 Um, well, well, like right now, do you be quiet? No? Do you want to talk? Do you feel like the need to express yourself? Oh, you have your meeting. Oh, you can have your meeting. We also want to watch your work. Oh, we'll see. Watch your work. It's actually about you working. Oh, good. So actually, I'm going to be watching you work. Because the me in the title is you. It's, yeah, it's kind of like, you know, yeah. It's like met a theatrical free writing class that we do on Mondays in the afternoon and allows in public theater. And just a heads up next week. We won't be doing it because there's rampage parade of presidents going. Oh, is this you and me? No, no, I had one black one. You go, you go. I'll be on the sideline. Sure, you want to? Yeah, go brother. Yeah. And yeah. So what we're going to do, this is me in the title is you. We're going to work for 20 minutes. And then we're going to answer questions about your creative process. If you're watching us online, but some folks are in the ether, but I was then honest, I was going to tell you how to get in touch with them. Hi, everybody. If you guys are watching from home, thanks for tuning in. If you want to tweet in your questions at the end of the 20 minutes, you can find us on Twitter at at watch me work SLP. So it's watch me work SLP. And we're using the hashtag HowlRound. So if you tag it with HowlRound, I'll be able to find your questions and we'll be sure that they get heard. So thanks. I could just spell it for years. I thought I could. I did have some HowlRounds H-O-W-L. Like howl. Yeah. HowlRound. HowlRound. I know. It's like deep. Yeah. All right. Okay. It's like deep. It's just deep. Okay. So I'm going to be working. I might want to type here. I might write by hand. I'm not sure yet. But I'm going to do this for 20 minutes. I'm setting this time. You're setting your company. Okay. I'll give you a way that you can show up for a good thing by yourself, that writer part of yourself. What could you do? Create your space. Create your space. Create your time. Nurture that. Not judging. Have you done that? Do you have a space in your home or your favorite coffee shop a time of day? Romantic. No. Not romantic people, right? No. No. Not romantic people. No. Actually wonderful. Yeah. I just didn't work out. No. No. Yeah. Just sort of a moment of my life. I think my like, I don't think I might have sat in return or something. Okay. Okay. But, but I, I more recently I'm going to play something that feels more permanent. So I think that. Right. So I think just. Just, I mean even if you have to move a lot or whatever you can have like, I know it's difficult, it's much more difficult, but you can have a time of day that you can say I'm going to, you know, see you move to a new apartment in the neighborhood and you do things like you find an all night diner that you can get to either before work or whatever. It needs to make you sort of, if you say you work from nine to five and you can write from 30 minutes before you can work, you start writing. So you add on to what I'm going to say. You add, you attach your new practice onto a practice that's already established. That's very helpful. So see you have a running practice. Every day you go running for an hour. You attach your writing practice onto something that's already established. And a day, a day, a couple of days you go running for an hour. So you write and you send the right, right from the one you know when you're after work, you know what I'm saying? You attach, that's like a buddy system for your habits, you know. Which is very, it can be very helpful. It's quite easy to just like and generalize. That's that thing. It's like routine or like having it established. Yeah. You mean, do I look at habits? Do I have fun at school? I mean, like you said, like if you were born at this time of the year. Yeah. And different people are effective in different ways. You know what I'm saying? But for me, it's been very effective and I managed to get a lot done by establishing habits of me. Yeah, but why not have these practices? Right. Like, for example, I mean, this is TMI, but you know, everybody seems to do, when you wake up in the morning, like what's the first thing you do? Right? Who says do or be? You wake up in the morning and you be. Okay, so that's the thing that you do. I mean, if you're like, no, I'm not going to pee. I'm going to do something else. No, I'm not going to pee. Okay, so you're going to go pee first of all. And then you attach on why I have a habit. Why? What's wrong with that is a habit. You see what I'm saying? I mean, my son at four, he doesn't have really that habit. He thinks he can walk around for 20 minutes after this up and he wants to draw on goodness. I don't know, you know, what I mean is an opinion. He's developing that habit of, I say, this is what we do. We get up in yours. So why not have that structure? That's a good idea. I mean, it's easy to create. I mean, when things influx and moving and new and there's a lot of change and everything, it is difficult sometimes to create a structure. Or, you know, when you get a cold or when you have a breakup, you're planning a wedding or whatever, whatever, or moving to Saskatchewan or whatever. Things are influx, but you can find time for your practice. I mean, that's the essence. You find time for it. You make time for it. And so the weather, it's not dependent on the weather. Let the wind blow. Have your practice. So the most important things that you show up for, and I say this to that dog, you unroll your mat and you stand in your mat. That's all you can manage that day. It's okay. You say this to me about meditation. You could even, if you just can't see your way around and you're trying to get to the airport or whatever, you can bow to your cushion. That's practice. See what it means, it doesn't have to be an hour a day, every day, like, you know, some weird regimented self-loathing kind of thing. It's just acknowledgement that this is part of your life. And you make an attempt. You know? Sophia. Yeah, Sophia. Sophia. Sophia means what wisdom lies on one who knows something. I think. Yeah, I can Google it. There's no mystery. So Sophia wants to know what should she do in the meantime while waiting for the characters to get to where she wants to go. And she also wants to know will it typically take a long time? Okay. So... Are you coming back on the side? I'm going to follow up. So what do we do while we're waiting for where the characters want to go? So, you know, the first question she asked was about, you know, the characters not turning out the way you want them to or generating as fast. So I think she wants to know what she's supposed to do in the meantime. In the meantime. Right. While she's waiting for them to do what she wants. Yeah. Well, one of the... Okay. So the first thing, Sophia, you show up every day. So you want to tell Brian. You pick your writing time. Your writing time is whatever your time is. Basically, it's a mathematical... It's this equation. You pick your favorite time of day and that's your writing time. So if you're a morning person, your writing time will probably be in the morning. If you're a night owl type, your writing time will be at night for an afternoon type. Okay. So you pick your favorite time of day and then you spend like 20 minutes. Which is good. Good way to start. Just sitting there with your notebook or your laptop or your computer or your typewriter or whatever and you have a timer. Like this. Or like this. Or you can use your phone. I don't know if you have a phone, but... I suggest not the phone because the phone is a crack. In this situation, the writing time will be like this. You set it for 20 minutes and you just write. You just like what they call three-write where you can talk to your characters. You can have conversations with your characters. Just let them roll around your head and write down what they say. And just spend time hanging out with them. Do that as often as you can. Like every day would be great. Five days a week. You know, really good. Also, if you can, try to just... not worry so much. Let go of the idea that they're going to do what you want them to do. Because that means that you're going to become interested in what you're doing. You know, like your mom. She's working on letting go of what she wants you to do. Because that's why she loves you so much. Because she's interested in who you are instead of who she wants you to be. So you have to love your characters. The more you love them, the more they're going to talk to you. The more they're going to show it for you. It's like honey. What's that they call it honey? To the bee. You know what I'm talking about? It all works. And this information does not translate into other languages. Anyway. And will it take a while? She says does it typically take a while? A while. It could take five minutes. It could be instantaneous. It could take a moment or so. But the fun thing is that you're starting you're going to start hopefully. You will start to have fun. Hanging out with your characters. And then you know you're on something. You know. And you start to enjoy the time you're spending with these people in their world. And so time kind of falls away. And you're in the field of creativity in the field of the spirit. And that you're one of us. And you say welcome. And you say thank you. No, we need to like our numbers. You'll be young. We have another one. Yeah. Can't wait to meet you. Come next time when your mom comes. That'll be so cool. Yeah, go right. Ryan? Do you have a question? Are you here to watch New York? You took a class about creating a solo show. Who taught it? Go on. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Right. Right. Right. Are you a morning person? Afternoon person? What do you think? You'd be later in the day like $9 kind of thing. Uh huh. So that might be your time. You give your writing time. You know. It might be helpful. Yeah, you can like. You know, because I know if I put my writing time at the end of the day, I'm never happy. And I, then I consider myself a failure. Because I think gosh, I never can write it. Because you know, I fall asleep. I'm working with it. It means like you're sleeping. I'm like no, I'm not. It's like 10 o'clock at night. I'm asleep. But that's my time. That's why I'm a morning person. I always have, you know. So, but I wouldn't say everybody has to start in the morning. Because that's ridiculous. Some people don't like to get up early in the morning. Some people are infected early in the morning. I am. And you're effective late at night. Late at night is your time. So that's really like showing up. Because, you know, then you'll give yourself a chance to make that beautiful. I know, I know. You should come on. The world needs more beautiful things. You know, you got to give yourself a set. You got to give yourself a chance to do something right. You guys do it, you know. You continue to do it. Because making one, of course, is not enough. Right, right, right. Right. Right. Sure, sure, sure. Okay. Okay. Sure. Sure. What's your name, Mikey? Yes. Hi. Hi. I didn't get into the class last time. I cut you off though. Like, I guess it's a... Yeah. Yeah. It's just when you have... When you have like a collection of... But... What? Is there anything you can share with someone? Into it all? Yeah, and this is why. I mean, I've done that many times. You write many, many drafts. They're kind of... It's not like you're writing one and rewriting, you know, it's an active thing. It's you write something and then you kind of forget about it and you do it again. In my experience, it's just... It's just kind of sifting through some pages. This works. That doesn't... I feel overwhelmed. I don't know. That's good. Okay. So this is what I just had. So that's why I suggest... Just... Try to remember what you wrote. I mean, I'm not saying don't use it. I'm saying use what you can remember. You understand what I'm saying? Yes. Okay. I think so. So instead of going sifting back to the pages, just draw a line and try to think what is the story as I remember it. Okay? It's hard. But I think it's going to be... It's going to give you... And this is draft that I'm going to use. You know? And if that doesn't sound good to you, go ahead and sift back through all the drafts that you've already written. And see how that feels. I mean, you know what I'm saying? It's a tricky thing, but... I think I... I'm guessing that you've probably already tried to sift you through the drafts and see what I can't mess with. Yeah. Yeah. Right. That kind of wasn't so great. I'm just saying. The paper's around. It's like, oh, no. Oh, shit. You know what I do? You kind of got to just... You know? I'm starting... Not fresh. Not like I'm going to... But I'm going to start anew. Right. That was like the fertilizer. That was the generative stuff. So now, instead of opening up a new... Did you write it on a computer laptop? Eight things on your laptop. I go, shit, draft number seven. I don't even know what the fuck this is. Right. So instead of writing on your laptop, I don't know. You guys said this before. Take some index cards. Three by five index cards. You're going to write in a different way. Right? Three by five index cards. And say, this is what the story of the play is about. This happened. And in the end, this happened. So you're going to put it on a series of three by five index cards. Do you understand what I'm trying to write? I need ten cards. Or seven cards. Really? Or in the beginning, only three cards. This happens. In the middle, this happens. In the end, this happens. That's all that's required. And you can fill in between the middle, between the beginning and the middle. This happens. Between the middle and the end, this happens. You have five cards. And you keep kind of filling them in that way. All you have to try writing in different ways. So you have a tactile thing in your hand. Did we talk about this before? We did. Because energetically, I can feel that you're not on the ground. I can feel it. I can't get out of it. We're talking about this. You were sitting over there. Yeah, I remember. It was a long time ago, but I remember this. Right, because I got the feeling that you're kind of I mean, you're grabbed and everything, but you're not also. There's something kind of hovering above the ground. It's not a crime. I just want you to do something that's tactile. That's like touching, all kinds of things. Indexed cards, writing by hand. You have the cards in your hand. You're on the subway or whatever. And you're shuffling the cards. And as you put cards, you're telling yourself the story and seeing it in your mind and touching something. So, for a minute, don't go back to any of the crap. You're so busted. Eight months ago, she won't even remember. Right. Yeah. We're in. We're in. Now I'm also refreshing my memory. Because it was just outlining. Outlining, yes. Outlining. I guess we're not supposed to be just approaching the cards. Outlining. All you're going to do is take three, follow your hand. Here we go. Three. Three by five. Indexed cards. That's all you get. Three. That's it. You can buy a whole pack. We all can take out three. And you go right. In the beginning, this happens. I mean, in the beginning, what's the person that happens? Like a car accident? Like a young person Right. And what's that person's name? In the beginning. So the first thing we see is Ryan falling from a five-star building. Is that great? Okay, so, I mean... This is dangerous. You want to do a favor? Hold on. The first thing we see is Ryan falling from a five-star building. What happens in the middle? What happens? What do you mean? There's a relationship. There's a lot that's a five-year relationship. What does that mean? That's a scene. There's a five-year relationship. What? What happens if somebody... What happens? What happens in that scene? What happens in the scene? In the middle, just tell me. Pretend like you know. So what happens? Are they fighting? So in the middle, Ryan is... Because we don't want to know their names. Okay? Have this got horrible fight? Full of tears and mean words. And relationship's definitely over. Put a fork in it because it's done. Okay? And in the end... Oh, I wouldn't have wrote that at all. What's the end? What happens? This character, Ryan... What happens? The... The point is... As a workout regime. Like a workout? Yeah, yeah. And so it's a five-year relationship. What happens when you see on stage your own screen? He's doing something. So what do we see? So what do we see? Clipping. And Ryan is doing what? Or somebody's doing something. We'll be here. We hope you'll be here also. Thanks for that. And Angie Ryan. Thanks to Annika for helping me. And we love you and we'll see you next time. Bye.