 So that's the work of, was it hard to work today? Well, I feel good about it. Was it hard to work today? Sometimes, you know when the weather changes and it gets dark early, we experience difficulty. No? All right, how do you do it? It's hard to start. It's hard to start. Or for me, once I got it in, I was like, oh, there it is. Ah-ha! Yeah, yeah, so sometimes it's hard to start. Yeah. It's like cold or dark. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. It's beautiful. Yeah. Oh, it was like, I know. Depending what. It was like, yeah. It was like, yeah, it would be beautiful. Yeah. It's over. Anybody else have a hard, a difficult time starting? No? Everyone's like, yeah, yeah, hard starting. And then you just kind of like, hey, did anybody have any snow wherever you went? Over the, yeah. Yeah? Yeah, where'd you go? Massachusetts. Massachusetts. They had snow up there? Yeah. Anybody else, any snow? You went? No? It was like a snow, I was just thinking of a snowman, watching my son make a snowman in my mother's yard over Thanksgiving. And it's, you know, I mean, you know, you know the snowman, you know, that you roll. Has anybody ever made a snowman that way? You take the little thing, you roll. You know, it's hard to get started. But, you know, are like shoveling snow to anybody shovel snow? Did you shovel any snow, Melissa? Over the, did you shovel snow? I had to shovel snow because the guys didn't show up to Thanksgiving. When we were having small clients, it was delicious. Anyway, it was just your eyes was shoveling snow things about writing. Like, wow, this is just like writing. So, if you like, you know, right, isn't it? It's like a long road. It's unmarked. It's uncomfortable. You're in some weird position. And you have to, like, do a little tiny bit. And I was there for like an hour and a half. Doing that, it was amazing. And I had a deadline, because there came the delivery truck. And I didn't keep it faster. And then my mother could have her washing machine. Or not, yeah, washing machine. Because she ordered it. So good. Anybody have any questions about writing? Real writing, not shoveling snow? Yeah. Well, you were there. Because you raised your hand first. Yes, what's your name? Do you know? Do you know? Do you know? Okay. Your question, but figure out what's good feedback and bad feedback. How do you figure out what's going to be useful for you and, like, not useful? Hey, that's a great question. How do you figure out what's good feedback and what's bad feedback? How do you figure out what's good feedback and what's bad feedback? Yeah, and if you're so, especially if you're doing some kind of creative project or something, okay. Because, like, yeah, because there's, like, you could say bad feedback makes you feel bad, but that's not really true. Right? Sometimes you get a really smart note that makes you feel awful. You didn't think of yourself, right? Or, oh, it's going to be so much worse. Right? Oh, to fix, to change that character. Oh, my God. You know what I mean? So it makes you feel awful thinking of the task ahead that you have to do. So, and good feedback. Yeah, great. Hey, I love you. Love your work. Love, love it. Just love it. Yeah, yeah, that's really good. It makes you feel like, oh, this is my hair. You know what I mean? You're just shining me on. You know, you're just full of smoke all by behind, right? So that's not necessarily good feedback. But that might make you feel good, right? So it's tricky. Does anybody have a clue how to tell what's good feedback from bad feedback? So what you do, it's like the sort of like time test, you know? You listen to the person's feedback, right? A couple of things. You consider the source. So if it's like someone who has consistently given you like stupid, like, oh, my God, everyone's gonna hate that, okay? That's like bad feedback. Everyone is going to hate that. A couple of things. So if it's what we call black and white thinking, if it's extreme, right? Like it's great, it's great. That might not be the best feedback. But if everyone's going to hate that, it's not good feedback. So if it's extreme, right? Then you consider the source. If it's coming from someone who consistently gives you feedback that's not helpful, okay? Or someone who wants to see their notes in your work, right? I want you to change your hair to purple. Why don't you change your hair to purple? I mean, come on, right? That kind of person, okay? Then there's other feedback. You have to give the test of time. So you get feedback. You maybe take notes, right? You're taking notes when you're getting the feedback? Are you? Okay. You sleep on it, right? You might talk it over with a trusted friend. Hey, somebody read my screenplay, for example, my novel, whatever, and they said that they just, they thought the main character was crazy and totally unrelated. You know, what do you think you've read enough? You know, what do you think? Can you bounce it off a trusted friend? Okay? And it's really finding out what resonates strongly and truthfully to you. And that's good feedback. Does that make sense? So it's not just feedback from a powerful person, right? You've got, like, an artistic director and editor or whatever. It's feedback that resonates appropriately with you and what you want to do with your work. Okay? And I always give it a sort of overnight, don't start slashing and inverting your screenplay or your novel or whatever, based on some feedback you get from somebody without digesting it, right? Does that make sense? Same thing. You know, what's a good boyfriend? What's a good spouse? What makes a good meal? All the same things, right? So you can apply those things to every category. So it's helpful because sometimes you don't know. Okay? That's a good question. You had a question. What's your name? Kimberly. Hey. So, ripping off what you just said a while ago about shelving snow being like writing, I've been thinking a lot about the ways we write that are not sedentary, you know, and how activity comes into play in our writing process. And I found some kind of golden tidbits where you talk about your astanga study and the ritual and the physicality of the astanga yoga practice in your writing. And I'm just wondering, like, after 365 days of plays or anything else that you've done, does astanga come into play? Does yoga come into play? Or what other ways are you physical in the writing process? So different from what we all just did was, like, we're sitting down, you know, we're writing and it's like this solitude still process. Like, what ways do you move in your writing process? I mean, I used to move a lot more. And now I move more in my head. So I've taken all those years of movement while I write. Now I'm used to it. Instagram, I'm only writing. But I always try out movements of character. If I'm talking about a character working out a line or reading a line, I might write something and then try it out like that. So I would suggest that often when I'm stuck or I tell students when you're stuck you're having a really hard time with a character and they're sitting there and they re-read it. I've re-read the draft six times. I don't know what to do. I say stand up, take the piece of paper and walk around the room with it and read it. So there's that kind of thing. I mean, there are a lot of great writers who write whoever is standing up. Hemingway, I think, was one of them, you know, famously standing up at his desk. I know he had other problems. Yeah. And I don't think he did yoga, so fair. But he was a really good writer. But I would say move around when you write. I'm not a big, but I'm not saying that's the only way to write. I do a lot of yoga, I still do. But I think that if you're feeling a little sluggish in your writing, stand up, walk around and you're writing out loud. It doesn't have to be a play if you don't want to read it out loud. It can be a novel, it can be a song, try it out out loud, okay? Or even just reading it out loud. If you don't feel like standing up, just read it out loud. Actually let it go through your body, which is enough movement, actually. You don't have to, you know, if you often write in public places, you don't need to make a floor show of yourself. You know, I'm a writer, so I'm going to move around and I write out things. Sit down, sit down, be quiet. So if they're right, you know what I'm saying? You don't have to make a big production out of it. But you might want to read it softly to yourself just to feel the language in your body. And that's very, very, very helpful. Yeah, definitely, movement. I do a lot of movement. I just don't move as much as I used to because I need to have all this like stored movement. So I just pretend I'm moving. It's just what I was doing, I was pretending. Yeah, it's just like, oh, I don't know. A lot of the projects that I'm working on right now are research heavy, and I'm trying to balance when do I stop research and do the writing? Do I do them in tandem? When do I know when I've done enough research to write? So I wonder if you have any thoughts about that. That's a really good question. And you have it all the time. It might change the project for the project. What's your name? Sandra. Sandra? Yeah. Hey, so I would say if you're thinking, how long have you been researching for this project? Well, on and off like two years, but interviewing people. Right, right. So if you feel like, you know, you feel like you kind of want to take a little writing. You're feeling like that. So do some writing. And you can always circle back and do more research. Okay? Yeah. You can always turn one. Well, so for that one, I have written a piece that's still in progress, but I'm now about to embark on a new one that's going to involve research. And I'm kind of like, do I want to wait another two years before beginning writing that one? Right. Or like, what should be a daily process in terms of researching and interviewing people and putting things on the page? Right. I would say write and research later. Right? I mean, what can you have? How much regret can you do without any research? I mean, I could imagine. I could imagine. We're not encouraging, you know, you know, realize or, you know, oh my goodness, play fast and lose to the facts. I mean, it might be America if you did. Yeah. This is the country where we make up shit all the time. Yeah. And get elected. Oh, man, complicated. Well, anyway, you know what I'm talking about. Right? You can't. The door's open. You don't have to do any research ever. Just say what you want about whatever you want and people will buy it. If you use the appropriate hand gestures and maybe dye your hair. I don't know. But you know, so I would say just to free you up a little bit. Oh, see, just to free you up. Jump in and start writing, hey, what if this was happening? You know, have some fun. And circle back around and do your research as you go. Okay? See if you could just start writing and have a good time and do both at the same time. One day you have time to write. Right. One day you have your research subjects. I know they're real people, so it's going to take a little bit of finagling. You know, organizing your schedule and their schedule. So then you research. Okay? But you have an idea for a story. Great. And maybe the two will come together like a well-made drawer. You know, have you seen a well-made drawer? You know, dovetailing. You know, that beautiful art of cabinet tree. I suppose it's called beautiful. Yeah. So maybe, you know, or a beautiful floor that's beautifully laid. Okay? Right. Right. Yeah, it's a rabbit hole that, you know, you can, I would say, yeah, just make up stuff. Make up stuff. And then circle back around. And I remember, and you remember really, really, really, that you live in a country where it's okay. There's gotta be an upside to this shit, man. There's gotta be an upside. Yo, we're free, free from telling, oh, you know, look at those, just say whatever you want, yo. You know, right? Just say it in an exciting way. And tweet it. And tweet a lot in the middle of the night. That's important. No, but, you know, okay? So, no, but I feel like I don't want you to be imprisoned to your, you know, your own structure that has worked through the past. If you feel like you want to write, write. And see what you need to know. Then look at it and go, okay, does that make sense? Does that make sense? Does that make sense? You know? Okay? Yeah. Yes, it makes sense. How do you do it? I did a question I had earlier when you looked at me. You know, it's just like, I'm not going to ask this now. I mean, a friend of mine were talking for a while about, like, how there's like a lot of glorification of depression. Not that it's not a real disease or not that it's important to talk about. But just like, you don't have a story unless it's like a sad one or something bad happened to you or like, you're writing about something or creating something that's like somber. And so I was working on my piece recently and thinking like, man, like I'm a funny person. I like to laugh. Why isn't this like making me laugh? I mean, like, why am I not having like enough fun in it? And I feel like how do you, how does one get away from the tendency to be so serious? Because like, I'll like, I'll do something that's like strictly funny or I'll do something that's like strictly serious. I'm like, I feel like I have multiplicity why don't my pieces have, or they do, but I only find them. But or like the things I find funny and not everybody else finds hilarious. So how do you become a funny person? That's the question. Alexis, how do you become a funnier? No, how do you become a funnier person? Like fun and like more somber subjects. How do you become a funnier person? Well, I mean, I have been accused of making married sad subjects. I mean, but to me, the two exist simultaneously. To me, you know, like to me slaves can laugh a lot. You know, and it doesn't have to be a slapstick send up kind of thing. It can be an actual embracing of the situation. You know, I don't know. I would read writers that do that a lot if you want to do that. You know, that's the thing. If we have a skill that we see in another writer that we want to cultivate, you know, I would read that. I would read a lot of that writer or those writers that we say, wow, that person is really good at that kind of thing. I want to get better at that kind of thing. So we read those kinds of writers. I would suggest that. You know, I think I'll write like friends. No, it's just like, no. Like, I'll be, I'll be what I like because what I like, I like sarcasm and I use it a lot. And I'm like, maybe that's not the only way to do it. I think that's like keeping it like dark and like down low. So like, how do I like bring it up a little bit or just like, because I'm not, I'm not, it's not to shy away from like the emotional quality of the situation, but more like, hey, like there's, there's a happy moments in this too. Like it doesn't have to be all like, oh, we're, we're in the dark now. We're really going to delve into those emotions. It's just, oh, there's like light in the. It's a question of specificity. It doesn't sound like you're being specific then. If you say, oh, well, there's some, some joyous moments in this story. Then tell them. You see what I mean? I mean, you know, I mean, where are they specifically? Tell them specifically. Show them. You see what I'm saying? Because if you can look at the piece and go, why do I leave out that, that, and that? I think that you could, I do think that you can come to this easily. That you lose so seriously. You might also have a question. Yeah. I just, speaking to your question, it's kind of like check off. I love check off because he just writes this human comedy and it seems, I think many productions are done and it's all so serious, but he has not written that. He has written the human comedy and frailty and it's so funny if it's done right. You know, it's the interpretation of it. So when you talk about, you said something about, I think it's funny, but then some other, they don't think it's funny. Maybe it's in the interpretation rather than how it is produced rather than it not being funny. If you sense, well, that's funny. It's kind of like, what is it, I guess? The funniest line I thought, I always laugh, which is, I'm in mourning for my life. I mean, that's a really funny line. You know, and I've seen so many productions where it's so heavy. And I think, oh my goodness, that's funny. So it's somebody to come out. You know, I mean, it's the extreme self-indulgent of being a human being. Like I was, when I tried to watch The Walking Dead, there was this one, there's like one of the first three episodes, like they're trying to chop up this person. And the guy's like, man, he had kids, like looking through his wallet. Like, man, he had kids. Like, he was a person. And then the character Glenn comes out of nowhere and is like, but he was also an organ donor. And then just starts chopping him. And that's stuff that I find funny and nobody else seems to remember. And then I'm like, okay, maybe it's just, I'll just find my crowd for my funny. Have you been here before? No, I haven't. You haven't? Maybe I've seen you on the street somewhere. Maybe. My name's Arlene. Arlene? Yes. Hi Arlene. Hi. So when you think you're done and your gut says it's done, it's done. And you've read it to a few people and they think it's done. Are you done? Okay. What a great question. Oh, that's just great. What do you think Arlene? What do you think? I think I'm done. So when you think you're done and your gut says you're done and you've read it to a couple people and they think you're done. So yeah, I think you've covered all the bases. I think you've got, you think you've got your gut. You've got some friends. And now you're asking me. Of course I think you're done. I mean, yeah, of course I think you're done. And I think that being done doesn't mean that you'll never change, tweak, reorganize another word, chapter scene, stands a chord change, whatever. That doesn't mean that. It doesn't mean that you never have to think about it or look at it ever again. But it means it's time to pass it on to the next round. Congratulations. Did you just finish something? And it also means you get to go out and buy yourself something. Okay. That's fine. You get to buy yourself a present or at least pack yourself on the back. At least. I mean, if you're modest among us. Oh, I was reminding this student this morning of a gesture that I started doing a long time ago in, when they call it, well no, we call it Myanmar. That's what we call it. They used to call it Burma a whole budget time ago. But now they call it Myanmar. So I was hanging out with some people over there and I was saying, thank you, thank you, thank you. And they were like, oh, yo, we say thada, thada, thada. Because they're primarily Buddhist society. And thada, thada, thada. But we can say thank you to the thing that's bigger than us, like high five year high power. Thank you to your comrades and colleagues. Thank you. And then thank you yourself. You pack yourself on the back. So you could at least do that. And that doesn't cost anything. If you don't want to go out and spend any money, it's cool. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Good job. Anybody else? Congratulations. Did you have a question or idea? Yes. I feel like, well, for me personally, the way I've been working over the years, I feel like it clicked recently. Oh, this is my voice. This is how I use language. This is how I try to communicate my thoughts to the world. And I was like, yeah. I was like, oh, this is what makes sense. And I guess this is like, it's like the repetitive question I feel like I have when I come here. And it has to do with making the time, making the practice and showing up for yourself. But I think maybe I'm nervous that you're going to write something shitty. And I think it's like, when it's an autobiographical thing and it feels so precious, like how to give yourself, maybe let that go or how to give yourself permission to keep going forward and to be kind to yourself about it and trust this voice that you found. And in that, how to do that, and also when you've been working on this thing for a chunk of time now, and this is the question I always have about like, is it worth diving back into all of the work that led you to this moment? Or to trust yourself and give yourself permission for yourself to go forward or to dive back in and sort through like years of like... You asked me this question many times, but it's good. It's good because Ryan's a type of person who will come, will walk up the mountain and sit and go, so should I go through all my stuff or should I just start from where I am? And I'll say, thanks for asking. Start from where you are. Thank you. Go away. Go come back. Hi. Should I? It's good. It's very good because, I mean, maybe I'll just... Just to have fun, I'll say the other answer, but I don't want to have fun. I'm like, I'm serious, yo. These are serious times. Start from where you are. Start from where you are. So this is the thing about writing shitty drafts and being kind to yourself, whether it's personal and autobiographical or not, or something historical that you're, you know, or something you have to research for, you always have to give yourself a huge amount of kindness when you're writing, right? Whether it's coming from your personal story or a story of somebody you read in some history book, right? Or stories of people you've interviewed. You always have to give yourself a huge amount of kindness and compassion, right? When you're writing, okay? So give yourself a huge dose of that and then put on your bravest outfit, you know? And whatever. You want to be, like, Kimberly's thinking and dance around when you're writing or you want to sit down and Reba took this and sit your ass down somewhere and plant yourself and write. I would continue from where you are right now. Somehow just keep going. There's so much power in just moving forward and getting to the end. Have you gotten to the end of the draft? Okay, but you will. You will because you're more focused and grounded than I've ever seen you right now. Maybe it's because you wear that big coat. But you're more like, just keep going. That's the only way you're going to get to the end. If you go back and just try to sort through all that stuff, you're going to be like a dog, you know, bless her heart for chasing that tail. Okay? You just want to, you can smell the scent. You're on the path. Go. Don't stand here and circle around and circle. Go. Follow it. Go. Go. Be bold. Be brave. The worst thing that can happen is you write a shitty draft. Has anybody, have any of you ever written a shitty draft? Anybody? Yeah, right. I wrote one last week. Yo, it sucks so bad. I was like, haha. The shittiest draft in the world. Yeah, I get compended. Haha, my draft is shittier. It's going to be shittier than yours. Yeah, right. See if you can write a really shitty draft. It's okay. No one's hating on you. And if they, if somebody does hate on you for writing a shitty draft, let the unfriendly begin. You know what I mean? Just go. Get to the end by the end of this year. Do you think you can? December 31. It's coming. Well, this is making the cost on the men from Officer Here. It's like, it's like the fuzz when they're like, oh, shit, we gotta go. Okay, are we going to be here next week? We're going to be here next. You're not going to be here. And you're going to be here? No? Okay, what's the time? Matt will be here. Matt, behind the camera. So, uh, thanks for being here this week. And I thank you all. And we'll be here next week at five o'clock. Okay. Where are you going to be? Hi. Hi.