All By Myself…Don't Wanna Be

Writing is such a solitary thing.
I hate doing it alone.
Well, I love doing it alone.  I don't really want a writing partner.
I do love collaboration in the theatre -
I love a rehearsal room and talking over a script with actors and writers.
I love discussing ideas and bouncing ideas off of each other.

But could I sit in a room and bang out a script with another writer?
I could.
But I wouldn't want to.  I have plenty of ideas of my own and I want to hammer them out.
But it's a lonely existence.

And that's why my situation with my friend Tim, who's my office mate,
is great.
We were talking yesterday about setting up the office in a way that feels comfortable.
One of the things we started talking about was pushing our desks together -
like Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David used to do in the Seinfeld days.
I still have to move my books in and get some decorations going that will make it
feel like my own.
And we're talking about a chair
and a electric tea kettle
and some other touches that will make it feel like our creative home.

It's motivating to have an office with a friend.
Even if we don't talk.
Even if we just work out ideas and "talk things out."
Just knowing someone is there working
keeps me motivated.

A couple of years ago, I started working going to coffee shops with my friend Larry.
We had met through the Playwrights Union, our playwrights group,
and discussed how we both could be each other's wingman.
We didn't want to be partnered up.
But if we could help the other one get work done,
and get motivated,
that would be a great relationship.
And we still meet up at the Weho library a couple of times a month.

That continued with my friend Andrea.
And now I've got two other male playwrights I've started
doing the same thing with.
Sometimes it's just to talk about how hard living in LA is as a writer.
Sometimes it's to bounce ideas off of each other.

Just having a community of other people who do what you do and understand
what it feels like to feel like a playwright on a daily basis is important.
I date a musician and there are things I don't understand about that life.
And there are definitely things he doesn't understand about being a playwright.
Like the need for solitude,
the temperament,
that I'm working even when my laptop is open and I'm just staring at it -
so he shouldn't tap me on the shoulder or
ask me what I'm making for dinner.
Stuff like that.

I'm at the library right now,
taking a break from the office,
working alongside my friend Jenn.
We went to NYU together.
We worked for two and a half hours,
then did lunch,
and now we're working for another hour and a half.
It's great just having someone
sitting next to me,
for the company,
to watch my bag while I go to the bathroom
and just to be silent support.
It's like she's saying,
"Keep going.  You're doing well."
All in silence.

Keeps me going when I need the silent push.

I am grateful for my wingmen and wing women.
I am grateful for continued productivity.
I am grateful for unexpected opportunities.
I am grateful to be a working writer with an office.
I am grateful to the Universe for conspiring.