Wednesday, December 21, 2016

"I like corny. I'm looking for more corny in my life."

The title line is from The Holiday, and it's the best line possibly in any movie ever, and I wish every day that I had written it. 



When you're a writer who's not writing, I guess it's only natural to end up where I currently am.

Which is knowing that something's wrong and missing, and just being grumpy about it all the time.

So I did what any writer in a slump does - put on a movie with a fantastic screenplay and wished for the day the screenplay writer is me.

I think as I get older, I want instant results or an immediate change more and more, and I forget that old cliche that the best things in life are worth waiting for.

I also forget that I've had to work damn hard to get literally everything I have in my life. So why should writing be any easier.

I want writing to be easier. Being a writer was how I defined myself for so long, I felt like I was entitled for it to be easy, for the inspiration to just flow naturally.

But tonight as I sat on my couch with a half-eaten bag of Cool Ranch Doritos and yelling at Nancy Meyers for making The Holiday almost too good, I was struck with humility and pride all at the same time.

The humility because I don't deserve anything I've worked hard for, but God in His mystical and crazy ways has allowed me to have it. If it's in my best interest and His best will, then I'll get what I work hard for. Period.

The pride because do I really want something to be published that I half-assed? I'm way too much of a perfectionist for that. I should be submitting the seventeenth draft, not the second. I should be thoughtful and deliberate in my writings, not willy-nilly or just cause. I should write something that I can be proud to show strangers and friends alike.

I hate slumps. So I'm going to get out of this one.

Watch and learn, kids.