Things would have gone better if Jack had improved his writing habits
The Shining is a good “scared straight” movie for writers engaged in the procrastination/binge cycle. Jack Nicholson portrays a school teacher who takes a caretaker job at a closed resort in the mountains because he wants lots of free time to write without the time constraints of his teaching job.
As often happens to writers with gobs of unstructured time, he does not make good use of it. Jack spends weeks just procrastinating, sleeping in, eating and avoiding his writing. Eventually he sits down at the typewriter and goes on a monomaniacal writing binge. When his wife gently inquires about his writing he becomes enraged. The next thing you know, he is demon-possessed and killing people with an axe.
This doesn’t have to happen to you. All you have to do is work on your writing regularly. A spoonful of words every day is good preventative medicine for a Jack-attack.
Awesome example. And a little frightening, once you think about it. I think I’ll just write a few lines before I go to bed…just to be safe…
Better safe than sorry…… Thanks for the comment
David
I can’t quite decide if my writing challenge (StoryADay May) is a binge or a sensible spoonful, but either way I loved your article.
And you know, I’d completely forgotten that Jack was a writer. Gosh, I wonder where Stephen King gets his ideas…
Good luck with May! yes – Stephen King has a few novels with writer protagonists who have blocks (The Shining, The Secret Window, Misery) . In Misery, Kathy Bates turns out to be a great writing motivator!
David
I will try very hard not to let that happen and I’m sure my hubby will appreciate it. =)