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Scott Lax Blog

Focusing on Writing When You Can't Focus

Finn focusing.
I’ve heard a lot of excuses about why writers can’t write: no time, too many distractions, health, personal upset, financial issues, writer’s block.

To me, those are reasons, but don’t qualify as excuses. If you can’t write, you can’t write. But if you really want to write, you usually can.

So if you’re having problems getting started, or finding the time, or whatever, sit down and write anyway. You’ll likely have to cut through your reasons for not writing and simply focus – for a minute, for an hour, for a few hours.

Here’s my advice: give yourself a set amount of time, no matter how short a period, and focus on nothing but writing. Then write, stand up, and you’ll feel better. Don’t fret. Just write.  Read More 

We are all Norwegians

I'm half Norwegian. Our son Finn is partially named for the cousin of his great-grandfather Knute Stai (from Stai, Norway, near Koppang), Finn Stai. After finishing college in England, I went to Norway to visit my mother’s ancestral village. I hitchhiked through the mountains during the depth of winter darkness. A gentle family literally took me in from the cold of a mountain road, where I was lost and exhausted from walking through snow. When I was heading home, a kind couple fed me meal when I ran out of money in Bergen. During my brief time there, the Norwegians and I shared stories, laughed together, played music together. The Norwegian people never failed in their kindness, good humor and generosity.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Norway and her people in this time of great sorrow and loss. Here in America, we understand the pain of senseless hatred and the evil of the slaughter of innocents. I hold my Norwegian ancestry dear every day. And today, and in the time to come, we are all Norwegians.  Read More 

F. Scott and The New Yorker

F. Scott Lax reads The New Yorker in his own special way
Our son, Finn Scott Lax, was sitting on my lap this afternoon. He was... a little bit fussy. He wanted... something. We weren't sure what. So I had this great idea. "I'll take this little yellow plastic donut," I said, "and act like it's something he maybe shouldn't have. Then he'll want it."

How proud I was of my idea. Surely, no parent had ever been so brilliant!

I placed the yellow plastic donut on the table, near where I was holding Finn on my lap, but far enough away to make him want it. Or so I thought.

Indeed he reached. His baby hand moved toward the yellow plastic donut. Then, in a blur, shot past it, and lit upon my new issue of The New Yorker. The New Yorker... my escape, my luxury, my pristine homage to the fading world of print and Old Journalism.

Above you will see what Finn (F. Scott) was able to do to The New Yorker in a matter of of seconds.

The New Yorker, meet the 21st Century F. Scott. At least he's enthusiastic.  Read More 

Announcement Coming Soon about Our TV Pilot

Finn and friend watching (not TV, but his brother)
I'll have an announcement coming soon about a new TV pilot, to be filmed in Cleveland, Ohio, and which I created and am executive producing, as well as acting as head writer. Please stop back soon.
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Why I'm Taking a Hiatus from THE FATHER LIFE

Finn and I will be working on a book...together.
I'm going to take some time off from writing my column, "First Time Father at Fifty-Eight," for THE FATHER LIFE: The Men's Magazine for Dads.

I've loved writing the column, but now I'm going to concentrate on my book about Finn, and being a first-time dad. For those of you who are authors, you know how time-consuming writing a book is; and in any case, I do other things with my professional life -- producing a TV pilot, writing for corporate clients, teaching and coaching writing, writing fiction.

Still, the most important thing in the world to me is my family. So something had to give, and the column was it. I hope you'll all still read THE FATHER LIFE, and should you want to read my archives, just hit the link to the left.

Thank you to Ben Martin, and all THE FATHER LIFE people who made it so special to write this column. I'll see you back in their (Web) pages again, I'm sure. Meanwhile, please check back for news of the book, advice on writing, and, of course, photos of our beautiful and wonderful son, Finn Scott, who, as you can see, is happy in the world. Read More 

Happy Fourth of July

Finn on the 4th of July
'I see America, not in the setting sun of a black night of despair ahead of us, I see America in the crimson light of a rising sun fresh from the burning, creative hand of God. I see great days ahead, great days possible to men and women of will and vision.'
Carl Sandburg (1878 - 1967) -  Read More 

Action is Character

Finn Scott is very active. He likes to bounce, among a lot of other things. (His first drum isn't too far in the future.)
Fitzgerald wrote that "action is character." He meant that what we do speaks louder than what we say... "actions speak louder than words," or so we all heard in school, on the playground, wherever.

When you write a play, screenplay, novel, short story, your characters need to do things. Even if that thing is talking, or sitting, or staring into space, it's still an action of some sort. When you think about a movie, you remember some lines, but you likely recall the action most of all. You think about Butch and Sundance jumping into the river. You think about the little boy running on the beach in Truffaut's THE 400 BLOWS. You think about the look on Jimmy Stewart's (George Bailey's) face when he realizes his family and life are in jeopardy in IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE. They all reveal character.

In fiction, too, characters need to be part of movement, of moving through time and space. Language does that, too, but not in a vacuum.  Read More 

(My) Father and Son

(L to R) Mel and Finn Lax
As my first Father's Day as a father approaches, I'm filled with love and gratitude for my new son. But also for my own father, whom we call Boompa. Here they are, at 88 years and five months in the world. They had an instant affinity and affection for each other. Finn smiled the moment he met Dad about two weeks ago. They both have the same gentle, warm way about them. Read More 

What is a Brother?

A brother is a friend given by Nature. ~Jean Baptiste Legouve

Friday in the Park with Finn

Lydia and Finn enjoying a lovely spring evening
With apologies to the great songwriter, Stephen Sondheim (book by James Lapine), here is Friday in the Park with Finn and Lydia.

We're enjoying this (rare) beautiful weather in Northeast Ohio. Finn loves his strolls, and watching the children play in the park.

They are my two inspirations.