Your wild monologue
Oh, hi friends!
Alright so you need to mail back that package of straight-legged jeans that will never, in any universe, look good on you. This involves printing shipping labels, and also reminds you to check on that other package you ordered, but which is — oh look — delayed. Which reminds you that you haven’t bought any Christmas presents yet, and you swore you wouldn’t wait until Dec. 15 like last year. But you also haven’t bought your plane ticket home yet, because prices are insane and, rather brilliantly, you think if you ignore a situation long enough maybe it will reverse itself. And everyone is trying to Finish something right now, in the next eight hours, before all of us in the U.S.A. burrow into our food holes for the long weekend, and that reminds you that you haven’t finished anything lately, and where did this year go, and what time does the post office close, and why didn’t they respond to my email, and did I schedule my dentist appointment yet, and when is the paperwork going through, and maybe I should revise that song, and maybe I should go for a run but it might be too windy, no wait, I should just finish that scene, no wait, I don't deserve to work on creative projects right now, no wait, maybe I should give up on my dreams and Google that company that raised a Series B round and see if they might be hiring, no wait, would really rather not, and why haven’t I done laundry yet, and how can I help the people closest to me, and how can I be better and also calmer and also sleep more tonight, and maybe I’ll just skip the post office, but it needs to get done and how will it get done and who will do it and why do we pretend this is an entire work week, and what am I doing right now and it’s only 39 days until the end of the year and—
Oh. Uh. Hi.
Your inner monologue is wild.
But you still get to write it.
You can stop midstream and take a breath, if you need one.
Do you need one?
Take one.
“In our culture there is a lot of pressure to achieve ‘success’ by a certain age and I think I would just remind my younger self that the work is the joy and the success and the achievements come when they come. —Silas Howard, Writer/director/documentary filmmaker (Dickinson, Transparent)
Might be time to commission a floor-to-ceiling poster that says THE WORK IS THE JOY because, of course, it's correct.
Btw, this is from the very good newsletter The Muse, a bi-weekly digest of inspiration and advice for screenwriters and storytellers, published by Sundance Co//ab. Always a few gems inside.
Last week I saw tick, tick...BOOM! in theaters (I was one of six people at a 3:20pm showing on a Friday — incredible) and who would have guessed a story about creative process and writing musical theater would resonate with my brain? WHO WOULD HAVE GUESSED?!
But really, it’s as good as everyone says it is, and now on Netflix. Perfect if you need a boost of energy or means to reconnect to with your creative spirit. I walked out of the theater and felt like I was a dreamy 22-year-old again.
Cages or wings
Which do you prefer?
Ask the birds
Fear or love, baby
Don't say the answer
Actions speak louder than words
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You can also support my work by checking out my motivational journal, Do It For Yourself, designed to guide you through your creative and work projects.
Thanks, as always, for reading.
Love, Kara