Barbara the slut, productive wallowing, the best thing I've eaten in 2016
Hello my favorite people.
How did your January treat you? I have to say, mine didn't suck.
Melia and I have a new draft we're really happy with, and we're finally sending it out into the world. Here's a one-sheet for the project—click through if you're interested in reading a synopsis. Or, hey, if you want to produce this thing! I think you'd be impressed by the director. She's got a firm handshake, she's v. calm on set (I'm told) and plus she loooves tacos.
Anyhoo.
Not a bad way to start 2016.
Last year I spent all of January wallowing. I was in the gearing-up-to-start-writing phase for Love the Blue but hadn't yet started writing, and I wasted a lot of energy berating myself for not being productive.
Here's the thing, though. You can't go from 0 to PRODUCTIVE. The wallowing phase cannot be skipped.
By wallowing, I mean sloshing around in the mud. Mulling, marinating, ruminating, contemplating. You have to do this before you start something new. (Don't you??)
Naps are an important part of the process, as are long walks, hot baths, legal pads for scratching on. A good pen.
I'm picking up that new project I alluded to a few months back, and I plan to allow myself a full February of wallowing before I begin the page-a-day grind.
*****
This month in movies: If Mustang is playing in your city, you've got to hightail it to the theater. Co-written and directed by the French-Turkish Deniz Gamze Ergüven, it's about a 13-year-old Turkish girl and her four older sisters bucking against the constraints imposed on them by their family. This was one of those oh I should see it movies for me, felt like an obligation rather than a joy? Wrong. As soon as it started, I was fully on board. The characters and the dialogue are so modern—and the acting is so so great—those girrrrls!—I immediately forgot I was reading subtitles, or that this was an "issue" movie. Best thing I've seen in a long time.
How did your January treat you? I have to say, mine didn't suck.
Melia and I have a new draft we're really happy with, and we're finally sending it out into the world. Here's a one-sheet for the project—click through if you're interested in reading a synopsis. Or, hey, if you want to produce this thing! I think you'd be impressed by the director. She's got a firm handshake, she's v. calm on set (I'm told) and plus she loooves tacos.
Anyhoo.
Not a bad way to start 2016.
Last year I spent all of January wallowing. I was in the gearing-up-to-start-writing phase for Love the Blue but hadn't yet started writing, and I wasted a lot of energy berating myself for not being productive.
Here's the thing, though. You can't go from 0 to PRODUCTIVE. The wallowing phase cannot be skipped.
By wallowing, I mean sloshing around in the mud. Mulling, marinating, ruminating, contemplating. You have to do this before you start something new. (Don't you??)
Naps are an important part of the process, as are long walks, hot baths, legal pads for scratching on. A good pen.
I'm picking up that new project I alluded to a few months back, and I plan to allow myself a full February of wallowing before I begin the page-a-day grind.
*****
This month in movies: If Mustang is playing in your city, you've got to hightail it to the theater. Co-written and directed by the French-Turkish Deniz Gamze Ergüven, it's about a 13-year-old Turkish girl and her four older sisters bucking against the constraints imposed on them by their family. This was one of those oh I should see it movies for me, felt like an obligation rather than a joy? Wrong. As soon as it started, I was fully on board. The characters and the dialogue are so modern—and the acting is so so great—those girrrrls!—I immediately forgot I was reading subtitles, or that this was an "issue" movie. Best thing I've seen in a long time.
This month in print: I have no memory of requesting the book, but what a lovely surprise to get this email from the library....
HOLD NOTIFICATION
The following item(s) you requested are being held for you:
Holmes, Lauren, 1984-
Barbara the slut and other people /
The item will be held until: 01/22/2016
It turns out to be a collection of deceptively simple short stories. Each one reads like a little movie. My favorite was "Desert Hearts," about a young law-school graduate who poses as a lesbian in order to land a job at a feminist sex shop. "Barbara the slut" is excellent, too. Someone should option the film rights. That title.
This month in Tacos, and also the best thing I've eaten in 2016: The ahi tuna tostada from Guerilla Tacos. MWUA * kisses fingers like an Italian chef * just MWUAHHH. The highbrow-est, most sought-after taco foods in LA are coming out of this truck. It's very much worth a field trip. (Menu changes daily, but you can check twitter to see what's on offer. And be sure to check their site for hours/locations.)
*****
xoxo,
Laramie
p.s. Please forward this letter to your producer friends. Or send an email intro? if that feels classier 😇
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