I’m actually really looking forward to reading it. I really like House and reading Dio’s posts so hopefully it’s gonna be a win/win. Best of luck with the finish.
Is that the standard now? That writers have to be better than me? That would also explain a lot.
I’m fairly confident I could do better than many professional writers, but I definitely have not the time nor interest to take up the task as Diogenes has.
Do I also have to be better than they are to observe that the Pittsburgh Pirates are a bad baseball team, or is this kind of foolishness reserved for writers alone?
Well, I’m sure that whatever Dio does for a living is also something that any other slightly above-average schlub could do with no specific training. So no biggie, right?
Right, as long as they can prove they can do it in two weeks, one of which includes a major holiday weekend.
In my experience, tedious is a form of difficult.
By the way, what does Diogenes do for a living? Is the cynicism just an avocation?
Sorry, but no. Of course it’s harder to do something than just complain about other people who do it. But you seem to be forgetting that he researched and wrote a script for House. Thus, you have remained a snarky Internet bitch, while he actually did something. We haven’t seen it yet, but if we do, then he has, in a couple of weeks, while working another job full-time, completed the work of a team of 4 people, 3 of whom are experts in the medical field, all of whom in turn also work on a larger team. Does that count for something?
As for “tedious” being a form of difficult, what? Doing medical research for a side project to prove something to people who are determined to make and applaud the “best slams” on him is supposed to be something other than tedious for Dio? Was it not supposed to be somewhat challenging, does admitting that somehow negate his point?
Just let the guy post his script. Hell, I’m on the side of the writers in the writers strike, but I’m still willing to give Dio a chance. Seems like a lot of axes are still grinding here completely aside from this particular topic.
As the person who made the “tedious being a form of difficult” statement I’d like to ask you to point out where I said any of that. I don’t think his point is negated at all. Actually, I applaud Dio for doing what he did regardless of the outcome.
My statement was focused on one thing and one thing alone. Dio said that nothing had been difficult for him, only tedious. I say that it was difficult for him and that his difficulty was in the form of tedium.
Is it a good thing that he was able to complete his task in spite of his difficulties? I’d say yes. YMMV. But I was only making that one point. Which is why I didn’t say anything else.
Yeah, no fucking kidding.
Well, gosh, in the last 29 days I have written nearly 50000 words of a novel. Of course, you haven’t seen it and I’m not getting paid for it and oh, by the way, I work a full-time job. Does that count for something? And at the same time I’m working on other writing projects, too. Does that count for something? I don’t expect it to.
Most writers don’t get to quit working other jobs while they write. Most writers can’t just claim they’ve written something without showing it and get credit for it.
He claimed it wasn’t hard but that he lacked discipline and it was tedious. That’s the fucking point. Writing requires discipline and slogging through tedium. He’s not an exception. Jesus.
And you’re writing your novel with absolutely no eye to doing anything with it except to be posted for the express purpose of proving that you can? All the while knowing that you won’t get a fair shake from a number of people regardless of the quality? With absolutely no intention of making money off of it? Because if not, it’s not the same thing, and does not require the same amount of discipline, and pretending it is is definitely Jesus-invoking.
Get your panties out of their twist, Rubystreak. I’ve made a total of two – now three – posts to this and the thread that spawned it and in not a one of them was I a snarky internet bitch, though you continue to be one by throwing the term around with such free abandon and trying to insinuate I have a vendetta against **Diogenes ** when I don’t think he and I have ever even posted in reply to one another.
Yeah, it’s NaNo. You know why NaNo exists? For people to prove their boasts that they can write a novel just like that. It’s a put up or shut up sort of challenge, the same sort of challenge Diogenes willingly accepted. Some years, I’ve put up. Some years I’ve shut up. In no years have I claimed that I’m a special special case because it’s not hard it’s tedious and I have a job and a life and if only I had different rules, just for meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.
The whole goddamned internet is full of boasters, and this board is worse than many. I could do this. I could do that. Ty Cobb could’ve if he wanted to.
It’s really simple. If it’s easy, prove it. If you can do it, prove it. No excuses. No rule changes. No special exceptions. Just prove it.
I believe that he is about to do that. Sure, it was a bit more difficult than he imagined but I bet that it will be as good as a typical House script which is a show with mediocre writing as far as I am concerned. Basically, I’m with Rubystreak here. If he manages to pull this off while working a full time job and without a staff, even though he is past his due date, I will consider him to have met the challenge. Please note also that this is his first ever attempt at writing a script. I bet any future attempts will go a lot quicker now that he has a little experience.
Even I think Diogenes is being unfairly picked-on over this issue.
Ah, well, darn you because I have no retort to that. 
Which was my point all along, and why I think it’s wrong for people to keep posting that it doesn’t prove anything. It proves you can see a project through, and that’s huge. Showing up, making deadlines, etc. That’s what it’s all about.
I don’t even care if someone has a day job and a family. Most of the published writers I know have day jobs. Including me.
The biggest challenge writers face IS laziness and distraction; the most important virtue IS discipline. To say you would be a good writer if you just had the discipline is like saying you would be a good runner if you just had the speed.
So if you’ve overcome the inertia and seen a major project through, you should be congratulated. That right there means you’ve already passed 80 percent of the people who think they want to be writers.
I commend jsgoddess, too. Most of the people who take up NaNo don’t finish. I don’t care how crappy it is, getting a draft done is a respectable accomplishment.
Yep. This is exactly why many employers require a person to have a degree, any degree, before they will hire them. Intelligence is cheap. Work ethic and drive is a rare commodity.
Very, very true. As I’ve said before, the best employees I’ve hired have been the 3.0 GPA students who worked part or full-time while in school, versus the 4.0 GPA students who got a free ride the whole way. The differences in work ethic, time management, and productivity is like night and day.
Why are you comparing yourself and injecting your situation into this? This is a challenge for Dio that came from this message board. I highly doubt that you are writing in a situation where people are waiting to belittle, mock, and criticize whatever you write, scoff when you admit to challenges, etc. I’m sure you’d get nothing but encouragement. So it’s not the same thing, really.
In this situation, that’s exactly what Dio needs to do to “get credit” for it. It’s a project meant to prove a specific point, and that’s all it is. He’s done the work a 4 person team normally does as their full time job. It’s not novel writing as an avocation for personal satisfaction.
I think that it’s tedious to do medical research when it’s not your job nor your area of expertise. Can you understand that? Do you have no sympathy? He bit off a little more than he could chew, obviously, in that respect. I don’t think he was saying that the writing itself was tedious. I truly cannot comprehend your level of anger here.