Book Report : Book one completed

So i've finished book one of Voglers 'Writer's Journey.' It was essentially broken into 2 main categories. Firstly outlining his stages of a hero's journey into a 12-step program, and then secondly outlining the psychological and dramatic functions of 8 archetypes which can serve as character models. It has been incredibly useful, thought-provoking information so far that has somehow managed to leave me in a total funk. Not depressed, just flat, though I am considering watching '2 and a Half Men' which is on mute on my tv at the moment so maybe I am depressed.

I need to think in different terms for a few days. Try a different approach. Just to freshen up before pushing onto book 2, in which Vogler starts to outline the hero's journey in more detail introducing possible ways to integrate the archetypes. . I remember reading an interview once in which Neil Gaiman said that he'd spent his whole career as a writer avoiding books like these, not because he thought they were wrong but because he didn't want his creative process boiled down to a serious of formula's and patterns. He didn't want to know if all stories are just patterns repeating themselves in some way.

In contrast to Gaiman's thoughts Wired magazine posted an article online the other day interviewing Dan Harmon about his creative process. His whole writing career is based on a philosophy which is very similar to the things discussed in Voglers book. Now i've never fully enjoyed Neil Gaiman's work, before having read his interview or thought about Voglers book I used to always think after having read anything of his that he had story's full of interesting ideas that always fell apart because his story lines were weak. Meanwhile Dan Harmon's tv show Community is currently one of my favourite things in the world. I think it's hugely original and his episodes often tie together in unique, interesting and satisfying ways.

I did come across a good blog post via twitter the other day entitled '100 Resources for Writers.'
http://blog.emilysuess.com/2011/09/13/resources-writers/

Might try a few of the exercises in this to apply a bit of a squeegee to my third eye.