'Big Little Lies' - Season 2 (so far).

Like many others who spend time watching tv, I enjoyed watching the first season of HBO's miniseries 'Big Little Lies' quite a bit. I found the series to be really well made and was sad to see it coming to its dramatic (and inevitable) conclusion.

Naturally, once I learned that the show would get another season, I was feeling pretty excited. I was eager to know what would happen to these characters and how they would react to the aftermath of what happened at the end of season one.

So having now seen the first three episodes of season two of 'Big Little Lies', I can say that the series still works. There are a lot of things going on, even though story-wise the series climaxed in its first season's finale (Perry's death).

When it comes to the second season, the main story continues with the aftermath of the homicide. The grieving mother of Perry (played by Meryl Streep) comes to snoop around and to find out what really happened during that fateful evening.

Not surprisingly, it doesn't take long before she becomes suspicious about the incident and its aftermath. She notices that things certainly aren't as they seem and that almost everyone in town has something to hide about their lives.

Indeed, during the first three episodes of the season we're reminded again that pretty much all of these characters have problems and are messed up. Perry's homicide is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the secrets that these characters have.

Among other things, Celeste is still having nightmares about Perry beating her up, whereas Jane is trying to bring up her son (Perry's). Madeline is dealing with her adultery issues, whereas Renata furiously hates her husband.

Furthermore, when we also remember that Bonnie is feeling guilty about saving Celeste (that led to Bonnie accidentally killing Perry), it's not surprising that there are a lot of things going on. Clearly Streep's character has a reason to be there.

So when it comes to these storylines and the quality of the series, the biggest reason that 'Big Little Lies' works so well is that it actually cares about its characters. It pays attention to them without making the characters over the top or too melodramatic.

After all, I couldn't help but to notice that there's a really wonderful balance between drama and comedy on the show. It manages to bring laugh out loud moments between some of those more dramatic and even heart wrenching moments.

Especially when it comes to those scenes that involve the school principal and Madeline, the writers on the show manage to pull off some amazing scenes. It's clear that we're dealing with some absolute world class stuff here.

In that sense, when you consider that there are still four episodes to be aired, I'm confident that this is going to be a good season. I'm confident that the quality of the season is going to stay high and that the storylines are going to be solid.

After all, there are so many talented people working on the series (actresses like Streep, Dern, Witherspoon,  Kidman, Woodley & a writer like David Kelley). Clearly they have done their best to make sure that this series would work as well as possible.

In the end, even though there have been some very minor issues with the episodes (some of the scenes have been a bit too short), those mistakes don't mean that much. The positive aspects clearly outweigh the negative ones here.

In that sense, if you're one of those fence sitters who hasn't given this show a chance yet, you should definitely give 'Big Little Lies' a go. You should give it a go and not be discouraged just because you might think that this is not a series for you.

After all, even though the series might at first seem like it's a bit superficial, it's not. It's not a superficial show and once you get to know to these characters, you can't help but to feel for them and be interested in knowing what is going to happen to them. 

When to give your eyes a break as a writer.

So when it comes to the craft of writing, it's not exactly a secret that it's not always easy to get your projects to work. No matter who you are and no matter how hard you might try to get things done, there are days when things just don't seem to go your way.

The biggest reason that we struggle with our writing tasks is that it's not always possible to control the writing process. There are a lot of situations in which our brain isn't working well enough and when we lack the ability to see things straight.

So when it comes to these moments, the most likely situation in which we 'can't see the forest for the trees' anymore is when you get tired from trying too hard as a writer. You keep pushing your task even though you might feel absolutely horrible inside.

The problem with this approach is that in too many cases (even though there are certainly exceptions to the rule) it won't work. There's no real upside to writing anything after a certain amount of time has passed during a hopeless session.

So when it comes to handling these moments, even though it's not easy to do, especially for a perfectionist, you need to be forgiving toward yourself. You need to be able to take a break, no matter how frustrated you might be about fixing things.

In practice, what this basically means is that if you haven't managed to get things done during the first two hours of your session, you need to cut yourself some slack. You need to walk away, even though it's not easy to take your eyes off the screen.

After all, if you manage to give your eyes and your brain that well needed break, it becomes easier to clear your head. There's a much better chance that you'll be able to figure out where you went wrong and how to get back on track later.

In contrast, if you're too stubborn and not smart enough to give yourself a rest, you shouldn't be expecting things to turn around. It's pretty much guaranteed that things will turn even worse the more you keep trying and pushing during that session.

Indeed, the very worst scenario is that you get so frustrated and so hopeless about the whole thing that eventually you'll just give up on the task completely. You'll give up on finishing that project and think that it was simply too difficult for you.

In that sense, when I think about this thing as a whole, it's clear that we as writers need to be aware of these bad writing days. We need to be aware of how things can go wrong if we don't react to them fast enough and keep pushing instead.

After all, there are so many situations in which we have to be able to re-evaluate the situation and our progress in the task. We have to be able to take an objective look of what's going on and how to get back on the right track again.

In that sense, if things start to go into a completely wrong direction, the faster we take a timeout and react to these situations, the better. The faster we understand that things are not going our way, the less damage we do to ourselves.

After all, even though it might be hard to do, there's no shame in admitting that you didn't manage to get things to work right away. You shouldn't be thinking that just because you had a bad session, you won't be able to get things done later.

On the contrary, as long as you take a break and come back later, that break will help you. It will help you and you'll notice that even though there's still a lot to do with the task, it's something that can be finished and that eventually you can make it work.