The Art of Dropping EE2 (1 Viewer)

[kami]

There are a lot of us out there asking “Should I still even bother writing?”, heck there are a lot of us stating that they can no longer write and that dropping is the answer instead of the question. Well yes and no. It doesn’t have to be the answer, the situation is salvageable for most of us even if we have only *gasp* 800 words. Basically, you could drop EE2, let your MW go and just go on even though you have put all the effort in. Or alternatively, you could look at your MW and ask “What am I not doing that I need to do now?”. And I’ll admit this is a difficult question since EE2 is the most personal of subjects, but still you need to think through your decisions carefully(albeit quickly) and so many people don’t in the stress that they’re under or they do think on things, but focus only on the possibility of failure.

The biggest reason in my experience of procrastination and stress, has been doubts about myself as a writer, and doubts about myself and my ability to discipline myself – I mean to write all these thousands of words and make it good, that’s a pretty big ask…and I don’t know if I’ll even get there with all the other things on my plate. And while its something of a guess, I’d say that’s how a lot of others are feeling. And these feelings all come down to judgement by yourself and others – judging what you feel, what you think, what you can do and just not being able to accomplish things as a result. This has lead me, and probably a lot of the rest of you as well, into painful sessions in front of a computer screen, *not* getting work done especially when we are at this vital point where it needs to be done. Which is the big killer, it stuffs up EE2, it stuffs up study for other subjects and it stuffs up your self confidence making it even harder to write next time around and even though few of us would expect it, I would bet that we all at times hope that some witty scene, some perfect dialogue will jump from our brain into the computer and “voila!” procrastination solved. But most of the time this *wont* happen, there is no magic formula, we just have to accept that our work will in all probability suck the first time around. The metaphors will be mismatched, the dialogue may make Bold & the Beautiful look intelligent and the characters will be more cutout than cardboard but that’s just how it works.

Now though, the penny drops..."how in the world am I gonna write all those *words* and get it *all* together!" and procrastination and self judgement kicks in again, and really there is only one way to avoid it...don't try to write literature, just write...even if its the crappiest you have ever written and it makes you wanna hurl! It doesn’t matter if the writing comes out like "I crawled in a tree and threw cans at neighbour, neighbour got mad at me, poo poo!" because you can edit it! Just make sure your idea has a fighting chance to live and don’t commit Major Workacide on it out of despondency. And seriously, you would have no idea how easy it is to write crap once you’ve done it – several thousand words could be done easily in a day or so as long as you weren’t too picky. So it can get done, if you want it too, and it can be edited also( something which is easy to do when you have the opinions of people you trust to guide you). So while there is never shame in dropping a subject which is not right for you, don’t give into the fear, the doubt, the judgement, you *can* do it, *I* know you all can. I have seen the people who post on here and you are all capable young people so remember *you* can do it!

PS. Guess what? I think I just wrote nearly 700 words then and there just to make a point.

 

[super katie]

Hooray for evan! Now drink my potion

 

[black_man]

wow, that was really amazing kami, i really wish i could continue to rep you in some sort of gratitude. i dont think there is really any more to add to your encouragement. I feel if we write with the intention to move our audience, then we must write when we are moved. so maybe if we can believe in ourselves, believe in what we are all writing and work *within* our major work, as opposed to working *on* our major work, then wonderful things could really be made possible.

i'm sorry, that may have been somewhat incoherent

 

[ameh]

that was great kami, funny I had doubts this morning and wanted to drop EE2, now I have less of an urge to drop!
[especially considering in my language: writers block = procrastination]

Adaptation: "Find one thing in your work that you're passionate about and write about it"
- Ok that was either from Finding Forrester or Adaptation...can't remember because I saw one after the other =)
Might be useful for under-confident EE2r's

 

[urdy]

It's kind of a waste for dropping EEXT2. Trust me, when the time for submittal comes, you'll be able to finish your work. This time last year, i had written 0 words and had vive voce coming up. As long as you have thought about the process, pressure and stress will make you finish

 

[ameh]

kami u might have construction workers serving as distraction, but I have little kids running around my neighbours backyard screaming after dogs [who bark non-stop in daylight] and cats [who mate/fight and ... well you know those growling sounds cats make at night-time]

also, the father of the kids always holds barbeque get togethers at odd intervals in the day [even night] and consequently my room smells like badly burnt hot dogs and barbeque sauce..yep thats right *sniffs

 

[tez0r]

I <3 evan, in a non homosexual way for this thread, very helpful indeed

 

[kami]

amoz_lilo you have never endured distraction until you have had to endure several men sing pop songs off key during their break, and then get to work with a jackhammer afterwards
Also, I will include some of glitterfairy's pep talks since they are so inspirational

*big hugs to all the 05's*

I remember going through all of this... I used to rework my story from top to bottom, and if I didn't like something (normally halfway down the second page) I was utterly screwed... I remember staring at the screen for hours, freaking out and wondering how the heck I was going to make it work. Naturally, I REFUSED to move on until I was satisfied. Unfortunately, that could take weeks...

I usually only wrote when I was under pressure to. My dear EE2 teacher - Mrs D - figured this out fairly early on. That was when the phone calls - to the home phone!!! - started for example: "If you don't have your full draft done by thursday next week, Bad Things Will Happen!"

My problem was in working myself up so much I couldn't write. If I actually started writing, usually everything turned out ok - but sitting there, and going "omg omg omg this is not working!!!! Why isn't it working? Why can't I think of a way to make it work!" - not good. It was because of this my writing was so sporadic - on good days when I just wrote without thinking too much, it was fine. On bad days when I was stressed and freaking out over the smallest of things, I used to just fall to pieces... nothing got done. If you're like me, just write - don't think! Even if your writing takes you into a completely new direction, let it.

Writing now is especially different. Thanks to the HSC, emotions are probably at an all-time-high and it can be very difficult to suddenly have to break out of the system - sure you have to write from your soul, but you ALSO have to be able to distance yourself somewhat to ensure your major work doesn't become an extended diary entry (or, to avoid many random articles in your journal... mysteriously appearing... by the thousands ). There's a beautiful quote from Finding Forrester I wrote in my journal: "The first draft comes from your heart, the second comes from your head". And that's the way it should be. (for anyone who hasn't seen it yet, be ashamed of yourself, and rent it next weekend!)

Sometimes it can feel as if you're constantly butting your head against a brick wall in terms of where your major work is going - typical story, it started out as a good idea but you're running out of things to write about, or, it just doesn't feel right. Sometimes you just need a change of scene to get new inspiration to write - reading a new book, thinking as you walk home - sometimes it all just hits all of a sudden and it's like "wow! Now I know why it's not working! I'm going to take it into a new direction!". So, maybe you just need to tune out and go absorb yourself in something new like a movie (Finding Forrester, Finding Forrester, Finding Forrester!!!!) or book (far out, we really are geeks if our idea of a good time is a good book... *sigh* lol!).

Be wary of being overly picky - remember, your work as a whole is more important than the syntax of the one sentence (although if you are freaking out, talk to goldendawn... he and syntax/all things proper in the literary world are like *this* close). If you need someone to tell you to stop being paranoid, pm me and I'll add you to my msn list and personally send you "STOP BEING PARANOID" messages until it sinks in

And finally: Don't let the stupid HSC system make you cry! I'll beat it up if it does! (let's not talk about how for now - will figure that out later ) EE2 is subjective - always has been, always will be. To a certain extent, they either will or won't like your work - with that knowledge in mind, you don't really have to worry about whether it'll be "good" or not. Just write.

I think what's most important about EE2 is that you walk away having learnt something. Even if you look back later and despise your major work (give me two seconds, and I can rip my own major work into 16 pieces. I can't stand to look at it these days, and the only reason it remains on BOS is as an example of what you should NOT do), if you have learnt from the process, then you have gained something. Most people have never really written something on this scale before - now is the time to learn how your own writing process works, how to deal with the obstacles that come up, how to distance yourself from your work whilst still keeping that strong sense of yourself within it.

So long as you write the best work you think you can do, (oh, here we come with the HSC cliches) you've done all you can. You all have the talent and the passion just to get this far - now take this opportunity and use it! I know you can!

In addition, I ask if anyone from past years has anything at all they'd like to add. Please do! Keep up the contributions!

 

[get_born]

*clapping* Kami gonna rep ya for that. that was really good. Just want to add something with when you write anything, even carry a notebook or paper and pen around in your bags - sometimes you could be on the tv, listening to the radio or just shoppingor heck doing maths and a line somehow pops into your head...dont just leave it and say ill remember later or put it off or forget about it, write it down even if its on a peice of tissue - its at these kind of moments that inspiration is at its highest - and then after that you can always edit, like Kami said as long as the idea is there. I reckon the fact that people have taken on ee2 - written something is amazing, cause dont forget ee2 is all about creativity and this is why ppl are in ee2 - cause they are creative.