Non Finito Spaghetti is a project designed to explore the reasons why people do and don’t get things done. I created it in 2013 for a school assignment, and have “maintained” it with varying levels of neglect and attention.
The site is a forum to report, discuss, and analyze the finished and, importantly, the unfinished work of different people who began different things in different times and places. I also use Non Finito Spaghetti as a platform for people to submit challenges to me that I must complete within an assigned timeframe. I’m using the blog this way in an attempt to generate some personal productivity and hopefully kick some of my incompletion habits.
In the video below you can watch me from 2013 mumble an explanation for my motivation for this project and why I named it Non Finito Spaghetti. Enjoy 🙂
If you would like more information about me, read this post here.
Non Finito Spaghetti 
I really like the different components of this blog that you have put together to create Non Finito Spaghetti. First, we have your personal motive and experience, and your authorial voice is always so clear and distinct. The inclusion of the famous unfinished works help bolster and color the project in addition to the well-crafted personal accounts of others.
My “Non Finito Spaghetti” is a screenplay. I have had the idea for the story for about five years, and as of next week, will have the first complete draft of it finished through a screenwriting class at Carolina. I think the time delaying has helped in some ways, allowing my craft to develop and for myself to conduct more research to better write it, yet at the same time, I have created an ideal on what I want the screenplay to be. Over the semester, I put off writing, because I would pre-dismiss anything I would write as crap and leave all, if not most, of my writing until the night before and day of when it was due. I am very aware that the only reason I wrote anything at all was due to the deadlines, that I needed to have *something* every other Monday at whether or not it was good. These assigned deadlines have been my worst enemies and best friends, since although there has been much stressing and sleep-deprivation, this story I have dreamed of writing for so long is starting to become a reality.
Even though the revised draft will be sent into my professor by midnight on April 29th if I like it or not, I still consider my screenplay a work of Non Finito Spaghetti since I have no idea when this screenplay will be in a state where I will be happy enough with it to send it into a literary agent to try to sell and produce it.
First off, let me thank you for using “Non Finito Spaghetti” as though it’s really a thing; makes me feel legit.
Second, thank you for sharing your Non Finito Spaghetti here, too! I’m excited to hear about how it’s coming to fruition for you. I know you said it’s not really finished yet, but you’ve obviously made some important progress, and I can’t wait to see how this thing pans out 😀 I already know you will because it’s so close to your heart, but please keep at your screenplay! It’s gonna be great.
First, let me say that I have missed Jerrika writing. What Tori said is so true — your authoral voice is compelling, unique, and VERY enjoyable. Also like Tori, I definitely believe that your incorporation of real-life Non-Finito Spaghetti examples makes your argument that much more concrete. What is more, I appreciated that the examples you’ve selected are physical objects (paintings and cathedrals), which allow for a visual and nearly tangible understanding by your readers. As a reader, however, I wished that you had more examples, possibly in other creative fields (novels, poetry, music, etc.), that would allow us to further identify with your argument (and give us a chance to read more of your fantastic writing and wit). Like Carol said on another page, your list of achievements is pretty great as is, so embrace your Non-Finito Spaghetti attitude and keep it up! 🙂
Go read Ryan’s page for a novel example! You’re right, though, I wish I’d gotten into other areas like music a bit–maybe at a later date. Thanks so much for your comments on my writing style. I try 🙂
I know I’ve gotten a lot of things done of which I can be proud, and I try to keep that in perspective when I sit alone in a dark sea cave mourning over the skeletons of incomplete projects, but a lot of my issue isn’t so much HOW much I’ve finished as it is my ability TO finish things. The percentage of things I actually finish in my body of started work bothers me, because I feel like it should be more. I’d like to be more reliable. I’m extremely consistent, but I’d like to kind of move that consistency up a few notches, from “consistently develops good ideas” to “consistently executes good ideas.” Thank you for your support 😀 I shall keep it up.
I did read through all of Non Finito Spaghetti & am proud & glad you are getting your productivity juices going again…even if it is because of deadlines.
looooooooooool. Thank you, though ❤
Another part of the psychology behind projects you might consider.. Even if we do complete something on time, what makes us procrastinate to the last minute versus doing it well ahead of time? Is it the direct immediacy of a deadline that finally makes it impossible to ignore responsibility? Also, what responsibility to we have to ourselves (doing things that we enjoy) versus our community (academics, social, etc.)? Interesting project here and I look forward to watching its development 🙂
Haven’t the foggiest why I didn’t reply to this before, but your comment about why we wait until the last minute reminds me of something I think about literally all the time: He’s Just Not That Into You. Specifically, when Justin Long’s character puts it to Ginnifer Goodwin that the reason we put off paying bills or doing assignments is because we want the drama. It’s a chance to create suspense in what is an otherwise uninteresting activity, and while I wouldn’t say this is my motivation all the time, it honestly does seem to be at least once in a while. The stakes are relatively low in my life, and I get bored; if I can turn something unexciting into an against-the-clock game or objective, I just might so I feel like something cool is going on in my life. It’s a tricky way to live my life sometimes, and something I try to catch myself doing ahead of time so I can shut it down. I would like to explore your questions here more thoroughly sometime.