Thursday, January 20

The Thinking Is The Doing

The difference (at least "A" difference) between me and successful people (I know, I AM successful in certain ways, and every time a bell rings an angel gets its wings - attaboy, Clarence!) is my inability to finish something once I've initially thought about it. To me, the thinking is the doing.

I'm talkin' artistic ideas. Tons of great ideas have bounced around in this brain, but they don't get any further than the thinking of them. I'm too lazy to flesh them out, I guess. And if I do manage to push an idea past the thinking stage, to the actual working on it, I must ensure that I keep tight-lipped about it. The second the idea gets voiced to another person, it's like a pin bursting a balloon, and the idea gets immediately relegated to the 'forget about it' pile. The thinking is the doing, and the telling is the producing.



So, I need someone to come up with a computer program, some device I can plug into my brain that will automatically make hard copies of all those brilliant theatrical and cinematic thoughts that never get done. Then I need a device that can take those hard copy ideas and silently work them up into full-fledged written text.



Once that's accomplished, I'll be one prolific writer. A prolific writer that has tons of shitty computer-generated plays and screenplays stuffed into the drawers of the desks in my home.



13 comments:

graham said...

Rob, I have just the thing for you. It's called faith. That's right, you just have to believe, man. If you let a saviour into your heart, the sky's the limit. ask 37% of inmates. Those guys know. The computer program your looking for is called the golden rule, and the computer to run it on is your brain.
That, or you can hire a student to type out your thoughts and compile them as you spew them out. You make the choice...

Hans said...

So that's how all those Hollywood movies are being made these days. I thought they were using the crude technology of the cookie-cutter, but with the state of current computer software....

Rob said...

By the way and coincidentally, Hans, the name of the software used to script those Hollywood movies:
KookieKutter (tm) v.08 (beta)

Will Pate said...

May I recommend Getting Things Done? It's all the rage with geeks/technies/knowledge workers, but with good reason. I'm only about halfway through the book and I've already noticed that I'm capturing my thoughts more often and I'm becoming more organized.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0142000280/002-3567194-5918431

Sidney said...

Wow, Will Pate, you may have just saved my life. I generally think that I am pretty smart and also funny. I have lots of good ideas about how to get things done and what to write papers about and the like. But then I end up spending my day reading blogs and commenting. Perhaps if I buy this book and read it in conjunction with the Bible, I will be saved from a life a mediocracy. Or maybe I will just be happy being mediocre.

dylan said...

C'mon Sidney don't be to hard on the guy. He's just trying to help Rob increase his creative output. Of course with movies like "Racing Stripes" in theatres now I think Rob should just write out every idea he has in crayon and start submitting them to studios. The only problem I have is the link to Amazon. My god people start spending locally. There are independent bookstores everywhere that are part of your community use them.

graham said...

Hey, Dyl. You have bad gramer. Maibe you shuld go too a book/store and buye a english 1o1 book

dylan said...

I'm sorry Graham. I'll try and work on my grammer in the future. I know how important it is to properly use punctuation and grammer in internet postings.

Rob said...

Can't we all just get along?
Thanks for the recommendation, Will.

Sidney said...

I am generally a pretty nicesh person who is easy to get along with. And now I am panicking and feeling bad because does everyone think I was being mean to Will?? I wasn't. I genuinely do find it interesting that this book exists and would love to read it. SORRY if I hurt anyone's feelings. I wasn't trying to be mean.

Rob said...

When I read your comment, Sidney, I assumed there was a {sarcasm} {/sarcasm} surrounding it. I think it was the "in conjunction with the bible" that made me assume you were being sarcastic. Please don't panic, or else I'll start panicking and feeling bad that you're panicking and feeling bad.

dylan said...

I was totally offended by everyones comments. So start panicking and feeling bad. I had to watch the DVD of "The Christmas Shoes" movie that Graham got me for Christmas just to make me feel better.
Sarcasm? I'll have to look that one up on google.

Sigmund Freud said...

After you have turned zee sheep loose, Rob, zen you must herd zem.