Writecraft: Focus

The trouble with writing is you often get so caught up in the individual pieces that you no longer see the puzzle you're constructing. Such is life, I suppose: We strive so hard toward something only to find out we're going in circles. We'll get so caught up battling some obstacle, plot point, enemy, or whatever else that we completely forget our own goals.

When it comes to storyboarding, I'm a bit of a hybrid, a 'road tripper.' I'll make a list of notes, scenes, and plot points, and I might not ever look at said list again. My mind spins off faster than my storyboard can keep up with. This means I'm constantly trying to juggle a million thoughts, and I frequently lose sight of the end (which, most of the time, I don't know for sure till about halfway).

That also means when I lose the thrust of a story and can't see the big picture anymore, I have to stop everything, sit down,and map it back out: list form, spread sheet, color coding, mapping on a sketchpad, doesn't matter. Only then will I be able to see the story arc clearly again.

I went to a conference this weekend and realized it's sort of the same personally, too. Life has these weird moments of clarity, followed by an overwhelming sense of chaos (in which emotions can run from anger to fear to everywhere in between). How quickly, be it a conference, a mentor, a retreat, a church service, or whatever else, that clear-headedness comes and goes.

And in the end, the only way to break through the fog is to go back to the beginning, to the source, to the goal.

"Fix your eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of your faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the Father."

"Run as one who gets the prize."

"Cast off what's behind, and look ahead..."