A Time to Reflect

As the days grow darker and the smell of turkey and pine trees and burning leaves permeates your house or your memory (if you live in LA) it is the time of year when we often look inward and reflect upon the year.

It is the Wave-inatrix’s wont to say something funny about parking lots, shoppers and irritating shopping trips but not today. Today I am feeling reflective just talking about being reflective.

When my children were young they went to a Waldorf School and I came to look forward to and love the Advent Spiral – a spiral of pine boughs with candles in apples placed intermittently and a large candle in the middle. In the same way that walking a labyrinth is a meditative and contemplative experience, the children would walk the spiral and place their candle in the middle, signifying bringing light into the darkness of winter, then they return from the spiral to the welcoming arms of their parents. It’s a hero’s journey that even Joseph Campbell would love.

As you reflect this autumn, during Thanksgiving and the Christmas and Hanukah holidays, take a few moments to think about where you are as a writer. How did you do this year? Did you make the time to write that you swore you would last year? Did you make any good new habits? Break any old ones? How many scripts did you complete? How many great ideas did you generate? How well did you make use of your time and more importantly – did you feel the necessary freedom to take time for you, as a writer?

So often, if you have a family and a day job, the demands of others encroach upon us. It can be guilt-inducing to close the door and enter the necessary isolation to write. Somebody needs to go to the grocery store, wash the car, pay the bills – and yet you are sitting, alone, doing something that may never pay one red cent. It’s insane. But we need to do it.

So take stock, Wavers. Where have you been this year as a writer? Did you achieve the goals you set for yourself? Did you really spend the time writing that you said you would? How much material did you generate? Did you take the time to continue your learning curve as a writer by seeing as many movies as possible, reading screenwriting books, networking and taking classes? Be honest with yourself. Time is the only real currency we have. Use it well.

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