Don’t WIP It

I’ll get notes sometimes from young writers, in which they’ll refer to their “WIP,” i.e. their work-in-progress.

My blood runs cold when I see that phrase.

It’s bad juju. It plants in the subconscious the notion that the book or movie we’re working on is “in progress.” In other words, it’s not finished. The implication (which the subconscious reads as reality) is it will ALWAYS be “in progress.”

My own bete noire for years was being unable to finish something. So I’m particularly sensitive to any nuance of self-brainwashing that plants that dastardly idea.

Here’s what I do instead.

I think of the project as already done. Even if I haven’t started yet. If you say to me, “C’mon, Steve, you haven’t even opened a new file!”, my response would be, “Yeah, true … I haven’t completed the formality of putting words on paper. But that’s just a matter of time and effort. The book is done.”

Do you remember the series of episodes on “Seinfeld” when Kramer was moving to Los Angeles?

Kramer, the ultimate New Yorker, was packing his stuff, getting set to make this previously-unthinkable move. I can’t remember if it was George (or possibly Newman) who put it to him, “Come on, Kramer, are you REALLY moving to L.A.?”

Kramer, if you recall, set his forefinger against his temple. “Up here,” he said, “I’m already gone.”

That should be our mindset. “Up here, I’m already done.”

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