Focus. Focus. An Ant...

I'm not suffering from writers block. In fact I have several ideas bouncing around in my head and two of them are developing into scripts. I like my ideas and I think that my vision is good. My problem is motivation and concentration. I don't like to force my writing and I prefer to let it flow... when its ready to make the journey from mind to paper then it will flow but until then I think about the script and the story plays out in my imagination. I like the movie I'm creating very much and can't wait for people to read it, let alone see it... but alas, too many distractions. Between working a full time job, maintaining this website and performing all of the other fatherly duties, I find myself chewing up downtime by watching and reading other people's creations. When I should be sitting at my keyboard in those late hours of the night, my attention turns to other films that require less of me. 


As I write this the sun is shining and the birds are chirping. I have a lovely set-up outside with a table and umbrella and the breeze is beautiful. The kids are out of the house and this moment of serenity is begging me to get creative. Finally a moment to muse over my ideas and continue fleshing them out in script form. And so I bite the bullet. With a fresh cup of coffee and itchy fingers I open the file to my current project and continue from where I left off. One page down and so far so good - oh look, an ant - I re-read previously written pages to make sure the flow is fluent. It is. Excellent. - oh look, two ants - another quarter page written and - I wonder how many ants will come if i leave a biscuit on the table?  

Clearly the outdoors is too distracting and so I move my work-station to the lounge room. The ants have been removed from the equation and I get another page down - whats that spot on the table? I lick my finger and rub over it... ah, just a small blemish. One of the kids must have been eating there... oh dammit, my script. Yes yes. Focus. C'mon Glenn! The movie is in your head, just fucking write it. 

I'm sure you fellow writers struggle with similar distractions. I'm in no hurry so perhaps I should just wait until that unquenchable creative impulse surges through my being. I get those randomly and when they hit, I'm unstoppable... but the key word is "random". Who the hell knows when the next one will hit. I need more motivation and I work well under pressure. Setting myself a deadline is useless because it's easy to break my own rules. Ah fuck it. Rather than working on this script today I think I'll just blog about how fidgety and unfocused I am right now. 

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