 Last week, I mean, we miss you. I miss you, where was I? Oh, look at those photographs. In case somebody wants to see the purple one. It's nice, right? Yes. In case your life is not exciting. It's called Purple Mountain Session. Is it now? Yeah, makes sense. Yeah, right? What mountain range is it, does it say? Yes. Snake River Overlook. Grand Theft National Park. Wow. Wow. Organized in the furniture. There. This is, so it's five o'clock, right? Did you go to Cuba? Yes. Did I remember correctly? Yeah. Yeah, everyone's in Cuba. And I made it back. How was it? It was very impressive. Was it a great? Wow. Did you stay most in the city? Just in Nevada, around the F5. Yeah, it was great, right? It was great for photography. Oh, yeah, I know, right? People, all the people I met down there were really cool. Yeah, oh, thank you. I spent the day with an anthropology professor who toured me around. Oh, really? You need a lot of random people. Nice. I know. Okay, I mean, gosh, we're like, I hope we don't vomit in their country too much. Who's been vomit? So does anyone, has anyone not been to watch me work before? You haven't? Yeah. Has your friend been, have you been to watch me? I have, yeah. Okay, I see your friend, and you're just sitting on a table with her. I'm your girlfriend. You're your girlfriend? You're your girlfriend? You're your boyfriend's boyfriend? No. Sorry, we're just playing. Okay. That's as much fun as we're going to have. I made, no, we made, I made this shirt. It says yo kitty. Because I thought hello kitty was like, you know, so I got a line of words that said yo kitty. I don't know if they might sue me or whatever. I want a piece of this shirt. I just thought it was cute. In my spare time, guys. So this is what we do. We work for 20 minutes. It's a play, right? So we're going to make a play together. We're going to work for 20 minutes. And then we're going to talk about your creative process. Okay? So we're going to talk about my creative process to talk about yours. So you can ask me questions about how it's going on with your work. So, and then, see, where is your, oh, you're, you're, you're, I mean, you guys are awesome. So are you guys going to tell the folks out in the land of Twitterville? Because we also live stream, and sometimes people tweet us some questions. So you guys, you guys can go ahead. Live on Twitter. Live on Twitter. So what's, what's the... It's Watch Me Work SLP. Come to us and we'll ask questions. Watch Me Work SLP. And that's, that's how they... So that's easy. What are your names? I forgot. I'm Gemma. Gemma. I'm Shaday. Shaday? Yeah. Okay. So Jim and Shaday are the only guys you guys are going to help us climb it. Yeah. And Shaday has like fireworks on her phone. Oh. It's kind of like, exciting. Okay. Any other questions before we start? Anybody? Hey. Anybody like... Chris Barlow is holding down the reality. So if you ever want a reality check. It's facts. Facts. That's pretty good. And I just set my timer at 20 minutes. Timer. 20. Oh, it's already there. All right. So, uh, show it again. Yes. You ready? One, two. Go. Great. Hey, Mike. Keep spraying everybody. Everybody get something done? Yeah. Lori, one thing should just be like a marathon. I sit down and just, no, no, no. I'm gonna shut up. I was just thinking, I was like, that was so quick. It's like, it's like, you spend some time with the teacher. And you go home. It's interesting. It's selectually, I guess. Well, it's supposed to... We're trying to foster, um, independence. It's not independence. And if we sat around all day and, you know, then we foster independence. And what I want is to be going, you know, you do your own thing, and then you come back and you're like, look what I did. You definitely see the difference. I know. You just feel in the glow. And it's like, you know, it's a yay. But, you know, after 22 minutes, I was getting, you know, the novelty definitely wears off. There's a sharp drop in the throw and it's like, really horrible. I'm kidding. I can't. It's really very... Oh, you're... You took the pass through. This is Jack from the library. Doesn't he look really smart in the library? Something like that, yeah. And when you sit in place here, he's one of those little people. Right? Is that true? Absolutely. He's like a smile to you, right? I can see that. I'm friendly with you. So, yeah. We don't inspire. I get this one. So, anybody have any questions about... I forgot to ask your name. Brian. Brian. So, how'd it go, Brian? Good. Yeah? Okay. But that's... And then you go, you know, what we do is we're able to build this, you know, on our own. How are you doing, Chris Bro? Good. Yeah? He also works at a Mac genius bar, so don't ever run into a rush over there once, but... Right? Anybody have any questions about... I can just basically sit here for like 20 minutes or whatever Ava says it's found in the building. Can I also take a nap? Oh, you have a... I forgot to ask your name, too. My name's Ava. Ava. Yeah. Hey, Ava. Hi. I guess my question is, I... Maybe it's a statement that will then end in a question. Okay. I'm finding myself... I have sort of like the beginning of an idea, and I'm chasing after the idea, and I find that almost all of my writing is like brainstorm or ideas about the idea. Right. And I'm not totally taking... I'm having trouble taking the leap into actually writing it. Right. I'm trying to figure out how much is just a leap of faith and how much is really mapping it out so that I understand where I'm going and that I can go there. Right. That's a great question. Does everybody hear Ava? Yeah. Can everybody hear Ava's question? I think it was a question. I think it was a question. You did? Does everybody hear Ava's question? It was a great, really great question. So you have some ideas. Is it a play, a novel, or a screenplay? I think it's a screenplay. Okay. I'm not... To be honest, I'm not positive. Okay. Well, should we... You think it's a screenplay. How much do you think it's a screenplay? Just like... Or... What would you like it to be? A bit of this. It's not like you're having a kid and you want it to be... Yeah. This is a screenplay. So why don't you just have a... And then you'll proceed in the direction of... And then we'll see what happens. There's something... I don't know what it's called. But it's something that mathematicians do. What they do is they decide on the outcome and then they solve accordingly. They decide on the outcome and solve accordingly. So let's do that right now. We'll decide if you want it to be a screenplay. There's a screenplay in a little bit of that direction. Because the signal is applied no matter what you're writing or what you're doing really. So, yes, it is a leap of faith. But not just one leap. It's like... It's like a lot of weeks. Every day you take a leap of faith. When you sit down and do our... Every day we take a leap of faith. And so, you know, over time we can say it gets easier. Because we're accustomed to taking these leaps, right? Every day we take a leap of faith. It gets easier. But also, you might start comparing yesterday's leap to today's leap and start getting judgmental and judging on yourself. So that might be difficult. But every day it's a leap of faith. I would say... It sounds like ideas. Have you attached a character to those ideas? I'm a person. Or if they name... Okay. Would it be helpful for you to attach different names to those people? Unless it's a documentary or a memoir or whatever. Would it be helpful for you to attach different names to those people? Because then it would be... You know, kind of based on... Like all our stories are based on things that we've experienced somewhat. But it doesn't have to be, okay? So that might free you up a little bit on freedom, okay? So that might be a fun thing to do. So you have some characters and some names. We'll just say. Let's just say you've done that already. You've attached some names, other names of your family members on which the script plays very loosely. Right? So you have some names. And... Because attaching a different name... Say your main character's name is... Well attaching a name like Jane would free the character up to do her own thing. Which she needs to do in order for you to get it written. Right? Because you don't exist in a screenplay of all the rules of the story. Yes, but... And so you need to free yourself from the character up, right? To do her own thing and to help write the screenplay, right? And all these people are very serious. Hi. Okay? So I would say make a list of your characters with their character names. Okay? And say, and then make a list of by each character, what do they want more than anything in the context of your screenplay, your screenplay, and then start telling yourself the story. If you can, even turn it on in your head is why I asked, what is it? Because with the screenplay you just turn on the movie. You know, can you see the numbers? What's the first image? Then what do you see? Then what do you see? What's the middle? What's the sad part? In the end what happens? What's the last thing that you see? So you can sort of think like that. And then you have some to where we just pinch you to say if you're hanging the sheet on the line. And then you should write on it. Yes, you have to make a little thing. Yes. A deadline helps or a finish line. So when do you want to be finished? Well, how old? Six months. Six months. So let's see, right? A hundred pages. Six months. How many days? Six months. A hundred days. Yeah. So a hundred and eight. So if you say six months then you're basically asking yourself to write less than a page a day. Okay? I mean that's doable. Or if you wrote a page a day you could get it done in a hundred days which would be probably better. So, you know, just because you want to go slowly and take your time. But one page a day is I mean, it's leisurely. You want to have some momentum. So you say you want to get it done in say three months. So you write a page a day. Pretty much. It's 90 pages. You just change the page one. So if you write a page a day. So you spend like the next couple of weeks like outlining you. Like outlining you. Oh, great. So don't overdo it. Since you like it. Do it on cards. Right, like index cards. This happens and this happens and this happens and that happens. Okay? Spend about a week doing that. And then write a page a day. You might want to write more. Give yourself a finish line of what's three months from today. Today's the first day of spring. It's a great day to take a leave. So it's very auspicious. So take a leave today. Spend. Give yourself a week to write your outline. Okay? Focus on your characters. Your ideas. Focus on your characters. What do they want? What are they doing? What do you see them doing? The end. And don't worry about not getting it right the first time because that's what we write it for. So try to write quickly. Three months today. June 20th. Right? Okay, so, there you go. It's easy, right? It's like, right? Okay, peace of mind. You're welcome. Good job. Good question. But that applies to anything in your heart. You could say the same thing. Anybody else have a question? Can I just follow this page? Sarah. I wasn't even putting on being here, but I didn't know this was happening, but it's such a delight that it is. I do have a question. Yeah, that's pretty good. I'm in a kind of a further down the road situation of having all those pins. Okay. But I'm working with collaborators and it's been suggested to sort of change them all around. A little bit of shuffle and readjusting. I'm just wondering if you have any thoughts about that? That's tricky. Relationships are interesting, aren't they? Collaborators are often cool and great and you love them and you really want to work with them. So you had your cool expenses, you had your sort of tentacles, right? And then you said that your collaborators suggested that you tell a story differently. I understand the rationale. I feel like my subconscious is having trouble catching up to my logical brain which understands the reason. Right. So you think the note that they gave you is a good note, you would say? I think I'm so willing to try it. I mean, I feel like it could work really well or maybe it won't work. But if it doesn't, then you have it all the way. So you're willing to try it. Right. So we'll say it's a good note? Yeah. It's a great note. It's a great note. You just can't get your head around it. There are two things you can do. Do you have a time when you want to get it back? And when is that? How many pages have we got? Five pages. So will it actually mean taking the 45 pages and reorganizing them? To be like crystalline needs to be sort of a gesture? Exactly. So you see what we're doing. We're taking the elements and we're constructing a solution based on the parameters that you have. So that's why I said you could do one or two things. You could either let it simmer and let it come to you in a more organic, holistic kind of way. But because you have this finish line you've got to do it and allow your subconscious mind to catch up maybe after opening night after the reviews are awesome and then you'll get it. Maybe you won't. It doesn't matter though. Because it's going to be fabulous. So this is what we're going forward on with the healing. So what you do is just turn off the part of your brain that has to understand it. Let it go. And this is really going forward on faith. This is what faith is. You don't have to understand it. You're just going to do it. You're just going to do the assignment. Okay. Just be kind of not mechanical about it. Not cold. We're just going to move the pieces of paper into the order that was suggested by the wonderful collaborator you love who's giving you a note that you really want to try. Yeah. You don't have to get it. You don't have to understand it. You'll be done by like tomorrow. No, really. You will. Because what's holding you back is that you don't understand it. You don't have that kind of time. No worries. You don't have to understand it. Okay. Just let it go all the time. I'll take the note and figure it out later. You know. I have so many tricks. You have great tricks. So I have great tricks and a whole bunch of fucking tricks. You got it? I have a question about tricks. Yes. Go ahead. Hard It's very hard oftentimes for me to trick myself into confidence. That makes sense. The computer's talking. Very hard to trick yourself into confidence. Okay. If I don't have a deeper sense this is good and worth doing for whatever it is. It's very hard for me to do things that will get me out of my mind. So if you don't have a deeper sense that this is good and worth doing then it's hard to get yourself into the mindset of doing it. Right. How do we trick ourselves into confidence? No, no, no. This is one of my favorite tricks. My favorite. Do it all the time. When I pass from this realm I find all these books filled with what they call affirmations. Affirmations. We know what those are. We know what affirmations are. And I was just talking with my class over at NYU. You know that woman. She is a gymnast and her name is I can't remember. Her name is not Simone but this is Lisa or Lisa or Hernandez. Anyway, she had this saying I got this. You see her saying it before she did her fabulous thing. Her fabulous lips and you know all her things. She's trained. She's put in training. It's not without training. But she had this mantra this confidence building thing she would say I got this. When you think about your work about this that's a simple one. That's easy. You can just say it. When you think about your work and you're walking around town I can do it. I can do it. What you usually say is something other than that. And that you have a fire and you're feeling it would I don't know. Gosh. I don't know why you're feeling it. You're listening to all those voices telling you otherwise. You have to assert that confidence voice. That's a weird thing about confidence. You have to actually repeat it repeat it over and over. Because what we're doing actually is when you don't when one lacks confidence what we're actually doing is repeating over and over the negative thing or the lack of confidence thing. Oh I don't know. Anytime you have to act yourself. Oh I'm trying to write this but I don't know. I know how to do this. Anytime I saw my students they talked about the work and they hit themselves and said stop. Every gesture you do every gesture you do everything you say to yourself about your work everything you allow other people to say to you about your work needs to be feeding the fire of I got this. I can do this. This is worthwhile. You understand? Also so the affirmations you can write them down this is the technique I didn't make it up. This is the quotes you can use. Writing down just you have a notebook just write down 10 times of the one and 10 times of 9. I blank know how to write this thing. I blank I'm a wonderful writer. I need to blank that's what I'm talking about. Yeah I can do this. You're hypnotizing yourself. A mantra literally a mantra you know what a mantra is right? I had a yoga teacher who told me that a mantra literally means mind vaccine mind vaccine literally vaccine. Really? Yes. Really you are inoculating yourself against the bullshit so that gymnasts phrase I got this that's a full little mantra I know how to do it I'm a good writer. I love my writing why don't you say that when you walk down the street to yourself. I love my writing I'm so grateful that I have time to write I'm so grateful that I have time to watch your work it can be grateful for smaller I have time to do my writing wow yeah my writing is really going well today you heard this phrase make it to you make it all that stuff it sounds silly it sounds dumb but those phrases combined with the dedicated work the dedicated, modest effort the daily diligent effort that you put forward every day will get you to what you know see if you feel like a lack of confidence just your feet in the wrong fire you know right? if you feel like a confidence fire it's a really good question because we all do it we all have to sort it out I can't reply to anything anything any area you want it's very short so try it something like that just hey it's okay I'm going to get back I'm going to have a good writing you sit down to write and maybe it doesn't come it's okay I sat down for my kind of minutes I'm in it at least I'm putting the time in I'm putting the time in it's going to come it's going to come together I can feel it come together those sports you know those people throw up those balls they are strong up here really strong up here there's something about even if I sit in that time is it very fulfilling or anything there's something comforting about that develops as you put in the time for me that it's a place on the floor to go even if it's a rotten nothing happens it's kind of a wreck and I think that's it's like a habit somebody once described a habit as a ball of string you know it's like this I think it was a really great writer but I don't remember the same that's really beautiful and I just I'm getting really like I long to sit down and I can't say I have my confidence much running but I do want to sit down there's a comfort there's also this comfort of being with yourself in a way that you know you got a job you got to do this you got to do that but then and that's what I find being with Suzanne knowing that it is this showing up I don't know what it will lead to but it certainly is a comfort to show up a little question I've only read things that are short and I get like really excited about writing like scenes but I'm just wondering what your experience is have you ever like had like a scene idea that turns into a really long play or something that do you think they can be a good seed for something longer I do everything started right? you born that big and you're tall did you come out that big? no you started small every tree, every plant every I don't know how big the world but you know everything we're looking at pretty much started small and then it grew you know and so sure so what one could say that perhaps there is a chance for a small seed to grow into something larger if you want it to not everything, not every small scene or whatever it has to but if you want it to sure if you have a small seed that you like and you want it to grow to a smaller screen play say or play also cast a little character you just start asking questions like what happens next what happens before this moment what's happening to you every morning who are these guys how long have they known each other where they come from what's going to happen what's going to happen next week what's going to happen tomorrow where they gone why is she wearing that who did she get that hat do you guys tell that story you can even talk to characters tell me about that you know you just get them talking like strangers if you're writing like the subway you know and you have conversations with people and how long do they take the elevator conversation is like seven seconds right so what if you were on cross-country road trip that person that's cool already see what I mean you just turn it on its side you know what I mean and some of you guys have a whole relationship of just being intimate yeah that's a good question that's a good question we're going to ask last time and then you saved it yeah so I would yeah and it was really really good and of course some of theater students would not need more but when I was in college I read it and it was really really good and I really wanted to turn it into a play so how do you turn literature like a book literature into a play first I'm assuming you did not you were not the author of the book you were not the author of the book sorry no we have to get right so you know that already again so you know about the right you have to get right you can't if it's in the public domain you're lucky if it was in the long time ago then the rights issue might be much easier I'm not sure but you'll check that out that's the easy part you want to when's the last time you read the book great so you want to read it again and now you want to read it thinking of again you turn on the film in your head right you want to as you're reading the book have your eye out and watch the curtain goes up and when you're still on stage imagine it as a play right and so you want to go through the book and I would suggest actually getting a new hard copy book and not a candle or reading on your phone because you want to be circling scenes that are essential that you really want to see on stage questions that you might have wait a minute that was never talked about in the book maybe I could write a scene where that is explained or discussed you might want to add and think no no this is all this is not going to work in play just start circling and picking out the major again the tentacles and finding those structural tentacles that would make a new play and often you might have to move some things around because novels, that's a novel the requirements of a novel the dramatic requirements of a novel are very different from the dramatic requirements of a novel so you're going to have to start moving things around definitely to move things around in terms of dialogue right so it doesn't actually exist it stands on dialogue so you just go get a new copy and read it again and start thinking of it actively I think we're going to act and we're going to act quickly for example we're going to start again we're going to act in play it will be fun wants to know about our conversation about confidence if confidence is ever overrated yes, in a writing scheme I think I don't think confidence I don't think confidence overrated I think talent is overrated I don't think I don't really believe in my god given talent 3 year old there's a writer, there's a painter there's a bricklayer I don't think I think self confidence the confidence that comes from people like press your reviews telling you you're great and all that that's a lot of hot wind that can puff you up or wilt you and is not so useful but the confidence you pump over yourself can really get you through a day of writing this is not to say that we go through going oh no one can tell me anything I'm great I have such self confidence I don't want to listen to anybody we're talking about just the basic confidence that Blake was talking about how to just give yourself enough confidence to write the next word and a lot of us, a lot of times it is so hard to write the next word or the next sentence to sit down and just try to do those notes you have to really be a cheerleader for yourself and I think that's a wonderful thing to utilize because that's that feeling you have inside you similarly I think a lot of times when we sit around we take this down we think that's how we become a writer or an artist and people kick us and that's bullshit that's not how to feel wonderful and positive about the world to have people kick us down and say you're nothing oh yay now I get to become a writer because I've been kicked and beaten yeah okay I don't remember beating you so does that make sense does that make sense it's a great question the talent is like people think oh they're born you're just a natural writer I'm not a natural writer I gotta work I work I think that your love your hard work gets talent you're not the other way around I think the harder you work at something the more it appears you have a natural talent for it it's just an accumulation of really really hard work and consistent effort at least that's my experience when it comes to being a person in the arts the more I look at it the better I get I work I work there's a joy in working too that's the thing it's not like grinding it's like yeah I get to dance around yeah do you have any tricks or what to do when you don't have the time when something comes up in your life and the frustration of not having the time is what you really want to that's where you can have the quiet that's where I know I know we probably got one so Carolson what happens do we have tricks what to do when we don't have the time well wonderful ideas are coming up and we don't have the time and I would suggest whatever time you have use it so if you've got 5 minutes a day who's it you only have 15 minutes a day like I've told you before how I've gotten tons done we're just 20 minutes a day if that's all I have that's what I'm going to use so you're also looking something oh gosh I'm spending an hour a day on facebook an hour a day on facebook and I only have like 20 minutes a day from writing while we can only have the hour when we spend on facebook so eliminating what's not necessary you focus on what's necessary and when you're able to work you should buy this thing that will keep the food forward in motion and keep the confidence going on so that's a good question okay so we're good I'll meet you next week I cannot wait to see you so we'll see you back next week thanks so much for coming thanks