Year 2, Day 28: Shakespeare Institute -- Plans.

I have a plan, and according to the movie Layer Cake, 'make a plan, and stick to it.'  So, I must stick to the plan I have made.  Yup, plan a stick and make it.  Make the stick, plan it, and then burn it up in lieu of a new plan to stick to.  Stick to that planned make and it will kill you.  Now wait, should I capitalize 'making a plane' as the title of my new article on 'driving sticks that will make you kill the plan' or what?

It is so easy to get derailed, off-topic, or stuck on a tangent when planning your own research that if you don't write down what you are intending to do from the beginning, by the end, you will have shot yourself in the foot with all that incredibly unimportant and irrelevant research you've spent a month on and now can't use.

Slow down for a second, ask yourself 'is this just fun I'm having or is this an actual chapter I can use?'  If it is a chapter, write down the chapter title for the sake of your sanity.  If it's just fun, don't stop... keep reading, writing, dancing, listening to music, or whatever it was you were doing.  It is rare to find the fun.  Keep it going, but just be aware that when doing research on Shakespeare, figuring out the chord changes for Keb Mo's blues version of 'America the Beautiful' is probably not going to help you.

It. Stick. And. Plan. Make. To. A.

Try again.  Even if you've lost yourself in bottle of whiskey watching re-runs of The Big Bang Theory every night since your last attempt at writing, try it again.  You are only a failure at something if you've given up trying to do it.  The month of drinking and debauchery you've just been through will be seen as part of your writing 'process' later on when they finally close the book on you.

Label the plan, put it aside, call on it another day if you have to it.  Spoilers... The guy who said 'make a plan and stick to it' in the movie Layer Cake dies at the end.  Fly by the seat of your pants until those pants catch fire.  Then you know you're doing it right.  Act as if ye have faith, and faith shall given to you.  Fake it til you make it.  Write your own bland generalization into a metaphor and say it a lot... eventually you'll believe it.

I don't have one yet, but I'm thinking of renting one for this term.

(Editor's Note:  The stream of consciousness that has been at work here does not necessarily reflect the writing typical of this blog or the blogging typical of this writer.  It is the best way I know to work through writer's block when trying to come up with ideas for formatting my PhD thesis and possible chapter titles.)

"If we didn’t have rational minds to counterbalance our emotions and desires, our bodily urges would take over."-- Othello (I.iii)

Year 2, Day 28 - Words Written: 0.