First thing’s first. Check this out: FILM ANNOUNCEMENT! After that, why don’t you hop on over here to find out a little more.

  1. The excitement of knowing that something you wrote is going to be made into a movie is inexpressible.
  2. Knowing it’s also going to be a movie shot in 3D makes the excitement unbearable.
  3. Looking at the timeframe it takes to make a movie is sobering.

While this post is mostly announcing the fact that someone thought something I wrote was interesting enough to try to make into a movie… it also gives me a chance to talk about something else that has had an impact on my life as a writer. Tempering excitement.

I’m not sure if it’s something akin to getting older, or just something that seems to come with the way certain people think about things, but tempering excitement seems to be something that a lot of people have difficulty with. When I think of things that excite me, such as story ideas and technology and even my girlfriend, my brain instantly kicks into a mode intended to reduce that excitement. I get a story idea that I MUST WRITE THIS INSTANT!!!… and my brain will tell me that not only am I in the middle of writing something already but that it takes time to write a good story… especially if there’s absolutely no plot, characters, setting, etc… When I see some new tech that’s right up my alley, my brain shuts me down by reminding me that my wallet can’t handle the price of said technology. It’ll also remind me that it’s usually new and untested and to wait for other people to get the headaches first (the latest form of this is Google’s Stadia gaming service). When it comes to getting excited about Karli, my brain really doesn’t need to remind me that she lives 2800 miles away.

Does excitement need to be tempered? Is it necessary to ‘stay in the real world’ when it comes to anticipating something? I’m not sure. My psyche seems to exist for nothing but reminding me how difficult the world is and that disappointment is just hiding around the corner, waiting to attack me and throw my excitement in the dumpster. On the other hand, if I weren’t excited about these things, would I care enough to try to obtain them? The excitement keeps me excited about the story that’s taken months to write… even through the times where I get bogged down trying to figure out what’s going to happen next. The anticipation of what I’ll be able to do with the latest improvements in technology pushes me to work harder so I can afford it. It also pushes the point that I need to do more research so that I’m not stepping into something that may not be good. Excitement makes the long-distance relationship just a little easier. It gives me the ability to see the perspective that it could be worse (LDR by snail mail, anyone?).

While I’m super stoked about my friend’s efforts in making a movie from my work, it’s tempered by the realization that independent artists face many obstacles… money, access and the sheer amount of TIME it takes to produce our work. Can she do it? ABSOLUTELY! Will it be difficult? Of course. All good things that are worth tempering your excitement about are.

How do you feel about excitement? Do you think it should be tempered? Do you just go with it and jump without looking? Let me know your thoughts below.

As an extra question for today’s post (in no way making up for the lack of my effort), have you ever seen a 3D movie in the theater? If so, did you enjoy it?