Last Thursday, I had almost an entire post written and was ready to publish. The post was worded correctly and the voice sounded unique, because I was writing from a relaxed point of view. I wrote on the app that I use, called Writer’s Work. Besides it sometimes being shady, telling me that my writing level is at a 7th grade level, it works well because it’s easier to correct the grammar and misspelled words. Let me tell you: it worked well until that day.
As I normally do, I write the blog post and let it marinate for a couple of hours or even days. It’s something that I learned at Writing School, it implies that sometimes, you might want to add to it, or remove something, even change the entire post. It happens a lot when you write prose. I wrote nicely, fancy words and all (still 7th grade stats) and left to make dinner. A few hours later, I promptly sat myself down to write again, opened the app and there was my document titled “untitled”. There was a blank page. I looked for another document’s title “untitled”, still nothing. I was confused and dismayed, “was I dreaming? Did I really write this?” Yes, I did, this app sure is shady, it still told me how many words I had written that day and the count of my words per minute. I felt betrayed. I kept searching as the document was there, as it usually is, but this time completely blank. I just want them to give me back those stats that made me feel humiliated! I need the words I wrote two hours ago! Nothing.
I’m glad that I don’t use the app to make money, even though there are plenty of writing jobs on the board, but the interesting ones are gone fast, I can’t even get to them in time. Apparently, everyone is a writer these days. I can’t imagine the frustration of losing a manuscript or any important document, and having to start all over. I had only about 700 words on the document I lost and it’s hard to get back and rewrite. I took a few days away to marinate on the blank page I ended up with, finally today I found the motivation I needed.
During the Quarantine, like most of the planet, I had a lot of time to think about my priorities and realign my energy. Like a cosmic explosion, I concluded what kept me motivated to keeps me moving forwards with my projects, is this blog. I know I have a few readers and subscribers, to be completely honest, there are 23 followers, my mom is not included in this number, so I know it’s real people. Shout out for you dear reader! My intention with this blog is not to sell you any classes, free trials, or download any files. I’m not going to ask you to follow me in every social media possible or subscribe to my YouTube channel. This is not what this blog is about. These are words about my humble beginning.
I have seen a lot of people teaching you the formula of success, and there is nothing wrong with that. What I never saw was a blog post about people going through the same struggles as me. At the beginning of their journey, when they fall numerous times, trying to get their work done and their voices heard. I’ve seen a lot of successful people telling you, that you can do it, believe me, I love positive messages. The truth is, the beginning is hard. You probably seen so many motivational quotes like “Oprah was poor, Tina Fey failed, Bill Gates started in a garage.” Well, good for them, this is their stories, their path, not yours. That’s why I write on this blog, it keeps me motivated to keep going and putting my words out there. If I didn’t have any projects, I would not be here every week writing my words with expectations of getting work done. That’s the way I found to keep producing content.
The free time also cleared my mind, letting me focus on what I really want to work with. I realized that I want to write web series scripts and produce content. I know I wrote that before, but now I’m sure, sure (I’m reading this like Kelly Kapoor, from The Office). When quarantine is over, hopefully it will be soon, I intend to apply for some screenwriting classes and contests. I was talking to a friend who participated in one of these contests last week, made me eager to interact with people who has the same level of enthusiasm that I do. I enjoy the feedback part, which is weird, because I hated it during in Writing school. I guess having feedback from people who knows little to nothing is harsh, because they judge you by your Avatar picture on the school’s platform. A few times I asked myself “Did they even read my story?” I did enjoy the teacher’s feedback, which was also harsh, but at least useful.
In producing content, this week I finished the short story I was working on, called temporally “The lovely grave”. I’m on the editing level, and this is the hardest part, no doubt about it. It needs to be more horror than drama. What happened to the story was, I made the ghost too likable and passionate, to be honest, being a mafia guy from 1920’s with a fedora hat and a vest, didn’t help to make him scary, not in the least bit of a ghostly manner. Now I need to go back and revise all the acts. It’s not Gore Horror, its more “what would I do if this happen to me” kind of horror. I would also like it to make it into a short script after.
That’s it for now. Well, I had written, on the previous probably deleted post, an entire analogy about my will of writing being like a 1985 Chevet, but now it not make any sense, so I will let it go and save it for another time.
Check out the comic strip I made based on when I worked in the service industry.
https://liveoutloudtoo.com/upcoming-projects/
Be safe out there!
Joana
