"Writers Write" but WORKING playwrights also...

...research contests, residencies, theatres that might do their work.
...update their bios.
...write synopsis for their existing work.
...submit their work to contests, residencies, etc.
...keep records of where they have submitted their work.
...correspond with friends and acquaintances in the business.
...keep up on the news, both theater-related and otherwise.
...catch up on theater-related blogs and websites.
...outline/take notes/daydream on OTHER things they may write.
...read and respond to any work their colleagues have sent.
...read plays or books that have been recommended as pertinent to the projects they have in mid-stream.
...go see theater, movies, dance, art exhibits.
...go on walks to clear their heads.
...re-read their work WITHOUT a pen in hand.
...gather together friends to hear their work aloud.

A Friendly Reminder on a day when I couldn't concentrate on a rewrite.

Questions About How You Work / Rant

One of my goals for this year is to pay attention/articulate a system for how I *tend* to do my best writing. Why? Because back in the big, scary world, there will be a lot of people asking me to do things other than write (ahem, earn a living, ahem, be in a relationship, I hope).

Every book on writing seems to exhort that you find "what works best" for you in terms of when/where/how you write. I'd like to unpack that.

1. How do you work best in the GATHERING INFORMATION stage of writing? Do you research at all? Do you check a million books out of the library? Freewrite? Draw? Make collages? Find pictures that remind you of your characters? Are you incredibly focused and diligent about doing research, or dreamier? How long do you spend researching? How long do you sit on your research before moving to the next stage? How much does it vary, project to project?

2. How do you work best in the PLANNING STAGES? Do you do a lot of pre-writing, where you're writing monologues or scenes or character bios or "letters from your character" or any of those random exercises we pick up along the way? All of the above? None of the above? Are you an OUTLINER, who has to have a roadmap before you really get going? Do you make a million stops and starts before you really get going? Is language your way in? Image? Plot?

3. How do you do your best FIRST DRAFTS? Are you a "write every morning" person? An obsessive notebook-scribbler (you know who you are)? Can you write anywhere and everywhere or are there particular places/times of day/rituals that have to happen for you to get out the FIRST DRAFT?

4. Do you do anything BETWEEN your first draft and your rewrite? Set it aside for a month? Work on a side project? Clean the house? Dive right in, red pen in hand? Host a reading so you can hear the thing out loud? Hand it off to a few trusted friends and wait for feedback? Some combination of these? What works best, or is it not consistent?

5. What conditions do you need for REWRITES? Me, I find that for first drafts I need to clear the decks and do an old-fashioned writing binge, but for rewrites, I can chip away a little bit each day. Do you need the same writing conditions for your rewriting as for your writing? My friend Michael does his marking-up on the stairmaster.

6. What do you LOOK FOR in your rewrites? Do you look for everything at once, or do you make multiple passes looking for different things? What things? This, item #6, is one that I plan to spent a lot of time on this year -- what's my "generic to-do list" for rewriting a play, and how does it change project to project.

7. Assume you've done some rewrites, and are in the position to do a WORKSHOP. What are you looking for from your actors, from your director and dramaturg, from each day or hour in the room?

That's all I got for now.