I have just returned from the most wonderful holiday on the most beautiful Greek island: Skopelos, aka where they filmed Mamma Mia!. Just as it took me approximately 20 years to start watching The Sopranos – no spoilers please, I’m still on season 5! – I waited for Skopelos’s ABBA-related tourism craziness to die down a little before heading there, ie I lay low for a mere 16 years. I can attest that the craziness has indeed died down, though I can also attest that a) the hour-long boat ride which took us from Skiathos to Skopelos played the soundtrack for the final half of that hour, as did our bus to the boat taking us back; and b) my husband and I ended up in a bar in Skopelos Town on Saturday night dancing to Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! with big goofy smiles on our faces.
So… I’m writing this because I realised on holiday that I wanted to start writing about some of the thoughts that ping around my head – and the ‘Musings’ section of my website seems like a good place to post these, well, musings. They will most likely my thoughts about writing, and screenwriting in particular, and creativity in general. But no doubt other things, too – like life after breast cancer.
I hope these posts can be in some way interesting and/or helpful; I suspect that they will at least be the latter for me personally. Because I’m also doing this as a result of being inspired by a tweet I read some time ago (apologies but I don’t remember who posted it), which advised people who do creative work – especially those of us whose work and careers are very dependent upon other people’s decisions and actions – to do something creative which is purely for you, and controlled by you from start to finish.
Not only do we screenwriters rely on others – producers, directors, actors, an entire crew – to turn our words into films or TV shows, but much of our careers are spent waiting, hoping, crossing fingers… relying on these other people to help realise our dreams. We send a script (or pitch, or outline) out into the world hoping that it will be read, or liked, or lead to being hired or to a meeting or to a greenlight… And not only can all this wishin’ and hopin’ and thinkin’ and prayin’ (thanks Bacharach & David) drive you slightly mad if you’re not careful (I mean, you start thinking in Bacharach & David lyrics, for one), it can also sometimes feel like it’s what your work life mostly entails, as opposed to the actual ‘doing’, ie the creative work of writing. And because this is true to a certain extent – all the things above absolutely come with the territory of being a screenwriter – I’ve realised that anything I can do which helps me accept and manage this can only be A Good Thing. Hence, for example, trying to only set goals for myself that can be controlled by me rather than other people (eg ‘Finish this draft’ as opposed to ‘Win a BAFTA’), and taking the advice from that kind Tweeter on board, and starting to write posts like this.
If you’re a creative whose work and/or career success also relies so much on others, I hope it inspires you to do something for yourself, too. Something which is solely created by you from start to finish. It could be writing a poem, it could be taking a photo and sharing it on Instagram, it could be singing or playing a song (I highly recommend the back catalogue of Bacharach & David. Also ABBA). Whatever it is, I don’t doubt it will bring you some joy, satisfaction and/or sense of accomplishment – and will help give you some balance alongside all that wishin’ and hopin’. Here’s hopin’, anyway.
