One-Fourth down, so much more to go

It's been eight days since I started on my script for the Frenzy, and I'm a little more than a quarter of the way through, having hit the 26 page mark a little after midnight on this fine evening.

And I still have homework to do.

So why am I blogging, you might ask? Because I wanted to share with you some things I have learned about me and my writing process over the course of these eight days:

- "Optimal" Writing time. I've noticed that I get the most done on this script when it is crazy late at night. Always. It might be the quiet, the reduction of distractions, delirium and lowering of my Crap-Writing-Inhibitor (more on that later), anything. But this time works for me. Sure I regret it in the morning, but it's worth it. So I suggest, if it works for you, trying to discover if you do a lot of your writing at a certain time, and taking note of that. Since I want to eventually write for a living, I need to break out of this mold (because God knows I don't want to spend the majority of my career staying up til 3am every night working) so my thought is that once I know (or think I know) that I work best at this certain time, I can start breaking away from that habit and expanding that block of time to 24/7.

- Caffeine addiction. Hand in hand with the staying up late, I have a nasty habit of wanting to drink something constantly when I'm writing for a longish period of time. I have no idea where this came from, but I first noticed it at home over winter break. My current drink of choice is Mtn Dew. Bad idea. Not only am I using up all my meal points, by the end of April I will probably be addicted to caffeine.

- Noise. Apparently I can write to any music/song if I listen to it enough times on repeat that it just becomes background noise. The music also helps me focus, though I did write a chunk of script a couple days ago in silence (mostly because I was so tired and single-minded that I didn't realize I wasn't listening to anything).

- I need to read more scripts. End of story.

- Outlining. OH MY GOD I am so glad I outlined this thing before I started. Seriously. I don't know that I would have even hit 10 pages, let alone 27. And I used to be of the school of thought that just dove right in and went for it. Which, let me tell you kids, is why I never finished any long-term projects. Lesson learned. Always outline.

- This is Crap. Okay. So I'm something of a perfectionist when I write. Or, I used to be. I have an extremely high standard for myself and others when it comes to writing. Which, again, is why I've never finished anything, particularly NaNoWriMo. Aside from the fact that I never outlined, got lazy and fell behind, I would always read over my work and constantly edit as I go. Hence, Crap-Writing-Inhibitor: the total and instant annihilation of all noticeably crap writing. Spoilers! This is not the way to do this. So this year with Script Frenzy, I decided to not give a damn about whether or not what I was putting to paper was any good. I love my idea, don't get me wrong. But this first draft is crap, and I know it, and I knew it would be. No delusions there. I can go over it again after this nonsense is done (and I probably will, because, again, I really love my idea). Reading and critiquing can come later. But this month I just need to write. And it's working so far.

And, lastly:

- The Internet is a Terrible Distraction. But you knew this already.