Motivation (and lack thereof)

Talk about digging deep. I know I've brought this up before, but motivation is truly and honestly the biggest obstacle I face right now. I mean this in multiple areas of my life, but mostly Fitness and Writing. It tends to present itself more with fitness, since working out (aside from running) has become little more than drudgery at this point in my life.

Recently, I read an article on The Psychology of Motivation on Men's Health to gain more insight into what was holding me back, and it turned out to reveal a bit more than I expected. This must have been one of their "feature" stories at some point in time, judging by the length of the article first and the commonality of this problem second. Everyone has issues with motivation at some point in time, I think, and (again) across multiple areas of life.

When I was in college, I could not motivate myself to sit down and "study" because tests did not scare me and I was just as satisfied with a mediocre/passing grade. Of course, nowadays I'm far more motivated by the accumulation of knowledge than by the passing of tests, so if/when I return to college things will be different. Oftentimes it's difficult to motivate myself to do chores around the house (while other times it is, strangely, not) even though I was instilled during my youth with a good work ethic and no fear of housework or "sharing the load" as far as it's concerned.

Reading the article, as it pertains to fitness, made me realize that I really just don't enjoy working out anymore. I enjoy running, and that's about it. I don't get that same rush from lifting and curling that I used to, or from bench pressing, or squatting. The facilities I've had to do so for over a year now have been inadequate (even in the running department) which deflates the motivation even more. It's odd to be motivated to work out... so long as it doesn't include the actual work of a commute or any additional effort to reach or make available the facilities to exercise. I can't even effectively do aerobic/yoga/workout DVD's in my living room because of how tedious and boring they are. Not even the "newness" of yoga excites me, and I thought newness was a large portion of the problem.

Sadly, the problem is (to return to the point) motivation. And the reason I don't have motivation is because the enjoyment of the aforementioned activities is low to moderate. I don't enjoy studying, or chores, etc., anymore. However, according to the article, if I could convince myself that I did, I would be unstoppable.

The situation is very similar when it comes to writing, since I do truly enjoy it when I am successful at achieving my goals there (crafting a story, plot, interesting characters). What I think has killed my motivation in the past 3-5 months is that Scions has taken a severe turn, and the plot became something I no longer recognized nor wanted. Recovering from that has taken multiple attempts at doing different things, a bout with the dreaded Writer's Block (which is a real thing, oddly enough), and an intense search to reignite what I enjoyed originally about writing a story.

I felt bad for wasting a bit of time this year in making time to write but then not being productive or not producing something worth keeping, but that only adds to whatever block might be plaguing a writer. I've had to cast that off (or try to), and look ahead.

As 2010 is shaping up to be another "landmark" year for my writing career, I continue to wrestle with motivation in those multiple areas. With running, it will be harder to move forward until the weather warms up (but not impossible). With writing, though, I have no such excuse. Therefore I go back to my Word file for some serious typing.

Happy Holidays to everyone, and here's to making 2010 a great one.

Initial Draft open to review self-published Fantasy titles

I've given a lot of thought to how I can contribute to moving my chosen genre forward (other than writing my own books, since that's already well in motion). I'd like to give back to the community that has been so generous to me.

From personal experience, I know how difficult it is to garner reviews for self-published books. I recently gave a presentation on it at my writer's group where I talked about reputation and credibility; two things incredibly difficult to come by in the self-publishing market. It's with this in mind that I willingly open up my reading and reviewing skills to any and all self-published Fantasy titles.

Here are the ground rules to get your self-published book reviewed:

The book must actually be published in physical form. There are numerous reasons for this, including that I don't want any "you stole my idea" arguments (as I am an author writing my own books), and I am not 100% on-board with the electronic book movement as yet. If you want to send me a book to review, it must be a book -- not a pdf, audio cd, etc.

Second, this is a "no money" system. If you want a review, you send me a book.

Third. As a guideline, I prefer to only read Fantasy, and non-YA Fantasy. I'll consider SF, but I will not turn down any "adult" Fantasy title for review.

Finally, the timeframe for returning a review will depend on two factors: the number of books in the queue, and the length of said books. I want to make this easy on everyone involved, including myself, by setting expectations at the outset.

Surely this is the most altruistic thing I've ever done.

So, to get your self-published book reviewed, either leave a comment with how to get in contact with you or send me an email at INITIALDRAFT@GMAIL.COM with "book review" in the subject line. Please allow 3-5 days for a response.

#AliceInNarnia and #Robinhoodiator

I'm taking a break from the general, run-of-the-mill writerly talk to reflect (again) on a few of the most recent movie trailers I've seen. Last time I was highlighting Disney's epic re-releases... one of which is now revealed to be a BRAND NEW tale (sort of).

Alice in Narnia (aka Alice in Wonderland)

I have kept a keen eye out for this film since, just like everyone else, I noticed it had Johnny Depp in it. The guy just doesn't do bad [mainstream] work [for Disney]. Unfortunately, the newest trailer for Alice has revealed it to be an absolutely incredible rip-off of a story Disney has already brought us: Chronic[what?]cles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

Don't believe me? Check out the trailer:

Checklist:
Human travels to alternate realm -- check. (Further nod, this is Alice's return journey, roping in more than one Narnia reference)
Alternate realm has talking animals -- check.
Big bad queen/witch/woman with bad attitude has "taken over" -- check. (Instead of winter, we assumedly get a lot of disembodied heads)
Pristine figure champions human to take down villain rather than just, you know, doing it on their own -- check. (Aslan the Lion == The White Queen)

About the only differences I see are Alice's size alterations (which confound me, since in the original story she grew bigger than a house... might come in handy to just stomp the Queen of Hearts to a wonderful, pulpy death) and the comic relief/sideshow heroics of the aforementioned Johnny Depp as a very mad hatter. Considering the original fable and Disney adaptation were both semi-lacking in the good vs. evil area, the writers of this particular tale have taken some very generous liberties in making the Red Queen somewhat more than just a simple megalomaniac. Perhaps in cartoon form, the "off with their head!" command just seems less menacing.

Regardless, this is a blatant rip-off of an already unoriginal idea. The first trailer did not hint at this and I, therefore, feel betrayed. Wonderland is full of interesting characters and concepts, and the best they could come up with is a mimic of Narnia? Boo. Boo, I say, booooooo.

Robinhoodiator (aka Robin Hood)

When I was younger, I thought the Kevin Costner Robin Hood was a passable film. Tension, drama, action, purity of true love, Bryan Adams on the soundtrack... recipe for success! And yet, having re-watched it as an adult, it's clear to me now just how racist it actually was. Any scene with Morgan Freeman the Moor is shockingly biased to show off "just how cool white people are." I'm surprised he agreed to do the movie in the first place. Based on this, and comments from a South Africaner on his recent Invictus performance, my opinion of him has been considerably damaged.

But, I digress.

Despite the Errol Flynn, Disney animated, Kevin Costner, and lampooning Men in Tights versions, someone apparently thought it was a brilliant idea to produce yet another iteration of Robin Hood. But wait, we learned our lesson with Costner -- we must have someone who will actually try to put on a British accent, even if he's Australian. I'm assuming this is how the thought process went to casting Russell Crowe as the lead -- pushing aside he lacks any of the flair that I would expect from the title role.

Here's the trailer:

Now, if you've seen Gladiator, everything you've seen in the above vignette should be familiar. Men on horseback, men with swords, etc. except for the Russell-Crowe-with-a-bow (haha, rhymed) portion. To make things even more familiar, they've included the director for Gladiator, and even say so right on the screen. Considering the popular idea of speech patterns of Ancient Rome (or Greece, or Israel, or ... anywhere) is pseudo-British, for reasons that escape most of us moviegoers who give a crap, we will basically be watching the same movie -- but with archery.

It seems like every few years, someone pops up bitching at/about Hollywood because they recycle the same ideas. Apparently it's my turn.

As I said earlier today, "I am not entertained."

ZZZZzzzzzzz......

I know things have been silent on the blog front for a bit, and no it's not because of NaNoWriMo or anything so fancy as that. Trying to work some things out at the moment, and not quite through the forest just yet.