Akting Out

As writers, we all feel it. It’s inevitable.
It may start as a tingle at the base of our spine, a mild pressing at the back of our skull, or in my case, a growing weight at the pit of my stomach. We may try to ignore it, block it out (no pun intended), or press through it, but as we reach our trembling fingers for the keyboard, we find it more difficult than we imagined to ignore our ever-encroaching nemesis, that which acts as a dam against the spring of inspiration and keeps us from expressing our imagination on paper. I speak of the dreaded, tyrannous writer’s block.

Oh, how I despise it so. It usually comes at the worst possible time, after I have spent days, or even weeks planning out an epic drama to the most obscure detail, only to find that I can’t think of a bloody word when it’s time for execution. Even if I have all of my notes right in front of me, my mind is a new chalkboard; completely blank.

It took me months, a lot of banging my head into the wall, some spackle and a ton of ibuprofen before I came up with a solution that works, for me, anyway.

Walk away.

I don’t mean some halfhearted attempt to forget your work, i.e. leaving your computer on, or your pen and paper laying around while you figure out what’s for dinner that night. I mean walk away. Put away the pen and paper, as though you won’t touch it again that day. Fold up the notebook. Turn the computer off. Find something else to do.

I find that my best moments come when I’m doing manual labor, especially the dishes, for some reason. I say this to say; find something else to do with your time. Do something that keeps your moving, but has nothing to do with your writing. Try to make it something you normally don’t like doing, because you’ll find that undertaking this chore may put your mind further away from your writing. Trust me on this. Clean your house. Do the dishes. Plant a garden. Go for a walk. Ground the kids; more than likely, they’ve done something you didn’t catch along the way.

I mean it. Completely walk away. Don’t even do research. Let it go. Don’t wait for the muse to pay you a visit, because s/he never will.

Then, something miraculous happens. During the time you’ve had writer’s block, you’ve actually accomplished something, maybe several things. You may have actually learned something. The point is, you have completely forgotten about your writing when the muse strikes you like cops with a search warrant.

This is the time to return to work. Finish the task at hand, pull out the paper, pen, notebook, computer, or whatever it is that you use and get back to work. You may find that you have a hard time stopping.

This is how you make the most of writer’s block. You put the object of your frustrations out of your mind for a moment, because it’s very difficult to be creative when you’re frustrated. You accomplish something else, it doesn’t matter what, because you’re still getting something done. During this time, you find that your frustration subsides when you’ve stopped worrying about it so much. Then you return to work, stronger and more refreshed than when you were when writer’s block struck.

Thank you for reading.

(c) Avery K. Tingle for Akting Out LLC

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Modern Magic Enterprises LTD was…well, I’m not sure what it was. I pulled the first half of the name from a comic book that published Voltron back in the day, the second half just seemed natural. When I thought I knew a little something about business, I added the LTD to sound cool. Truthfully, it was supposed to be an LLC, I knew enough to know that was probably my best option, but be damned if I was going to put money into it. Not when there were so many games I wanted.

Modern Magic Enterprises LTD was supposed to be my ticket to the top. I wasn’t sure what it was supposed to be, but I was going to beat you over the head with it until I ruled the world. I wanted to make games and movies, but I had little idea how to do it, and it didn’t take long for people to figure this out—no matter how self-assured I came off. I learned a lot over the years, trying to get this business off the ground. I learned how to write business and marketing plans, I learned about the business of video games and movies, I learned how computer animation works, and I became really good at recruiting people. So good, in fact, that two schools actually sent me demo reels of their graduating classes—even though I wasn’t paying anybody.

We didn’t do so bad; at our peak, we were a team of over thirty writers, animators, concept artists, modelers, texture artists (DIVAS!!!), level designers, and audio technicians. We assembled multiple design documents and even brought game to demo stage; Rabid Jack Thrash, which was supposed to be a tribute to our favorite video games, featured our company mascot (a red rabbit) who assumed the powers of whatever famous game character he assimilated. It was a 2D platformer for Xbox Live Arcade (I think), and it was as close as we ever got to success.

Unfortunately, truth be told, I had absolutely no idea what I was doing. Drive will take you so far, but nothing makes up for ignorance.

Time after time, after time again, Modern Magic Enterprises LTD fell apart.

So a couple of years ago, the idea of putting together a business all but abandoned, I discovered that I wanted to be a writer. Amazingly (and don’t think there isn’t a day that goes by I’m not grateful for this) I have a few friends who actually found me through my writing. As I continue to walk this road and establish a presence on the web, suddenly, an idea hits me.

I’ve been using the name “Modern Magic Enterprises LTD” for over a decade now…and I never was able to take it anywhere. The world knows that. I may not take this next vision anywhere, but I believe that if I apply the lessons I learned from MMLTD to this—as I have my whole life—I’ll increase my chances of succeeding.

So with that, I would like to make Modern Magic Enterprises LTD’s final announcement.

From August 2, 2010 on out, I will be doing business as Nomadic Productions LLC. The LLC isn’t official yet; incorporation will occur summer 2011.

I want to provide the best story-based experiences in the world. I want to do this through the written word and both interactive and non-interactive media.

The first product released will be a free ebook entitled “Universal Warrior: Atherean Defenders”, which will compile all six chapters of the Flash Fiction series into a single novel. The ebook will be distributed free of charge from…well, you’ll see as it gets closer. Don’t want to announce something I can’t promise yet (lesson learned the hard way).

Also, Universal Warrior: Atherean Defenders will also be released as Nomadic Productions LLC’s first animated film series. The project will use RealIllusion’s iClone software. Release date and price TBA.

If you want to be kept up on Universal Warrior, you can join the fan page on Facebook.

Thanks for reading.

(c) Avery K. Tingle for Akting Out LLC

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