editing

Yeah, writer’s block is real. You know what’s so underrepresented though? Editor’s block. I can’t begin to explain how frustrated I feel when I have a page full of writing there in front of me, and I’m praying I can figure out what’s that perfect tiny thing to change to make everything make sense.

This process, of finding the story within the setting and the “100,000 choices” that have gone into any one of his nearly 50 projects, became the focus of Wiseman’s Thursday evening lecture at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, or BAMPFA.

The story of my first play was a story of blind overconfidence, and the story of my second play was a story of editing and hopeless second-guessing.

“Breaking Big” looks into prominent figures in such varied fields as entertainment, politics, fashion and sports through a humanizing lens.

While the term "buzzword" often refers to catchy or industry-relevant phrases, I am here referring to the phrases and words that become detached from their meaning and lose their impact.

“You get to the point, eventually, that you see only the grammar.”

Recently, my solution has been to write with a split mindset. The first is sporadic, energetic and only cares about spilling anything onto the page, proper grammar or not. The second tries to understand the first, refine its work, and yes, consult a stylebook.

Every teacher I’ve had for as long as I can remember has made it a point to impress upon the class that writing is a multi-step process: start with prewriting and outlining, finish with revision and, last but certainly not least, proofread.