What's it Going to Take?

I watched a movie this weekend called It's Kind of a Funny Story.

Pretty good movie overall about a teenager, Craig,  who checks himself into a mental health institution for some R & R. Really he's dealing with a lot of stress in his

life, specifically with pressures from his dad, which in turn have made him

believe he is suicidal.  Is he really suicidal? I don't know. I'll leave that up to each of you to judge if you watch it.

Either way, as usual it got me thinking. Thinking about how one person's pressures may be meaningless to another. Or how each of us deals with pressures and stress differently. As writers, I'd say there's quite a bit of stress with rejections, learning our craft, writing queries, writing synopses, learning to pitch, studying the industry, shall I keep going?

It seems that the longer I stay within this industry and the more I write, the more I realize that it's a very difficult task to write a good book. In a way, the fact that

we realize this after time or the fact that we learn the craft step by step, is a good thing; otherwise, could you imagine how much more daunting the task of writing a book would be? There would be no books to read!

This past week I signed my first contract for a short that I had written. One of the first few phrases out of my critique partner's mouth was, "I told you it would happen." As I sat there looking at the contract I couldn't help but wonder why I hadn't had that much confidence in myself. Or why we writers in general are so hard on ourselves.

Throughout the movie I mentioned earlier, Craig transitions, learning more about himself and his capabilities. All it took was a week in a mental health institution to do so. What's it going to take for you?

 

 

Filed under: Toni Kelly, Writer's Life, Writing Topics