Of Plants and Obsession
This is Finish Your Monsters, a weekly blog/newsletter/blogletter about the creative process. I'm sharing adventures in art and life as well as setting CLIFFHANGER goals for myself, so--
--DID I MAKE MY GOAL?
Last week, I committed to doing some work to get ready for my big birthday comedy/variety show. Specifically, I committed to finishing a rough draft of my stand-up set I can bring with me on my imminent trip and tinker with.
Did I make it? KIND OF! (muted audience cheers!)
I didn’t get the stand-up set fully written out, but I gathered all the different ideas spread across notes on my computer, my phone, and rattling around in my cranium. I broke the ideas out into my short intro set and the longer set I’ll do in the middle of the show. So basically, I have an extremely rough outline.
I’m not going to be terribly hard on myself about not reaching the full goal for three reasons:
-The rough outline will help me brainstorm and finesse the sets while I’m away on my trip.
-The point of these weekly goals is to help myself get the most critical things done. Some weeks I realize, “Whoops, that’s not the most critical thing this week.”
-And it was a very busy week. Several times, I thought to myself, “Okay, I’ve got all my morning tasks completed, now I can—oh, it’s 8 pm and the sun is setting.”
-Finally, if you want to see/hear/experience these stand-up sets (that I will finish in plenty of time) you can attend HORROR YEARS OLD, live in Los Angeles or livestream it anywhere you have internet!
ADVENTURES OF THE WEEK--
Today’s blog entry is a day earlier and a little shorter because in just a few hours (after squeezing in one more podcast recording) I’m going to be flying to Norway!
A lot of this week has been about getting ready. I spent a chunk of time packing (aka staring at a pile of 7 books I want to bring and lying to myself about how much reading I can do.)
And I spent a lot of time trying to get my creative projects to a point where I can keep forward momentum moving on them while I’m floating by a fjord. (In a boat, not in the water. At least, that’s the plan.)
There’s been some great forward movement on the indie horror feature film. Made some great strides on fundraising (over a third of the budget raised!), some great location talks, and continuing to work through some casting knots. But there’s a lot still to do so I’ll keep working away on the film during the trip.
I’m extremely lucky to be able to go on a trip like this (and I’m excited to film a little travelogue short film while I’m there), but it is VERY HARD to pull myself away from the creative/career work.
So this week’s biggest adventure was just taking a deep breath and striving for balance. The more I get into the film work the more it becomes clear to me that it takes a HUGE amount of effort and focus. It can feel like the only possible way to make a film (particularly an indie one and your first feature) is to be relentlessly obsessive. To eat, breathe, sleep, dream THE FILM and only THE FILM.
And since I have an obsessive nature, I’m just fine with that as long as I know my boundaries. And this trip is a boundary. If it was something I was just doing for my own fun, I’d probably pull the plug. But it’s a family trip. It’s also something that’s important to my soul. Many of my relatives come from Norway. The culture, the environment are all a part of who I am. So I’m excited to see if I can see myself in the troll museum and the midnight sun.
My final big adventure this week was LETTING GO.
I have never been good with NATURE. I have never been good at taking care of plants. But last October my wife and I picked up a small plant at Descanso Gardens. And some feral, obsessive, parental instinct came over me and I said, “I will take care of this plant. I will water it, I will talk to it, I will take selfies with it.”
Perhaps it’s some instinct of age kicking in. I don’t have children but I have an indie horror film and a small plant. Anyway, I love the plant and some friends are kindly watching over the plant while I’m away.
So I took a selfie with PLANT-FRIEND before dropping them off at summer camp. I hope PLANT-FRIEND has a great time.
MY GOAL FOR THE WEEK--
My goals this week is very mushy. Because realistically that’s all I can handle while traveling. I’m committing to this wispy, difficult-to-define goal: While traveling, I will continue to make progress on the feature film. What progress? How? Tune in next week as we find out!
YOUR GOAL FOR THE WEEK--
I would absolutely LOVE to hear what you're working on this week in the comments below. What's your goal? Is it creative? What are the challenges? What joys are keeping you motivated? How can I help you finish your monsters?
LIGHT PLUGS—
AWOOGA! NOW AVAILABLE FOR LIVESTREAM!
This comedy/variety show celebrating a big birthday is also going to be LIVESTREAMED! It’s called HORROR YEARS OLD and tickets are live here! Friday, August 16th at Lyric-Hyperion or viewable anywhere with an internet connection. I would love a packed house (and friends watching from afar) so if you’re interested, grab the tickets now!
I also wanted to share about Vote Forward—it’s a program where you sign up to write letters to voters. There’s a typed form and you add a personal message about WHY voting matters to you, nothing partisan. The org has done follow up studies and it really works to increase voter turnout. My goal this year is to write 200 letters. I’ve written 40 so far. If you’re interested, you can find out more by visiting Vote Forward!
Our short horror film, THE NIGHTMARE ADORABLE, has now been accepted in 19 film festivals. Screenings coming up in the Houston, Missoula, and more! Details on my website!
A LITTLE SKETCH--
I felt bad there were no cocktail photos in this week’s blog, so I drew a picture of a martini and the sun smiling at one another. Proportions are slightly off. Due to travel, next week’s blog might be released at a wonky time. Until then, hope you all have some emotionally sunny days this week!
