 We have one from our Twitter. It's Melania, who we talked to last week in Miami. She says, last week's suggestion about outlining, it was very helpful. When I begin the outline, I realize I have characters that interest me, but I do not have a clear story to tell. I felt there was no good conflict and I got stuck. What would you suggest in a situation like this? I really want to write. I don't know what's happening. Well, you've done excellently so far. You've done everything right, because Melania has done it. She had some questions. She watched the show. She tuned it in. She asked us. We talked to her. And she took some suggestions that were helpful. You only take the ones that are helpful. Number 1779. And she did some work, which was really, really, really great. Okay, so now you have some characters that you really, she really likes her characters. You really like your characters, but they don't seem to have any... What? What is it? Story. Any story? Any story. So what you can do, sometimes characters are very talkative. And they're like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And they talk to you. They tell you everything you want to know about them. And sometimes, I say, your characters won't talk to you at all. And they're like, you're like, oh, come on, I love you. I'm so glad you're here. I really want to put you on my play, or my novel, or my song, or whatever. But they're like, like that. So they won't talk to you. So you have to be persistent and friendly and make conversation with them. So I would suggest all the characters that you have, make a list of them along. You'll make a list of them. And then just say, like, maybe one of them is like Jane. Okay? So Jane. And then just start talking to Jane. So Jane, what's up with you? Why are you in my play? Why do you want to be in my play? Why do you... Or I'm assuming you're writing a play, I'm guessing. Or my screen player. Why do you want to be in my work, right? Talk to me, talk to me. What's your story? What's your thing? What's your favorite color? I don't know. Do you have a bicycle? Like, oh, do you have kids? Oh, really? So do I. And you start chatting with them. Like you would a stranger on a bus, you know? Except this isn't going to be weird, right? Because if you talk to people like that, especially in Europe, people think like, you're crazy. So you just start talking with them. Ask her, ask your characters why they showed up. Why they have revealed themselves to you. Okay? Why are you here? You know, ask them that. And they say, well, because, you know, I can't even fight them. Great. Start talking to them, as if they're real people, because they are. And hopefully that will get them to reveal some things about their story. Because what you want to get, you want to get to the place where your characters are revealing their story to you. Instead of you shoving story onto the characters. It sounds like you're just, you know, Milani, you're just waiting to see what they have to say to you. You can take a more practical approach and you can have conversations with them as if you're interviewing them. Okay, you can give that a try and see if it works. You can do it for every single character in your play. Even the ones you know a little bit about already. And I think the conflicts or what you're looking for will reveal itself or begin to reveal itself that way. Anybody else? Hi. Hi. So this is a problem that I have and it actually just happened now. So sometimes I'll have a project that I need to work on. I have to do a dance lab or something that I need to work on. But I'll get a plot to just, anywhere like someone will say something and that'll surface my plot. And so when you said, when I lost spells playing the brother, that was my plot. And so I started writing based on that. But then I feel like what happens is I do that a lot. So I can be sitting down to work on something and then something else will just pop in my head or remember something someone said earlier. And I'll go into that. And it's like I have to get it out because it's in my head at that point. So it's kind of like I guess a question of just having like certain components for your work. Like if you have some of the, you have a deadline that needs to be done. But then that other thing that's in your head that is nagging and you've got to get it out. Do you want to make suggestions for it? Yes, yes, yes. So you write mostly on your, did everyone hear Starz's question pretty much? She's got deadlines for work that has to get done. And then you sort of, things can come in your head. Whoa, that's cool. And you sort of will write on that for a minute. And then maybe you're not spending all of your writing time on the thing that has to get done. Yes. Because, right, okay. So you're not a Virgo, are you? No, I'm a Tim and I. You're over. I don't know. Put anything ahead of me. No wonder. No, no wonder. No wonder. So you can blame your Starz son, right? Yeah. Okay. It's hard. It's hard for you guys to like stay, you know what I mean? You know what I mean? But my dad, he's passed away. My dad was a Germanite. He got a lot of shit done. He was like shh, like that, okay? So it's possible. You just have to be, the word gets a bad rap. You have to be disciplined. You have to be a little more organized. A little more organized than maybe. Are you a Germanite too? For instance. You guys. For instance. Okay, well you guys, you guys gotta be, you gotta find some solid ground down there to stand on. So I would suggest a schedule and a notebook. Do you only solely write on your iPad there? I write on, like, I write on my computers. I can't do it. I'm not as good as it looks. As a notebook. Yeah, I need a notebook. So, this is gonna sound weird, but I'll write, print something out and put it in a notebook. That's just a little later, but like I don't do that. And you don't have like, in the notebook, you're not attracted to any of those cute little notebooks that they made. I know what I could probably get myself back into that. Little notebooks. I would try. So I would sit, this thing. And one, have a writing period every day. In case you have that, you have like an hour a day where you write on your project that has a deadline. No, cause I'm a Gemini and I just write it. But I have to. My dad was a Gemini and he got a lot of shit done. So it's possible. It's possible. And what he would do, he would write in his dissertation because he got his PhD and he would like go to his office and like sit in his desk for a certain amount of time. And he got a lot of stuff done that way. I was very helpful. And then you have your little notebook. Some of the most fabulous ideas come. John's got a notebook. And revisit them at another time. So you have two writing sessions. You have your one session, your sort of main course. And then you have your Stop and Smell the Roses thing going on. But then you go, okay, I think I'm going to write on Blame it on the brother. You know, that kind of thing. I'll write something about that. But you're not going to be just always, you know, following every butterfly that flies into the room. You're going to be getting your work done too. So is that helpful to get a little bit over? Because I'm also going to have that smaller than that. You know, tend to have that. So it's, you know, the size I'm talking about. A little one. A little one. A tiny one. And a little, either about, you know, this big, right? And they're cute. They can come in a cute little color. I mean, I like, you know. And then you just, right? I will get one and I'll let you know how it goes. Yeah. And just try that. And then, then you can actually be working on your project. And then an idea comes in. You can just, you have, or whatever you have, you know. And I would suggest doing that instead of having two screens. So you're not flipping back and forth between two screens. On your computer. Click, click, click. Because that, it's just light going like this. And you don't need that. You need to. Okay. And try that. Try that. Try that. And also be diligent. Be really diligent. This, I have a deadline. I'm going to finish one. I'm going to get this work done. Yeah. And you won't miss anything about this. Okay. Any questions? Any other questions? Yes. Anybody else? Yeah, Jen. Kind of like some of the, like where, because like for me, I've had a difficult time of space. Right. Where I'm able to focus and create. Right. Because I was like, you know, distractions and thinking and things like that. Right. So, do you have like a, specific space? Like a writing space? Or a writing space that you're able to like create without distractions. Or do you welcome the distractions? That's a good, this is a very good question. So do I have a writing space where I'm able to write without distractions? But this can one have a writing space where one writes without distractions. I think if you have a writing space where you can write without distractions, great. Just to give you an idea. Yeah, I said I was going to make it all about you, but we'll do it. So my right space, I have a table. Where I do most of my writing, it's a table. It's a rectangular table because I like edges. So sometimes people have problems. It's a right and a round table and they like edges. You have to know what kind of, what you're like. Okay. It's in a one room apartment. So it's another room. Also, it's a dining room table. Which means what? Which means that the five-year-old is sitting at the end of the table. Wanting to write. The letter M. Because that's his writing. And the husband is sitting inches away doing competition on a keyboard. So it's focused. It's just leaning into your, or maybe getting some earplugs. That's very helpful. You guys, anybody ever try to get earplugs? Not necessarily to earbuds, listening to music. That can also be distracting unless you can really get in the groove. But sometimes some really heavy-duty earplugs are good to put them in. And then you can sit in the Starbucks or wherever, you know, be from Maine or whatever and sit there and focus. That's really helpful. Because then you start hearing the sound of your own breath, which is very good. Okay. And just, also a timer is really good. I'm really to talk, not your phone. You know, that's right. Not your phone. Your phone is crap. Get a timer. I just, I don't have my timers today. But get a timer, like a kitchen timer, that only is going to count down or up the time. You set it for 20 minutes and you just said, I'm just going to focus for 20 minutes. That's good to start. You can just do that. I'm just going to focus for 20 minutes. And you train yourself to just focus and you can relax and dive with the game for 21 minutes. Okay. So those kinds of things. But if we're waiting for the perfect conditions, not that you are, but a lot of us say, oh, if I only had, you know, a residency for three months and someone to bring me lunch and a picnic basket and you let them go when they used to anyway. Or no distractions and no roommates or whatever, whatever, no children and no job. You write through the distraction. That builds your hustle. You know, it builds your right muscle. Okay. How do you know that? Good question. Good, good question. Hi, baby. Hi. How do you finish after? After. After. How do you finish? After you've written your beautiful piece. Yes. What do you do with it? Yeah. Is it, so it depends what it is. Is it a play? Is it a screenplay? It's a screenplay. It's a screenplay. So you have, you have either, I know you or you go to the, you went to the, are you graduating? Because I see, you're free. Hey, you're liberated and out there in the beautiful world. So, and I'll pass your name. Okay. So, it's a screenplay. And you also have some serious acting chops. So what about getting some of your colleagues to, to around and read it? Okay. Does that make sense? What about after that? So you've done that already. Uh-huh. After that. I would, maybe contact people about maybe getting a, a reading, because the next step, if it's a screenplay, you want to, maybe get a director, unless you're going to direct it also. You could. But do you, do you know some directors from the fabulous land of NYU? Yes. Okay. So we should, awesome directors over there and maybe you could interest them. You know, if you've gotten the notes that you like and you say, you're like, it's in good shape. And you can say, hey, fabulous director, Joan of Arc or whatever her name is. Maybe you could take a look at my screenplay, you know, looking for a director for it. You start showing it to, you widen your circle, basically. So that's what happens. So the first circle is very, very small. It's a circle of you writing it. After that, it gets wider and wider and wider and wider and wider. So, you've already done the reading of it, which is great. And you've gotten the feedback and the notes that you've incorporated those notes, which is great. And then you take it to the next level, which is, get a director, talk to some people who do, any film maybe, or, you know, a Hollywood style film, you know, start talking to people and widen that circle. That makes sense. And also, write the next thing. While you're, because there's going to be now a little bit of a time lapse, lag thing that starts to happen. And we would want to just sit around and wait, for that director to have the time to read the script, you know, so we want to just write the next thing and have that next thing chugging along, so that you have a body of work instead of just one fabulous thing that, you know, may or not get made right away. That's a great, good question. Congratulations on this. This is something wonderful. What a good question. I know. That's why we, how do we eliminate self-doubt and self-censorship when we're writing? Right. So, you probably, you probably don't eliminate it. It's like, the perfect conditions, right? So it's always there, right? It's always there. It's just, maybe you can turn down the volume a little bit of it. So that the voice is in your head, I'm assuming they're from your self-doubt stuff, so it's from your own head, right? And what we can do is turn down the volume a little bit. And there's some ways we can turn down the volume. One, I think a really good way to do it is speed, not the, not pantheon. Oh, maybe that would work too. I don't know. I don't know. Well, that's an experiment that somebody, I'm sure, has done. Sorry, there's a tangent I was going to go on, but no. Some, some unseemly politicians have been accused of being on fast-moving, because they, it would make self-doubt and self-criticism. Yeah. It's just, but what we can do is just speed, writing quickly often helps, okay? So what you want to do, again, the same thing with the timer. You get your timer, again, not your phone, because I heard, you know, Facebook, and I'm not on Facebook, or peers that I am, but I'm actually not. Those are people who are tipping, tipping me. But, it's true, but, I've heard that these social media are very, get you down a lot, okay? So what you can do is turn off your phone, turn it face down, and turn it off, and then set your timer, which is not on your phone, and say, I'm going to write for 20 minutes, and write as fast as possible. Speed is on, you can out-distance the voices of self-doubt, okay? Also, what I try to do is, what I do is I write from beginning to end. I write a whole draft all the way through. I don't spend time fixing the first three pages too much, until I'm done with the draft. Okay? Okay? So, the third thing is that there's writing, and then there's rewriting, and there are actually two different activities. So, if you want to, first you want to do your writing, get to the end, and then you want to do your rewriting, which is a different activity. Okay? That's where you want to be self-critical, and you want to have those voices in the light, because those are your editors. Okay? So, try to write all the way to the end. Try to have a daily practice session. Right? So, that's a lot. I'm giving like a lot of, or any of those, like, yeah. Should you have a daily writing session? Do you write every day? Yeah. Okay? Good. Okay. There you go. Should you have a block of time? Yeah. At least you'd be like me. Okay? Okay. Almost every day, as often as you can. Yeah. Okay. So, good. Very good. What is it? Yeah, yeah, sure. Sometimes I don't have something that comes to me. Sometimes I just don't want to do writing. I'm like, I'll know I don't want to do it, but I don't know how to do it. Right. And so, what do you do when that happens? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you can always write down one word. Yeah. Right? And that's the thing. You can always write down one word, just one word. Even if it's like, well, that's too much. Fuck it. But, you know, it could be one word. Yeah. You know? You can always write down at least one word. And that's very, very powerful to be able to do that. Because what you're doing is you're learning the spirit. And here, I'm working on it. That's, you know, I think we say last, what was it that quote we were saying last week, Chuck closed the beautiful fabulous visual artist who says, inspiration is for amateurs. So, you know, the pros just sit down and work. Putting the time is very important. Just keep working. Keep working. Keep working. Keep working. Keep working. Keep working now. Acted by one when I'm trying to work on the other. Right. And it's just become, I mean, it's, it's interesting to try and sort out people. I feel like I'm writing a scene and like, okay, that'll work over here. And then, I'm writing another scene and like, that'll work over here. And then, I'm trying to not get to the point where I'm throwing everything up in the air and it's metaphorically, how do you, do you have any vices to, the characters are now gapping away. Yeah, you're good. But, but you think there, there are two different pieces. It's trying to feel like it's here. Okay. Okay. Well, so what's the problem? The characters are talking to you and you're writing. I feel like the characters, I don't want it to turn into fan fiction and it's starting to like, edge to edge. Fan fiction? Like, there's a, you know, so, the crack has to be turned off. But there's, you know, it's just, there's interest, like, I'm trying to, I have a lot of children that I can see. Right. Fifteen, at least. And all the parents are like, write us something. We don't. And I feel, like, that is sort of, starting to make me shut down a little bit and just feel a little, like, I'm just going to just develop a topic and probably maybe I'll be able to sort of recommend something to figure out. Right. But this is a totally different thing. So, wait a second. No. Okay. No, no, no. So you, you actually do babysit fifty. Okay. So it's not just no, no, no. Okay. And there, and their parents are asking for, let's write us something. Yeah. Pretty much. No. I'm not going to write you anything. Yeah. Which is what I do. Yeah. It's, I'm just playing a sort of balance. Yeah. But well, they're paying you for babysitting. A lot of people define your, find out you're a writer and they're writing you write something for them. My son, who's in kindergarten, as you know, he has a, hey, hey, he has a, a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful son. and you come in to talk to the kids about writing. And I said, ah, okay, I'll get back to you about that. Because the kids in my son's class, they don't know how, they're yet right there. I mean they're just more than I have right to me. So I'm going to wait on the conversation about writing with my son. It's probably a long time, produced, or I'll send you my novel when it's published, and you know, but it's not, I'm not writing my kids' books, or I'll let you know. I'll let you know. I'll let you know. But for your work, for your work, for your work, get back to your work. Yeah, it's... But what... It was written this way because I was definitely solidly writing a novel for my parents. Children are not good. It's not going to be appropriate. And I'm doing this, you know, I'm kind of doing the same thing. I'm like, do I self-censor? The world is always good demand. We have to say just, no. Or in a polite, kind, friendly, sweet way. You know, like I told, I mean, I think I rolled my eyes and she asked me to talk to the students, but I smiled. Rolled my eyes, but it's not. Yeah, it's gonna be next year. You know, yeah. But yeah, yeah, because, yeah, you know, it was better when you requested our last year, which was come and talk to the pre-k, pre-k kids about writer's block. I was like... I was like, really, so yeah, pre-k kids are having writer's block. And the teacher wanted me to come and talk to them. And I just said, no. The teachers have pre-k. Yo, right? Right at the end. The teacher's having writer's block. Yeah, so you just said, no, thank you. It was just super good. Yeah, I know what you're saying. Well, it's for you. You got to keep going. All the way to the end. That's really great. Oh, my God, it's great. Why do I think I can write? I mean, I'm just telling you, no. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I love it. And then I think, what am I going to do? Come on. Right. We discussed that a little bit. Yeah. I mean, one of the... It's like, don't read everybody else's book. Anybody else's play. You're reading the novels and watching movies. Then you won't have that problem. Ah, it's just a joke. I'm just joking. So you heard what Lynn said, right? You watch, you'll see somebody's movie, or you'll read somebody's play, or you'll read somebody's novel, and they're like, really, really good. And then, you know, it's like, oh, shit. You know, I'm not Shakespeare. What am I doing? You know, it's brilliant, right? Why are you writing? I'm not Gershwin or whoever you are. I mean, I don't know just what name came to me. But, you know, right? So how do you deal with that? I think every single person who's ever made anything has that feeling, maybe, unless you're on MFSC. I mean, something. I mean, no, even the 45th is like, I'm not the 44th, shit. I mean, he's like, you know, he's really jealous, and he gotta work through it. He gotta work through it, you know? My crowds were as big as his. What am I doing? You know, and you gotta sort of find a way to get through that. We have to find a way to get through that. And the only way I think to get through it is to do your work. You know? Because, like, Bob Dylan said, like, I don't know what he said this, but the world doesn't need to know the song, right? He said, I mean, that's a paraphrase. He probably said it was more eloquently. No, I'm fucking mad. You're written like all the songs. Who are you to say the world doesn't need to know the song? You know? So we have to do ourselves permission to do what we gotta do. Right? Yeah. I think it's important to remember that when you're reading that, that's not its first draft. Yeah, that's a good point. You know, it's not its first draft, but it's part of the work that's quite different. Exactly. That's true. That's very true. It's not the first draft. It might not be the fifth draft. That's true, too. But even when it's done, if you still have that, you know, we all have that similar feeling. And you think, I'm gonna do my thing. You know? That's... It's... It's sort of like it's an act of will. It's just you have to just have yourself to continue. Um... And again, like we're talking with Mandy, you don't pay as much attention to the ghost of the doubt, because that might be how your doubt is manifesting itself today. Right? Tomorrow it might be, oh, gee, my mom would hate this if I wrote this. Right? The next day it might be, oh, you understand. That's not how your doubt manifests itself. It's someone else. Right? Even you've heard people, because you've been coming here for a while, people are like, oh, darn, I don't have any time. I have a day job. So that's how their doubt is manifesting itself. But I don't have enough... Oh, what? I'm a kid. I can't do this. Right? It's a block that you're putting in your way. Recognize it as that. It's a mental thing that you're doing to yourself. Yeah. We're not writing the book as you care about so much. I wasn't reading it, but it was reading James Baldwin. You're reading James Baldwin? See? I know. See? He has so much to say in the sense that it's a jail offense. He just feels my heart. But let it buoy you. Let it ferry you across. These writers, if they're worth anything, if an artist is worth anything, they're making their greatest effort to serve as a means to ferry the rest of us across. That's what we're doing. Any artist who is making their greatest effort as a means to make people feel like, shit, oh, good. I'm going to make a really great play so people feel like, shit, oh, they can't write what I wrote. I like plays. That's some bullshit. And that's horrible. Any great artist, truly great artist, James Baldwin, he's writing those beautiful words to ferry us across. That's why he's doing it. That's why he's doing it. That's why all the wonderful ones are doing it. That's what we're doing. That's why Chris Barwell does it. Right, Chris Barwell? Right, fast. Oh, maybe. Yeah. Right? We're sharing our love with each other to help us get through the day, through the year, through the month, through the whatever, through the event, through the beautiful moment, through the beautiful moment, through the beginning. That's what we're doing here. So take that from their work instead of squishing like a bug because you're nothing. Oh, my God. You know, you see what I'm saying? You're choosing to turn it into an impediment instead of a means. Exactly. This is what it is. If you look at it in the right way. No, I mean, I'll talk to you about it. I think there's a problem. So anybody who has a question, ask it now. I just, I have, because it's a, in one year, something, something, something. I'm supposed to be doing it. Anybody who has a question? Yeah. We'll have it next year. We'll be back in the following week. On the 13th, I have a comment. So, anybody? Question? I have one more. Yes. I have one more. Wait. When you have finished a piece. Yes. How do you feel the confidence in sharing that piece with other people? Right. It seemed it could go. Right. It could go. It's a good question. I usually, because it says at what point after finishing the piece do we feel like sharing? Right? And it depends on the piece. You know? But because sometimes you feel like, well, if I've got some good friends who will read it for me or with me, I feel pretty good about it. So you don't need the circle to get one more dry away. Just a little bit bigger. So some trusted friends. You know? And that's one step. And then that you can make the circle a little wider. Like that. Like that. Okay? So, you can do it right away or after the second. After? No. It doesn't have to be perfect in order to share it. Not at all. Perfect is the ending of building. Right? You get? Yeah. Ask. You know what I'm saying? It was too long for the best one. You should do it. Yeah? Right. What's your name? Louise. Louise. Louise. Where are you from? Oh, hi. What are you raised up for? Don't elect that guy. You don't know what you're talking about. Please, please. Ah, well, what can I ask? Go ahead. We'll try. Okay. Do it. So, Louise has written a play and she had, we'll just keep going. She had a one-hour shot and she dutifully and brilliantly reduced it down to the perfect size and now that she wants to put the play on you at other places, she's wondering, how do I go about making it a quote-unquote, full-length play again? It's tricky. You might have found the perfect size for it and realize that making it longer is just adding things that it never really needed. So, is there a second, is there a companion piece that you could write? Is there something new you could write for it? Because it's very tricky. If you feel like it's in good shape now, is there a companion piece you could write for it? Do you see what I'm saying? Yeah. And then you could have a first play, something, a second play, a companion piece and that could be a quote-unquote, full evening, you know, even though, you know, a great writer is like, what's your choice to write a full-length play that's like, 10 minutes. It's great. It's like, oh, shit. You know, she's amazing doing that. You know, Sam Shepard says a play should only as long as it needs to be. So, you know, but if you want to make any kind of an intermission, you can make a companion piece. Write something new. Well done. She says she didn't need so many words. Is this, is this, is this good? Oh, please come back. Come go away. Come back and know you won't stay here with us. Oh, okay. Come on. Let's go and let that guy, you know. But thank you. Okay. Are we good? Are we done? So, we, we probably won't be here on the 13 because I have a problem with the software. Okay. So, thank you guys for coming. Thank you.