The 9 Warning Signs you Should Not Take The Writing Job

Do you want to know, if the new project is worth your time and effort? Here are the 9 most obvious warning signs.

Writing is an emotional process. You can only make others feel, if the emotion is on the page. But, for it to be on the page, you, first of all, have to feel it yourself. So you have to choose carefully in what story you want to invest in, or you either you burn out, or write the most awful script in your entire writing career.

BUT listen, don’t mistake these signs for a justification, to not even try. Sometimes great things/ideas, come in disguises. They need to be played around with, to rise to their full potential. Like diamonds. You need to polish them, to make them shine.

It’s a matter of try and error. Take your time to explore, don’t make a commitment too fast up front. See where the idea gets you. If you find a connection, fine, if not, be honest to yourself and walk away.

1. You have to fight to keep it alive in you

There are ideas that start a life of their own. It begins with a spark and suddenly it becomes the raging fire of creativity. If the idea doesn’t gain speed more rapidly, you might want to rethink it. Maybe it’s just a matter of how you approached it. Play around with it for a while, look at it from different perspectives give it a new hero, a new setting, a new genre, if it still doesn’t kick off, drop it.

2. Don’t underestimate excitement 

If you don’t get exited, talking about your project, or even worse try to keep it a secret from friends and your partner, it could be a warning sign. No excitement, no passion. No passion, no stamina. No stemina, no persistency and so forth…

It’s like falling in love. When the endorphins kick in, you can’t stop talking about this person, nor can you stop seeing him or her. If it’s not like that, get rid of it.

3. You get cranky thinking about it

Anything that doesn’t get you out of bed in the morning, needs to be eliminated. Crankiness leads to fear and once fear conquers your soul your creativity will be paralyzed.

Also another good sign that something isn’t working is, when you start arguing over an idea to much with others. If you immediately go into defend mode.

4. Nobody else seems interested 

You know, you have a stinker, if no one is committing. It’s brutal, but if no one wants to engage you seriously need to rethink your idea. If you can’t get the attention of somebody else imagine what will happen if you write this script!?

5. There’s no evolution in it for you

Everything you do should be manifested in striving to become more than you already are. It’s called growth. If you’re working our butt off trying to fix a project that is actually just holding you back, quit today! Don’t look back. But one very important advice: Never, ever leave burned bridges behind, always try to be fair to others who have worked with you! Those are the one, that come back years later and offer you a more suitable job.

6. You are getting sick

Literally. Your body is shutting down and you catching a cold or worse. Stop, what you are doing right now, because it will eat you alive. This is your body telling you to take some time out to re-evaluate your energy output. Usually after a few days in bed it starts to dawn on you what really is going wrong at the moment. Again, eliminate!

7. Everything feels negative

Ever discovered that if you surround yourself with negative people, some of their negative thinking rubs off onto you? Guess why they are so negative!? Right, they are miserable, because usually they are not happy with what they are, or what they do, or both. So if you find that you start complaining all the time and seeing only the negative side of things, you now know what to do. QUIT.

8. You settle to easily

You start to give in too easily. Settle for less, don’t believe that if you push further it will hold. You wrap it in cotton wool and try to tuck it in to save it from the mean outside world. Only problem here is, you are writing a screenplay for the world to see. Mediocrity only breeds mediocrity. Period.

9. You doubt your skills

Worst part of it all. You think you are no writer, can’t do it, maybe you were just not meant to be a writer. BULLSHIT. Have you ever heard of the penguin in the desert. Sure thing, that he won’t be able to perform too well in the heat of the desert. BUT put him in his right environment he’ll be a blast. So goes for you, if you can’t write this project, it doesn’t mean, that you cannot write at all, it simply means that this particular assignment isn’t meant for you.

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