I was talkzoom-17240519-3ing with a client today about her writing project and she was feeling some despair. It wasn’t going as fast as she wanted it to. There were moments when she was inspired and others when she wasn’t really feeling it. It was challenging for her. In other creative adventures, this multi-disciplinary artist didn’t have this problem. But her writing was different. She asked me why there was such a discrepancy among her creative lives. 

I think writing is unique because we don’t get to watch other people write. We see them dance and sing and act – and if we’re in on rehearsals we can see the development of a performance. But we don’t get to watch writers hammer out scripts. It’s not a spectator sport. That means we usually have IDEAS about how writing goes for some famous and successful writer, but we don’t really know how it happens. We can imagine Lynne Nottage creating a play like  or Shonda Rhimes scripting Grey’s Anatomy, but we don’t know how it unfolded. So it’s easy to think we’re doing it incorrectly (or too slowly or too awkwardly) because we imagine that someone’s finished script comes flying out of them with grace and speed and precision and impact. The truth might be (and probably is) they went through a few uninspired moments and clunky drafts and awkward days before hitting on something beautiful and golden. Rather than compare our process with that of other writers – it’s better to free ourselves and think of writing the way we think of giving birth. 

It goes without saying that I’ve never birthed a child. But even as a spectator, I know it’s different for each woman who gives birth. Sometimes it’s quick and easy, other times it’s long and slow. Most often it takes 9 months – sometimes babies come out early. Sometimes they come out a little late. Some people take a long time to conceive, others have no problem in that department. I never think of a birth as being done “the wrong way”. It happens the way it happens. It’s individual, it’s unique. And, ultimately, a new being is created. 

You’ve probably heard me say I wrote a play once in 5 minutes a day. It took a month. I’ve written complete pieces in a single day. I’ve taken years to write some and others flow out of me. There is no right or wrong, there’s only what’s helpful to me in the process. There’s only staying present and trusting as the piece comes through me. It may take a while. It may not. I’m only doing it wrong if I’m not doing it at all. When I’m in it – however it’s going – it’s “right”. That’s where trust comes in.

Being inspired helps, yes. And the trick there is to ask yourself how you get inspired. A teacher of mine once said “Technique is for when inspiration fails you.” What are your techniques for finding your way to the writing zone? Meditation? Yoga? Long walks? Massage? Whatever gets you there is likely as individual as you are. If you have no idea what those techniques are, you can explore and develop a process for yourself. Build a technique and trust it. 

And know that your writing will flow as it does, when it does, in a way that is “natural” for you, different from any other writer on the planet. 

I urge you to celebrate it, as it comes, whatever that looks like.

Need help finding your writing groove? Click here for a month of guidance and support.
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A TV Writer Reveals: “What I’m learning on the job…”

I’ve been asking my TV writer peeps about the discoveries they’re making at work these days.

My friend Niceole Levy is currently on the NBC show The Mysteries of Laura. She and I were in the same class in the CBS Writers Mentoring program. Niceole was previously staffed on two other NBC shows: Allegiance and Ironside. She’s a graduate of USC.

Here’s what Niceole is learning this year: “the best humor and heartache comes from leaning into your characters. You can write a great joke or a heart-wrenching speech, but it’s so much more if it comes from a character who is an organic source of it all rather than the character you want to give a funny line or a teary moment to. I’ve written great lines and later realized that they’re coming out of the wrong mouth because I think this character is the funny one… but that character, he’s the one who really thinks this way. Give that character the win, and your script wins, too.

And as ever, you know my main advice to all writers is watch more TV 😉 “

Love that last bit. (And there’s SOOO much to watch these days, it’s hard to keep up.)

[The Mysteries of Laura premiers on NBC on Wednesday, September 23rd.]