 Hello, people. It's five o'clock, and we are doing Watch Me Work now, and we're going to do Watch Me Work. I know, we're having various technological excitements. We're having various technology opportunities, that's what we call them, technological opportunities. But we're here, and we're going to do Watch Me Work like we do it every week, like we've been doing it for the past, I don't know, 14, 15 years. At some point, I got to figure out actually how long we've been doing it, because it's been a while. And we were doing it once every week in the lobby of the Public Theater, and then we didn't start in the lobby of the Public Theater. We started in a theater down the street from the Public Theater, but then we moved to the Public Theater. Now, when the pandemic hit, we moved online, and here we are, forevermore. I'm Susan Lerparks, and we are hosted by HowlRound and New Work Development at the Public Theater, and Amrita and Zoe are there, but Amrita is the head of the New Work, the New Development, the New Work Development Department, but her camera is not working. So you want to say hi anyway, Amrita? I would love to say hi. Thanks, SLP. Hello, everyone. It is good to see you. I do not know why my laptop camera is not allowing my face to be revealed, but I promise you it is me, and looking forward to today's session. All right. And Zoe is, are you still frozen? No, you are frozen. I know my face actually does move, though right now it is frozen in one face. I'm so sorry about the background noise. There is some announcement going on at the Museum of History right now. But anyway, hi, I'm Zoe. I'm the New Work Development Manager, and I'm very happy to be here. Awesome sauce. OK. And we're going to work for 20 minutes. Then we're going to take your questions about your work and your creative process and why we don't have time to actually share work and read work here. We do have plenty of time to talk about process and cheer you on and offer encouragement. So here we go. 20 minutes and here we go. Yeah. All righty, all righty. There we are. OK. So as you, yeah, look, she can move now. All right. So as you have questions, go ahead. We're here. Yes, it's a small group, but please use your raise to hand function and then we'll hopefully get a cue going. Be brave. It's a small safe space. Glory, yes, please unmute yourself and ask your question. Actually, I have two questions. Right. The last time you were talking about a word that your husband used, my wife has got family in Germany. You were talking about like when you when you want to like connect with people at a bar. What was that word? Oh, it's for gluten. OK, for gluten. And it might be. I don't think it's a I don't think it's a dialect. I think it's because he has family in Cone and so it might be close, but I don't think so. OK, it's a regular German for. And hers is in Dusseldorf. I don't know, but it's just been the burning question of the week. Oh, G. O. R. G. L. U. H. E. N. I think. I think it's for V. O. R. G. L. U. H. E. OK, great. Thanks. Now about craft. I'm thinking about trying to get a narrator in a piece that I've been working with. It's a it's a piece about a serial killer. It's an interview with him and a reporter. But I'm really thinking of reworking it and having he was kind of it's based on a true serial killer from my hometown. And the reason he never got a lot of, if you will, notoriety is because these women were all prostitutes. And I want to give one of the prostitutes some sort of voice and I'd like to do it through almost like a narrator as a ghost. Narration is hard and I'm having trouble figuring out how to integrate a narrator. It that's that really works. It's just a device I'm not used to. And some of it's going to break the fourth wall. So I just wanted to know if you had any. Creative thoughts on that part of the crack. Right. So it would so he it's a man serial killer. I mean, I'm just going to use these words man, woman, whatever I'm going to use. Man, OK. And the people he killed were women. Yeah, yeah. And I think eight of them, eight of the nine were seven of the nine were prostitutes. And right. So what would what would the narrator provide us? What would she help us with? So when I was doing all this research, I realized that everything that I learned was, you know, whether it was a biography or the police records or interviews or anything, it was just all men's voices. So I would like to bring you know, one of the women victims voices to it to explain the perspective of someone who felt they could trust someone and was duped by this person. And the thing about him, he was very and this is what I get through all the the research, he was extremely personable. Right. While one narrator. What's that? Why only one woman's voice? Well, that's a great question. I don't know. I mean, because you all the research you're doing, I'm just I'm just repeating what you said back to you kind of paraphrasing. All the research I'm doing, there's so many men's voices, men's plural. Yeah. So you only want to include one woman. I mean, could you include more than one? Yeah, I have to. Would you have to? You know, I mean, yeah. So I think I would vote for more than one. You know, I mean, they got a lot to say about him. Yeah. Yeah. They got a lot to say about him. Don't limit it to just one woman who's got to hold up the whole sky for all those people. OK. And they can, I mean, you know, be mindful that you're I'm less interested in sort of the you know, you're speaking for the serial killer more. I would be more mindful that you're speaking for the women who were killed. You know, just be very mindful about that. And also, I would say, feel free to make up people. OK. Yeah, there's because there's some people we haven't heard of. Who either weren't found or he didn't manage to kill. Yeah. Yeah. OK. There are a lot. And so, you know, imagine like, I mean, if you've ever, you know, hung around with people regardless of who you're dating, you know, say you run into three people who dated the same person and the person was just an asshole. Right. Yeah. And regardless of gender, it's not about whatever. It's not about your bits. It's about the character of the person and they were an asshole. And so you're hanging out in a bar and everybody's got a story to tell about that person. Oh, my God. Do you remember when like they were that hat and they thought it was cool? Oh, my God, they wore the hat on my date, too. You know what I mean? Whatever. Right. Yeah. So these women have a lot to say about him. Yeah, they do. And that will be I think it will make it really fun. OK. OK. Oh, because because you're not just employing them, you know, to relay information. I mean, you care, you know, about what he did to them. You know, they got a lot of shit to say about him. Yeah. Yeah. And I guess that's one of the things I worry about. It's good to like just be here and here. And I don't want to slip into, you know, just narrative and monologue. They just don't want that. So. Right. And then there were a lot of women who who who you're going to make up. Yeah. I think like a lot of women. Yeah. All women. And then him. I don't know. But what about your women and him? Yeah. And he can't get a word in edgewise. Yeah, right. Fuck you. Yeah. I mean, and not because, you know, because of what he did. Right. You don't get the last word. Ha, ha, ha, ha, we're talking now. Yeah. You can do. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I don't know. Just, you know, really. Actually, that's that's good because he was a talker. Yeah. Of course he was. See, I'm vibing him just because like he's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm in power. I'm in charge. Yeah, yeah, yeah, haha. I do do. And now I can kill you. Guess what? Guess what? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There are a lot of women who have things to say about him. That are not complimentary. Yeah. Yeah. I just feel it's their time. Yeah. Lots of them. OK, I like that. Even like the waitress, the waitress in the bar or the barmaid where he went, oh my god. Oh, yeah. Or maybe he liked him. I mean, it's not all like bad mouthing, but it's just like. Really? Are you really interested in hearing about him? No, you're going to hear more about them. Because I mean, I don't know. This fascination people have. Oh, yeah, let's have yet another, you know, limited series about Jeffrey Dahmer. Oh, wow. You know, I mean, really, you know, let's have another one. Let's be all riveted to our screens, watching Jeffrey Dahmer. Yes. Yeah, I don't want that. Yeah, you know, uh, uh, uh, okay. Yeah, I like that. I like the made up women, too. And I like the whole, they can't talk. Thank you. Yeah, definitely. And I think a lot of your powers in the made up women. Yeah, because you also don't have, you know, I mean, just be mindful that the women you're, you know, the real women are, you know, you have that really big responsibility. Yes. And that can be shared by some women that just come out of your imagination. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I have to really be careful and mindful and maybe even talk with some of them. I know that there are still, I mean, even though it was like 30 years ago, there are still some family members, you know, that are out there. So I just want to be mindful. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And yeah, yeah, just, yeah. Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Sure. Thank you, Laurie. Four gluins, four gluins. Kimmy D. Hey, Kimmy, how are you doing? Hi. Hi. I just came up with a question. Listen, thank you for the question, Laurie, by the way, and everybody for being here, as always. Thank you. I was wondering if you could impart some techniques that I can use to organize projects better, because I might be working on one and then I'll think, oh, this is a great idea or this is a passage that probably works better than something else. And I have crap all over my computer. I don't have to kind of organize and stay, stay. I'm not great at organization, I guess is what. So I know you work on multiple projects, and I was wondering if you can maybe give me some ideas as to how to compartmentalize different things at the same time. Right. Well, that's great. A question, Kimmy. Do you have, you know, folders on your computer or? Yes, I guess. OK, so every project can go in a folder. I mean, it's just like you would do it on your desk. You probably have done this already, though, right? I'm guess, I mean. Not. I mean, I've just been trying to do the application. I don't know if my computer is too old or what, but I'll try to find things just after downloading. And I don't know where it goes. I I think if I would have known technology was going to be so stressful, I would have had children. I don't. Maybe you can rent me your child to help me with my technology. He's twelve. He's not going to help you unless you want to get on Snapchat. Yeah, well, well, it's not. I mean, what we're talking about isn't that too complicated. And it's always better. You know, we're going to learn to fish for ourselves, you know, so we can fish forever or however the saying goes. I mean, I mean, I think the you put everything in a folder. You label a folder, you know, you label your folders. Every time you have a new idea, I mean, it's as simple as you can create a new document and just type on it and put it in a in the folder labeled whatever, blah, blah, blah, whatever it's called. You know what I mean? So you can just keep throwing things as if there were or you can have an actual fold of a folder on your desk and just write it on a piece of paper and toss it in the folder. You know, you can do that too. Yeah, for me. Yeah. Yeah. So you can you can totally do that. That works. And then when you're ready to sit down and focus on a project, you can take the folder and put it in front of you and then look through it. If you want to get even more interesting, you can buy some or use, if you have already, some inboxes, you know, some flat inboxes and have a button, you know, so your piles are contained and that's a great idea. Yeah, I would like that. Thank you so very much. You have piles of stuff and it's all contained or baskets. I would suggest inboxes. They don't get too full or, you know, small, not bags. Where things are, although if you have some of those shopping bags, now that they make when you forget your own shopping bag at the store, if you want to get a bunch of shopping bags and just label them and put them around your whatever living room or workspace, that works too. You know, just put them in different places physically. And then when you want to go and work on something, you grab the bag and look through it and lay it all out on your table. It's OK for the next hour, I'm working on this one project and see what you got. Thank you. Yeah, sure. Thanks, Kimmy D. How about Lou? Hey, Lou, how are you doing? Hi, it's so nice to talk to you and see you. I have one update and one question. Sure. The last time we talked, I told we were talking about recognition and you talked to me about when you won the Tony and you looked good and you were proud, you told me not to sort of. Yeah, I don't know if you remember, but it was like, what do you do when you get the recognition and all that pressure? But I wasn't able to tell you what it was, but I'm going to tell you what it was. Oh, yeah, right. So I am a 2023 Nisga Nife nonfiction fellow, which I believe is an award you won up in your very early career. Then congratulations. Congratulations. Thank you so much. That is fantastic. Yeah, I'm really proud of you. Yeah, look at you. Congratulations. That's really great. Thank you, Lou. We're so proud of you. I know. Thank well, I mean, I don't I just yeah, I'm just overwhelmed and I'm so proud to be a part of this group. It's been a huge part of my growth as I've developed as a writer and I'm just so thankful to you and everybody. You've done the work. You've done the work, haven't you? Yes, you have. I've been showing up. I've been showing up and it was a long shot when I applied and then there it was. And I took a screen grab of the I'm telling me and it's on my laptop. So every time I open it's like, well, I guess somebody out there is going. So anyway, so thank you. I wanted to share that. Congrats. Thank you so much. And then so I have work to do because that's a big, you know, yeah, OK. This is some belief in me. So let me keep going. And I'm working with my agent to get my book proposal out in probably January or February. So we'll see what happens. But this is the craft and writing question. I'm sitting with pages and pages of work on my manuscript proposal and my book. And I really am being charged with appropriately doing kind of a brutal edit, just like get it as pointed and focused and clean and clear and sharp because my tendency as a writer, I can sometimes get a little wordy, maybe even in or you can see I can. And sometimes I fall in love with things and they've been there for a while and I'm in love with them. But I understand conceptually like not everything is the best thing, you know, and but I'm just like struggling with where to cut how to cut how to approach editing, how to kill the darlings or not, what to elevate. And I just wanted to sort of hear any guidance on you know, just how to be brutal with an edit and make it better. Brutal, I'm thinking. I'm thinking, yeah, because I've heard those phrase, kill your darlings. Yeah. What was who's that? Yeah, I should know if I'm going to quote it. But yeah, it wasn't a test. It's not like I want to say it's a poet, but anyway, someone someone will know. It's not for Faulkner. No, it's not Faulkner. It's somebody. Anyway, somebody and then be brutal and all these words, you know, I don't really think in those terms. Because, you know, because I don't I feel like, you know, because there are there are people who are coming out of various writing programs back in the day who would say like break the back of your play and break the spot, you know, like crack your play. I cracked my play. I killed and nailed it. You know, all these kind of I'm like, yeah, OK. I mean, you know, whatever, whatever works at the same time. Somehow I always well, so this is the thing. So when you cut something from your work, all right, what do you think happens to it? Like cut it like really, we're like, you want me to try to imagine what happens to it? Or is it just for fun? Sometimes the image I have answering you is it feels like it gets absorbed into the. It's like it gets invisibilized like it's still there, but it's like. I don't know. It's like a ghost in the work, maybe it's a good OK, OK, that's my first thought. OK, so if it were like a if you had like a. If it were your work or a tree or, you know, like a shrub, you know, and you cut a branch, what would happen to the branch? Yeah, it might fall. Yeah, it might fall. It might fuel some other growth. It might roll into a lake and be on the side of it. I don't know. It might have many lives. Right. That's what I'm thinking. Yeah. Right. Good. Great. It would fall. Imagine it falling and. Fueling other growth. Like, have you ever been to? I mean, I this is like now I'm just like guessing because I have ever been to a redwood forest. I have. You know how they grow the center and then there's one center and then there's a there is a circle and then you see the pineconesie things and there's other ones, you know. And I don't know anything more than that about redwood. But, you know, things fall off and they fall to the ground and they grow. So the idea of like getting in there and being brutal and I mean, I've never done cuts and felt like I'm being brutal and like kill your darling. So what do you do? You're supposed to look for your favorite passages that you love and kill it. I mean, really? Is that what you're or don't hold on to something just because you love it. Maybe you're supposed to hold on to something because you do love it. I don't know. I just want to look at it differently. You go in. OK, this is a thing. Writing and rewriting. Maybe we've talked about this before and watch me work. Maybe not. I think we might have had, but we'll do it again. Writing is anything goes, everything grows, right? Correct. You're you've done that already. Correct. Lou, you've done that. Anything goes, everything grows where we're going to do this quick experiment. Your favorite if you could, if I could say a jungle or a pine forest, what should you pick? Pine forest. Great. So you're in a pine forest. OK. And there you are. You're sitting in the pine forest. Anything goes, everything grows. That's your writing process. Isn't it lovely, right? OK, great. So now this is your rewriting process. If I were to say, let's see, a color white, gray, black or brown, what would you pick? Gray. Great. Great. And then what's just off the top of your head for right this moment? What's like your favorite song right now? Oh, Billy Eilish. See me in a crown. See me in a crown. I think that or maybe I think that's what it's called. Yes. OK. So you're on this. So you're in a field. You're in a beautiful field, right? And you're riding your gray horse. And you have in which sorts of dominant hand? Right hand. Right. You see having your right hand, you're a beautiful sort of discrimination. You know what I'm talking about when I say sort of discrimination, not like racist, right? It's like, you know, what is from one day? That's your sort of discrimination. OK, I just had to say that. OK, so you have in your hand. So you're riding your horse. And let me see if I can get it on the camera. Ah, here we go. So you're swinging. You're riding the horse and you're swinging the sort of discrimination and you're cutting everything that doesn't belong. It feels really fun. And while you're swinging your sword, you're riding your horse. You're listening to your favorite Billy Eilish song, right? And it feels fantastic. And it's like, yeah. And everything that falls to the ground is going to grow up in something else into something else when it's the right time. You know, you're that fertile. And it's joyful. I've never done edits going like not yet. I mean, I don't know. I've been riding for 40 years. Maybe next week I'm going to be like, ah, I hate that. I always love cutting shit cut. Yeah. Now it's like even better. You know, I put it off to the side. It'll grow into something else or not. Yeah, it's OK. That's so helpful. OK, I love that. Thank you so much. I'm going to put that song on repeat and just get the song on. Get into the groove. Be like, yeah, this is going to make it so much better. This feels great. If I cut something that's dear to me, it's OK, because it's definitely going to sprout somewhere else. Oh, that whole paragraph on gobbledygooka. Oh, that's fine. We're good. We're going right. Just have fun. I love cutting. I love cutting so much. I scare people in rehearsal. They're like, oh, my God, I'm like, here come the magic scissors. Because it only makes it better. And if you miss it, oh, my God, take it and put it back in. Yeah. And if the editor goes, Lou, where is that passage on? You can remember, you go, it's right here. We'll put it back in or actually belongs at the end or belongs in the beginning, whatever, whatever. It's so fun. And you've done the hard work. You've done all the big hard work. Now you just get to ride your grey horse with your Billy Eilish song. I will do it. And I'll keep you posted. Thank you so much. Congratulations on your fellowship. Thank you so much. That's so fantastic. Yeah, keep us posted. I will. Thank you. Sasha. Hey, Sasha. Hi, Sasha. Hi, SLP. Hey. Oh, I just did a quick Google for that quote and it could have been Faulkner. Oh, but they actually, it says again, they don't know who it's attributed to, but it could have been Faulkner, like Oscar Wilde or some mid-century writer. Some probably dude. White dude. I see you said it, I didn't. Some white dude who had he ever had a real darling. I'm just saying, I cherish my darlings. I don't kill them. Maybe, you know, I mean, my darling, hey, had he ever been a mom, you know what? We don't kill our darlings. We just tell them to go over there and sit down and be quiet for a minute because they're not needed right now. Oh, what an amazing, that's an amazing take on that. I'm just, I'm just, because what happens is these great writers, Oscar Wilde, great writer, William Faulkner, great writer, give it up, they come right and they're amazing. They say these things and then over time, we say them over and over and then we become like, oh, shit, I can't think because I have to do it the way they said. And they were meaning to be helpful. Over time, it's less than helpful and we're repeating it in our head and it's not working for us. So I'm just, I'm not saying, throw out that saying, I'm just saying, there's a whole nother, there's a whole nother paradigm that is equal. Yeah, maybe they weren't doing it to be helpful. Maybe they were doing it to be like the authority and that's, I think why you're so great because you, I think you really are helpful because you help people understand themselves more than you wanna be like an expert on stuff. And I think. Well, thank you. Well, what I say, we, as my son in seventh grade says, we give them grace, the city come home with. I'm giving her grace, I'm giving them grace today, I'm giving them grace. So we give them grace, we say they were being helpful, they were doing the best they can with the tools they had and we're gonna develop a new paradigm that works for us today. And so we can go forward and get our work done, right? But thanks for looking it up. Faulkner, Oscar Wilde, somebody, somebody, maybe Ginsberg, no, that's not what I was saying. Ginsberg, or what's his name, the guy who liked Ginsberg's brand new, like shoot, not accidentally, like on purpose, I shot his wife in the head or something. What was his name? Oh, skinny guy, naked lunch, Burroughs. Oh, the Kerak one? Oh, okay. Anyway, I think of them all in one happy group. Anyway. They said maybe even check off. I don't know. Pick off, okay, so it must, so yeah, something might've gotten lost in translation. Anyway. Yeah, translated from Russian ride on your horse, listening to Billie Eilish, and it ended up. You're so hard to write. That's such a great mental image. I do kind of have a question, I guess. Sure, sure. Okay, so, yeah, I mean, forgive me because I feel like I'm kind of being a little, thinking about it kind of in a binary way, but I guess I was kind of looking for, maybe if you have any, like in your own experience, like I guess like how you kind of got guidance around knowing when to like push yourself or give a gas or like know when to like take it easy, if that makes sense. Come up against that or? Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's great. Give it like, I mean, usually give it gas when it's easy, when it will move, you know what I mean? And take it easy when it's hard. So if I were climbing a mountain, if I were out of breath, you know, struggling, then I'd slow down. I wouldn't like, yeah, I wanna run right now. I'm not gonna do that because I'm listening to my breath, my breathing, my legs are hurting, the grips aren't that very solid. And I'm just trying to make my way. Sometimes you have to slow down to go faster. I like showing up every day. That's sort of the inch along, you know? Do yourself a favor. I would suggest show up every day, even if it's just for 20 minutes. That's why we do this. Even if it's just like, here I am at my notebook hating my work, I'm from prison, you know what I mean? 20 minutes, okay, I did that, great. You know what I mean? Just show up every day and then as it seems to move build up the gas. Does that make sense? Do you show up every day for your work? Well, see, I was gonna ask you if, can you count other creative, like, you know, other creative media as like. Like for example? I've seen you play your guitar sometimes. You have. Both to be writing. So I kind of felt like maybe it's okay to just play some music or like draw or, you know? Yes, let's say, yes, yes, yes, yes. I would say yes. I would say, yeah, if that's what's working for that moment, like you can't, because it's not, the show isn't called Watch Me Write. Don't watch me work. And because I do work in a lot of different media. So if I'm playing my guitar doing Watch Me Work, I'm usually writing a song. I wish you would let us hear it sometime. I feel like it would be helpful. It's helpful even just, I feel like it changes the energy. Like it's so nice to write alongside someone who's playing music. It's so interesting. If I'm writing a song, it's not gonna be that helpful to you. It's gonna be going, ah, shit, fuck. Fuck. What is that chord? Damn, I don't know. Oh, let me try this one. Oh, maybe that's good. Yeah, you know, that's not interesting or helpful. But you can play music. You can play Billie Eilish music. You can play, you know, you can play music while you write that, because that could be enjoyable or, you know. But I would say, sure, you can, I would say find some way every day to show up for your creative self. How about that? And because the muse, you know, she, he, they, them, it, whatever, they're watching. And they're, the more you show up, the more they'll show up. And you keep showing up for you and they'll be more inclined to show up for you. You know, think of them, they're shy. They're not gonna make the first move, you know? They need you, you're the flesh. You know what I mean? You're the one, you know, they're like, you know, so they're the spirit. So if you show up, if you keep showing up, look, muse, I'm showing up, here's my notebook. Here's my timer, here's my pen, or whatever you write with or create with. Here's my guitar. Here, I'm working on the choreography for this thing. I'm, I'm, I don't know any words. So I'm just turning on some music and I'm dancing it out, the feelings. Cause I don't know the words for the feelings. And I'm just spending 20 minutes just dancing it. And that's all I could manage today. I'm showing up in some way for my creative self every day. Preferably at around the same time. You know, think of the muse as a friend who's trying to find you, right? You have to make yourself discoverable. So she's trying to find you out of all the millions of people in the world and the gazillions of beings in the universe. You're sending up a signal or you're sending out a signal. Toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, toot, right? If it's intermittent and all that, it's gonna be hard to find you. But if you send out a consistent signal, the same around the same time every day, they know how to find you and they'll find you. I know it sounds really woo-woo, but. I like that. It's true. Does that make sense? So you pick your favorite part of the day, morning, afternoon, evening, whatever. And you just show, it was a time that you know, like I like morning, I'm a morning person just naturally. I get up first thing in the morning, I get up very early and I do my little things that I do. And then I build my day out from there so that I can be discoverable to the muse so that they know where to find me. And it doesn't make it like easy or anything like that, but it makes it easier. Yeah, I mean, you don't wanna like stand them up, but I also just don't wanna force some, like I don't wanna write something like out of a place of like the wrong kind of like place because then just feel right to me. And I feel like I'm wasting the muse's time or whatever. Yeah, but you mean, I mean, you don't wanna write something that's like not good. No, it just doesn't feel good to do it or like, you know, like where it just feels like I really don't wanna do this. You know, well, I guess that's kind of where the question sort of came from. It's like, how do you know when to be like, you know, like those coaches that I'm like the biggest loser or something be like, just, you know, just do it. And like versus be like, you know what? Maybe like it's not right. I would say that, yeah, I mean, it's, yeah, right, the coaches and they kind of encourage their clients or whatever to like, I don't know what, I've never watched that show but I know what you're talking about. Go run up the hill or jump over the fence. Or like they're just always like, I haven't watched either, but just the commercials. You're so weak, like, you know, like that kind of talk. Yeah, right. You're so like, right? You're so weak, kill your darlings. Yeah, I mean, and that's fine. I'm not saying they're wrong. They're specialists in that field and they are on TV doing it. So who am I to blow against that wind? But, and in our field, we can, we can discover alternate paradigms, right? So to sit at your desk and turn on your timer and say to the muse, I'm here, I'm discoverable. I'm writing, it hurts. You know, oh, here's another German word. I don't know if it's a German word. It's a word that my husband used. Schlerafia, schlerafia. So there's this idea. Let me see, maybe if I talk well enough, he'll hear me talking and correct me. No, he can't hear me talking. Okay, there's this idea that like, I'm gonna get it wrong, but you guys can look it up on internet. Paradise, paradise is right there. It's right there. It's, you have to chew through a wall of wet, hard oatmeal. And then paradise is on the other side and everything you've ever wanted is over there. Yeah. So imagine, you know, there I am. You know, there I am, muse. I have my notebook. I have my timer. I'm gonna spend 20 minutes chewing through the wall. They're waiting for you. They're just waiting for you. They wanna show, come on, commitment. Come on, how much you want it. Show them that you love them. It doesn't feel, it doesn't always feel like, hurrah, now that's not what the artistic process is all about. That's TV, that's television. Like, you know, Dr. Chavago, he goes into the house. It's like winter in Russia, right? And he picks up the ink well and they play that music and he starts writing, that's bullshit because it's frozen ink. That doesn't work, right? But it's so romantic and Julie Christie is there looking like Julie Christie. And there's Omar Sharif and he's writing, I mean, please, right? It doesn't work like that. It's like Shlorafia. That word is so funny. I think he's messing with you. Okay, probably. That's why I married him. He makes me laugh. You know, but it's okay, you're writing and it doesn't always feel good, but you show up anyway. And you dare to write some stuff that's not great. And you keep going. So you're saying sometimes it will feel terrible. Sometimes it will feel terrible. Join the club. Doesn't always feel good. Sometimes it will feel amazingly fantastically, amazingly great. And sometimes it will feel like not so great. And you're like, hey, hey, it's like being in love. It's like being married. Not every day is like, oh my God, he got me some red roses. You know, it's not like that. He doesn't, and it doesn't have to be. But it's six o'clock. It's six o'clock. And I have the watch me work tip of the week as a suggestion for your digestion. Maybe if I said this last week, oh well, news fast. Did I talk about going on a news fast last week? No. I know Henry Kissinger is dead. Okay. I'm on a news fast. I just happened to see it on the side of a building or something. Okay. Guess what? It's so great because you're trying to tune into yourself, to your muse. You're trying to make yourself discoverable. It makes it so much easier when you stop listening to the news, see how long you can go. Even NPR, even ProPublica or all the good stations. Oh, who cares? Stop. Just give yourself a pause. Push pause for a little bit. You know, I promise the important stuff you'll know about. Just try for a day and see if you can hear the inner voices a little bit better. It's 6-0-1. We're coming back next week. Are we not? Yes, we are. Yes, we are. We're coming back next week. And actually, I'll just say next week is our last meeting of the year. So we take spring after that and then we'll regroup in January. So I hope to see you all next week. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Great group today. Thank you so much. Bye.