Interesting bits from my first night in class

Summer is officially finished. While that sounds sad at face value, it’s really not that bad for the following reasons:

1.       Unlike my first 20 years of life, this is not a farewell to good weather. It will stay hot for awhile, get really warm through October, then cool down nicely for the holidays. And by “cool down”, I mean a respectable sixties-ish.

And, no, I’m not gloating or bragging. I’m making the point that, as a person who has never enjoyed cold weather, I no longer have to mourn the end of summer sun.

2.       It’s high time I finished school. This will hopefully be my last year at school before finding a job/paid internship/fellowship/something in the film/tv industry. God willing.

Finishing school, finding a job, it's all a little overwhelming... see the analogy with this picture from our hike in Big Bear?

3.       This summer has been quite the… something. Moving twice, crazy land-lady, not finishing a script-writing goal but unexpectedly accomplishing another, creating and completing an extended summer program at workchurch… It wasn’t all what I envisioned, but a lot happened. I’m ready for a break-

Go ahead. Make your own analogy with this one.

Yeah….. about that. This is what “fall” means in Maltopia right now:

1.       School- two classes, but both pretty much lecture (instead of the usual lab classes that focus on exercises and projects all semester).

2.       Workchurch increase. September officially starts holiday season in ministry. In order to stay on top of the three back-to-back-to-back events- Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas- one has to start kicking butt in September. Plus, we have a September event as well, in addition to an increase of administrative responsibilities for me that are not kid-related.

3.       “The Root of Jesse” is our Christmas show at the theatre. I am so honored to have the opportunity to create the script, and so excited to be in production. Stay tuned for more on the progress, and mark your calendar for December 7^th-9^th so you can come see it.

There's artwork! It's official!

4.       Writing…. As mentioned above, I did NOT complete my summer writing goals. I will be applying for a few things that require spec scripts (unsolicited scripts, either original or based on an existing series) and essays, as well as another stageplay for the theater. The forces of discipline will need to overcome the power of procrastination for this to all happen before January.

Oh, yeah, so as I was saying, summer is officially finished because I had my first class of the semester last night. I am taking a screenwriting course, and it began with the usual syllabus coverage and class exercise. Our professor mentioned an interesting fact about writing and computer use. Apparently, she’s studied a lot about the psychology of the creative process. She reminded us that a computer screen is actually flickering at a high rate that we don’t consciously notice (this is why, when you take a video of a computer screen, it looks all funny). However, our eyes are still working as they register and process the motion. Though initially minor, the stress on our eyes and brain builds up. This is why we are tired after being in front of the monitor for long periods of time (can I get an “amen”, cubicle-dwellers?). Additionally, this steady mental distraction is detrimental to the writing process as well. This brings me to the conclusion that caught my attention.

Using a pen(cil) and paper is often more fruitful than computer work. Though logic tells me that typing quicker than I write should produce more results, experience tells me that I can think clearer when I sit down with a notebook. I always thought that it was because it made me slow a bit to completely finish a thought (despite my frustration of not being able to scribble at the rate my ideas race). But, according to my professor, studies show that we think more deeply when working by hand- and the inconsiderate computer flickering is largely to blame.

Ok, just one more Big Bear picture before I go.

On that note, I suppose I should take a break from the keyboard. There’s a cabinet in the kindergarten classroom that needs to be cleaned, an informational brochure to update, a fun day event to plan, and a whole bunch of other stuff I dutifully wrote in my notebook. By hand.