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Ring Psychology

by Aaron Hall

Volume Six: The Grinder Writing, like any other artistic or creative undertaking, is far from an exact science. I in no way believe myself to be a master of the game or a voice of authority on the dos and don’ts of writing. This column is simply me sharing with all of you some of the things that I’ve picked up along the way that seem to help me out. Use them, abuse them, make fun of them, or sell them on eBay. Now, on to the article! “The Grinder” I’m a big poker buff. I love playing no limit Texas hold ‘em, and I’m pretty good at it too. At least, in a tournament setting. I don’t do as well at an open table, but in tournaments I’m a really great poker player. Being a poker fan, of course I own the great poker movie “Rounders” starting Matt Damon and Edward Norton. One of the things that they talk about quite a bit in that movie is the term “grinding”. One of the definitions of grinding and the one that lends itself to this term is; to instill or teach by persistent repetition. Essentially, in the movie, being a grinder means you’re someone who can “grind out” a living playing poker. You do this through persistence, patience, smart betting, essentially by playing the same way in the same games day in and day out. The idea is that you can find a slightly profitable system and stick with it, thus grinding out your living by sticking to that system. It may not be glamorous, but it works. You may not ever push all your chips in and try to win the big money, but you also never lose big money either. It’s like investing in low yield government bonds. Sure, you’re only going to get like a 1 percent profit, but the upside is that there is no risk of losing your money like there would be in the stock market. By this point you’re probably asking yourself, what the hell is Aaron rambling about? Am I right? Well stick with me for one more paragraph and let’s see if I can bring it all around. Writing isn’t always easy. It’s hard to get inspired when you’re tired, when you’re sick, when you’ve had a long day, when you’re friends are going out for a night on the town, when you’re girlfriend or wife wants you to go watch “The Notebook” on dvd with her. Truth is, there are an infinite amount of reasons not to write. Some ridiculous, some legitimate. You’re not always greatly inspired. You can’t always sit down and have a four hour writing session during which you knock down two issues of a comic and outline four more. That’s one of the reasons writing sessions like those are so special and memorable, because they are so rare. But, this is where the line gets drawn boys and girls. It’s the difference between a poser and a prosperer. The difference between someone training themselves to have a writing career and someone who just likes writing when the mood strikes them. You have to grind it out. You have to shut off the television, you have to tell your friends no, you have to pause your Xbox, you have to log off the internet and you HAVE TO WRITE. Not every time. There are days when you are tired and there are days when you are sick. But if you give into those excuses every time then you’re never going to become a real writer. Nights when I am sitting just losing my mind, feeling bad and just watching whatever garbage is on MTV, I make it a point to bust out my laptop. I’m talking about when I feel so far south of inspired that it freaks me out. And I sit, and I write. Slowly, deliberately, painfully. I write. Sometimes it starts rolling, and I get a decent amount written. Most times, the truth is I only get a few pages done. But the important thing is that I grinded it out. I may not have gone for the big money, the four hour scriptathon session, but I wrote something. I moved a project forward and did SOMETHING. Which is always better than doing nothing. It may only be a one percent profit, but I’ll take profit of any kind. And before you go, think about this. If you scripted one page a day, just one page a day, you would finish one comic book a month and still have 9 days to slack off afterwards. Think about that the next time you are sitting and watching Wife Swap instead of writing, it just may inspire you to pick up your writing tools and get a page scripted out. Until next time, this is Heisman trophy runner up and inventor of the Chia Pet, Aaron Hall, signing off. If you have any questions or comments about creating comics feel free to email them to freejenkins@gmail.com and I’ll answer them right here in this very column because yes, I care about you that much.