Hey guys,
So, it’s been a minute since I’ve written a real article here on Puttylike. Life has been a bit of a roller coaster these last few months. I’m okay. I do miss writing to you though, so I thought I’d share an update.
This has been a summer of highs and lows. A family member that I’m very close to was recently diagnosed with cancer. It’s been hard.
I don’t want to share too many details about that, but things are moving forward and they’re generally looking good at this point. Valerie and I are going to be moving to the mid-west in the fall for a few months to help out, which will be a big change in our life–but one I’m very grateful we can make.
So, that’s the rocky part of this summer.
Now I want to share some of the exciting stuff I’ve been working on and I invite you to do the same in the comments!
Project #1: My Television Pilot
The most personally meaningful project I’ve been working on is this television series I’m developing. Just to fill y’all in: I wrote a pilot script for a 30-minute tv show I’m calling Queerdos. It’s a teen drama about a newly out, 15-year-old girl trying to find her way in the queer community. (Not autobiographical at all. 😉 )
I’ve been sending my script around to folks in the television industry, getting feedback, making the script stronger, learning more about how the industry works, and even pitching! I went to a television festival last month and had some great meetings.
We’ll see what will come of all that, but I’m feeling really encouraged and motivated. I just feel like this project really matters. Like Queerdos is a show that needs to get made because I think it could help a lot of young people–particularly underrepresented young people–feel seen. That’s my goal (in addition to great storytelling, of course).
Project #2: The Puttylike Redesign
The next big project I’ve been working on is a redesign of this here website! That’s right, after 9 years, Puttylike is getting a new look. I literally sent the designs to my programmer last week and I am extraordinarily pleased with how they turned out.
The new site is going to be clean, functional and beautiful, but with some of that Puttylike personality. It’ll be more “magazine” style. The articles will be easier to read and the site will be easier to navigate. I know there are always some growing pains that come with big changes, but I think you guys are going to love it!
Don’t expect the new design to be up for several more months, though, because migrating our 600+ articles so that they look right is going to be a HUGE project.
Project #3: Everything Conference!
Finally, I’ve been working with Joel and Vanessa to get everything ready for EVERYTHING CONFERENCE!! That’s our multipotentialite meeting of the minds, where 100 of us will convene in Portland, Oregon this September for four days of multipotentialite magic. YASS!!
ETC is just two months away and we’re in the process of finalizing the workshops, which look incredible. If you’re interested in joining us, we still have a handful of tickets left.
So that’s me.
A huge thanks to all of you just for being here. This community is everything.
Your pal and fellow multipotentialite,
Emilie
Your Turn
I love hearing from you guys. How’s your year/summer going so far? Working on any cool projects these days?
Hey Emily!
Sounds like you’ve got your hands full! In addition to raising a toddler, who will be starting preschool soon, I’ve got some household projects lined up. I’m working on several genealogy projects for various family members, job hunting, and I want to write… my mind is so busy that I can’t focus enough to write. That’s been my summer and fall shaping up.
Hi Misty,
Well that sounds like a nice mix! Maybe you could write in little blocks of time. I know quite a few multipotentialite writers who just do, say, 20 minutes first thing in the morning or find a pocket of time later in the day or something. Maybe starting small will help. In any case, thanks for sharing!
Hey Emilie and everyone else reading this!
I am working on my YouTube channel, Make It Take It Outdoors and also jewelry making. I started lure making due to left over beads and now my wife is doing jewelry so I kinda went full circle. I decided to concentrate more on my YT channel so I can teach others. I finally was able to accept that I do NOT like selling and have taken this route so I can share my passion but not feel tied down. Oh and keep thinking about a novel rewrite!
Sounds lovely, David! And always good to learn things like that about yourself.
Hi everyone,
my name’s Ivan and i live in Italy. This is my first response on the blog because i am registered from this late night. This month i am frantically searching on the internet and i don’t know how i arrived here, but here i am!
I am fourthy and i realised i want to make a change in my life, a big change, i would like to get a job in the Cinema or Television or VFX. I have a background on special effects and 15 years ago i was a Character Animator for pc games. Then unfortunately i turned off myself and i make my dad convictions mine (quiet work and near home) and i couldn’t go out of my city because my girlfriend don’t wanted. So i lost my train. But now the need for a much more rewarding job is too strong. If i don’t try now i wouldn’t forgive myself.
I have been studying Cinema for three years by now. Studying by myself with hard nightly work i have become a videomaker and now i want to push on the accelerator because in Italy is complicated change business sector after fourthy years.
Unfortunately Cinema sector is very closed and i should go to Rome or Milan but now i have a baby two years old and i can’t do as i am a 25 years student.
Sigh… It’s very very hard to metabolize.
I will continue to search. Emilie, in the meantime thanks for the help you give with Puttylike! It’s great.
And good luck for your TV project, i am with you! And good luck to your family for win the disease!
Bye, Ivan
Thanks Ivan. Best of luck with your cinema challenges. It sounds like a tough situation. Maybe in the future when your child is a little older, a move will be more feasible or an opportunity will come up that’s closer to you. Until then, maybe you can work on filming your own stuff.
I’m so excited to hear about your tv script! I’ll be rooting for you!
I want to put in a plug for making sure you include girls of color in it… I’m sure you work in very intersectional ways, but just figured I’d mention it anyway, just in case!
Also, just to mention, I passed your info on to a friend who is a filmmaker with a great film out. I know the worlds are different, but it’s just possible he might have a connection. So if you hear from a guy named AJ Ali, you’ll know what that’s about.
Much love and good cheer!
Lisa
Absolutely, Lisa! I made three of the six “queerdos” in the core friend group POC. Intersectionality and diverse representation are super important to me. I made sure to write that stuff right in the script.
Thanks for the kind words and encouragement!
Hey Emily! I’m sorry to hear about the challenges in your family, but I’m glad you can stay with them and support, all my positive thoughts to you!
Summer so far has been an intense firework of ideas and projects, some of them will be finalized by the end of summer: sculptures/forniture with epoxy resin, vegan cheese, sewing dresses, end a novel. Some others will need more focus and will be postponed, but before Christmas I want to have a music album produced and ready.
Time managing is challenging atm, but I’ll make it!
I’d love to be in Portland, you guys will have a great time, I can’t wait to hear for the feedback!
Lots of love,
Leti
That all sounds very awesome, Leti! Enjoy!
Hey Emily, and all the other mps out there. I just wanted to give a shout out to the older ones among us, the sixty somethings and above, who are still trying stuff and exploring their creativity and curiosity.
Some may also be coping with illness, old age, dependents and the general wear and tear of survival in a world they find increasingly alien, but they still stay curious and engaged.
I just want to say – as a sixty-something who has at times thought that she should have made a better account of herself and done more with her skills and qualifications – I just want to say that whatever you choose to do, or have to do, it always involves choices and discoveries, you just have to stay open to them. You don’t have to write books or star in tv shows or discover the cure for cancer to be worth the skin you’re printed on. Just be human. Be kind to yourself and others.
Thank you so much for passing these good thoughts along. I have news that could be encouraging–after feeling like I really missed the boat through most of my sixties, I find my seventies to be both more mellow and more sure-footed… I feel that I am more at ease with my quirkiness and finding it easier to be thankful for what I am and what I have been and continue to be able to contribute. I enjoy the delight I feel seeing sunlight filtering through maple leaves and other simple gifts. It’s odd, but finally accepting that I am not going to last forever makes it easier to take these final decades as a tender farewell rather than a manic dash to the finish line. “Just be human. Be kind to yourself and others.” It’s enough.
Hi, Emilie, I’m sorry to hear about your loved one’s battle with cancer and glad that things are looking up. I’m sure s/he will appreciate your help.
Sounds like you’ve had your hands full with your projects! I have a friend who’s an executive producer on a show that airs on OUTtv. If you haven’t pitched your show to OUTtv, I may be able to find out who would be an appropriate person for you to contact. Let me know if you want me to look into that for you.
As for me, I’ve spent the past couple of years working on a major overhaul of my business/website. My old website focused on my photography, although my attached blog also had some posts on random topics because, you know, I can’t help myself! I thought about creating niche sites dedicated to my various endeavors/interests but the thought of running multiple websites made me want to crawl into a dark hole and curl up in the fetal position.
So I decided that I needed a website where I could do everything I want to. And figuring out how to do that took a lot of time and thought, because I wanted a site where I could sell my fine art photography on various products; post articles/essays/poetry/fiction; post vegan recipes and related cooking articles; and have interactive games people can play. In the long term, I plan to self-publish books that will also be available on my website. And I’ve got an idea for a novel series that will incorporate my photography. (I’m not spending a lot of time working on that right now, though, since I still have a lot of work to do on the website.)
Anyway, working on the website concept is actually how I found Puttylike. After I came up with my name (Muses Miscellany), I knew I needed a good tagline to help tie it all together. And everything I thought of was lame and boring. An internet search led me to your book Renaissance Business, which was really helpful. Using the tagline worksheet, I came up with “Curious Notions for Cultured Eccentrics.” I love it because it works on a couple of different levels, and I feel like it’s spot-on. So thank you for creating such an excellent resource, because I definitely wouldn’t have come up with that on my own!
I recently launched phase one of my website, which currently has my writing section (Salon) and Cookery. I’m still working on my Gallery section for photography prints and products. The games will come last. For anyone who wants to check it out, it’s at https://musesmiscellany.com.
Best to you and everyone else here in your endeavors!
Hi Karen,
Congrats on your website launch!! Definitely looks interesting!
And thanks for the offer to put me in touch with your friend at OUT! I might take you up on it depending on how a few other things pan out. Really appreciate it.
Best of luck with your business and everything else!
Hey Emilie, I hope the new projects will be a huge success, we are eager to see them materialized! And also send you best wishes and a big hug for you and you family this days.
I am curious about something since a while ago: Have you ever considered a podcast? Or a puttylike podcast? It will be awesome yo have the oportunity to hear you guys too!
Big Hugs!
Thanks Patricia! I have considered a podcast. I actually had one briefly in 2011, back in the early days, right when I launched Puttylike and before podcasts really got big. I sort of got tired of it after about 12 episodes, heh. #multipotentialite
Honestly though, I think I’m a little tired of talking to people about multipotentiality right now and I feel like there are just a TON of podcasts out there. If I did something now, I would want it to be pretty different and not just an interview show. I’m also just not super big on doing Skype calls these days. So not the greatest fit for me at the moment. 🙂 But maybe that’ll change in the future.
Emilie, I read your comment about being tired of talking to people about multipotentiality.
I am looking for a life coach. And the last person I was trying to see if they would be a good match, I told them:
After all these years, I learn that if a counselor isn’t asking the right questions or I have to explain something, like the definition of a word, I need to move on.
It is like inviting someone to a baseball game and having to explain everything that is going on and what the rules of the game are. And the whole time, you just want to enjoy the game and visit about other things. If you know about baseball, it is just fun entertainment.
And I just realized, baseball is just a metaphor for, life. If you find someone like you, you don’t have to explain you or your life. You and that person or community get to just enjoy life and grow memories and share experiences.
I look forward to joining Puttylike.com in a few days!
Hey Emilie, sad to hear about your loved one’s diagnosis, but happy also to hear that things are looking up. Hugs and tons of positives vibes from me here in Spain.
As for your screen writing adventures, could you share a bit more of what the creative process has been for you? basically, what’s a typical day of writing for you…what do you do? how do you approach it? so, you sit in front of the computer….and….? 🙂
Hey Emilie, I have one suggestion if you haven’t tried with Queerdos. Have you attempt to pitch to Apple TV? It is Apple’s version of Netflix that they’re launching this coming fall. A friend of mine is working on one of their premiere shows. Perhaps that is a viable option if they are looking for new IPs? The alternative would be to pitch it to Disney + as they are also releasing their streaming service this fall as well. Just a few ideas and good luck on your projects. Cheers.
Kindly,
Stan
Hi Stan,
Apple TV is a great idea! Thanks for sharing that.
Best,
Emilie
Hi Emilie,
Thank you for sharing your update, and very sorry to hear about your close relative. I am an aspiring writer and improviser, traveling the world with my wife for about a year (currently in Tbilisi, Georgia then heading to India soon). I’d love to know how you found the experience of writing a script. Did you team up with a buddy to write it or sign up to a scriptwriting class you’d recommend?
Thanks much in advance,
Rupes
I actually took this Coursera course: https://www.coursera.org/learn/script-writing
The lessons were okay, but the structure of the course really pushed me to get it done and helped me write that first draft.