Lisa's Mastery Journal

Supporting evidence:

1. Humans say ‘ow’, even if they haven’t actually been hurt. It’s just a thing they say when they think they might have been hurt, but aren’t sure yet.

2. Humans collect shiny things and decorate their bodies and nests with them. The shinier the better, although each individual has a unique taste for style and colouring

3. Humans are not an aquatic or even amphibious species, but they flock to bodies of water simply to play in it. They can’t even hold their breath all that long; they just love to splash!

4. When night falls and the sky goes dark, humans become drowsy and begin to cocoon themselves in soft, fluffy bedding.

5. Some humans spend time in each other’s nests! Just for fun! It’s not their nest; they’re just visiting each other.

6. Some humans use pigments and dyes to make their bodies flashy and colourful! They even attach shiny dangly bits to their cartalidgous membranes!

7. Humans are very clever, and sometimes adopt creatures from other species into their family units. They don’t seem to notice the obvious differences, and often raise them alongside their own young!

8. If a human sees another creature in distress, they can commonly be observed trying to help! Even at their own risk, most humans are deeply compassionate creatures!

9. If a human hears a particularity catchy sound or tune, it will often mimic it, even to the point of annoying themselves!

10. Sneezes are entirely involuntary, and completely adorable. Especially when the human in question becomes frustrated

11. Humans love treats!!! Some more than others. Many humans will save these treats specifically for a later date when they are in need of comfort or reassurance. IE, pickles, pop tarts, Popsicles, etc

Querytracker.net shows lists of new agents all the time. So remember, if you’re getting rejections (and you’ve had your query and ms thoroughly critiqued, painstakingly edited etc.) and you feel your list of options is dwindling, check out some NEW agents. Today alone, I found four new agents who are looking for sci-fi / quirky / steampunk type stuff. 

YOU JUST KEEP ON TRYING TILL YOU RUN OUT OF CAKE. And they’re baking new cakes every day, guys.

Me, I sent my query letter to an agent who was kind enough to host a “reblog my post about books back in print and get a query critique!” thing. Now, I’m just going to wait on her critique before I start sending out tons of queries again. I had some great responses in the past, and then a huge lull of just form rejections. So, time for an overhaul, I think. :)

After that, I am going to QUERY ALL THE AGENTS. 

So, as some of you may know, I got my first real staff writing job a little less than a year ago. In exactly one week, my job writing for season 8 of Regular Show will be over, and, as of right now, I have no idea whether there will be another season. If there is another season, there’s always the question of whether or not they’ll hire me back. I hope they do! I THINK they will. But nothing is 100%, and it’s possible I’m not QUITE as talented and charming and smart and wonderful as my parents would have me believe.

I’ve never been super worried about getting jobs. I’m an eternal optimist, and I’m pretty good about keeping the mindset of “something else will come along,” in all aspects of my life, and now is no exception. I would love, love, love to be hired back, but if I’m not, I’ll continue to do what I’ve done for the past 12+ years in LA and plug away like a tiny, Italian, little engine that could. 

I really dug my time working on the show, and not being picked up for another season wouldn’t dampen that enjoyment at all. If anything, I can take what I learned to my next job, and so I decided to write this about some of the lessons I’ll take away from this, if only to remind myself of them again at some point down the line. Maybe these things will help give a few aspiring writers some perspective, or help them when they find themselves falling into some of the same traps. Maybe it won’t, and I’m just a super egomaniac whose sense of self importance could rival Donald Trump’s. Either way, at least I’ll have accomplished something today other than taking too many photos of my cat!

1.) Stop it with the self doubt

When i first got hired on Regular Show, I was ecstatic. Such a cool show to work on! Such an awesome place to work! Such rad people to work with! Then the self doubt started to creep in. The biggest one, which is often in the back of my mind, and which I blame on a combo of societal bullshittery and a few assholes I’ve encountered in the past for, is always, “Did I get this because I’m a woman?” Someone once told me, “You’ll never be able to be completely sure you didn’t get hired for something just because you’re a cute girl.” Yeah, it’s a crappy thing to say, and basically discounts any talent I may have, but he was just echoing something that a lot of women in entertainment are afraid of, and a lot of men legitimately believe. We all know there aren’t nearly as many women getting hired in entertainment as men, and it’s a running joke on many TV shows that women get hired because, well, they’re women. The Comeback called it out brilliantly in an episode in which Lisa Kudrow only remembers a former writer on the show because the woman says, “I was the girl writer?” Still don’t believe this is a thing? Here’s a clip from Family Guy where they talk about Meg being the only female writer on a show Peter is developing:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yvXtccC5huQ

Feeling like you got in because you’re a diversity hire and not because you deserved it is obviously not the best, but after a while, I basically took the attitude of “It doesn’t matter why they hired me. I’m here and I’m gonna kick this job’s ass.” Self doubt sucks, but trust that you’re in that room for a reason. There’s a lot of steps that go into the hiring process, and no ONE thing is the clincher for being chosen. The only thing self doubt will do is hamper your creativity, which could lead to a self fulfilling prophecy where you think you’re not good enough, your fears lead to poor output, and then you PROVE you’re not good enough because you’re too self conscious to just trust yourself and your instincts.

By the way, I found out a few weeks into the job that the people doing the hiring read the writing packets blind, meaning without names or anything identifying about the writer, and every single one of them chose my writing packet, and the other writer they ended up hiring’s writing packet, as the best in the bunch, so my fears were completely, 100% unfounded. Trust yourself.

2.) Everyone else around you has the same worries you do

So before I got hired on Regular Show, I wrote an episode of The Powerpuff Girls. A few other writers did as well, but the show runners could only hire one, and instead of hiring me, they hired my amazing, talented, smart, funny friend, Jake. I was happy for him, and he’s kicking much ass writing on that show with my other friend, Haley, who was the one who passed all of our writing packets on in the first place. I definitely had more than a few moments of worrying that my writing hadn’t been as good as Jake’s, or I hadn’t been as compelling or dynamic in the writer’s room as he had, but I put it behind me and took another writing gig, and then got called in a few months later again by the Cartoon Network people.

Going in to interview for Regular Show, I realized I was up against another friend, Patrick, for the gig. He’s a hilariously talented writer, and definitely had more experience than me, so I figured I was doomed. They ended up hiring both of us, luckily, and then I was worried that I wouldn’t stack up to Patrick’s skill level (here’s that self doubt thing again!). 

After a couple of months, I found out Patrick had similar fears. I’m a fast writer, and was sending in outlines before he was, which made him nervous (when really, there was no hard deadline for these, so it didn’t make any difference). When we were both given our out dates for work, he checked in with me to make sure that they were the same. He was concerned they had maybe decided to keep me on longer than him, which would have been a bad indicator, in his mind, about who they’d be hiring back, if there was a 9th season.

I also later talked to Jake about the gig he got instead of me, and he said that for the first few weeks, he was worried he wouldn’t do a good job, and the higher ups would say, “We should have hired Gina instead of this guy!” He thought they’d wake up one day and realize they made a mistake, and would fire him and hire me instead. Basically, what I’m saying is, don’t assume everyone else is thinking they’re the shit, and totally deserve to be there, and that they got this and can do whatever they want and everyone will still love them. In fact, in my experience in comedy and entertainment, only true assholes think they’re the shit all the time, and those people rarely end up getting hired. I mean, there are obvious, famous exceptions to this rule, but at the lower levels, no one wants to work with an asshole. They save that for the guys who make the big bucks.

3.) Enjoy it while it lasts, but also plan your next move

You should never be so overcome by thinking about what’s next that you can’t enjoy what’s currently going on, but it’s always good to be thinking in some way about your next move. Working on a show is super fun. You get free food and free swag and you get to go to screenings and meet funny, like-minded, interesting people, but you’re also there to hone your skills and build your resume.

I’ve seen a lot of writers get staffed or sell movies and be lauded as the next hot thing only to be broke and jobless a few years later. Nothing lasts forever, and especially in TV, some things have a VERY short shelf life. Never rest on your laurels just because you have a steady paycheck coming in. Keep collaborating and saying yes to other opportunities (as long as they don’t negatively impact your current gig in any way), and this way, when the job does inevitably come to an end, you have other options and avenues to explore. Not to sound too much like an inspirational framed needlepoint with a sunset watercolor behind it, but stagnation is the death of creativity. Once you stop working and planning and making things, it’s hard to get back into the groove again when you really need to. There’s always someone else there who’s been working diligently on some project who can easily slip in and get the next job that you really wanted.

Over the past few months, I’ve taken two other temporary writing jobs that I did simultaneously with Regular Show for short periods of time. I didn’t do it because I needed the money. I did it because I love to write, wanted the experience, and it filled out my resume. I also pitched a show with Haley to Cartoon Network, which, even if it doesn’t end up going forward, I had a lot of fun working on and honed some creative muscles with a good and talented friend, which is never a waste of time.

So, wish me luck on whatever it is that’s coming next, and good luck to all of you who are doing awesome things. Even if you feel like you’re floundering now, keep at it and don’t doubt yourself. I floundered for years before anyone paid me, and will continue to feel like I’m floundering, on and off, for the rest of my life, possibly at some times when I’m eating flounder. Flounder.

Also, never, ever forget how much Michael Bay sucks.