# The Creative Mind

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.

You’re telling a fictionalized version of true events, and now comes the awkward part: how to tell the people who may recognize themselves in it.

As my heart continued to drum, my mind slowly went to a place where I became uncomfortable in my skin.

It’s the secret. The oxymoronic mindset it takes to achieve in any pursuit in which the rewards are many and the opportunities few.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned about this world is that who you are and who people want you to be aren’t the same thing.

That’s the problem with unsolicited advice. Most of the time, the advice-giver knows nothing about you or your situation.

Our fields can be harsh, and the struggle is real, but that doesn’t have to be all we are.

Some call it gamesmanship, some call it cheating, some call it plain old knowing the rules. But if you don’t know the rules, you can’t bend them to your advantage.

Knowing that even A-list authors have “my dog ate my homework” moments can be reassuring, and ironically that reassurance can help the rest of us unleash our creativity.