For what it's worth, this is the first post that's been named for an album -- not song -- title. As a milestone month in my life, it just felt appropriate.
As I write this, I am downstairs at Starbucks working on a few other writing projects and listening to dueling playlists (my laptop's v. Starbucks'). I'll be writing for the next two hours, so it probably would have been wise to sit at a table. But it would not be nearly as comfortable as the love seat on which I'm sitting.
My interest in writing, and my ability to focus on writing, has for the past few weeks been in direct opposition to my interest and ability in accomplishing anything else. I was telling my aunt this earlier tonight ... there seems to be a switch that flips once August hits. The anticipatory stress gets the best of me, and I tend to turn inward. This month is agony for me personally. Creatively, though, it's a windfall.
A few random things have helped fuel my creativity lately, each in different ways ...
1) 500 Days of Summer
2) Mad Men (season 2 commentaries)
3) Julie & Julia
I can't get enough of reading articles about how the screenwriters wrote 500 Days of Summer. I'm impressed with anyone who can take the standard screenplay formula, throw the rules out the window and make an even better, fresh movie. Most impressive is that the movie gets made at all. I can't plug this movie enough. Go see it.
As for Mad Men, I watched half of the first season before I decided whether or not I liked the show. (Do I like it now? I adore it.) The same things that initially gave me pause about the first season are what I now love about the show. It's not afraid to take its time getting through a story arc, and once there it usually takes the story in a completely unanticipated direction. I love all of the characters, especially that they're all deeply flawed. Fantastic casting ... and great clothes. Very excited for the season 3 opener next Sunday.
Julie & Julia was the surprise treat of the weekend. For starters, Meryl Streep can do no wrong. Never would have expected that I would walk out of that movie hoping I could have a marriage like Julia Child's, but that's exactly what happened. I teared up at several parts, many of which were in no way sad but resonated with me anyway, particularly as this woman (Julie) at ages 29/30 made a plan and realized her dream of becoming a writer. It was the perfect movie to see this weekend.
I would imagine that both Starbucks and my couch will be seeing quite a bit of me over the next few days. This week is a countdown to the most devastating milestone in my life, and the only thing I know is to write through the pain. I've been working on a fiction book for about a year and a half, and I put it away for several months. But I feel a strong pull to come back to it. There's an intense need right now to create something tangible, something that I can control -- no matter how poorly written, initially -- that captures the chaos of events completely out of my control. I guess it's my way of loosely taking my story and controlling the outcome.
On that note, I'll leave you with this relevant, if not contradictory, quote from David Sedaris:
"Writing gives you the illusion of control, and then you realize it's just an illusion, that people are going to bring their own stuff into it."
