Spinning Plates

Got a lot going on right now. Got word that the show's coming back - we're in the room on January 2nd. Actually found that out a couple of weeks ago and got the confirmation last week that our reps are being contacted. It's finally time to get back to work. I spent the year kind of hoping that I would go from show to show to show like Tarzan swinging on a vine. I've always been a little bit more of a George of the Jungle.

That's the good news. And the still-good-but-complicated news is that I've committed to teaching three classes next term. My first school committed to me teaching two classes instead of one next term. I originally thought I'd say no to teaching because I wanted to keep the launching pad open. Then I started teaching my class like a writer's room and it all seemed to connect to what I want to be doing, which is creating television. I was like the showrunner, controlling the room and giving my students feedback on their work. They had given me two classes without telling me and then I had to reconsider that plan. It's hard to turn down work when you've gone so long without it. And in Hollywood, you don't know if something's actually happening until the reps start getting phone calls and contacts are being negotiated. I hoped that I would be coming back to the show, but I had no guarantees, so I had to take the job. At one point, we thought I'd be teaching a graduate level TV writing course which I planned on treating as a real writer's room and assigning episodes to my students. The idea of that seemed fascinating. But that fell through and I was going to be teaching two sections of my intro class which has 25 students each.

Okay, that felt busy and I knew that if it got to be too much with the show coming back, then I could just turn them down. Then I got an email from my friend Ruth who said that another school was looking for someone to come teach. It was a school I had wanted to work at, so I said yes, despite knowing that my show might be coming back again soon and that three classes in a busy schedule were too much to do. And I ended up getting the job - being offered a position right in the room. And then two days later, I got the confirmation that the show's coming back in January.

I remembered what the psychic said in June - that I'd be busier than I'd ever thought I'd be. And I thought, well this might be what he was talking about. And it might not even be over. Because I'm also producing a writer's group and a workshop in the Spring. Teaching will go through May. Writing both my episodes will go through mid-March. So the winter will be a time for hibernation for sure. I'm just going to try and not stress eat and gain back the weight I've been losing. I'm going to make our PA or intern or whoever make sure there's plenty of fruit around and lots of Larrabars. I'm reading the new Andy Cohen book, Superficial, which is more of his diaries where he talks about being busy and all the work he's doing. I feel like the Chinese Mexican Andy Cohen right now. I want to be busy. That would be thrilling to me. It sounds like from what the psychic said that I'm going to be working myself to the bone. That's great. I have the time and the flexibility to do that right now.

This morning I woke up and composed an email to the head of my department at the school I have been teaching at to present this idea of me bringing in a sub for the classes I'd miss and expressing to him that I really wanted to stay at the school and continue teaching there. I'm waiting to hear back, but I'm prepping to do it all. I also looked at my syllabus for the third class and saw that if I could make weeks two and three work, then I'd be set because I'll come and teach week one (with my showrunner's permission) and I already have meetings scheduled for weeks four and five. So I could actually make all of this work. I'll be exhausted. But I'll also be really excited to do it, too. I would be teaching grad students, which is totally thrilling to me.

In order to prep for all of the work I'll be doing in the first months of the year, I started the new play I wanted to work on. And I'm prepping a rewrite for the pilot I've been working on. I've got a busy schedule this week, but next week I'm heading to Vegas for another writing retreat, my second of the year. I had planned it also as a reason to see my godmother who's dying. But it turns out that she's planning on coming out here to LA at the same time. I thought about canceling the trip, saving the money and staying in town. But I know that if I don't make time for my own writing now, I'll regret it. There will be little time for my own writing while on staff and teaching three classes. I have to make time for my own work. And the Vegas writing retreat worked out so well for me when I did it back in April (or was it May?). I got a lot of work done and I also felt like I was getting away. I'll probably do what I did back then and plan a few writing trips. Checked with the Jet Blue guy when I had to change my flight for my holiday trip to be back in time for work - I originally planned to come back on Jan 3rd. He said I have enough points to go to NYC on a non busy week. So that's good. I also might use the points to go to Portland on another trip. Or I may just let them continue to accrue. New York wouldn't be a writing trip because I haven't been there in years and I'd need to see friends and hang out. But maybe I could plan some other sort of writing trip. My friend Dominic had talked about going to Monterey after I suggested it as a good place to go. It might be fun to do a buddy trip somewhere and split the cost of a room or an AirBnB.

Anyway, it looks like I'm going to be crazy busy again and I'm excited by that prospect. I'm ready for it. In the meantime, I'm looking forward to getting away to Vegas and then leaving at the end of the following week to Portland for nine days of recharging the batteries and hanging out with the family and spending New Years with friends and a bunch of gays.

My intention is expansion.
My intention is excitement.
My intention is fun.
My intention is satisfaction.

I am grateful for work.
I am grateful for friends.
I am grateful for a new play.
I am grateful for another play after that.
I am grateful for 15 pitches I'm working on.
I am grateful for my students.