Balance in Writing
So my wife and I are embarking on a second novel. We’ve outlined everything and have a nice entertaining story plotted out. We know what our characters look like, what their history is, and most importantly, what happens to them. We know what the major settings are like and a chapter-by-chapter breakdown all done up. We have pages of data created for this book. In fact, all that is left is to write the silly thing. Read more »
Posted: July 24th, 2008 under Time Management.
Comments: none
When the game show “Deal or No Deal” became popular, I read a few comments about the show saying that it was teaching the American public basic statistics. I chuckled at that since it was quite true. For those of you who haven’t seen the show, the basic premise is that the contestant chooses a briefcase that holds a hidden amount of money. As the show progresses, the contestant eliminates other cases and those cases reveal the amount of money in them. After each batch of elimination, the contestant is offered a sum of money based on the amounts that have not been revealed. The contestant then decides if they’ll take the money and run or keep playing. So at different junctures in the show, typically during a commercial break, the contestant must make a decision. 
I love superheroes, pretty much always have. I’ve read thousands of comic books and seen more TV shows and movies dealing with people who dress up in tight clothing and fight other people dressed up in tight clothing. What I find most entertaining is the fact that the stories are written to be as realistic as possible given the unrealistic world they are based in. You believe that Batman was so driven by his parent’s death that his focus is only on preventing that from happening to someone else. So each night he patrols the city, looking for crime to stop. One thing I’ve always wondered is: when does he sleep? 
My greatest struggle in dealing with stress is all in my head. I have a significant disconnect between my emotional self and my rational self and frankly I’m not sure what to do about it. In a nutshell, I know that at some point the stress will go away. Very few things in life could cause stress for the rest of your life, so what you are going through will end eventually. Job loss, missed deadlines on a project, and arguments with friends or family, all are eventually taken care of one way or another. I know this, and my brain knows this, but my heart does not. 
One of my continuing issues is that I’m either hashing over things that happened in the past or I’m concerning myself with things that may/will happen in the future. While my brain is frittering away on these thoughts, it is completely missing the now and all the amazing things associated with it. Contrast that with my children who often do not know what they will be doing ten minutes in the future, let along ten days. They live almost totally in the now and enjoy much less stress because of it.