 So you can meet some of your goals or all of your goals while we don't have time during this session to actually share work. We do have lots and lots of times talk with you about your process. And so this is how we do it. We turn on a timer for 20 minutes. And then we work together. And then when the timer has gone for 20 minutes and we talk about your work and your creative process. So lolly's going to tell us how to get in touch. If you should have a question go lolly. Awesome. So if you are in the zoom room with us, you can ask questions by clicking the raise your hand button, which should be in the participants tab, likely on the bottom of your screen. If you have any trouble finding that button, you can private message me in the chat and I can help you out. If you're watching the stream on howl round right now, feel free to send us your questions via the public theaters Twitter or Instagram accounts or via watch me works Twitter account, which is at watch me work SLP with the hashtag howl round hashtag howl.com. So yeah, those are the ways that you can ask us questions again touch. Thank you. Thank you lolly and again I forgot to thank the public theater and howl round for making our zoom life, our virtual life possible because it makes it real easy and real fun to do. And without further ado. Let's do it. 20 minutes. Here we go. That beautiful sound. We got, if you all got questions. We can try to find some answers. Is that clapping emoji maybe a question. Awesome. Okay, I will ask you to unmute yourself. Hello. Can you hear me. Yes. Yes, we can. Hi, I've been doing this with you since the pandemic started and I've finally gotten the courage to ask my question. The answer is yes. Yay. I am mainly an actor and a teacher but I do write and I love to write and actually finished a feature length film with the help of this process. It's not made yet, but hopefully I'll get it made. And now I'm working on something I call Lady Slut Servant Soldier. Oh, good title. It is an anti memoir memoir. And many years ago, my mother told me we were in the museum and she said to me, you should write a book and I thought it was kind of weird because I mean she knew I wrote a little like us but I'm mainly an actor and so I just. I never forgot that she said that so I have so many, my question is I have so many journals. And I've started putting some of this in a document on, you know, on the computer but most of it is journals and then, and then I'll tear out pieces from the journals that I like. But they're literally probably close to 100 journals of my, you know, polo. My mother passed away a couple months ago. I'm sorry. And thank you. And so now I feel like I really have to write book. For her more than for me so I wondered if you had any strategies of how I can take really so much material, some of it probably shite but a lot of it, maybe actually good. And also, you know, there's a lot of doubt, I guess, thinking like who am I to write a book, which is why in my computer it says Das book. And that's remind me that this is a book writing a book, you know that like just the word book kind of makes me, you know, fall over so I need to, I know I need to believe in myself more and just f and do it but I would love if you had some ideas that you can take all of this different material and and. Sure, sure. Great question. Great question. It's, it's wonderful that you, you've already started the process that you've got some strategies already. And maybe we can build on the ones that are, they're working I mean the major one that you have is you're thinking that you just got to do it and it sounds corny but in my experience. Everybody does encourage the good feelings about what we're doing, you know, kind of leaning back and saying, I don't know if this is the right day makes more of that and leaning in and going, man, it is the right day even if I do a tiny little bit. Five minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes, whatever, just to kind of get yourself used to in the habit of doing it right. So you want to continue what you've already started continue building the habit of doing it. So the the many pages of many journals. I think it's great that you're pulling stuff out of the journals. In a way, though, that seemed kind of reading kind of a, oh my God, you know, there's a lot of journals, you know. So I wonder if instead of pulling pages out of stuff you have written in the past. If you have a new journal page, which do you prefer long writing longhand or on the computer. Honestly, right longhand that's part of the problem is getting what is longhand out of the computer I also sometimes highlight what I like from each journal. I don't always, I don't always pull it out. That was actually a prior this was probably from years ago that's what I was doing it now I do this. Right. I would so so how about instead of that to how about starting and you have a new journal I'm sure you have a journal now right. So okay so on the on the new page, you know starting you know tomorrow or something. Just write like, and this outlines I don't know if you like outlines or not I can't I don't know, but you can just write like things you want to write about. I mean, things from your past things from the journals not that you're going to go and find them. I imagine that they're still in your mind. And what you can start by doing is making a list, like a grocery list, you're going shopping. You like shopping. I mean, you know for clothing shopping or, you know, yeah on a good day right on a good day it's kind of fun if you make a list and go these are the things I want to call to mind, put it that way, like a waste list. You know, and you make a list. And in the days to follow you're going to go through your list that you spend a couple of days writing your list maybe you come up with, I don't know. Maybe 20, you know, maybe I don't know. So if that feels good. And then after you've come up with your 20 topics, then you're going to go through. And each day you're going to write on one of those topics. You see that I think that's going to be better than looking through your journals pulling stuff out or highlighting stuff and then having to type it up. You see. So you're going to write up the new stuff. And depending on how long it is. I don't know how much time you have every day to spend on your writing. You can write something that maybe you just write a page like 20 minutes you write and then you can type it up in the same work session. They can have something with a header that says, you know, do you see what I mean. Yes, she's starting fresh using your old, your quote unquote old material but you're starting it with fresh eyes. I don't know how to help it be manageable I think, and because going through old old notebooks is, is a lot of work, and that's too much work. What if there are some things though in the last I would say year that is in these newer journals that I do want to include, or you could go through your then you could go through and pull them out. I would say, if it's like, if it's like, I don't know this is pretend you bought it, you found a cat, and you, you know, in the past year, the day I found my cat you can just write the header the day I found my cat and just write it fresh. You know, instead of going back, finding 100 pages of not the day I found my cat here it is here it is okay. I mean it just takes a lot of you know. So you can just be be specific in in your list in your wish list. Yeah, that's that's a way if you want to go back to your journals, by all means you know they're your journals, it's your process. I just encouraging you to just have a fresh start on it because it's a lot of material that you'd have to go through. Yes. What about the what I already have typed out because that's over the course of probably the last five or six years to great so how much do you have typed out. I think it's about 35 pages now. Great, great and can you it does it. Would it fit under one or more headers. I mean would it be with it. For example, with the day I found my cat be in there and the day I you know sold my car what I'm just making up stuff you know what I mean. There's probably more than a couple headers but great so so what you do you can go backwards, just like when we do something and then we put it on the list so we can cross it off. Put those look at your material that you have think oh they're like seven headers here great put them on your list and cross them off. Yeah, yeah, yeah, and you can even go through and like divide them up into different like each is like four pages long or something like that you can divide them up as if you had just done them. You know that can give you a sense of like wow okay I've got some forward momentum. Yes, oh I like that idea. Thank you. Yeah. Okay. Yes, thank you. Check back in check back in. Yes, I will I'll be I'll be here. Okay, I'm a big fan too. Oh, thank you. Thank you so much. Thanks so much for your question it looks like we have Matthew up next. Hey Matthew. Good afternoon so good to see you and all these familiar faces and have a short question here in terms of how clear to make the path for the audience for the reader to move forward. I've had some rest some wrestling where I feel like I've kind of made the path clear for the readers to get a sense of where I'm headed and what things mean, and then the work is misinterpreted and tangentially but still related is the idea of the obscure reference. Where to me it seems like if I have something obscure I'm referring to it actually can enhance the power of what I'm saying, but I think less people are going to understand it. And how do I, how do I find that that happy balance of that clear path so that the audience is coming along with me and also weighing how obscure reference I can use and how to handle that balance of maybe more power versus less people getting it. Great question Matthew and is this a we talking about a dramatic work or a novel or what are we talking about. This is poetry. Okay, yeah. Okay, so and I'm guessing it's poetry that you imagine that you plan would be read like in some kind of, you know, like a one on one experience by the reader in the privacy of their own privacy. It'll either be that with a published collection or or read. I work in television and I'm in the process of creating at this point about half a dozen different reasons of these different great great great okay okay I remember I remember because you were doing like online like video stuff you do also right is that right. Exactly. Okay, well you know I mean you work in television. So you know it. I mean, I think a novel, we have more. We have more room to be obscure leave you think of like. Then again wake, you know what I mean, the reader can, she can put down the novel at any moment, you know, and go look up. What is what is Joyce talking about you know what I mean and, and the enjoys the reader the reader the novel is afforded that and the novelist is afforded that right with a play or a TV show or what TV shows are a little different because of course now these days of your can always push pause. You know, they can get up and look something up or go to the bathroom or take a brain break or bathroom break or whatever theater it's very different when you're reading your work allow to an audience is very different. And so you have to gauge how comfortable you are with people, you know, here we are leaning in, while we're holding on we're holding on and then you, you start you give us one obscure reference and two and maybe some of us are. You know what I mean and then we're out and if you're okay with that. And then we're like. And then some of us get up, if you're okay and I'm not saying that's something you should guard against, not at all. I'm saying that that's something that we who write for live audiences have to think about also I mean in TV to bro you know you we got to think about it in TV, we write for TV. We have to think about that too but but not so much in theater. I think they're captive audience, but they're not. They can leave and in TV you know the vote they vote we vote with our remote so it's how it's what yeah go ahead, go ahead. Sorry, is it common to have something that you expect people are going to understand and then when it gets out there that you find that people actually might not understand something that seems obvious to you because I'm having a little bit of that. That's kind of, that's hard. That's hard. You know, there are so many different, there are so many people in the world at this point, and so many takes on, you know, if I say Brown some people gonna go yeah, I'm down with Brown so I'm gonna go what are you talking about Brown, you know, yeah, I didn't mean that I said Brown, you know, so a, there are a lot of folks out there with a lot of strong opinions. The hot take is very popular these days. So people don't digest before they comment on what they've eaten, you know, but that's culture. I got it, you know, I think, you know, you know, I would sort of not worry about it so much, you know, if you're being intentionally obscure that's one thing but if you think like you're just telling a story and it gets misinterpreted. You know, I think that's part of the game, part of the price, you know, you know, not to worry about it, you know. Okay, thank you very much. Thank you. Thanks, man. Anyone else have questions. Looks like we got a hand, Shelley. Hey, Shelley. Good morning. Good afternoon. Good day. I got the sunshine in my face here and I can see, but it's such a pleasure to be here and every time I come here, someone asks a question that's in my heart. So far, there's been two questions asked and I got so much out of both of them. I'm going to ask a question just because no one else was asking this question and today I sat down to write and it was like constipation. I was not in the flow at all. And it's the first time for me in working on this book that also I'm writing about all my travels because I'm a traveler and have had amazing experiences. And I just finished the hugest chapter that was just I couldn't stop. I sat down and every time I would like, oh, I have to go make dinner now. I have to go, you know, I would pull myself away from the computer and I'm starting a new chapter now, which gets juicy as I go, but I have to do all the preamble. And it was so difficult to write today. And it's the first time that I've had that experience with it, usually because I'll sit there and eventually I'll get there. Maybe I would have if we'd written for a half an hour, I would have gotten to the place where it started to flow again. So, as an experienced writer as a, as a, as our teacher, what, what, what do you do when you're constipated, you know, what is what, what do you. Yeah, that's, that's such a great question. Oh my goodness. Eat broccoli. That's what I told my kid some broccoli up your fiber. What's fiber. Fiber is, is, is, is knowing that difficult or not less than easy writing days are part of the journey. You know, so, I mean five in this, in this, you know, game we're playing fiber would be something to you. Well, I mean, we're going to get gross here, but it's okay. We're adults. You want to soften the stools you want to soften what's hard and won't pass right. So did it. So you just remind yourself that just to be soft with yourself, compassionate with yourself. This happens. It happens. I mean it's like welcome to the, the next level Shelly. You know what I mean, you're leveling up your, your, your, you've graduated to the next level it's a little might be you might have some difficult days. You know, I mean if you've ever, I'm sure you have you know you meet someone you think, Oh, they're wonderful they're awesome. Yeah the first like 12 dates are so great and then they do something like, you know, they pick their nose or they fart. And only it's like oh no, you know, and so they remind you that they're human or that you're human or, you know, okay. So just, you just again, keep putting in the time. Right. Be kind to yourself. Know that this is what we all go through those of us who make things. You know, thank you. Thank you. And the sun then you found your light look at you in the light. Okay, great question really, really great question is something that we all need to remember. It's something that what is really, I really appreciate that these sessions are being recorded because you guys is you all questions are helpful to those of us gathered today and are helpful to people who tune in, you know, when they're available, which might be on a Tuesday at three o'clock in the morning, you know, and they can watch this and they can feel community through through our questions and our conversations you know. So, definitely. Yeah but you know we all have difficult days. Looks like we have another question. Melania. Hello, how are you? Good to see you. Good to see you too. I love this opportunity that we have is this is a blessing. It's such a wonderful space. And I have my situation is that I am trying to to work on this idea for a novel for this fellowship that I am trying to present. In my first time trying to work in something like this and what I am being is very compassionate with myself and I keep writing but what I noticed that I am having a lot of ideas different. So I write it down but I put it with highlighting, you know, when when I write, but I can see now why and I keep going. I want to, as I learned here to reach the finish line so I can come back and see. But what I am noticing is that there are a lot of highlighting and I am a little scared now because I say okay I keep going because I need to reach some number of pages. So I keep going. My question is because I am very I want to go back and see my little notes but I say no I'm not going to do it I'm going to keep going at the finish line. My question is when I reach the finish line that is kind of finish line and I go back how is there any strategy that you can share with me about how to see what is useful and what is not how do I know because I am I am trying to think about what I'm doing but at the same time because I have these voices that I share here and you told me that they are slow. So I now I know that I see the little bit we have some tea with a lot and then I run away. Yeah, so when I come back to all these notes that I am having. Is there anything that I can do to to discern what is better and what is not or what can I do. Yeah, so that's a good that's a great question again. So how Milani how have you been writing this project up to this point how meaning what are you doing longhand typing typing in my computer what is very different from what I do usually that is long longhand because I have. I didn't have the time and then when I was going to present they changed the deadline. So I didn't the computer is my first time doing it in the computer like the first great great that's okay that's all it's all good it's all good because we're going to try. Cross training, I think could help so and it's similar to the per the person who was talking about her journals right. I'm going to switch up the method so you're going to keep going to the end like this, because this is fast, right, which is good and you need speed right now. When you get to the end, which is, and how many days do you think you'll get to the end. I think I have a maybe I need 10 days. Okay, yes, I am. In fact, I have a because I had some kind of chronogram, but I went behind so I did a second one I forget 2.0. And it's a couple of weeks that they have extended from Monday to Friday. Great, fantastic, fantastic. Okay, so when you get to the finish line. Yeah. Okay, and I think it's good I appreciate you're saying you're going to get to the finish line because the second thing you're going to do is called like the second draft or rewriting. Okay, we get to the finish line typing. I'm sorry I'm looking around for my little things I'm going to show you, which can't which I can't find because my desk is so messy. When you get to the finish line you're going to get, you know what they look at some index cards. Yeah. And you're going to go through and have your pile of index cards, and you're going to look at your text on the screen, and you're going to write out on an index card, the things that are interesting for me so you can actually change what your hands are doing. Okay, so you're not going to like print out the document and then type some more. We're not going to do that. You're going to actually take a pile of index cards. Right. And, you know, a pen or pencil doesn't matter. Right. And then just write that we see you scroll through your document. And every time you get something interesting, you write it down. Okay, doesn't have to be in detail you just write it down what what what you like about it it's a story point or a character, something bit or whatever. A line of dialogue or anything whatever it is. Okay, each thing gets a new card. Okay, then you have your cards of interesting stuff. And then you put them in order. And you have something that you can then flip through and tell yourself the story. Wow, you're going to boil it down. Okay. Yeah, all right. So and that's super helpful that you've done it, you know, one way and you can do it. Okay. Yeah, let's see what that is going to be like, if we can touch base next week or whatever. Okay, you are I mean you won't be you might not be at the finish line by then or you might be you might have caught you know you might finish in a week. Who knows you might speed up whatever. Okay, let's see what that's like. Sure. I like it because I feel stuck. I keep going. Yeah, good. And I like this. Good, good, good. And yeah, and it helps when you get to the finish line, you'll have a different way. It's like you're running you're doing a triathlon or something. So you finished running now you're going to you know now you're going to get on your bike, you know whatever you finish you know now you're doing the swimming part and then you're going to start running, which is it's going to be a different way to use your body. Yeah. Thank you. You're welcome. We'll see we'll see how it works but it's going to be fun. It will be fun. You're going to at least get to go if you don't have a stack of index cards, you get to go to the store and buy some. Okay, but I have my index card. You can go to the store and get some anyway. You're welcome. Thank you. Thanks for your question. Lou, you're up. Hello. Hi, everyone. It's great to see you guys. I just wanted to check in and say that I'm on top to make my May 20th deadline that you helped me with a couple weeks back. I'm not quite there but it's coming and so I wanted to thank you for that. I'm really excited I actually have a date plan with my husband on Friday night that's how sure I'm going to be done like I'm going to hit send and then we're going to like go out on the town so to thank you for that. Oh my goodness. And this is the one that you're going to send to the publish you have a you have a fantastic. Yeah, yeah, done. Yeah, it resonated in my mind you talked about crossing the finish line and then in a marathon, just like, you know, is it perfect or is it like, I keep hearing that thing you said so I really appreciated that it really resonated with me. Wow, just like just keep going just keep going go over the line over the line. Yeah, so it's great. But I did have a little, maybe not so little I don't know how big or little it is a question that I'm thinking about as I'm making this progress. I'm thinking that my voice when I write is either really serious and sort of lyric, and I write working on memoir and essays, or it's really self-effacing. And if I do say you can't really call yourself funny because you just that's not done. So, but I believe it to be funny people have told me it's funny to say you're funny you're not funny. And one of these two things. And I'm, I'm interested by it and curious about it just like this concept of like this, the tone of my voice and the different ways that I write and what I'm looking for and I just was curious about your ideas about voice and and when you try on different voices, or maybe not try on some other word when you when you implement different voices for different outcomes or kind of writer have different voices and still have a consistent voice like I don't know. I think it's a similar voice the way that I write I don't think it's like, and neither are phony, like both feel really true to me. But they, I get feedback from people who like my more self-effacing funny voice that they love it and then when I go a little lyric. This is actually about my agent little she doesn't love my lyric voice. But I get great response to the lyric voice and the depth of it and the seriousness of it by a whole other group of people, not that I'm so widely published but like when I do share it with people. And they don't always love myself a phasing voice because they're like oh you're knocking yourself down or it takes the sting, you know it takes the hardness out of that and then I feel like you're. So I'm just, yeah, I'll stop talking it's just like about the voice of writing and like, what's the true voice or how do we know when to implement different. I, from what you say I, I get the feeling that if you were to only be choose one of those voices that you'd be less than honest. And I know, and this is you know here we are in the marketplace or, you know, we're looking at the marketplace in the marketplace, I mean not and not to disparage the marketplace you know what I mean. I encourage y'all to go shopping and you know and be published and make money and all those good things. And yet the marketplace seems to want certain things or seems to see certain things as marketable. You know, and, and the whole idea of a writer's voice. We all code shift we all talk one way to our kids and another way to our parents and another way to our friends and another way to our girlfriends and another way to our hubbies and you know what I mean, we have all these voices. And maybe we even have a baby voice I mean, whatever we got different ways of communicating there are so many different ways of, of expressing ourselves Whitman Walt Whitman I contain multitudes that was his big woman one of his beautiful. Things that he wrote and, you know, I'm in a world where we're, you know, we're, we're, you know, people are non binary and, and what are we talking about can't we can't we accept that a writer might have different ways of expressing themselves. We thought we not expand our acceptance of humanity to include the acceptance of an artist as maybe some of, I mean, they also tell you like, Hey, if you write for film you can only wait for film you can't act or you can't write for theater you can't write novels I mean what is what is this narrowness of understanding when it comes to the artistic process very strange to me. Well, Lou, I think you have many voices, or at least two, and that's okay. I think limiting yourself would be less than honest. And we were sometimes we have to do that to fit in, but then you won't be your authentic self. No, please say, I was gonna say I actually think my more humorous voice was a result of not fitting it like it was ended up like it's a tool that was evolved by not feeling like I could be myself, you know, it's like it was a exercise and breaking through or something you know so it's actually a more defensive voice I don't think it's less true. But it, but it, it was honed you know it's like the image I have was like a knife you know it was like sharpened over, over time. The other voice is like the voice I think I was, I came here with. Sure. Sure. Sure. And our voices changed like when we were, you know, 10 years old our vocal cords it's different now you know, and and when we if we were to live in other countries or with other people or when you're on the East Coast you're talking one way and when you're on the West Coast, you know so yeah, I think it's all valid and I think as long as it feels, like I said, I mean we, we're encouraging each other to live in our authentic selves. Yeah, it should apply to the arts as well. But you know maybe not. Yay, I'm so proud of you. Yeah, that you were about to cross this finish line I mean it's a huge project and you know I just, we've been hearing about it for a while and cheer you on for a while so we will be thinking of you on Friday. Yeah, as you push send and then you go on a date night. Yeah. Yeah, thank you so much. That is so awesome. Thanks. Thank you for that question. We have like a couple of minutes left so if we have one more question that anybody wants to ask, we have time. We can all just play with the skin on our faces. That's also an option. Matthew Matthews like no, I'm not gonna. Oh, boy. Wow. No one has a final question SLP do you have any words of wisdom you'd like to close us out with. Yeah. Maybe not. Maybe not it's a. Yeah, watch out for the news folks. Yeah, yeah, there's just there's just so much I mean you know that we meet people, we get to know people there's so much love and good energy and we and those people that we can be honest with an authentic with are really to be valued and so many folks these days think that the only way they can get ahead get by get through get around get over is to lie. And it's heartbreaking. And, and hate is, you know, so I mean all the things we already know. But, yeah, it's Monday again. And then to that. See you next time I so appreciate your questions and your answers and your thoughts and your courage and your resilience and your tenacity and all those good things. Thank you all for coming. We'll be here same time next week. Okay, bye. Thank you.