And...we're back

The operation on the arm seems to have gone okay but it's one of those things that gets better with time - and with rest. My consultant says that excessive use of a keyboard it verboten. So, most of what's being written here is left handed but having spent three days in a sling with my right arm tightly bandaged even this is a kind freedom.

Writers write.

The op came at an inconvenient time, just when the new sit-com script was approaching a final draft. But here's the thing, writing isn't about typing.

The physical act of striking keys or using a pen - I type, print out, correct in ink, retype - has nothing to do with with the process of writing. What we do when we record is just that, record our thoughts, assemble them into a script. We create the form. There are lots of people who write using dictation.  Some to a person who sits there, rolling their eyes, throwing in the odd," you really want to put that?". Others spout their thoughts into a dictaphone, just like Walter Neff. You can get progrmmes for your computer that will record what you say, you can see it coming up on the screen. But to go this route you need to practice saying your script out loud.

The strange thing is, once you hear what you're thinking it sharpens you up. Your dialogue gets better, your plots get tighter. You can't fool yourlself in quite the same way as when you leave your words, unspoken, on the page. Remember what Harrison Ford said to George Lucas about his Star Wars script, "You can type this shit, George but you can't say it".

Although, I always read my dialogue aloud, I don't speak the whole script. But I'm doing it now. You know what, it really helps. So, I may have one good arm for a while but maybe that's no bad thing.