Showing your work
Oh, hi friends!
Are you showing your work?
You do a lot of it.
It’s on your desktop. In your notebooks. Popping around your brain.
What would it be like — what might you gain — if you showed that work to someone else?
Opportunity? Encouragement? Or perhaps a declaration to yourself that you do, in fact, have work to show.
Do it for them or do it for yourself.
But do it as a show of support for the work itself.
I enjoyed these 73 Questions with Greta Gerwig. For “What’s the role you always wanted to play” she answers, “Hamlet” and then says, “I mean, I still can.” See, even Oscar nominees have dreams!
This also reminds me of a lifetime (aka eight years) ago, when I was editing culture coverage at Newsweek. Greta had been in a couple movies, and we got her to write a short piece on “being an actor, insecurity, and marriage before 30.” (We were big on celebrity-written pieces…)
I edited her story, nothing huge, mostly style-driven, and then sent the copy back through her publicist. She came back and said thanks...and also Greta wants to revert back to some of her original copy. I was probably annoyed — the page was likely shipping that night, because that’s how close to the wire we always were.
But now I see why — she was a careful writer who was protective of her own voice. And that’s who she is now, too. (We eventually reached a compromise on the piece, btw.)
It’s especially moving to read her writing from eight years ago and now know she’s married, has a child, and according to 73 Questions, is most comfortable while directing on a set. I wonder if she knew all that would happen?
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Thanks, as always, for reading.
Love, Kara