Get your day right

All those days that came and went, little did I know that they were life. -- Stig Johansson
Work at improving your day.
The secret to your success lies in what you do every day.
It doesn’t have to be a perfect anything. Keep going.

You might argue. you might say that you intend the opposite or an alternate. Whatever you choose or don't choose is what you live, exist or die with.

Nothing means anything so it is better to strive because the satisfactions that come to those who strive do more than make the time pass, they make the time pass significantly. All those eternities of scherzo between the tick and the tock can dance for you if you can be vital and fresh at least once per day.

Get your day right.

People will Believe what they believe and want what they want.

 This was the line that struck me as I was re-reading the 22 immutable laws of marketing by Al Ries and Jack Trout.

It’s a very strong claim and the test of my experience runs against it. Or does it? I am prepared to treat it as a presupposition and see how much effort I can save to put to more worthwhile pursuits.

Game: What’s your blog about?

Listening to this: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-tim-ferriss-show/id863897795?i=1000442141971

Chip Conley, entrepreneur and writer, Talks about a game called ‘what business are you in?’ The essential rule is simple: ask a player ‘what business are you in?’ They answer. Then you ask again. They answer again, but they can’t answer the same way. Conley asserts that after five answers the player will get to an answer very close to the essence of their business.

What if I changed the question?

What is your blog about?

Coverage will save you if you don't get any close ups or cutaways.

We made some great short films this summer at movie camp and because it is almost over I wanted to say something about how we teach shots. There are so many different types of shots that we can't name let alone practice in 10 days so I only teach 3 broad categories. Coverage, Close ups and Cutaways.

The campers don't always get their close ups and cutaways but because I ask them to shoot coverage first, we can always get the story told.

Also, with NLE video systems these days,, we can often cheat the close ups and cutaways with panning and cropping tools.

Leading the way through technology! These films are much better than my first efforts.

90 seconds to post as an experiment to see if people really don't have enough time to write every day.

This is not addressed to those who don't blog or write everyday. It is addressed to those who complain they don't have the time.

You have the time to do so much every day which doesn't help you move the dial.

Netflix, Television, Reddit, Instagram.

These things have their place. In moderation they are cheap entertainments offering infinite jest.

Before you do these things. If you say you want to write, write. If you don't want to, don't.

So, if I ever teach a blogging class, the objective will include a daily post that takes 3 minutes from logging in to posting. That should be generous.

First Thoughts about Blogging as a course of study

Seth Godin writes five blog posts and posts one. Daily.
The secret to success lies in your daily habits.
Life punishes vague dreams and rewards explicit tasks (Tim Ferris, lifestyle experimenter)
Perfect marketing makes advertising (in theory) superfluous.
Blogs which have a well defined scope are more attractive.
Blogs which have a well defined structure are more attractive.
If I attended a 30x45 minute course on blogging, what would I want to learn?
If I created such a course, what would I want to include?
Blogging for reminiscence and memory work
Blogging for marketing purposes
Blogging for self-expression
Blogging for self-promotion
Blogging for Journalism, micro-cultural news, themed news, local news and other news.
Non-text blogging. Photo blogging and video blogging, and platforms similar to blogging which are not blogging.
Advantages and disadvantages of different forms of mass communication media platforms in terms of happiness, vitality and health.
Keeping a journal while living in a self obsessed, permanently distracted, culture.
Efforts by individuals and communities to overcome this trend.
The difference between pleasure and satisfaction
Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman
You are a brand. What does that mean?
Blogs are platforms where there is no implicit trust so it must be earned over time. How long it takes depends on good luck, extent of planning, consistent execution and unknown unknowns.
Good luck includes timeliness.
Extent of planning includes research and meticulous attention to detail.
Consistent execution includes degree of effort; how much of that effort comes from willpower (exhaustible) and how much comes from well developed habits (easy to create, hard to create deliberately) will determine the probability of successful execution.
Unknown unknowns are all those factors which must exist but have not yet been considered.
Push downhill: Sell what folks want to buy (Seth Godin)
Remember Zig Ziglar

Links for further reading:
https://www.quicksprout.com/10-lessons-seth-godin-can-teach-you-about-blogging/
https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/writing-tips-seth-godin

Storytelling for people in a hurry.

The following is based on something I use to teach storytelling at my movie camps. More info about the summer movie camp program can be found here.

How I write stories for movie scripts. -a one sheet- The audience must care about your characters so get characters into trouble immediately. Getting to know them and making them hurt goes together. Focus on clearly drawing your characters, not on making the audience like them. If they are in pain (mental or physical); the camera spends time on them; and they are clearly drawn then you did well. Tell your story to one person in your mind. Real or imaginary people are both okay. Pick one person as your ideal audience if you can. Make the movie as if it is for them. Keep the plot as simple as possible and not simpler. The simplest plot is 2 people want something only one of them can have. Sometimes the goal is two sides of one coin. Luke wants to destroy the Death Star his father wants to build. Nemo's dad is trying to find him while nature (and a collector) are trying to stop him. The simplest act structure in movies is 3-part structure. Keep the beginning as short as possible (act one) then keep the complications fast (act two) then end it conclusively (act three) in a ratio of 1:3:1. keep the beginning as close to the end as you dare. Audiences come for human emotion so keep the action heavy, the dialogue moderate and the exposition/description as light as possible. Stories end with an option-lock or a time-lock or both. The arc looks like pity-struggle-catharsis(relief) The simplest shape of a story is called 'man in a hole* after Kurt Vonnegut formulated this grid approach with good fortune and bad fortune on the y-axis and beginning end end on the x-axis. Your scenario should be 250-350 words for any length of movie. Like any synopsis, if the major themes are not clear on a single page then you have gone overboard and it's time to stop and try again. Arbitrary? Yes. Effective? also yes. Ignore any of the rules above if you want. Just remember it is easier to break rules successfully if you know what they are. Good luck and happy story telling!

Entertaining

Five varieties of heirloom zucchini were used in the preparation of what the chef refrained from referring to as a variant of peasant ratatouille. The guests were advised by courier that no one was permitted to speak during the meal and to arrive on time and leave as soon as they were finished eating. The journalist who had been invited to document the very rare appearance of the host in what might guardedly be called public society kept quiet only by keeping leafy greens in the mouth at all times. Every guest was seated by a personal waiter in an adjustable-height wing-backed armchair so that even the view of the other guests in the dimly lit dining hall was made difficult. This was a relief to the journalist who liked to eat with gusto even at the risk of offending the host with poor table manners. The journalist ate heartily and washed every mouthful down with wine from a glass that was perpetually replenished so unobtrusively by a personal waiter that after the fifth portion the journalist began to imagine the glass was in fact a cornucopia of wine and its operation was entirely the result of highly sophisticated magic.

Due to this indulgence and other factors, the host had already thanked all the other guests when the journalist staggered to a standing stop.

"That was delicious."
"Thank you. I used to have these dinner parties more often but talk was more interesting then."
"We weren't allowed to speak, how do you know we'd have been boring?"

The journalist could imbibe any quantity and still sound sober and yet, the question was entirely the product of drunk reasoning. There was no possible way any conversation tonight could have been interesting. The entire table had been made up of personages too august to ever let someone into their unguarded, hence interesting, thoughts. The journalist had been at dinner parties elsewhere with this entourage. All they had discussed were topical issues of the present state of the world, the lost biodiversity and the heated climate. Serious topics worthy of serious action, hence boring to the extreme. No, there would not have been better than that tonight. All those reputations who'd sat at this table had persona's to conjure and maintain in glamorous glittering brittle affected perfection. The journalist knew the truth of course, not that any editor would publish the truth. The truth was that none of the people who ate the ratatouille tonight were still living their lives. They had long ago surrendered to a public performance of living.

All except the host.

"I knew the talk would have been boring because I have been bored by talk for a long time. No one has said anything in my presence with any real effort behind the words. There is a word in french, do you know it? Gaspiller. It means to waste although it doesn't really capture the ache of the sentiment. I often find the word on my lips. Still, I wanted a dinner party, I wanted the world to remember me but at the same time I wanted the world to leave me alone."

"So you forbade talking."
"Only during the meal."
"We were told to leave as soon as we finished."
"You were."
"I didn't."
"I am never bored you see? Alone, I am never bored, I like the company of others but they make me tired and when I am tired I am irritable and when they talk they make me tired faster. I wish it were otherwise but I can't help myself."
"Why tell me? I was just leaving."
"I cannot burden my family with my troubles. You are a nobody."
"I'm a journalist."
"I deny everything. What I said was for your ears alone."
"Are you so weary of life?"
"Not in the least, I personally prepared your meal tonight."

The journalist's eyes widen reflexively.

"I don't believe you."
"Neither will anyone believe you."
"I am surely not the best person to unload your weariness on."
"Why did I take the trouble to arrange this dinner after so long out of the public eye?"
"Why take the trouble to cook the meal yourself?"
"I needed to care and I needed you to care."
"To be honest, I don't."
"I know."
"The meal was delicious and the wine and the service..." the journalist trailed off.
"superlative, yes. I did it all for myself. I am in the curious position of being the writer, producer, director, distributor and audience of my own micro-cultural content. Entertainment one-to-one."
"I think that's a sad way to go through life."
"My life is rich and full beyond words, I have everything."
"So why are you so unhappy?"
"Am I?"
"Happy people are banal, they don't do things like full-service silent dinner parties in purpose-built settings."
"The chairs? I wanted everyone to be exactly the same height."
"Yet in lighting so dim at a table so wide with wings on the chairs that we were literally isolated?"
"When you've tried everything within reason, the only options remaining are unreasonable."

The journalist turned without a further word and walked to the hall where a porter handed over a coat.
"A car is waiting to take you home," said a porter.

The journalist was too full, too drunk, too tired, to refuse the car. There was no backward glance. The host was clearly on a track too personal to make any sense of.

The night had certainly been entertaining.

Suspects

"Why are you here?"

"I had to come."

"After so long?"

"I didn't want to but since I'm here, I thought I'd look you up."

"I wish you didn't"

"You're right, I should go."
"Wait, since you've come we might try and have a talk."
"Thank you."
"So, how have you been?"
"Good, and you?"
"You don't know?"
"I wish we'd done this sooner."
"Maybe this was a mistake."
"No, please, let's just sit here across from each other for a while."
"Alright."
"I wanted to tell you I'm doing well and I wanted to be sure you are too."
"Still the same old same-old. What about what I wanted?"
"You wanted to be left alone."
"You're damn right."
"So we're strangers with familiar faces?"
"And?"
"I suspect that's all. What do you think?"
"I'm happy with how things are."
"I'm glad you say so. I don't think we'll admit anything else, you're right, we're too strange."
"I didn't say that."
"You didn't, I guess it doesn't have to be said."
"Well, I've got to be running."
"For what it's worth coming from me, I'm proud of you and wish you every success."
"Thanks."
"I just wanted you to know that, I suppose."
"It's not true, what I said about being happy, but I am content, lots of satisfaction."
"You look happy."
"So do you."
"See you."
"Yes, sure."

THE END

Lying in and about hotel beds alone in the dark.

Welcome, out of the cold. Our only guest. That's right, step right this way. Follow me closely please, our lights are low. Our guests are photosensitive. This suite here, thank you but no, we cannot accept gratuities. Enjoy staying with us.

The door closes with a reassuring click. The air pressure changes as the seal of a well mitred door frame with insulation cuts off all outside sound. The room is carpeted in a heavy shag so clean it seems a shame to walk on it in shoes.

Lying on top of the sheets in outdoor clothes in the dark.

Dreams come. A previously owned car. An underground parking garage with exhorbitant towing fees. A late night meal in the only open business. Light spilling from windows onto pavement. Familiar places well worn with memory and living.

No point going there. Nothing remains. The old ugly makes way for the new ugly.

Breaking glass. A long fall. A dream but not for some.

Wanting nights to last forever in silence and darkness and peace and absolute quiet.

Peeling off outdoor clothes and folding them neatly. A Hollywood shower. Full pajamas, a sleeping cap, night mask and security with sheets tucked under the feet and no extremities dangling over the edge.

A hot cheese sandwich would go right but it is too late to eat without risking very intense and vivid dreams that involve some terrible loss that cannot be consoled by living longer. This loss just leaches all the vitality and energy and pleasure away leaving remains that walk and talk and pay for hotel rooms.

Lying in the dark under the sheets with all devices on mute and the phone unplugged is the pleasure of anhedonia: being unreachable.

Not even talking to people who are not there but just spending time with them in silence. Old people sitting on benches and watching pigeons doing their mating dances in spring. Old people watching the pigeons and imagining the pigeons are people. Not random people but familiar and younger people. Some dead and some living. Total raunch if people did what pigeons do. Old men, usually men, watching.

Reading in bed until the pigeons fly away and take the invisible people with them. Filling the day in units and increments because ever moment is tolerable if you isolate it. Segment the moments into eternities where whatever is done is all that has ever been done. Lying there in the same position all night, maximally relaxed muscles, forehead and shoulders dropped. Teeth brushed and flossed and minty.

Neither awake nor asleep. Night.

The moon rises. Venus rises. They can be seen from the window appearing to cross from one block of flats to the other. They could be lovers leaping from one balcony to another except Venus is very small. A lady starving herself guiltless. The moon is fat. Indolent with redolence in splendiferousness.

Talking never works. Listening doesn't work either. There is always the asynchronicity and asymmetry between the two participants. Talking from B to A is not heard but talking from A to B is listened to. Meanwhile A doesn't know B is listening and B knows A is not.

So much for modern talking.

Friends are disappointing. Except when they are really smart or funny or dead or all three.
Family cannot be disappointing even when disappointment is what is called for. There are reasons for this but lying on the bed is more interesting than exploring the reasons beyond the idea that friends are themselves while family is closer than that.

Anxiety is boring, frustration is boring, tiredness, fatigue and exhaustion are boring. Especially when that exhaustion is mental and it's all mental. Even the physical debilitations that flesh is heir to. Like neurasthenia in the legs and arthritis in the thumb and heartburn from having eaten too late after all.

Even Shakespeare ended sentences with prepositions at least once. Meanwhile the sheets remain cool and the silence remains deep and the moon continues to rise and the hotel and the planet it rests on spins with an ever-so-slowly decelarating motion. No point in trying to arrive anywhere, just pass the time.

As the absence of bordom is surprise and age brings fewer surprises because of the commensurate knowledge that each experience grants and among those true novelties that do come, increasingly they are unwelcome as most of the pleasant ones have already been invoked, then the point seems to be that rather than trying to finish anything, trying to find a way to spend time in a way that has any completeness to it is the point to lying in and about hotel beds alone in the dark.

Why no posts?

As I have been busy writing for publication this year I have not been able to contribute to this blog. Blogging was a great way for me to develop the habit of writing and for some time, that habit has found other outlets.

When I return, I hope to explore new forms within this medium, perhaps long form episodic fiction.

Because there is no limit to the length of story I can publish online. Wouldn't it be nice to publish a book which cannot be bound?

What are my terms for success and failure here? That is what I need to decide before I can return.

I will return.