We were discussing succeeding in creative careers and her journey to working on Wynonna Earp. Fortunately my brain started mid-conversation, so I bypassed any awkward introductions.
At one point she said2 the key to her success had been narrowing her focus down to one pursuit.
"I still struggle with that," I said. And I do.
It wasn't a perfectly fluid conversation. There were times when it seemed like one or the other of us was about to move on, but then something would trigger further talking. You could argue it was dream montage but I perceived it as a bit of awkwardness on my part.
The next trigger was me saying, "I started reading The Artist's Way3." Which I have. In no coincidence, I'd been reading it before I went to bed last night.
Her eyes lit up. She pulled out a Moleskine, flipped through its pages until she found something and then turned it around for me to see.
It was some of her morning pages with her own negative self talk.
"Oh, I excel at that," I said. And I do. But I took two things from that:
a) We all have inner critics even if we're successful."You look amazing, by the way," she said. It was here my brain instantly back-filled that I'd run into her at a wedding reception, an event at which you could meet someone unexpectedly, have a normal conversation, and where I'd be some semblance of dressed up. (No idea what either of us was wearing.)
b) 3 handwritten pages a day are easier to crank out if your notebook is small.
Her compliment took me by surprise, and though I knew she knows a lot of really attractive younger people who work on Wynonna Earp, I took it graciously and said, "Thank you."
She asked me what sort of creative endeavor I wanted to pursue. Without hesitation I said, "Writing and photography." In a wakeful state, I would dilute the answer further, but in the dream, those two answers felt like the core of it.
She kindly expressed interest in reading something of mine, and I started mulling the #TTaTfaves4 I've been posting to twitter of late.
"Make sure you send me that video clip when you get the chance," she said. Like an audition for a bit part or background actor.
Wait, what?
Clearly I'd completely misunderstood the last few minutes we'd been talking.
Wasn't she the one who said I should focus on one thing? I hadn't even mentioned acting as a potential interest.
Ah, there must be something about my look that fits a character she has in mind.
Would I even want to do that? Wouldn't it be a distraction from my real goals?
But then it is Wynonna Earp, so yeah, even if it were a distraction, it'd be worth it.
And then I woke up, the final plot twist making me laugh.
1to Earp (verb): express love for the kickass feminist supernatural Western television show Wynonna Earp. Season two is currently airing 10 PM/9 PM C Fridays on Syfy in the US and on Space channel in Canada; Tuesdays in the UK.
Season one is available on Netflix, iTunes, and Amazon, so get caught up and join the fun!
2Not actually Alexandra Zarowny speaking. Any comments related are only what my dream mind said she said.
3The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron has been on my radar a long time. Dominique Provost-Chalkley tweeted/Instagrammed a photo of a paragraph from it about perfectionism a couple weeks ago that struck a nerve which made me feel it was time to move the book up my queue of things to read. (In true perfectionist fashion, as soon as I remembered I'd forgotten to add this footnote, I turned my computer back on to include it.)
4I've started tweeting posts from my blog Taller Than Average Tales' best of page since I've got over 10 years of writing that most people have never seen. They can be found by searching the hashtag #TTaTfaves or visiting my Highlights page on the blog which also has more highly curated lists of favorite posts.
10 years ago on TTaT: Sick of your martyrdom
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