Slamming my head into the wall, over and over and over again.

Went out with Justin the other day, and picked up a new pocket journal. There are some things that are rattling around in my head these days I can't put here. For a lot of different reasons, not the least being that even with no one listening, this is my soap box, and I am in public, and though I would never impose that on someone else's blog, I feel there is an etiquette to be followed.

Working on the short lately -- ran into a wall, my old pet peeve, and something I've brought up here -- specifically, timing. I feel I don't have a very good handle on the cuts and jumps in time in the short thus far, and all I can say is that it's really different than what I've normally done. Controlling time in screenplays, particularly in long, dialogue-oriented scenes. I know how long a page generally is [Re: A minute a page...the reliable standard], and I know how to move and pace characters talking to each other. But to get a day into a page? To jump like I need to -- scene, this is earlier, scene, this is later, scene, this is earlier again -- I just can't quite nail it down as easily. The control is less, it doesn't read as naturally. I guess, in short form, it's hard.

But I need to know how to do it. And I know this is what will make this story work. So...

Back to the wall.