You sit at the computer and sculpt. You shape, you arrange, you mold. The words dance across the page, and somehow you keep them moving to the proper rhythm. It takes time and it takes concentration. You have to perfect every phrase and every word. If it sounds a little awkward, it’s not right. Go back and do it again. Cross it out, rip it up, and start over. Just when you think it’s perfect and you’ve gone over it enough, and you’d rather not change a thing–you have to gut it down the middle and make it even better. Sometimes you have to take a step back. Way back. Sometimes you have to go outside. The air conditioning can get to you. But however you do it, you have to work. You have to push. You have to drive yourself to the edge, and then keep going.

George Lucas nearly went crazy writing the original script for Star Wars. It gave him stomach pains and headaches. He wrote it with sharp number 2 pencils and would often clip off pieces of hair in frustration. His assistant remembers that his waste basket was full of hair. Sometimes you even have to be a little nuts.