Zach's PEN #32: Vaccine, Round One

2021 Week 9: Thoughts on privilege and compassion, screenwriting, automation, and Yak Shaving

Greetings PENpals,

I got my first (Moderna) COVID vaccine on Wednesday, and Allison just found out last night that she'll be getting hers (Pfizer) tomorrow.

I almost cried a bunch of times while getting the vaccine (not because I'm a wimp about needles, which I sort of am). There was just something about seeing a group of people together, in a shut down theatre, doing something for the collective good… It's something we don't get a lot of in America in regular times, but the isolation of this past year made it even more stark.

I wanted to write about my feelings that day but noticed a tendency I have to immediately shut down those feelings and so I wrote about that instead: https://little.zachphillips.blog/2021/03/04/i-got-my.html

Zach Phillips @zachphillips

Yesterday morning, I got my first COVID vaccine. The fact that tears well up in my eyes when I say or type the words "This last year has been hard" indicates to me that it has, in fact, been hard. 👇

I continue to be hopeful. I may get angry and snarky and mean and judgmental about politics, but in my heart I reject cynicism. I believe very much that brighter days are ahead.

Regarding the vaccine itself, it made me feel pretty messed up for a day, and my arm felt like it got hit by a truck for a couple days, but now I'm back to good.

This Week's Posts

I wrote about a different take on "writing for one person."

https://little.zachphillips.blog/2021/03/01/writing-for-one.html

Zach Phillips @zachphillips

One probably-helpful-to-lots-of-people-but-not-to-me piece of advice: “If you’re having trouble writing for an ‘audience,’ try picking one person and write only for them.” This actually strengthens my paralysis. There’s a different reading that’s interesting, though. 👇

I wrote about creating false dependencies that prevent me from starting things.

https://little.zachphillips.blog/2021/03/06/false-dependencies.html

Zach Phillips @zachphillips

One trick I've frequently played on myself is "since THIS isn't good enough yet, there's no point in doing THAT." I allow a weak link to become a dependency with the power to invalidate the whole chain. 👇

I wrote about five really simple screenwriting style tips.

https://little.zachphillips.blog/2021/03/02/my-first-few.html

Zach Phillips @zachphillips

First: Screenwrite however you like. Aside from formatting, there really aren't rules. There can and should be as much style, personality, and nuance in screenwriting as any other form, but here are a few tips/frames that might help beginners. 👇

I wrote about why slowing down feels hard.

https://little.zachphillips.blog/2021/02/28/slowing-down.html

Zach Phillips @zachphillips

Almost everything is possible when you slow down. The only reason it _seems_ hard to slow down is because we're viciously screaming at ourselves to speed up. 👇

I wrote about some pitfalls of automation for its own sake.

https://little.zachphillips.blog/2021/03/05/premature-automation.html

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Zach Phillips @zachphillips

Working on automating a thing before you're already doing the thing regularly is almost always a bad idea (though it can be fun). And it's _always_ a bad idea if you're working with a team. 👇

I wrote about Yak Shaving and Power Puttering. This one was cribbed from a PEN a while back.

https://little.zachphillips.blog/2021/03/03/power-puttering.html

Zach Phillips @zachphillips

Yak Shaving isn't always bad. Most of the skills I have were cultivated in the process of Yak Shaving. Discoveries. Useful digressions. If you _lean in_ to Yak Shaving, you can achieve another thing entirely: Power Puttering (I think this term was coined by @hotdogsladies).

Babies and Sunsets

Just some simple Wendell shots from my iPhone this week. Sorry. My film processor doesn't come for a few weeks, at which point there will be an explosion of photographs.

Much love,

Zach