The universe buries strange jewels deep within us all, and then stands back to see if we can find them. The hunt to uncover those jewels – that’s creative living. The courage to go that hunt in the first place – that’s what separates a mundane existence from a more enchanted one.
Elizabeth Gilbert, Big Magic
I wrote a screenplay. I WROTE A SCREENPLAY! I want to stand on the tallest mountain and scream cause dude, this is the hardest thing I’ve ever done. The screenplay jewel was there, but summoning the courage to go that journey with the ever-present fear that I had no idea what I was doing. That was everything.
I did not lock myself in a cabin in the woods lost in a creative haze (although that would have been ideal). I did this around my real life. My busy, messy often times very uncooperative life. It. Was. Hard. Still, I created a schedule, made it a priority and sat my ass in my desk chair. Because that’s what it takes, right? Showing up. Doing the work of course, but first I had to show up.
Some days that was easy and so much fun and words flew from my fingers like magic. Some days my writing muse was fickle. Periodically she called in sick when I know she was playing hooky at the beach. But as the boss I had to show up anyway, stare blankly at the door and when it was clear that that bitch was not coming in today (damn her!), do the work anyway. That was hard.
That and learning and researching and creating characters and building a world and connecting the themes and getting out my own way and letting the creativity just flow but at the same time making sure the whole damn thing makes sense. And then the editing, DEAR GOD THE EDITING.
Big Magic – creative living beyond fear (Elizabeth Gilbert once again, she’s the dopest) – is always my aspiration, to see where my curiosity leads. So far, so good. But this right here is epic; I am a screenwriter. I am super proud of myself. Cheers to life-long learning and growing. NEXT!
Oh, and if you happen to be a movie producer, holla.
P.S. If you want to read a story about my creative, curious life, this is a good one.
