 to see yourself with the two seconds of running. That would be weird. Thanks Matt. We're trying. What was it? Is it too complicated for me? This is broken. What is that? This is the thing that connects the camera to the computer. And it worked and now it doesn't. But we are alive. What is that thing called though? Does it have a name? This is an Ultra Studio Mini Recorder. Oh it's the Ultra Studio Mini Recorder. We've even said that. I use a camera in my bag. What do you do? There's space all over it. This is my favorite part. This is my favorite part. So thanks Matt. They've got it working and I want to watch myself active. Do you have any questions about your work? Do you have any questions that we will answer? Nope? Yes. Anything? You guys are like, no. You guys are like, no. I was like, I know everything this week. Tell me something. Boy, how's it going? Yeah? Yeah. I know. I understand. Yeah, there was a candidate in town of yesterday giving out green ice cream. I'm going to say who was the same. You missed it? You missed it? I saw people lined up with expensive ones. No way to do it. That's one way to get, I know, right? I can give out free ice cream. Like, what's your name? Tim. Tim. Well you're on a first name basis with this person. Yes. Yes. So, like, are they, like, say you're writing a musical of their doing, a book of their lyrics to most of them? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And you, so you haven't worked with this person before? I think they are. Okay. Okay. So you know them? Yes. You know them? So are there, oh, so you know already how to be kind and considerate and, you know, like talk to them? I would say, it's important to me is that I sort of tell people what I need to every step of the way. I'm like dating. It's like dating. It is dating, basically, right? Except you're not going to do that. But it is, like, cool. Okay, okay, cool. So maybe that'll happen. But it is, like, it's like dating, right? You're upfront with what you need. You're upfront with what you can do. You know, you're open about sort of what you're nervous about. And you don't sort of fall asleep at the same time. And think, oh, they can read my mind. You know what I mean? And you don't, also, you don't want to sell yourself short. You know, so you're writing a book in a letter. That's your territory, right? You're the work guy, right? And you're going to be the music person. And it's just the honest, every step of the way. So that you don't get too much into it again. You know, you can do that, right? And even those difficult conversations that, like, you don't really want to know, because it might hurt their feelings. And then they might not like you in a kind and considerate way. Find a way, and you know this, find a way to have those relationships upfront. And it's like dating, right? You know that if you have those physical conversations early on, it's better. It's just better, right? And you can look back over your shoulders and go, uh-huh, remember when we had that hard conversation. And then, as it goes on, because it'll be successful in this partnership, it will go on and it's only going to get more difficult. So the feeling of the air is rarer and rarer as you look forward. And you'll be glad that you had those hard conversations in the beginning, because then you start doing the producers and learning and this and that, and actors and acting and costumes and what's the week and where and all that kind of stuff. You will have had these hard conversations. You'll have a bank account of professional intimacy. You know? So just have all those hard conversations as they come up. Right? Sure. Thank you. And one is like in the middle of the work and kind of, not even in the middle, it still has a long way to go, a long story. What are some good things for one to tell oneself as they kind of like are moving forward and like you will get to the end? Yes. We'll get to the end, that's a good one. I think you can come up with like ten great things at least. Like you will get to the end, that's a good one. Anybody else have something? Tomorrow, what's your game? Nancy, tomorrow's another day, that's a good one. What do you think, Tim? What's the thing you might say to yourself? That's great. There's always an answer. There's always an answer, right? What do you think, Carol? What's the good thing that you say? This always happens. That's a great thing. This always happens. Right? She usually check, right? This always happens. Some of the spare. I've been to this before. This always happens. And I always find a way, right? Something. This always happens. So next time, right? No, yes. Yes, well what would you say? That's a good thing to say. What? That's great. It's a good thing to say. Even if I look back on it and laugh about, you know, I was in a puddle of tears, you know. Even saying this is a great thing today. This doesn't come off tomorrow. That's a bad way. What do you think? What would you say? That's a good thing. You have the resources to solve any problem that's included. That's like, it's not going to stop. It's hard to understand. Even if it's bad, especially if it's bad, it's great. Even if it's bad, especially if it's bad, get it out and you can follow it through the room. I'll tell you what, that's really a great thing to call a week. I think the way to predict the growth of a student and why they don't know their article has company. I always think, like, keep laughing at each other's life. I'm just kidding. What? I'm going to do a... What though? What? You have some drama room here today? Yeah. Check your connections. Check your connections. That's a really good action for, you know, you can also make call of friends. You know, and make call of friends. Check your connections. And you guys want to go home? What's the point of doing that? We're really great. Oh yeah? So am I. So am I. So am I. So am I. So am I. So am I. So am I. So am I. So am I. So am I. So am I. So am I. So am I. So we're buoyed by each other's presents. Especially in moments like that. We're buoyed by too pressure for things to go out to us. Whether or not there is communication that can be heard throughout the show. And in all these great styles of horror, even simple T-Mart we're, you know, nice stuff. That's the point of doing nothing. You're not going to... So, constantly, you know, giving good advice about this. The no-cards, you know, writing things out on the no-cards? Right. That doesn't work for you. Yeah. You know what else? What would you do then? What would you do next? No. What if it doesn't work then? So, yeah, a lot of times you write it up on the note cards. So, why do you write it up on note cards? What do you do next? He's got like the certain moments. So, when writing, you know, because I have certain moments of things that I'm working on. But writing it out on the note cards just ends up getting me even more confused. So, I don't really, for some reason, having it all written out in one place just kind of confuses me with handwriting it out. So, what would you do all of that? Writing it out, handwriting it out is confusing. Yeah, having it on the five note cards and trying to fit it all onto the note cards, I end up wanting to write way more than the note cards. And then, when I write it out on the paper, it gets even more confusing. Yeah, the worst at writing. So, what do you do five note cards? Can I say five note cards? You said, for one situation it was three note cards to have your beginning, middle, and end. And for one it was to have no more than five. Yeah, three note cards for Alexis. Yeah. And five maybe for writing. Yeah. And so, for you it might be fifty. I don't know. So, that's the one thing. One, you know, we're not talking about specific number of number of cards. So, the thing with note cards is that they help you, one, put it on a bite size. No cards are small, for the bite size. You can do it on posters. You can do it on paper. Sure. You can move more. Okay. On a piece of paper, typing it out, it kind of fixes it in a certain order. And you have to move it around. It's not the same. It's also very tactile, writing it out. I wanted Alexis to think about her beginning, her middle, her end. So, I wanted her to see after that, one, two, three, and then fill them in. What happens between the beginning and the middle? What happens between those two points? What happens before? Yeah. So, she couldn't know it was fifty. I don't know. Yeah? She didn't know it was fifty. I don't know. Yeah? She didn't know it was fifty. I don't know. Yeah? Okay. Does that make sense? Does that make sense? Okay. It's not about the cards. It's about the cards. And keeping it flexible and writing stuff down by hand. And kind of getting that off your computer and all that kind of stuff. Thank you. Thank you. You ready? The star was taken in half. Yes. Two weeks ago, I came to a place that was active. Uh-huh. And it's turned into a one-act. But it's not a one-it-to-go. It's a two-it-toe thing. Oh. So, act two. A piece that you were talking about. Nine-eleven. Yeah, sure. Firefighter. Firefighter. He wants his own show. He wants his own show. So, he's decided. And I'm like, you know, it was good advice. I'm like, let him read his book. Oh, wow. He's like, I want my own show. Which has turned into something very interesting. Because I'm finding myself pulling scenes from things that had just been sitting, and now they're all, I'm getting a puzzle. It's becoming a puzzle that I'm trying to put together. That's really cool. So, that's what it is. Right. And it's called 95 Miles North. Because his whole point, he had a summer house up in Long Island. And he said, you know, it's about 95 miles from here, and you can't tell anything happened. How long? Like, yeah, well, from my house, it's somewhat different views. So, that's what it turned into. So, now you have Act One, which is actually a whole play. Yeah, it looks like. And then you have this other thing called 95 Miles North, which is his play. Yeah, it's the one I have. His name is Ralph. So, yeah, so that's, like, that's really cool. I don't, I was like, kind of going, is that, I mean, I'm sitting in the question going, look, that's how it's supposed to be. And I guess the answer is that's how it's turned out. So, now I'm sitting with Post-it notes tonight. Cool. And I, yeah, so, I'll keep you posted. So, that's what happened there. That's really great. How does it feel? It's interesting. It's weird. I was, you know, I'm newly coming back after 25 years of not wanting to write. So, and this was the genre I was studying when I left. Oh, wow. So, it's kind of interesting to come back to it. And one of it is the novel, I wrote a novel that someone has been reading. And they've come back to me and said, yeah, it still reads like a play. Nice try. Oh, you can't escape. So, I'm, yeah, I can't escape. So, that's kind of where I'm at with this. It's really cool though. I guess I should just keep writing because I don't really know what else to ask at this point. But it seems, what it sounds like is it sounds like you listen, you heard, and you're following it. Yeah. You know, and you're continuing to move forward based on what you're hearing. Which is really good. Yeah. It's still a very strange experience that he's gone. Oh, but that's, yeah, that's another issue. We get love to talk to each other. Well, sure. Sure. But I have his dad who is not really going to talk to anybody for a moment. But hopefully he'll come around here. Uh-huh. So. It's really cool. I'm glad he's here to play. Yeah. He's a very vibrant spirit. Well, apparently he's a very vibrant spirit. He is a very vibrant spirit. Yeah. That's really cool. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yes. You have a game plan. Like, you're just going to keep on writing. And what? We coached a softball team. And I play on a softball team. And we're heading into season. And we share a home field with a Broadway league team. So I think something is going to happen there. It'll give it, I feel like it'll give it a structure to have the piece be beginning of the season to the end of the season. So we're going all over the place. I'm like in Central Park now. I think I'm just trying to find where it's supposed to happen. Uh-huh. What's supposed to happen. And I have the who of who. Right. Who's in charge. So we'll see. So yes. I'll keep you posted. Okay. Definitely keep you posted. That's great. Yeah. That's my place. Can I just add to that? Yeah. You look happy. She does. You do. Yeah. Yeah. This is a really big breakthrough. I think I was just trying to force it to be something it wasn't. Uh-huh. Maybe that's what it is. Yeah. I don't know. When one is writing, just one find oneself writing something and it kind of goes in a place. Because what I found is that I start writing and I'm thinking I'm going to be writing blah blah. And it's turned into not what I call it. What about you Roberto? You put down and say I know what I'm writing. Here I go. And then it kind of becomes something else. Oh. Yeah. Frequently. Uh-huh. I was actually just going to ask about expectations and like balancing expectations. Particularly around working. Uh-huh. And more around, you know, I don't think it's, I think it's great to not have expectations. I love that as a mantra and ideal. Uh-huh. However, I frequently have expectations. Uh-huh. This is human thing. Uh-huh. And trying to balance how I, I want something, you know, when I am writing, I do want something to turn out a certain way and I have a standard I want to meet. Right. And if it doesn't meet that standard, I get very vexed with it. Right. And similarly in career-wise, on the side of the writing, I have these expectations of what I would like from this collaborator. Sure. Or what I would like from my career right now. Sure, sure. It can be healthy to have some of those, but sometimes they just really get in the way in terms of what I'm writing doesn't want to be what I expected to be, you know. Uh-huh, uh-huh. Or who I'm collaborating with doesn't want to be that person I know is inevitable. Yeah. And it's tricky, like, no expectations. I mean, and you hear that a lot, I mean, date people. Not for me. I was like, what the fuck does that mean? I mean, you want something. You want something. I mean, don't be a human. Be a robot. Don't expect anything. I mean, people are like, what does that mean? I expect things. But all the time, I have expectations. Great expectations. I have great expectations. And yet I also sort of, it's okay if they don't turn out the way I want. Both. Can we have both? Can you have both? So I'm not saying, don't have any expectations. You say, have all your expectations. Have them all. I mean, this is what I do. Have them all. Have every single one of them. And can you find a way to be okay if it doesn't turn out like that? Yeah. Because then you get excited about the road. And that's the thing. You're also this thing about the journey. The journey. The journey. Oh, shut up. Fucking cool. I want to get to Oz. Even Dorothy. You know what I'm saying? But that's how you enjoy the road. You get excited about where you want to go. And also you're okay. Somehow it did not turn out that way. And you actually enjoy the work. So you're writing a play or a screenplay or a movie or a TV show or whatever. You're working in a wonderful library. And it doesn't work out like you hoped. But you think, but I didn't. I went out there. I tried. So you get excited about those kinds of things. And you get proud of yourself because you try. And you gave it everything you had. It's like romance. You know, day to day, again, everything starts by day. Because you go to the mat and you give it every single thing you got. But you didn't hold back. And you go, I'm going to give it down to 15% on this one. Because you know, I might not work out. Shut up. You have 100%. And then what happens is you start to grow. And get more resilient and stronger and more joyful. Which doesn't mean that you can't be bummed. You know, darn. You know, the newspaper doesn't have my new TV show or album or whatever. Painting or play or whatever. The collaborator, you know, whatever it happens. You become joyful because what you really are interested in is the work. And for me, the most exciting thing about the creative process is the creative process. That moment when there you are. We're talking with your artistic collaborators. Trading ideas. Excited. Or you're doing rehearsal. Making it happen. That's the most exciting part. Can we do that though? So you have all your brilliant expectations. Reach really high. Hey, look. You know what I'm saying? Reach really, really high. And if you don't test the ceiling every day, that's okay. You're still going to be a better person for having done this. Right? Yes, Angie. Yes. My question is kind of silly. So I don't write. I'm terrified of it. Yes. And I always have been. Yes. And I want to start writing. Yes. But I want to do it. I know it's like for the sake of writing something or having written something. Okay. And so I don't know what to write about. Because I feel like I want to do it for the action of it. Not because I have a specific story in mind. So do you have advice on like where someone would start? If they just want to do it, but they don't have. Right. Something that's annoying. Right. Right. Two things. One, I would. I'll do something to terrify you. I would suggest that perhaps you do have something gnawing at you. You just can't really feel it yet. Which is cool. So you're not just like writing because like what the fuck? You got some free time. You want me to write. You know what I'm saying? You're not. There's something there. You're just kind of beginning to sense it sort of. Which is great. Which is cool. It's cool. You don't have to like tell the world. You don't have to get here. We won't make you stand there and tell everybody. You know what I mean? Okay. I feel like there's something there and you're starting to listen to it. And it's starting to pull your attention. Which is why you're asking this question right now. So the second thing is we get you a writing time of day. Right. So what's your favorite time of day? 10 am. 10 am. But I can't. You can't what? I work. Okay. What about nine? You like morning? You're a morning person? Eight? Eight? Eight? When do you leave the house? Six. Six. Six thirty. Six thirty. So 10 am is like that's a weird favorite time of day. 10 am you're like you're like kind of you two. You're also, oh I love you. I do my best work from 10 to 2. 10 to 2. Okay. So 10. Lunch. Lunch. Okay. So you can still into lunch. You can take lunch at 12 noon or something like that. So can you find a quiet-ish place or at least put on your phone, you know, the thing. Write the headphones on your phone to make it look like you're in an important meeting and actually just listen to your head and you can find. So how about try the timer and get yourself as a present, a timer that's simple, not your phone. Get yourself something like this. Simple. All it does is count the time. And you sit there on your lunch break. You have a lunch break. We can go and sit somewhere. And you put on that face that says like, I'm doing something. So we'll talk to you. So your co-workers will be like, Angie! Like that. Then we'll talk to you. And you take out your notebook or your laptop or whatever. And can you write for 20 minutes? Just about whatever you want. Just blah, blah, blah. Yeah. You have, so you have like a computer that you bring to work every day or, you know what I mean? Or a notebook. A notebook? You like that? You like that notebook? Great. So you have a notebook and you're writing long hand blah, blah, blah. Whatever, whatever, whatever, 20 minutes. Or if that's like too long, you're stretching it, try 15 minutes. Okay? 15 minutes, every lunch break. And then you can close your notebook and go ahead and have your lunch and enjoy yourself in other ways. Does that make sense? So we just do that. What's great is that you decided that you want to do this. You can get yourself a notebook if you want. If you want? You can get yourself a timer. You can get presents. You get gifts. You get to give yourself presents. And you write, sort of make it a daily practice. And then on the days you don't go to work, you work every day. Okay. On the days you don't go to work, you try to keep the same time. Around lunchtime. Around 10 a.m. You sit down for 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes. And then you just do that. And see what comes up. See, because like the ocean, you're like an ocean. And you're like, I don't know. There's nothing there, but I kind of want to be here. There's something there. And it will slowly come up to the surface where you can see it and hear it. It's cool. And just enjoy showing up every day for yourself like that. Okay? That's cool. Thanks for asking a good question. Good question. I have some questions. Oh, yes. Since you were looking at me, I've, about a month ago, I had called myself not a writer, that's what Sayra was, and a writer. And my kids sent me to this writing retreat, and I'm not a writer, for a big birthday. because they thought, I'm a writer, I don't even know why. I mean, and I was counting the number of people that ended up being for five days, 13 people. And similar to this, but she gave us a prompt, and we wrote and we talked about the only thing we were not allowed to do is say anything negative about what anybody wrote. So all day long, all you heard were these beautiful things about what you wrote when you would beat yourself up internally about what you wrote. And so when you say you're not a writer, either or not to say I'm not a writer, number one. But I also have trouble accessing because I write, I'm like, would you write me when I just wrote? Would you write when I just wrote? Like, I keep questioning what I'm writing, like the importance of it, the value of it, what, why bother? Yeah, so Nancy, so you are starting your writing practice and some of the voices in our head are very positive because you're doing it, which is good. But I didn't do it since I came back. I wrote while I was there and then I stopped and this is the first time. But this is good, this is good. And some of it, so you can do what Angie's doing and find that time of day that you like a lot and spend 20 minutes or 15 minutes to get yourself a timer, you got yourself a notebook, right? And so you have a lot of other voices in your head, which is I'm not sure why your teacher said say positive things, but one of the reasons why sometimes we say positive things to each other is to fill your head with positive things. Because you're all got enough negative things in your head, right? And we all do, yeah, right? So what we wanna try to train ourselves to do is have a few positive things in there to sort of counter all that negative crap all that we've got swimming around in our head, right? Which doesn't mean that we won't be able to then be effective critics or editors of our work. That doesn't mean that. It means that when the time comes for that sort of discrimination to come out, we're gonna be able to work it very well. So I would just say, what's your favorite positive thing that you can think about yourself as a writer? To sort of like link it all together after I, I'm able to put a beginning and an end. The middle is always a little weird. I don't wanna say that. I'm able to have a beginning and an end. I'm able to write something. That's simply the thing. So when you feel those, hear those negative things, you can say, I'm able to write something. So we ask, would she write it, would Samantha write this? It's not about Samantha, it's about Nancy. I'm able to write something. Yes, you can keep coming back to that, for example. Anika's waving at us, which means it. Nope, you're not, you're just scratching at me. Okay, you can keep telling me how around we'll go on its way, we can talk for a few more minutes. Yeah, yeah, you can. Okay, what does that mean? Oh, but I'm just gonna say something. She says something because next week, NYU will be here or something. Yes. Am I right? Yes. You wanna tell them about NYU? Sure. Because we're running out of time. Hi everybody. So we're gonna be back here next week, same place, same time. And we're gonna be joined by the NYU Writing Club. Which one? They're like a hundred of them. Actually, maybe all of them. Maybe all of them, but they'll all be here. Thousands, there's millions. So if you visit us, if you come and we visit us here in person and get here, we're early. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Thanks a lot. We'll see you next time. Well, we'll be talking a little bit after you open up for me. Okay, thank you. Yay. But does that make sense that you would say that we would try to say that and all of us would try that, you know? Whatever it is, if it's as simple as I can do this. Or it's gonna get better. Or I know how to make it better. Or it's okay, this is not working out. I'll just write something else. Something like that. Whatever it is, you can say to get yourself to continue working is very key. And you don't have to sit around and go, oh, is that true? Is that not true? I was flattering myself, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh. You know, just focus on that positive thing that moves you in the direction of where you wanna go. Great kids you have to send you to a regular teacher. If I just can't, he invited me here and then he had another one. Oh, it's a great skill. It's a great thing. He's really loving other kids who do that for you. And you'll see what happens. You keep showing up for yourself and stuff will happen. It does, because that's the way it is. And it works. Yeah, so everybody cool? Anybody have any? I'm gonna go. What's going on? I know. Thanks a lot, you guys. Thank you. Thank you.