Desperately Seeking... a Nemesis!?

I remember this story from a while back (http://www.nerdist.com/2008/07/sf-man-looking-for-nemesis/). 

Chris Hardwick wrote about a guy who posted an ad on Craigslist asking for a Nemesis.  The post was funny, and a little silly.  But recently I've been missing the competitive nature of a big sales office.  We're a small firm, so you don't have that same spirit of competition with different teams or departments.  So... I have recently picked a Nemesis.  I'm not looking to completely destroy this person... but I definitely want to "beat" him/her.  Why not?  Everybody needs a reason to wake up in the morning :)

What about you?  Do you have a nemesis creatively?  Personally?  Professionally?

What I'm Reading - Savages

Don Winslow -- I'm curious to read his other stuff now.  He has a bit of a Chuck Palahniuk flair to him -- but it's not as substantial -- well, correction -- not as substantial as some of his work.  But Don's voice is fun.  It carries you along.  I bought it two days ago and I'm already half way through the thing.

The novel chronicles the story of two small time Marijuana Producers/Dealers.  They're white boys gone bad.  One's got the Ivy League Education -- the other one has the SEALs training -- and they're sharing a girl.

The Cartel down south gets wind of how successful these Gringos are with their product, and decides to offer them a deal.  They say, "no."  But, the Cartel doesn't like the word "no."  And the cartel gets this bright idea that they can "inspire" the boys to work for them.

It's a fun novel that straddles the line between silly and cool.  But, I'm into it.  I'm also down to read his other works.  I like to read the book and then see the movie -- just to reverse engineer how they adapted the piece.

So far, lots of fun.

Staying Motivated... put your money where your mouth is

I have a problem writing.  I have a problem doing anything that is good for me, really.  It is honestly so much easier to stay home, watch some Mad Men or maybe play Call of Duty and think about all the great things I'm going to do one day.  But...

You are what you do. 

I read a quote once that said, "he who limps is still walking."  I thought about it for a while, and it makes sense.  Some progress, it's better than no progress. 

I have an "arrangement" of sorts with a colleague of mine.  We each put in ten dollars at the beginning of the week into a pot.  Both of us have to do MINIMALLY one POMODORO (or one 25 minute block) of writing each day -- or we forfeit the pot.  Now, it's not a lot of money at ten dollars... but it builds up.  So, each week we hit our goals, and each week we keep putting in ten dollars.  All of the sudden, you REALLY start to second guess yourself when you try and say, "I don't have time to write" when it means you're going to forfeit a hundred dollar pot.

Things - a new outline tool?

Things is an application that you can use on the iPhone, the iPad, or on your Mac.  It's a a step-child of sorts to David Allen's Getting Things Done.  It represents the next attempt in a long line of time management and project management tools for the computer.  Overall, the app is good.  I use it to keep track of projects for work and other parts of my life.  But I don't think I've trained myself to take full advantage of the app.  But, recently I was in Evernote (I do a lot of writing in Evernote) and I liked the layout Evernote had of the index cards to sort of visualize your documents.  I thought about using that as an outline.  You guys are all familiar with the screenwriter who writes the scenes on Index cards and then moves them around -- pins them on cork boards, etc.  

I know Final Draft has some version of this capability, but unless new versions have nailed it -- I haven't liked it.  That brings me to things.  With Things you can separate things by various categories.  My "Area of Responsibility" and then by "Project" and then underneath Project you can separate by "Task."  Within each task you can add tags and notes.  So, I started outlining my current project on there.  The Area of Responsibility was the SCREENPLAY -- and then the Project was the Scene -- and then I could break down the scene into action bits by the various notes.  

Just something to try out.  If anyone else has any success on a new outline tool or any other "visualization" tools.  I've heard of "mind mapping" applications that people in the field of User Experience use a lot.  I'm toying with looking at some of the User Experience applications to outline and visualize the story as I go.  

Alright, back to writing!

Pomodoro - Time

I went to a SoCal Code Camp event in Orange County earlier this year.  The event is an un-conference of sorts.  It's a free event, with speakers coming from across the state and sometimes the country to come and speak on topics.  These speakers volunteer their time.  There are events ranging from the benefits of MVC and MVVM (see software development) -- to some other tips and tricks -- like time management.

There was a presentation by a guy named Woody Pewitt.  He's an executive at a software company and he talked about a "time management" philosophy called "Getting Things Done."  For those of you not familiar with GTD (Getting Things Done) just look up David Allen.  I was familiar with GTD, but he brought up something I really liked: Pomodoro Time.

Simply put, Pomodoro time is a method of working in blocks.  Theoretically, you work in 25 minute blocks -- take a five minute break, then go into another 25 minute block.  This has been profoundly helpful.  Raise your hand if there have been times where you feel so overwhelmed that you dont' know where to start?  Well, toss a Pomodoro at that task and see what's left and how you feel.

Most of this stuff isn't rocket science, right?  Most problems can be solved with working in blocks, taking a breath, getting a bit of sun, and making sure you get enough sleep at night.

I've recently entered into a partnership of sorts.  An accountability partnership where we text each other how many pomodoros we get done each day.  He usually kicks my ass -- but there are some days that the only reason I get out of bed earlier is because I don't want him to beat me.

Links for your reference:
http://www.socalcodecamp.com/
http://www.davidco.com/
http://www.linkedin.com/in/woodyp

Writing out of order

When I first graduated high school, I had this idea of being an Art Major.  I think I was toying with the idea of going into comics.  I still draw from time to time, but I dedicate most my efforts to writing these days.  But, there are several major concepts that translate from drawing into writing.

1)  Create out of order.  When you draw a person you don't draw the eye finished and perfect and then move onto the next eye.  When you do that -- you lose the sense of the whole.  I've got a half done image of a Jim Lee cover.  You'll notice he sort of sketches all over to get the idea -- sure there are a few parts that are just a tad more rounded than others -- but for the most part he's figuring things out "in general" and then closing in on them -- slowly getting the proportions right, slowly getting the perspective right.  So, for writing -- that means you might write a scene you know is going to be at the end first.  Or you might write some idea you have for an argument -- don't know where it should go, but it could work -- write it -- see how it fits into the overall perspective as you go.  Don't try and figure it all out ahead of time!

2)  Pencil.  Lately I've been doing a lot of my first drafts or ideas of scenes with a pencil and paper -- it just seems more forgiving.  Not as permanent.  There's something scary about typing things out on a page -- I mean, I know the delete key is right there (which is a whole other topic)... but pencil just seems to open up all kinds off possibilities.  You can draw, write, write upsideown, draw arrows -- seems like a better place to play.

So, as I motivate myself to put pencil to paper... give it a shot!

On persistence

The title of the blog is a reference to Thomas Edison's quote (well, we're not exactly sure if he said this exactly) about him not failing, but finding 10,000 ways that the light bulb didn't work.  See link: http://thinkexist.com/quotation/i_haven-t_failed-i-ve_found-ways_that_don-t/346094.html

 I read a quote from Albert Einstein recently,"it's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer."
http://thinkexist.com/quotation/it-s_not_that_i-m_so_smart-it-s_just_that_i_stay/15521.html

So, keep going!