# The Creative Mind

The only thing that “proved” I was an artist was my desire to make art—but was that enough?

It’s probably too much to ask for Hollywood to ever be a real meritocracy. Nowhere in society does there exist a “real” meritocracy. All we can do is try to make things better for ourselves and for each other ...

Without me even realizing, Emma Thompson had been guiding my ship the moment I put pen to paper. I couldn’t ask for a better teacher.

I look at myself, where I'm at in my career, what I've achieved (or not achieved) so far, and I groan.

So much of what you adore when you read or watch is the result of an author, screenwriter, actor, director, stepping out onto a limb and offering you more.

When you write something and present it to the world, it’s exciting. It might feel like a dream come true. But what they don’t tell you is that it’s also terrifying.

Life isn't promised to anyone.

Be careful to avoid binding your identity too closely to your pursuits.

If we get too attached to the goal—get an agent, sell this project—and forget that writing is allowed to be fun.

It’s true that some people are born with a natural loathing for screenwriting. But that doesn’t mean it’s unattainable for the rest of us.

It was time to grow. I could see it coming miles away, and I knew it wouldn’t be pleasant.

Unless you’re writing only for you, you need to keep the audience in mind. Especially if that audience is the gatekeeper to all your hopes and dreams.

Overworking doesn’t make you a better or more dedicated writer.

Both from my pent up decade of jealousy and my own recent increase in writer’s group activity, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about all the variables in creating your ideal creative collective.

I decided to focus on the things I could control rather than treating my career like a blind gamble, because the house always wins.