But You Gotta Have Friends...

Having friends who are smart, supportive and positive are what gets me through the constantly daily activity of creating.

Last night, the Playwrights Union had our annual kick-off for our February Writing Challenge. The Writing Challenge is when we all write a play in a month. It's an ambitious way to start the year, but it's also the thing that gets us all off of our asses. We gathered at a bar in Los Feliz to have a drink and catch up. During the evening we all shared with each other what we were working on.

This is what I love about the Playwrights Union: they are a bunch of smart, like-minded individuals who talk about smart things and write about things that concern them. I am writing a play that has eight actors in it with some doubling and it was encouraging to get support from my fellow playwrights. We had some newer members there last night who I was getting to know. I shared with one writer my love of Steven Pressfield's books, including The War of Art and the latest one TurningPro. He didn't know that Pressfield had a new book out and he ordered it off of Amazon right on the spot. Another friend and I talked about the difficulty of having relationships when you're an artist. It seems that we're strange creatures that civilians don't understand because we're obsessed and idiosyncratic.  Another friend talked to me about the TV pilots she was reading and what she was learning from them. Then we agreed to swap pilots and help each other out.

I left feeling really grateful for these friendships I have forged. Four years ago, I was looking for an artistic community. And I found them in the Playwrights Union. I needed these sorts of friendships and support from real creative people. And these are people who are trying to bring what they do to television and film. It's a real creative hub.

And in less than a month, we will be gathering in people's homes, huddled around each other, reading each other's new plays that we have created over a weekend. Sixteen new plays, presumably. Even though some of us will drop out. Some of us won't finish. But it's not the end product that's important here. It's gathering and supporting each other as we make time for our work. As creative people, we have to honor the work we do by giving it the time and space it deserves.

I have seen friendships come and go in the past year. And what I'm left with is that the people who are still in my life are the ones who are the most generous, loving and supportive. They want the best for me. And the ones whose insecurities are getting the best of them are not as present in my life. It's difficult because being insecure is par for the course. But when that's all you can see and when all you can see is competition, then you're missing out on the richness of support.

So now I have to take all of that good will and support and lock myself in a room for a few hours…

I am grateful for creative friendships.
I am grateful for like-mindedness.
I am grateful for work to keep me occupied.
I am grateful for love in my life.