“How can someone who brought so much laughter to everyone be so depressed?”<\/p>\n
I heard this from one of the people I work with, and I had to do a double take. \u00a0How could she not know? \u00a0The more you try to make people laugh, the more depressed you actually are.<\/p>\n
I know this from experience.<\/p>\n
Most writers find it a lonely experience, something that they have to do alone, single-handedly, weaving words into pictures. \u00a0They take the images in their minds and try to put them to paper, so that the rest of the world can see how beautiful it is. \u00a0Sometimes the rest of the world doesn’t care.<\/p>\n
That’s when we get depressed.<\/p>\n
I have staved off depression by not sending my items in, by “polishing” everything up again, by rewriting from almost scratch. \u00a0I tossed out 10K words because I realized that I wasn’t starting in media res.<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0That’s where I like to start. \u00a0Exposition will come with time, and forcing myself to write the required 800 words a day has brought me new practice and insight in exposition. \u00a0I used to just do dialogue. \u00a0Now, I need to fill in the space.<\/p>\n I am a little depressed about Robin Williams. \u00a0He was a great actor, great talent, always funny. \u00a0But deep down was the black dog. \u00a0All comedians have one; it’s what makes them so funny. \u00a0They talk about how drunk they were when they did something, how high, how dysfunctional their family was, how dysfunctional THEY were – all dark and sticky stuff, when brought to light, scares us into laughter.<\/p>\n Writers need to do this too. \u00a0Writers need to get the dark and sticky stuff and throw it onto the page. \u00a0I’m on meds, and I can’t think the dark and evil thoughts I used to. \u00a0I cringe from horror now. \u00a0My demons are pretty, cute, handsome, and sexy.<\/p>\n May he rest in peace, though I doubt it, because a lot of people will be trying to get a hold of him to make them laugh again.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" “How can someone who brought so much laughter to everyone be so depressed?” I heard this from one of the people I work with, and I had to do a double take. \u00a0How could she not know? \u00a0The more you … Continue reading