Killing Your Darlings. In Your Writing, I Mean. Not In Some Jim-Jonesian Way.

Hemingway said you should write your story, and then take all of the “best” lines out. Would we like F. Scott Fitzgerald, or Toni Morrison, or James Baldwin half as much if they took our their best lines?

A Brief Intermission

“I’m learning to have confidence that, though I’m a firm believer of not stopping to getting in your own way when things are humming, it’s OK to try to recognize when that hum diminishes, and to have faith that it will come back when its ready to.”

In The Beginning, Was The Word, and The Word Was…?

In my experience, there’s a lot you have control over as a writer. That’s the craft part. But the inspiration, the sudden urge to take a Kierkergaardian leap of faith, isn’t a part I really understand intellectually. And not only am I OK with that, I’m grateful for it. This way, unlike almost everything else in my life, I can’t get in my own way.

Beating Swords Into One Acts

We’re living in an age where people are given permission, indeed often encouraged by our “leaders,” to view other as less than human…I’d just like the audience to see a bit of themselves, or those they care about in the characters.

Learning To Love The Struggle Of Learning Something As You’re Struggling

What I’ve found is something everyone knows and says, something that I know and say, but I’m finally getting: there is a clear overlap between playwriting and TV writing, but they’re ultimately quite different skill sets.

My Naughty Weekend Fling With Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard

“This guy (Chekhov) might know a thing or two about playwriting.” – Jill Eikenberry