with a topic within that assignment. For example, "Write a 30minute script for a non-fiction film that can be filmed on campus" was one of my first assignments. I was absolutely stumped as to what the fuck to do with it.

So the procrastination began, assuming I'd think of something soon enough. In that time period of three weeks, I'd managed to clean my room spotless, find a job, attend said job, study every subject BUT what subject that assignment was from. Due date was just around the corner, and I still had no inspiration, hadn't written down a single word, and everyone else had done it.

I did a rush job on this assignment, and sadly, I failed. It was because I didn't actually drive myself to work on it, no matter how tricky it was to formulate something. The next assignment that required imagination, however, I bit the bullet and almost pulled my own teeth until I discovered I'd scraped by with a distinction (B for you Americans/whatevers).


How I did it

It's really not that hard. All it requires is brainstorming, really. This blog post, for example? The real reason I hadn't written anything for weeks is because I had no idea what to write about. I had promised an interview with a university student, but the questions to ask them never came to my head. So I delayed, until this evening when I'd had a few drinks.

I just sat down at my computer, opened up a new blog post, and began typing. About shit. And it all just flooded in seamlessly. The protip for this: Even if whatever you're writing is shit, just keep going with it. Once you've finished it, you'll feel a sense of accomplishment, and you'll be able to improve on it. Don't try to force it, because that'll just make the block worse. Don't stare at the screen, scouring your brain for ideas. Get a drink (alcoholic or non), sit down, and just begin writing about something.


As for Plan B

Always have a Plan B. They say it all the time in movies, and for good reason. If for some reason, your original plan to do an assignment was interrupted by loud drunken room mates shoving a beer in your face and the rest of the night is history, then you need to have a back up plan. Don't say "Oh, I'll do that online quiz on Friday night," for two reasons. A) Friday nights are generally party nights. Expect some loud neighbors/room mates/awesome shit on TV. and B) You can never be too sure you'll get an assignment done in the time you allotted. If you give yourself two timeslots for particularly tricky assignments, and get it done in the first? Then fuck yeah, go drink your face off during that now free time (or spend it doing more study, you spaz). If you don't get it done in the first slot, then you need to be strict on yourself enough to make sure you finish it in that second one.


And once it's done, you can breathe. It's that easy. And don't reward yourself with pussy shit like a block of chocolate. That never works, you generally eat it in the first hour of study. Reward yourself by going out on the town with friends, or (if you're a ballsy enough dude and have it available), reward yourself with sex. So restrain that sexually spastic girlfriend of yours and, at the end of your assignment, retreat to your sleeping quarters for the most fun you'll ever have.


So yeah. That's this week. All off the top of my head because I had no inspiration to start off with.


Pro-tips for this week:

1. Study schedules seem daunting until you realize you don't have one. Not having one puts you under a lot of stress, and there's only so much stress the human body can handle before it breaks down. Stress includes oral herpes (aka coldsores). Nobody wants herpes.

2. Eat properly. I'll try to cover this next time as the theme of my next post. I'm not going to be that evil bitch who says to not ever eat a cheeseburger again, because honestly, half of my mornings per week consist of a mid-afternoon trek down to McDonalds for breakfast because I really, REALLY don't feel like cooking. But vegetables and fruit are cheap, and you will find something you'll enjoy, it's not that hard. Eat enough of it, and the body will actually grow to like it. Then it will miss it when you stop eating it, and punish you in return.

3. When all else fails, drink booze. It's a great way to pass the time, and some of the world's best assignments are created when one is absolutely shitfaced. Not to mention drunken word structure allows the markers a bit of a chuckle.

7 comments:

  1. i choose you, protip 3 :D

    nice blog dude, definately following!

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  2. My plan B when I am slammed with that dreadful writer's block is to simply take a walk. Sometimes I'll load a roll of film in my favorite camera and go out looking for inspiration.

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  3. wee pro tip 3 fits me too XD

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  4. I rarely get writers block, maybe because my imagination just wont stop churning out ideas- and I totally agree on those protips, they also apply to life :)

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  5. Delays suck! Followed! alphabetalife.blogspot.com

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  6. When I have writer's block, I like to read. Or I like to talk to friends and get their ideas....

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