I don’t know why I’ve not mentioned the Internet Writing Journal here before, but now that I have, you should have a gander at the article there by Alan Alda called Learning To Write With a Sledgehammer. What does an offending home improvement attempt have to do with trying to write an episode of M*A*S*H*? Click the link and find out.

One thing I love about personal writing like this is the confessional aspect. Most of us wind up admitting things after one drink too many, but confessional writing is just as cathartic without the morning hangover. Alda fesses up to thinking that writing a feature-length script wouldn’t be very hard…until he tried it. He also advises taking a sledge to your work if it’s not coming out properly. RIp it up and start again.

This is EXCELLENT advice, a method I’ve used to great success (for writing television scripts, no less). If you are hammering away on something and it just doesn’t work, sometimes the best thing in the world to do is drop it all in the garbage and try something new. Preferably after walking away from it for a day or so. Six hours at the very least–at least for me.

Most people are familiar with Alan Alda, the actor; I find Alan Alda the writer to be quite helpful and informative.