The Write Tools

The past couple of years have brought me 2 profound revelations:

1) I enjoy writing.
2) I can be organized.

And now I'm really good at one of those.

I think it was my return to school that forced me to become more organized and structured. I've never been a great student, but enough people have convinced me into thinking I'm somewhat bright, that I was capable of better grades. Perhaps going back to college, a few years older and wiser, gave me a greater appreciation for education. I made a conscious decision to be more organized, structured, and hopefully, more productive. I embraced the, "Getting Things Done" mantra (Google it), and applied it to all aspects of my life. I compartmentalized work, school and play. I lived by a strict 'To Do' list, and still follow it. Guess what? It worked. I've been able to handle most facets of my life with ease and minimal stress. I'm not as easily rattled as I once was and I feel like I am in greater control.

Structure had served me well, too well.

When I came to the realization that I wanted to pursue more creative endeavors, I treated it like those other aspects of my life I've "mastered." I felt like the only way I could succeed as a writer would be by streamlining the process, so that I can have full control over it. I've only recently discovered that this is a fallacy. Writing, like any other creative art, must come from a place of purity, a place so true and raw that it can never conform to due dates or task lists. 'Distraction free' writing applications and coffee shops do not a writer make. Writing can, and should be done anywhere, anytime, with anything. I was wasting far too much time getting ready to work, and not enough actually working.

PBS recently made Woody Allen the subject of their 'American Masters' series, in which they gave us a behind the scenes look at the way he worked. First, he used legal pads, and jotted down random thoughts that came to him, no matter how bizarre or abstract. The loose sheets of paper would remain stuffed in a drawer, until he took them out and laid them, haphazardly on his bed. He would shuffle through the non-sensical pile until a premise tickled his fancy.

Then he wrote. On a typewriter. Which he's had for about 50 years. On which he's written everything he's ever produced.

I couldn't start writing my script until I downloaded Scrivener on my MacBook Air. (Both of which I love, by the way)

Today I wondered, "People must have tried to change Woody's ways, right?" Surely in the 80s someone must have set up a computer in an office for him. But, for some reason, he's refused it.

Then I thought, "Does the tool impact the work?" I can't imagine type-writing a script. I'm constantly hop-scotching from element to element, tweaking, re-wording, cutting and pasting. With a typewriter, while not impossible, those actions are inconvienient. Instead, Woody is able to write in a more straight forward, stream of consciousness manner.

True, this can lead to lengthy bits of dialogue and exposition, but, so what? You can hear his voice. Clear and loud. What good is the best tool, if it comes between the author and his work?