The Kid Is Back!

This is the week. The script must be done to the HIGHEST level. This project is MY baby. I want to bring 100% of my very best to this. If I do anything less than my best, I’ll never forgive myself. But if I bring 100% and I fail…at least I learned the edge of my capacity. I took my best swing. And if I can whiff that…it might hurt, but hell, I’ve been hurt before. I ain’t made of glass.

I have all the structures of plot and character and understanding of structure. I have that AUTOMATICALLY, because it is engrained at the level of unconscious competence. That’s the EASY stuff. There’s a teacher at every community college in the country who knows that stuff. You can scribble it on the back of a postcard. So…what is the HARD stuff? The RARE stuff? It is coping with the emotional aspects. The physical are clear: write your butt off, X pages rough per day, or Y number of pages polished.

The emotional stuff, the capacity to hold and utilize the “long view” is critical, so that I can understand the importance of every moment, whether I am pushing, polishing or resting.

And this is where my choice of the Hero’s Journey shines. I can not only use it to understand myth, and human life, but storytelling, and also the PROCESS of writing a story. This explains my specific formulation of the steps (other teachers, scholars and writers see the HJ differently. I’ve probably seen twenty different versions.). So…let’s take a look at the ten steps from the position of me as “the hero.” Wow. I just felt some fear come up. Yeah…I need to do this…