It's all celery's fault

So this morning I was making my usual veggie and fruit smoothie. Yes, I live in LA it's what we do. So as I'm chopping up this and that, I go to take out my organic celery from the package and it won't come out. So instead of figuring out why, I decide to keep pulling the exact same way. Which as you know, means it won't come out again! So I finally take a moment to go, well, I'm doing the same thing over and over, so I'm going to get the same results, over and over, let's change it up and see what happens. Lo and behold, I try something new and it comes out easily. I stopped fighting it.

So it got me to thinking, how much of our writing is like the stuck celery? How many times have you tried to write something a certain way with no results? For instance, if I'm stuck on a scene, if I don't force it and go to sleep with that concern on my mind, I always wake up with the perfect solution. Have you tried this? It always works for me. My guess is that somewhere in the recesses of our mind lies the answer. But we can't uncover them by telling our brain to figure it out on the spot! No person can perform well like this, why would our brain?

And what about when it comes to trying a certain genre or a certain medium. I'm mostly a comedy writer. But recently I've had horror writing opportunities. Instead of telling myself or these producers, yeah, I don't do that, I went okay, why not? And partnered up with other writers whose genre it was. This also happened with animation opportunities. A producer at some networking event, not a screenwriting networking event, approached me and asked, do you write animation? I hadn't but, why not? So I said yes. We haven't worked together yet. But that got me to come up with ideas, which got me to meet with an animation artist on a project, which got me one of my managers who specializes in animation! If I had stayed only in comedy, I would have missed out all of those opportunites!

So sometimes I think we have to shake things up. We have to zig, when we've been zagging. We just never know what great opportunity lies in another area that we haven't even tried. And we have to stop trying so hard. The more we just let go, just let things happen without a fight, the more it will just happen. 

Do you take chances with your writing career?

When it comes to genres, we writers tend to get stuck in a type or genre of writing. Especially when it comes to film and TV. We hear that we need to form a body of work in order to sell and to have a career. But what if other opportunities present themselves? I'm one who believes that you just don't know where the next opportunity is going to come from. So I'm the last person to not try a new genre. So although comedy features were my favorite thing to write at first, I'm game to write just about anything! So when I found out someone wanted to read a sitcom from me, I partnered with a TV writer. I learned that I loved writing sitcoms and in fact it seemed easier to me than features! Then I found out someone wanted to read animation, so I partnered with someone who was good at this, learned how to do it. Now we're pitching animation shows and features. Then I found out someone wanted a sci-fi. This definitely wasn't my forte, so partnered with some sci-fi writer friends. So as you can see, it's okay to try new things. If worse comes to worse you find out for sure it's not your thing. But you grow as a writer, and there's nothing bad about that. We're writers. We're meant to be creative and try new things. There's nothing worse than seeing a writer stop themselves from success because they fear that can't do something new! In fact, I've seen it many times where a writer will have an opportunity and they say, oh yeah, I don't do that. In my mind I'm thinking, really? You could get a deal out of this, but you don't do that??? Just recently my new manager wanted to submit me for a TV show. Although it's something I love to watch, I wasn't sure I could write it. But I figured, why not? I was up for the challenge! So I told her yes, I could do it. And guess what, I've learned so much about myself as a writer. And I can already tell I can write this! Just because as a writer we haven't tried a genre, doesn't mean we are incapable of it. SO please, don't shoot yourself in the foot till you've at least tried! If someone is giving you the opportunity, do it! Take it! We only live once. So go for it! You just may surprise yourself.

Finally a manager

So I'm finally dealing with managers. And not one, but two! I guess when you hit the jackpot...! And the funny way the first one happened, was this weird round about way. Turns out he's the husband of a writer I met recently. But that's not how it happened, no. I was actually working on some children animation shows and the animation guy's manager is the one I'm working with now. But that's not really how it happened either! Turns out the manager is also best friends with one of my really good friend's hubby's who's a TV writer. It all came together in such a funny way too. But guess it goes to show, it's who you know. Because maybe if I didn't have all those connections, it wouldn't have happened. And if all those things didn't line up the way they did, it might not have happened. I think what it really shows, is you just can't rush anything. Things in life, especially this career, need time for it all to line up. Haven't you noticed that? How one success leads to another which leads to another. I know that's how it's been for me. And if I didn't have all those connections that lined up, maybe I wouldn't have ever worked with him.

Then there's the other manager, and that's exciting too. They do different lines of work, so I can possibly actually have both. The 2nd one we're still in talks. But it's all exciting and things are really happening in my screenwriting career. If they weren't, maybe I actually would have posted on here sooner. Sorry I haven't written more. Not the best daily blogger I guess! But a busy screenwriter, yep!