Hi, it’s me, your resident blogger. This is how it’s going with my new years resolutions so far!
Completed: 3
Going well: 6
Going poorly: 1
Grow my Los Angeles community.
This is going well! We were off to a slow start because of new COVID variants, but it’s picked up and I’ve been going to coffees and networking events as often as I’m able! I’m also trying to attend more local film festivals and meeting up with folks we interview for my filmmaking podcast who are local. Now that I’m not too scared of the LA freeways, it’s gotten much easier to agree to meet up with people.
Write 2 new original pilots.
COMPLETE! I wrote a post-apocalyptic comedy about a young woman obsessed with classic noirs who keeps a roof over her head in her survivor settlement by solving mysteries, and turned my unfinished screenplay into a half hour comedy pilot about two women who believe themselves to be supporting best friend archetypes who begin a search for a leading lady to mentor in life and love.
I also uhhhhh wrote an entire romance novel? In under two months? Not sure what this means, but I did it. And now I’ve got a spreadsheet of query guidelines for potential lit agents who represent some of my own personal favorite romance novelists
Quit 2 of my jobs.
COMPLETE! My only active employment right now is Seed&Spark, though I’m in the wings to teach classes with the CBS Pipeline Challenge again (which probably won’t be until next Spring). While I’m a little nervous what this means about my finances, especially if I make the leap into TV writing or (god forbid) writing novels and have to take a pay cut, I’m optimistic and grateful to have more of my time back.
Save $5k.
COMPLETE! I was paranoid as my final non-S&S jobs were winding down and made a big effort to save as much as I could early in the year before my income slowed slightly. This is a huge weight off my chest and will give me some buffer for the wedding as well as any future job changes I end up making
Spend my energy better and more strategically.
Going ok! I didn’t exactly expect to spend quite so much time reading romance novels, buuuut it led to me writing one of my own and that was an incredibly creatively fulfilling exercise that I wouldn’t have had time to deal with were I still goofing off saying yes to every tiny time waster I’m approached with. Burn, Noticed is still posting episodes through the end of July, but we wrapped up recording in April and I’ll be finishing editing/queuing it for release as of later today, and that’s a HUGE boon to my energy. I was spending upwards of 10-15 hours a WEEK on that show, for three years! That’s too many hours of unpaid labor! I’ve also been setting better boundaries between work and not work (see below) which has been helpful.
Take 3 full days off a month.
Going great! I’ve managed to take off more than this since Burn, Noticed wrapped up, and it has been a GIFT.
Take 3 trips with Quinn unrelated to our wedding/honeymoon.
One down, two to go! We went to Oregon for his friend’s wedding and to see his mom for a week, which was lovely. We’ll probably go to Colorado in August, and hopefully between now and then we’ll do one more small weekend trip.
Get active at least three times a week.
Sigh.
Incorporate healthier meals into meal planning.
Going ok? The fact that we’ve stuck to meal planning at all is a miracle on its own, but we have been trying to reduce carbs and increase veggies- the air fryer is especially helpful here!
Embrace what’s next rather than what if.
Given that I’ve straight up stopped thinking about screenwriting for the past three months for the most part…. I guess it’s going ok? I’ve been telling people surprised I wrote a romance novel (aka everyone) that I’m “trying not to police my muse” which is true and also feels like it’s living up to the new motto. I have truly no expectations having written a book, though of course it would be cool for it to go somewhere! I’m trying to be more patient with myself and my career, and while I still find myself getting frustrated, having new things to work on and enjoy feels good. I forgot that I actually love writing, and I’m trying to focus on that instead of the professional aspects. I can’t control whether I ever get paid to write, but I can give myself the grace and space to pursue stories I’m interested in telling, even if they’re just for me. For now… that’s enough.
How’re you doing?
