“Tune in. Drop out.”
Oh, yes. The evil temptress known as the Internet! Sure, you should buckle down and get started on that scene. The one you’ve been struggling with now for a couple of days. You know the only solution is likely just slogging your way through it time after time until you get it right. So here you go, opening the file. And there it is, the vexing scene itself. And here are your hands on the keyboard, ready to go, and then…
Fingers…
Wandering…
Over…
To…
The…
Mouse.
Click!
Open Internet browser.
And suddenly, it’s two-and-a-half hours later, where you find yourself bidding on eBay for a glow-in-the-dark Michael Jackson prayer shawl or some such nonsense that you have absolutely no need for… other than to distract you from your writing.
The Internet is an incredible resource. It’s also a massive time-suck.
So in a variation of Timothy Leary’s advice from the 60s, here’s what you do:
Tune in. Drop out.
When you start to write, you tune in. The story universe. The characters. You go into the story and you stay there. That’s where you need to be, the immediacy of that experience in order to write… and write well.
How do you ensure you stay there and not succumb to the temptations of the Internet?
You drop out. If you have willpower, you simply resist the impulse to go there. If you don’t, then disable your wireless. Or physically unplug your DSL line. For however many hours of your writing session, you drop out of the information superhighway… and follow the road less traveled… just you and your words. You just write.
Facebook will wait for you. The DailyKos will wait for you. Twitter won’t wait for you, but writing requires some sacrifice… even refraining from tweets.
What won’t wait is the solution to that damn scene!
So if you find the lure of the Internet pulls you away from your writing, remember these four words:
Tune in. Drop out.
The Quest” has entered Week 17! And so did Go On Your Own Quest, an opportunity for anyone to follow the structure of “The Quest” to dig into screenwriting theory [Core — 8 weeks], figure out your story [Prep — 6 weeks], and write a first draft [Pages — 10 weeks]. It’s a 24-week immersion in the screenwriting process and you can do it here — for free!
Today and every Monday through Friday for 10 weeks, I’ll use this slot to post something inspirational as GOYOQ participants pound out their first drafts.
For background on “Go Into The Story: The Quest,” go here and here.
For all the previous weeks of Go On Your Own Quest posts, go here.
Join the GOYOQ Forums, a free online hub where you and other Quest participants can go to support each other and share your stories. Go here.
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