Interview: Yankee Smartass
It’s less than a week since the election, and I’m not ready to talk about it quite yet. Just know that it left me stunned and heartbroken, but I’m trying not to lose hope.
Before the election, though, I did an interview with Emily at Yankee Smartass, where I talked about my various creative pursuits and waxed poetic about living a creative life.
You can read the whole interview here, or here’s a little taste:
For the longest time I was somewhat embarrassed by all my different types of creative pursuits. I thought a “real artist” would be focused and spend all their time on one type of art. And when I was 15, I decided I wanted to be a writer, so any time I was drawn in a different direction I felt some shame. Almost like I was cheating on writing, or like it was proof that I wasn’t serious enough or focused enough to really become a writer. But of course, nobody hired me to write a million dollar screenplay right out of college, so I had to get a job. That’s where web development came in. And then I went to grad school for screenwriting, but by complete serendipity I ended up getting a book deal to write a knitting book right afterwards. (Knitting was a hobby I picked up in college for stress relief — I never really considered it “art”.) I was so terrified of screwing up my book deal that I didn’t dare get distracted by writing a screenplay, and then I didn’t write for stage or screen for a few years after that. And at that point I thought I had “lost” screenwriting, somehow. As though there was a deadline I had missed.
I honestly think two things lined up perfectly to change my attitude…
Go check out the full interview to find out what changed my mind!
Tags: interviews
Comments are closed here.