Writing alone, together

Last night I attended the 2012 Sublime Primetime Emmy-nominated writers' panel at the Writers Guild Theater. I love this event. What more can a television writer ask than an evening spent listening to some of the best television writers out there speak on craft, tell stories, and share insight? Not much.

The president of the Writers Guild introduced the night with a lovely quote that I cannot remember but in sentiment it was that we are all writing alone but together. I love that. While writing is a solitary endeavor for the most part, creating television shows is anything but.

Recently I decided that I needed to further my writing skills by working with a writing consultant and the experience was exciting. To spend a couple of hours delving into my work, talking about characters I created as if they existed beyond the page, was something every writer should experience. Immediately.

To me, writing is serious business. But it's not just a business, it's not just the work I do every day at my desk. It's a part of who I am, who I want to be. I love it. So much so that I spent money to attend an event to hear others talk about it. Love it.

The writers at last night's event were diverse yet each fascinating in his or her own right. The writers who put together the Academy Awards, the Tonys, even the Emmys. The writer who crafts Bill Maher's dialogues. The writers who share with us their vision of the 50s and 60s via Mad Men. The writers who scare us into thinking about what might happen if the CIA does operate on U.S. soil via Homeland. The writer of an epic story about a couple of epic clans, the Hatfields and McCoys. The writer who reminds us all what it is to be young and stupid and way too smart in Girls. The writer who is hilarious and quick and smiles a lot and spends his time crafting zombie stories via the Walking Dead.

It was an amazing night and I didn't have my pencil to write it all down. (Long ago I decided to leave it at home as experiencing something and recording something are two very different activities.) But that doesn't mean I won't remember it. Pieces will pop up when I go to a meeting and think about how to pitch until I have nothing left or when I just can't sit at the computer for hour eleven. And to me, the writing alone then becomes a little less lonely when I realize we're all in it together.