Today's writing class: dialogue. Why dialogue is so hard. All the things dialogue is. All the things it isn't. (Very often, it isn't two people having a conversation. In fact, that's about the worst thing it can be.)
Other people read our exercises for us in class. Aloud, of course -- this is dialogue.
Mine was okay, but it didn't fulfill the assignment exactly correctly. Hardly at all, actually. The teacher, who seems like a cool enough guy, pointed out some ways I could (and will) rewrite this to fulfill the parameters better. Waaaah. I have to rewrite. Writing is rewriting; time to see if it's true.
The reason I'm here is to get better at writing; getting better is hard work; I dislike hard work. Does anyone see a problem here?
Some of the writers in the class had really good dialogue scenes. Very good speech rhythms, dialect, flow. I have to work more on that too, I know -- my characters tend to sound a great deal alike. A great deal like me. They're all erudite, and they tend not to assume the other characters are stupid.
I know I can master this. I just have such severe initial resistance to learning anything, to getting better at anything, because my outrageously oversized ego pops up and says, I'm already the best at everything, what's all this hard work for?
So this week I can't leave my writing assignments for a couple of hours a day or so before class. I have to write them and rewrite them and see if I can't get the hang of what he's talking about here. At least do enough so that I can say, Here, this is what I did, and I still am not getting it. Right now I feel aimless, because I don't know anything. Or at least, I should start from a position of not knowing anything -- knowing something and it's the wrong thing is very, very bad.
In other, non-writing news: yesterday when Matt and I were waiting for David to show up for filming, we talked about working out at the gym, and we may start making dates to go over there. Not to work out together -- I'd probably just plop on the stairmaster or a bike for half an hour -- but as incentive to get our butts over there. I haven't gone regularly for workouts since I stopped working out with my friend Eric, and that would be...1993.
I need to start going again, particularly if exercise can help regulate -- yes, you're way ahead of me -- my sleep cycle.