Getting Swamped

Had no time to write last night. I only have a moment now because I’ve chosen to forgo yoga. I suppose I did ask for a busier course load to take full advantage of my education, but I can’t help but feel the stress. I’ll just list out things to do for my own mental map:

+ Visual Impact Concepting – 10 concepts each week
+ Visual Impact Revising – 2 concepts revised after class critique each week
+ Short & Sweet – 50-100 headlines written each week
+ Short & Sweet – find art director to execute headline concepts
+ Strategic Thinking – at least 18 campaign concepts each week
+ Photoshop – not hard but time consuming homework & photography concepting

All this on top of:

– Freelance work
– Maintaining a writing schedule (tweeting, blogging, yelping)
– Maintaining a healthy eating and hygiene schedule
– Entertaining visiting friends from out of town
– Exercising
– Grocery shopping
– Laundry
– Miscellaneous errands
– Paying bills
– Surviving

There’s not enough hours in a day. Now more than ever, I understand its meaning.

Honing My Writing

I learned that better writing has no need for an obligatory “heh, hah, haha, lol, urgh” or any such extraneous sound effects to conclude a statement. End your sentence with a punch. Be unapologetic. Thus, your point will be that much more magnified.

Alcohol and Creativity

It’s sad to realize that some of my best works come from after I’ve been drinking. The pattern seems to be similar amongst most creatives, not even from just the advertising realm. This pattern of self-destruction for the sake of inspiration is dangerous. I realize it even now but know that it’s unavoidable should I continue to move forward in this industry.

I value sobriety, but how long will I maintain the mentality: ‘do whatever it takes to succeed?’

Do you view me as weak for relying on things external to achieve success?

30-Day Blog Challenge: 09

Day 09: Write a story based on a dream you had.
This actually sounds like a fun blog entry to write about, yet I want to reserve it for my dream tonight – whatever it may be. I’m trying to remember one from my past, but nothing seems to be conjuring up at the moment.

Perhaps this lull in memory and brainpower are riding a continuation of my inability to formulate meaningful ideas this week. Alas, stay tuned for an update in the morning…

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Good morning. Let’s do this!!!

Walking through the halls of the abandoned house, one would normally feel afraid. Things had decayed. Furniture and fixtures were in ruin, but I felt nothing but curiosity. After all, this had once been my home. As a child, I could not have appreciated the grandeur of this place. Back then, it was just another environment to run and play. Yet now, as I walk down the mirrored hallway, I’m noticing all the details that once made this place so grand.

“How could we have afforded to live like this?” I asked myself. I came upon an old bathroom at the end of the hall. I peeked into a room once separated by windows. I’m not sure why I never realized it was a sauna in my youth, but now I noticed the sheer size of it. Twenty seats, stacked by tiers. If I could only have appreciated this back then.

I look to my right and noticed another room equally as large. This was a standing shower with faucets hovering overhead. You could easily fit a small entourage in here. I was about to enter and explore the space in detail when I hear steps approaching from up the stairs. “Babe? You up there?”

I retract and take a final look at my surroundings before I answer back, “Yeah. Coming back down. I’m ready.” In that moment, I realized this was the place. I was going to claim this home for myself once again.

Blows to the Ego

It’s been a hard week. Creatively I’m not at where I want to be. Concept after concept is literally torn asunder during classroom critiques. It’s a bad feeling. It also doesn’t help that there are continuous haters out there from my past who don’t believe in me. They express it blatantly, and it tears me down.

On the other hand, I should absolutely get used to this as it’s the nature of the industry. I’m starting to come to grips with artists having egos, and it being in their nature to belittle you. Although I hope to never be like them. Understand that most creatives posses a flood of horrible ideas, but really, it takes only one to make you an overnight dynamo.

I think these feelings of inadequacy are also a result of not landing several scholarships I had recently applied for. Suck… Thought I did pretty well on them, but in the grand scheme of things, not as well as I would have hoped. On the bright side, that just means that I’m still eligible and can reapply for next year. Still, not getting an award in the present is a blow to the ego indeed.

So I’ve said my peace and whined about it. But now what? As always, complaining is one thing but what actions will I take in response? All I can do is keep disciplined. Keep studying, keep working, produce, produce, produce. Never stop putting things out there, and if it sucks, just move on. The law of large numbers has to come into play at some point. The only drawback with this mentality is that others might look to me as inferior for putting out “mediocrity.” All I can say is that I can only be happy by proving to myself my own ability. Controlling others is a losing battle.

30-Day Blog Challenge: 08 Reprise

Day 08: Write about a stranger you see, their back-story or what they are thinking in the moment you see them.
I told you I wouldn’t move on without writing about this topic…

Alex Lee sits by himself in a crowded cafe and is completely focused on his computer screen. The world around him means nothing as he sits and stares into the world of spreadsheets opened before him. This has been his daily routine for nearly a month ever since moving to San Francisco. He has been struggling to find his foothold in the city. Working as a photographer on the East Coast has managed to net him some freelance jobs every now and then for small events, but he feels like the current work is below him. He tolerates it begrudgingly because of his new wife.

Angela works in a hospital not too far from Alex’s cafe. She recently got hired as the hospital director and needed to move across the country to accept the position. Alex, deciding his love for her was more important than money, gave up everything and uprooted himself to maintain the marriage. He doesn’t regret his decision but finds it difficult from time to time to cope with his new life.

The phone rings. Alex already knows that its Angela calling as its nearly 5:00pm. She’s about to get off of work, and this has grown to become a daily ritual. Yet every time he hears the ring, he experiences the same painful resurgence of emotions. “She’s succeeded. I’m happy for her. But what about me? Where is my life headed next?”

30-Day Blog Challenge: 08

Day 08: Write about a stranger you see, their back-story or what they are thinking in the moment you see them.
This is a cop out entry in light of me not paying attention to any strangers today. In fact, I spent most of the day cloistered in the school. My head is buried in the books – concepting, concepting, concepting away what’s left of my youth. However, I will try and stave off your disappointment by blogging tomorrow during school. I’ll find a character I don’t know and turn them into my next victim. You can look forward to that!

—– Edit April 18 @ 1:11am
Sadly, I lied. Today was too intense and had to work on quite a bit of concepting. I just finished, in fact. My brain hasn’t been able to come up with great material lately compared to those around me. I’m getting frustrated. Sooner or later I know something must come, though the impatient side of me wants the creative muses to strike me now with divine inspiration. I’m waiting…

Aside from that, I refuse to move onto blog challenge #09 until I’ve successfully blogged about some stranger on the street. Perhaps on Friday I’ll work from a cafe and make my mark then. After all, I’ve been meaning to bring at least some reminiscence of my Seattle coffee culture here to the Bay.

Desire to Be a Better Writer

Even if you’re a good writer, that doesn’t necessarily make you a good copywriter. So far this quarter, I’m making this realization quite painfully. Never have I been surrounded by so many writers in the same place. Their wit is inspiring. Through it, they draw their strength to create great headlines.

This realization also means that I have been diving more into “industry” classes instead of only the technical. If I thought I was surrounding myself with advertising before, I’ll start to live and breathe it in the coming weeks. Things will get taken to the next level without a doubt.

Some actionable items to improve and prep myself would include continuing to stick to my regimen of writing, focusing, and creating day by day. It’s like exercising (another regimen I need to work on…) where good habits will lead to awesome results.

30-Day Blog Challenge: 07

Day 07: Start a story with: “He glanced at his watch impatiently…”
He glanced at his watch impatiently as he waited on the platform for his train to arrive. To Philip, this was always the worst part of traveling. Being in an unfamiliar land surrounded by a language so different from his own didn’t help either. He looked at his watch again, questioning whether this was even the correct train he was supposed to get on. Then in this very moment, it hit him. Self-doubt and fear broke through their initial barricades as he felt himself drowning in introspection.

What have I gotten myself into? Was Hamburg the right choice? Am I ready for this?

After landing the job at one of top rising architecture firms in all the world, he barely took any time to process what the move from his hometown Barstow would mean. His move was lightning-fast. Without a second of hesitation, he boarded a plane and made his way to this very moment only to be struck with all his backed up emotions at once. But it was too late. He was here and realized there was no turning back regardless of whether he wanted to or not.

A hurried man slams into his luggage resting on the floor. “Entschuldigung,” the man says as he continues to rush past and disappear into a corridor. Philip snaps back into the moment and realizes his train had arrived, de-boarded, and was ready to depart at any moment. He frantically gathers his belongings, takes a moment to exhale, then steps onto the train resolved to tackle whatever the future has in store.

620 Jones

This night, out of all other nights in my life, I’m kicking myself for not being man enough to make the first move. Tis my unquestionable fault and my never-ceasing handicap.