Under pressure

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How do you get motivated to create? If it were easy, everyone would do it. Creativity is hard work, and it takes time. I started this blog because I wanted to make time for my creative work. That's the same reason why I did NaNoWriMo.

Having completed NaNoWriMo for three years running, and having worked in deadline-driven publishing environments for four years, I have determined that I work extremely well with deadlines. NaNoWriMo's deadline may be somewhat arbitrary, but it works for me.

The blog that I linked to at the top is run by this guy I went to high school with and his friends from college (he made the video!). The blog ran a contest in September/October for a movie script with strong female characters. I ended up writing what I consider to be a comic book-type movie, for the teens-and-early-twenties-comic-book-fangirl set (is that too specific? Probably!). I actually didn't finish by their deadline, and consequently, didn't submit it. However, because of the deadline, I now have more than 100 pages of screenplay to my name. That's 100 pages more than I had in August. It's amazing what a little bit of deadline pressure can do!

Do deadlines work for you? Do you set them for yourself, or do you let others set them? And if deadlines aren't your thing, what is it that drives you to create?

Winners and Losers

A hearty hello to my very small audience!

I have emerged victorious from my NaNoWriMo adventure. Although I was able to reach 50,000 words, my story remains incomplete, sitting quietly in my Scrivener, waiting for me to return to it. This, I shall do over the holidays.

When I was not posting to this blog, and when I was supposed to be working on my story, I spent a good amount of time thinking about how I might be able to leverage this blog into fame and fortune for me and my work. I am working toward eventually making creativity the focus of my life, instead of having to squeeze it into the corners.

So, starting in 2009, this blog will change. I will still be posting my experiments, but I will also be posting on the following topics:

1. Writing in general
2. Creativity
3. News articles and other useful/fascinating information for writers
4. Writing and new media
5. (possibly) Publishing

I'll keep you posted whenever I get a rejection letter, which will be often, I imagine.

I will be saving up my money for a digital video camera. When that happens (or if I find someone to collaborate with), I hope to also post a YouTube dramedy serial that I am in the process of writing. The current plan is to cast my talented actor-friends to be in it, but shh! I haven't told them yet.

In general, readers of this blog will be seeing more of me, and less of the sometimes-raw/sometimes-polished writerly persona I have been projecting here in the past. I hope to create a resource for frustrated creative writers like me, whether it's a community or just a place to learn something or get inspired.

So, readers that I currently do have, I thank you for your indulgence. I hope you find the new Critical Drinking as compelling as The Ambiguity of Truth. And future readers...welcome.