Television writer Jordan Rosenberg shared his secrets on the writing process with me when I was in California last month.  He describes it as “working through the wrong to get to the right.” 

There are plenty of books out there on how to actually format a script for the screen, so if you are looking for basics on that, you won’t necessarily find them here.  But what Jordan has shared is a look into his own process as a working television writer, and the methods he has employed and stayed continually, well… employed.  It fascinated me to see the specific practices that ground the writing process in a way that others in the industry appreciate, and that can consistently yield results.

Without further adieu, here is his step-by-step guide to screenwriting:

1) The idea.  Either you have received a writing assignment, or given yourself one.  What you’re going to write about appears.  You should already have a pretty good sense of your approach/angle, and get a clear sense of the idea.

2) Identify your audience.  If this is an assignment, it should already be clear.  Otherwise, you’ll need to define it for yourself.  Is this for young adults?  Is it a comedy or a drama?

3) What is it about?  What is the world or environment your characters will inhabit?  What kind of people are they?

Jordan says, “There’s a reason trailers often start with a voiceover saying, ‘In a world where…,’ and it’s because you really need to know the world your story is creating.”

4) Put something out there.  It’s very difficult to go from an abstract idea to a concrete one, so go ahead and put something specific out there for yourself or others, and then feel whether it’s any good. The abstract themes you’re so heroically attempting to touch on will be easier to draw out from the concretes in your text, and it’s not really possible to write for the screen the other way around. 

“In the room [the story room of a television show where the writers discuss the program], you need concretes or you’ll drive everyone crazy.  You can’t present an abstraction.  Make it into something, even if it’s the bad version of it,” Jordan advises.

What happens?  Who says what?  Just put something down, even if it’s not the best idea — even if it’s the worst idea!  You can come up with better ones based on that one.

(Recently, I read an article on Medium about this very topic called, McDonald’s Theory.  If someone goes ahead and makes the worst possible lunch suggestion, everyone is freed up to come up with much better ideas.)

5) Write your story break (outline).  You want to make a note of each and every beat in every scene for 25-35 scenes.  A beat can be defined loosely as a moment where something lands, or where a scene “turns” from one emotion to its opposite.

Jordan uses notebooks and shower crayons a lot at this stage of the game, so he can start getting ideas out of his head and out onto the page, so to speak.  He warns against opening your script-editing software too soon — the formatting “looks pretty,” and can make him feel boxed in.

6) Research.  Work in an environment where you’re comfortable exploring, and where you have things to draw from.  Allow the random things you encounter to serve as fodder.

7) Identify the lead character.  Who can take you through this story?  Ask yourself what you really want to write about and how this story would best be told.

8) The messy part.  Getting the story out of his head and down on the page sounded to me like the messiest part of Jordan’s process.  He told me that while he’s coming up with characters, “they come in no special order, and the beats get all mixed up.”  Going back and forth between jotting things down, getting inspired, and doing more research go around and around and in no particular order for some time. 

Jordan introduced me to a term he loves, “the swiss cheese approach.”  Presumably, your story will have holes in it while you work, like swiss cheese.  You have to try different ways of filling the holes, whether through research, changes in the characters or changes in the plot.  “You’re always drawing on something,” Jordan assures me of this otherwise nebulous point in the process.

9) Build out the scenes.  Referring to your outline, fill in the story with the exploratory work you’ve done in step 8.   The beginning of the scene is usually the hardest.  “How does someone walk into the room?” Jordan asks, demonstrating the point.

At this stage, he describes the writing as “goop, where it’s always too long and the pieces don’t quite fit together yet.”  He uses a plain text editor window on his computer to start getting scenes and ideas for dialogue written down.  This keeps him feeling free creatively.

10) The long version.  Once the outline has been fleshed out with some consistency, Jordan begins cutting and pasting his text editor notes into the script editor and formatting them into a long version of his screenplay.  He adds scene direction and shortens the dialogue as he goes.

11) Take a break.  Ideally, you want to get some space from the script before launching into revising it.  When I’m coaching writers, I recommend doing something else for a full month, if possible.  If you’re on deadline, or you just can’t pull yourself away, at the very least, give it to someone else to read, and get a good night’s sleep before looking at it again.

12) Be obsessive about cutting things.  (This step will be much easier if you have taken the space recommended in Step 11.)  You want to make it as tight as possible, with your focus on the flow first and foremost.  Jordan recommends that you don’t polish it until you’ve truly worked out the flow.

Once again, this interview enforced the idea that change of perspective is vital.  One way Jordan reminds himself to look at it differently is to think, “This isn’t your script.”  He even has the saying taped to his computer! 

Not sure what the the significance of the bat or the wad of green stuff is.  Do you have any lucky writing totems?

This Week in Photos is all about downtown Cleveland.  The Fiat and I spent a lot of time there, photographing families, drinking in the cityscapes, and enjoying the restaurant scene.  How was your week?

Doesn’t she seem right at home on the cobblestones?  I loved her dress – it was from the designer collaboration collection at Target.

Once in awhile, I like to throw in an iconic landmark, just so people know we really were in Cleveland.

The staircase and the atrium of the Old Arcade just take my breath away every time – definitely one of the architectural highlights of Cleveland.

Back when my mom worked at a firm in this building, it was called the BP building.  Now it’s owned by Huntington Bank.  That’s the Terminal Tower again, reflected in the window there.

A very good reason to love Cleveland: no traffic.

Look at this guy — just kicking his feet and relaxing under a kiss.

Can’t resist a black-and-white mom-and-baby shot.  Just can’t.

If I had a quarter for each of the oohs and ahhs we got while taking this photo, that would be rad.  Passersby couldn’t handle the cuteness!

Aw, doesn’t this make you want to snuggle?

My trusty Fiat chariot awaited the completion of my work.

What are you up to this weekend?  Hanging out in the city or countryside?

Hope you enjoyed this glimpse into my week!

Lately, I’ve read a ton of stuff about how important it is to play.  It is a valuable part of the creative process, and by creating games, we can even help motivate ourselves to meet goals and be more productive.  Who knew that Peter Pan complex would pay off?

“Play is the highest form of research.” -Albert Einstein

I’m not gonna lie — I’m a kid at heart, and a sucker for a cupcake.  What brings out the kid in you?

Here’s some of the childlike inspiration I found over the last several days.

Motivational Mind Tricks – Ever think about coffee loyalty cards?  I don’t know about you, but they really do make me feel like I’ve accomplished something every time I get one of those satisfying stamps.  Fast Company’s article explains how to apply this technique and 2 others to keep yourself focused and progressing on the projects that are important to you.

“We Want More” – This is one of my favorite commercials.  AT&T has a whole series of them where the lead actor, Beck Bennett, improvised with young kids in rehearsal to come up with the final script.  Brilliant.

Bert & Ernie at Work – I loved this guest post by Kelly Batke on the Humor at Work blog.  Take a cue from the Muppets and get along better with your collaborators!  Are you a Bert or an Ernie?  I’m definitely an Ernie. 

Imagination is Key – On Today, an article outlines potential drawbacks of kids’ lack of time to daydream.  I’ll admit it: I daydream a lot.  I take walks every day and dream stuff up.  Some days, I feel guilty because I didn’t look productive.  But most days, all that “imagination time” helps me find the most efficient solutions to whatever I’m working on, and I swear time morphs and I get more done than the clock should reasonably allow.  So, for me, there’s really something to it.

In a playful challenge to myself, I shot a little video that teaches how to properly hold the camera to take a great selfie.  Using Celtx‘s online script management program, I wrote a short screenplay, and even did my own make-up!  I managed to compose a lot of the footage myself, selfie-style, on my DSLR.  (With the use of a tripod, of course.)  I’ll be playing around in Final Cut to see what I can put together.  You’ll see the video up on YouTube soon!

Take any time to play and daydream this week?

Jordan Rosenberg is an LA-based screenwriter who has written for shows like Lost, The Middleman, Medium, and Alphas.  I sat down with him in Beverly Hills to talk about his writing process, and he first indulged me with some ideas for people who want to be more creative in general.

Jordan has a recurring conversation with his parents where they each divulge the fact that they’re not creative: “‘I’m just not creative,’ says my mom, the painter.” 

So, having had experience with this dialogue, he had some advice for people who are maybe just starting out, feeling the itch to do something more expressive, or stretching into new creative territory. To start, he suggested asking yourself about your genuine interests — what are you really into?  By focusing on doing something for the fun of it, he said, we can begin to “cultivate the flower of creativity.”  (He might smack me if I leave that line in without the caveat that he delivered the phrase with an utterly dry inflection.  It wasn’t anywhere near the level of woo-woo it might appear in text.)

Next, he recommended to simply jump in.  If you’ve got an impulse, start.  You can develop craft as you go.  In Jordan’s words, “Mozart probably sucked at music when he started, relative to where he got to.”  I loved that these words passed his lips, “Mozart probably sucked….” It’s a statement so very contrary to our normal view, how many of us would dare start a sentence that way?  It seems “daring” is crucial to the creative process.

The excitement for him definitely lies in doing something new.  “‘I’ve never done this before’; that’s the feeling of creativity, I think.  The surprise of it.  You have to let yourself be TERRIBLE at it.”

“But that can be scary,” I said.

Jordan replied, “It is dangerous if you’re like, ‘I’m gonna be creative by playing with King Cobras.’  But you’re probably not.  It’s a fear of looking stupid, but who’s looking at you?”

“You.  Your parents, in your head.  Your in-your-head parents,” I offered.

“So,” he said, “You pick the thing that has zero stakes.”

In my experience as an artist and coach, that was some brilliant advice for getting unstuck in your process.  Find the path of least resistance and give yourself a chance to explore.  It might feel scary, or simply like a waste of time, but creative meandering usually bears fruit, if not in the ways you might expect.  For Jordan, exploring something with zero stakes meant an excursion to a fair with his girlfriend, where they took a workshop on soap-carving.

“We were carving soap!  Which is, I think, a jail pastime.”  They got to use their hands.  They did something new and out of the ordinary, feeling the textures of the soap and the tools with their fingers.  Something about the visceral experience of making something felt refreshing and renewing, and they simply had a “fun, silly time.”  Make creativity fun, instead of a goal.  Remove the pressure.

“People think it’s like DOINK!  You flip a switch and you’re creative,” Jordan jested.  “But it doesn’t work that way.  There are some freak-of-nature savants, but for most people it just takes a long time to build up ability.”

Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers expounds on this very topic — Gladwell’s theory is that it takes about 10,000 hours of practice to achieve a level of mastery of something.  My favorite example in his book was The Beatles.  He points out the huge number of hours they had played together live in Hamburg before they got a record deal.  Sure, their talent was part of the equation, but they had a great deal of practice — countless hours for many years.

Overnight successes don’t really happen.  Jordan said, “If I tried stand-up for the first time tonight, and was on Letterman tomorrow — that would be an overnight success.  But it’s not possible.”

So, go play!  Trust that exploring something new is all you need to do to start to cultivate that flower.  Do you have something you’ve been wanting to check out?

Be back here next week, when I share some of Jordan’s tips on screen-writing.  He gave me some seriously awesome insights into his process and writing success to share with you.

Hey, friends.  Things have been pretty busy around here the past 7 days.  I’ve been editing lots of family sessions, and gearing up for several photo events in Cleveland starting next week.  How was your week? 

Thought I’d share a few highlights from the sessions I’ve been working on.  It’s such a fun time of year.  The weather is finally warm, and I love the energy of early summer.  Even though I haven’t been in school for… well, longer than I care to say… June still brings that feeling of anticipation, like anything could happen during these longer days of sunshine.

It was a pleasure to spend these warm days with families in the Cleveland area this week.  I’ve been enjoying the connections with new people that my work is exposing me to. Shout-out to the lovely families featured here — I am so grateful we got to work together this week.

Have you made a new friend or contact this week that inspired you?  I’ve been trying to take notice of these things.  It’s easy to be busy and not allow myself to fully appreciate it, but connection is the thread that weaves our life into its whole, don’t you think?

I lived in NYC for nearly 10 years, and making connections there was like a turbo path to idea execution.  It spun me around at first to realize how quickly long-festering career goals could come to fruition there — you’d meet someone who’d tell you to email so-and-so, and so-and-so would know just the right person to give your project a chance.  This was pretty different from how I grew up perceiving the world.  Maybe it was school or just cultural suggestions I’d picked up along the way, but I always thought big dreams were for “other people.”  NYC taught me differently.

At the same time, the connections established there weren’t always deep, meaningful, or lasting.  I found myself longing to truly bond with people.  Recently, I thought, the old cliché might apply to me here: “it’s not them, it’s me.”  I don’t mean that in a self-deprecating way, just that we all have more power to influence the mood in the room than we generally realize or give ourselves credit for.  By acting “spun around” by the fast-pace of New York, I was becoming it — too busy to truly connect.  It was a weird kind of “shyness” I began to see I operated under.

So, I’ve been really happy to find that I can learn to be more open, more myself, more authentic, and that doing so gives others permission to do the same around me.  Whether I’m in Cleveland (where, granted, the people are particularly open and chatty), or a bigger, faster city like New York or LA, I have been trying to let my guard down a bit and just be myself.  It has been so gratifying an experiment, because I have been feeling much more like I am part of a community of smart, awesome people on this planet.  And, I have to say, an integral part of all this was closing my personal facebook account, and actually meeting people for coffee in real time, instead of “liking” their life tid-bits on the screen.

Any plans for new endeavors this weekend?  Getting out there and meeting anyone new or connecting with old friends?  I hope you’ll have some time to interact with people who excite, inspire, and support you!

I’m going to be doing a couple of urban family shoots this weekend.  And, I’m also creating a short video, which my brilliant brother has agreed to direct.  I really hope you’re going to love it.  If you’ve read my book on selfies, you might have found the description of how to hold the camera a bit complicated.  It dawned on me that the best thing to do would be to simply SHOW people how it’s done!  Even if you’re not into selfies, I hope the video will be good for a laugh, so stay tuned for that.

(Here’s a random shot of me with my Fiat on a rainy day.  Most of this week was sunny in Cleveland, though!)

What do you think about being exciting, inspiring, and supportive first t0 set the tone for others?  Have you ever thought about how the energy you bring to the table can effect the overall tone?  I’d love to hear from you if you ever experiment with this.  I’m still learning myself, and would welcome your experience and input.

Roasted artichokes are one of my favorites.  What has tickled your taste buds so far this week?

If you’ve never roasted artichokes, it’s a super easy dish, but a little time-consuming to prepare.  After cutting the stems and tops off the artichokes, I slice garlic into long slivers and shove 1-3 pieces in between artichoke leaves, sprinkle with salt, drizzle with olive oil, wrap in foil, and bake at 400° for about 50 minutes for babies (60-70 minutes for full size artichokes).  When I’m doing this for a dozen baby artichokes in a row, it starts to feel rather tedious (admittedly, I have a low attention span), but when I taste them, I always remember that the trouble was worth it.

When they’re done, you want to start peeling back the leaves and eating the meaty stuff at the ends of them, until you get to the soft leaves inside.  You can gobble those whole, and work your way down to the delectable heart and bottom of the artichoke.  My favorite!  Do you have another artichoke recipe you love?

Besides influencing you in the kitchen, I wanted to share some of the work of artists who have been inspiring me lately – two visual artists, and a musical one.

I’ve been a fan of ceramic artist Kristen Wicklund for some time now, and I was delighted when she asked me to photograph her wedding in Far Rockaway, New York, last summer.  I recently mounted several of her crocheted lace ceramic pieces on this bright blue wall – don’t they look striking?  She makes them by crocheting lace doilies and then coating them in ceramic clay.  When the clay is fired, the fibers burn out, leaving an amazing hollow lace piece.

Kristen also made the berry basket featured in the artichoke photo above.  Have you seen my selfies on Instagram in the past 6 months or so?   See how many times you can spot me sporting the peanut necklace she made. 

Lindsay Ward is a children’s author and artist who illustrates her own books using cut paper.  My niece and nephew love her book, When Blue Met Egg, about a young bird’s adventure in NYC.  Paper is her medium of choice, and she uses it in a variety of ways — including gorgeous stationery suites.

I’m a bit of a paper freak myself, and have hired Lindsay to create amazing stationery for my photography company and for Christmas cards.  I also had the good fortune of photographing her invitation line for her newly launched website, Borrowed & Blue Invitations.  I loved seeing her gorgeous site go live this week.  Hooray for indie artists and entreprenuers!  Have any inspired you this week?

MUSIC!  I am super into this new song by Daft Punk featuring Panda Bear called, “Doin’ It Right.”  It’s like a digitally-inspired version of a musical theater number with a counter-melody. Give it a listen, and let me know what you think!  I’ve been dancing around to it all day.

Mini photo sessions at Playmatters:

Solon – June 13 & 14

Shaker Heights – June 15

Pepper Pike – June 20 & 21

Mentor – June 22

Email rsvp@sarahsloboda.com to book!

Hot Tub Show‘s tumblr page says it’s a variety show with the “occasional oddity.”  Well, I’ve been twice now, and I’d say the oddities are far from occasional.  (I mean that as a huge compliment.)

I’m big fan of laughing, and I got introduced to Hot Tub Show when one of my favorite comedians, Dave Hill, and I happened to be in LA at the same time in early April.  Dave’s always cracking me up on twitter and Instagram, so it was great to see him live! 

“Hahahahaha! Laughing is fun!” -Space Ghost

Kurt Braunohler and Kristen Schaal host this gallimaufry of hilarity, each brilliant stand-up performers in their own right.  I fell even more in love with Kristen Schaal, whose character on Flight of the Conchords slayed me.  And, I got introduced to the offbeat reality beneath the polished and charming veneer of Kurt Braunohler.

Kurt – seriously, look how good he looks in a suit.  But ask him about raves in Portland or McDonald’s apple pies – I dare you!

“Taking a bus from the airport because I felt like my self worth was getting a little out of hand.” -Kurt Braunohler

Kristen – she’s ridiculous in the best way.  And, her eyes are amazing.   I bet she’s the Worldwide Champion of Staring Contests.

“I tried high heels once and took them off immediately. I guess I’m just a big nerd about being able to walk around.” -Kristen Schaal

The show reminds me of Saturday Night Live for stand-up comedians in that the performers get to work through their material on stage.  It made me realize how much we underestimate laughter in general.  Laughing for 2 hours straight gave me such a high, I couldn’t believe it only cost $5.00 to get into the show.  It’d be a steal at quintuple the price.  Way cheaper than self-medicating or therapy.

Some of my favorite emerging comedians (okay, I watch a lot of BBC America, what can I say?) have appeared both in the audience and on stage at the Virgil when I was there, and it felt like a great scene for budding comedic talent.  Both times I went, Joe Mande performed, with variations on some of the same jokes.  Contrary to what you might think, this was actually pretty cool.  I wasn’t familiar enough with the material for it to fail to make me laugh a second time, and it was interesting to observe his delivery tightening up.  I’m a sucker for peeks inside the creative process.

Kristen tried a new routine the second show I saw, and decided to drink poison out of a vile she brought because she thought the set didn’t go well.  Ridiculous.  But what I love is the truth of the comedian’s reality she allowed us to see in that moment.  I mean, probably for all of us, really.  Isn’t that how it feels?  “I’m going to put this out there, and if it doesn’t go well, that’s it!”  And yet our own inner voice, or our own Kurt Braunohler, dashes out on stage with the anti-dote just in the nick time.  Life’s funny, eh?

Q: How can I take better pictures at night and in low light? -Holly G., New York, NY

A: Cameras get better and better at recording in low-light all of the time, but it’s admittedly not a good condition to photograph in.  That said, there are a few things you can pay attention to that will work WITH the low-light scenario, instead of against it.

Of course, in low light, you increase the chance of motion blurring your image.  To reduce it, lock your elbows in close to your body to steady the camera, and hold your breath while you press the button.  And, in dim situations, it is especially important to pay attention to the angle of the light in relationship to your subject.

Here are a few fun ideas that should further improve your shots:

1) Angle your subject towards the light.  I took this selfie under streetlight by angling my face straight up, and directly towards the light bulb.

2) Wait for your subject to step into the light source (or place them there), and take advantage of the darkness around it.  This little dog was sitting under a light — since he was the only thing illuminated, it created a dramatic contrast between him and the background.  I also used some old-looking effects in King Camera to enhance the already grainy image.  Snapseed has some great industrial and vintage effects for this purpose, as well.  My philosophy is, if you can’t get a sharp image, work with the blur and make it moody.

3) Paint with light.  One thing that looks really cool at night is a skyline.  You might not be able to capture your date in the dimly-lit restaurant, but at least you can record the view to remember the evening by.

4) Lamps are your best friend.  When you’re at home, you have the advantage of being able to move your subject closer to a light source, or even move the light source itself!  Smartphone cameras don’t have too sophisticated a metering system for adjusting it manually at this stage of the game, so it’s best to keep the light source facing your subject head on.  This usually means the light is behind you, and the subject is facing both you and the light.  In this selfie, I faced towards a lamp, and held the camera right next to it.

5) Make it black and white and boost the curves.  You’d be surprised how much you can tease out of a really dimly-lit photo, if you’re willing to forego good color balance.  First, convert it to black and white.  Then open it in Filterstorm and use the curves function — tap the middle of the diagonal line and raise that point towards the top.  You can even save and repeat this process, if the image is still too dark.  (Screen-grab of curves demo below.)

There’s also a free iPhone app called Slow Shutter that’s fun to play around with for longer exposures.  Hope that helps!  Happy photographing!

Have a question you’d like answered on Q&A Mondays?  Email rsvp@sarahsloboda.com.

Hi!  It’s torrentially raining in Cleveland right now.  How’s it going where you are?

I’ve been working on a whole lot of projects this week — photo editing, coaching writers, and interviewing amazing artists for an upcoming blog feature.  Had my nose to the grind-stone!  Still, there were some photo-worthy moments, as always, and I’ve included them here so you can see what I’ve been up to.  How was your week?  Feeling productive like me?

These are a few shots I just finished editing from a headshot session I did at Griffith Park in LA on my most recent trip.  Isn’t Patty Hume gorgeous?  She’s a fellow blogger and also a famous landscape architect with fountains like the one at Lincoln Center to her credit!

Peonies are in bloom!  It seems they were a little late in making their debut this year, but now they’ve blossomed.  I think I’d like to use Sweet Paul magazine’s suggestion and make a peony wreath centerpiece – what do you think?

Made one of my signature pasta sauces this week, this time using bacon grease instead of olive oil as a base.  Mmmm…

Hope you’ve had a great week and cooked up some good stuff on your end!

What’s inspiring you this week?  Any fresh thoughts?  Hear any good jokes?  Experience any art that moved you?

(Pictured above, a small canvas piece by Nashville-based artist Jacob Blaze — cherished gift I received in a snail mail package from my dear friend and fellow photographer Jen McDonald.)

Lately, I’ve been kind of smitten with comedians’ twitter feeds for lightening the mood throughout the day.  This week, Kurt Braunohler of Hot Tub Show cracked me up with this tweet:

“I’m starting a new character that interrupts people’s stand up sets to just plug my phone in on stage.” -Kurt Braunohler

Being super deliberate about what I subscribe to has made such a difference in my life.  I unsubscribe to any and all email blasts that don’t offer me something I’m looking for, to clear the clutter.  Twitter is a great way to keep your social media intake bite-size, so that’s been my arena of choice.  And, I invest my time and cash in subscribing to things that truly bring me little joys.  The fact that I take a moment to subscribe keeps the delights coming regularly without having to do anything else, so it’s kind of like getting a present.  What’s your relationship to subscriptions?  Do you have a lot of clutter in your inbox?  Does anything you subscribe to feel like a real gift you gave yourself?

All my Delights this week are variations on the smiling theme — things that make me smile, and articles on actual smiling itself.  And, they’re all things you can subscribe to, so that delightfulness just shows up in your inbox or mailbox! 

Psychology Today’s article, “American Cheese” – Ever find yourself feeling really happy or having a lot of fun and saying, “Wait! I need to document this for Instagram!”  The article takes an interesting stance on the cost of the “smile” culture.  (Only part of the article appears online, so if you dig this kind of thing, you’ll want to pick up the good old print mag!)  You’ve seen old portraits depicted in photography from the late 1800s, and paintings older than that — the article points out many examples in art history where the smile was notably absent, making “cheese,” a truly present-day phenomenon.  Have you perfected your on-camera smile?  How do you feel about saying cheese?

Mashable Discusses “The Social Psychology of the Selfie” – Providing a somewhat more cultural perspective from the Psychology Today article (and I would say, more optimistic), Mashable’s outlines the benefits and drawbacks of our online personas in terms of our self-image.  If you’ve read my book on Selfies, I’d be especially curious to know your take on this article!  I believe the selfie is a powerful story-telling tool that can create connection with audience and friends. What are your thoughts?

Birchbox – Let’s face it, you smile more naturally when you look great and feel confident.  I consider myself a pretty low-maintenance woman (well, maybe not emotionally… I am human, after all!); I don’t always wear make-up, I like clothes that are as comfortable as they are fashionable, and I prefer to let my natural curls behave… ahem, naturally.  That said, I have fallen in love with my birchbox subscription, which is a monthly package of new girly primping items to sample that appears on my doorstep.  (As a low-maintenance woman, I love not having to go shopping.)  Through the magic of technology, Birchbox “knows” I am low-maintenance, have curly hair, and even my skin coloring, so they tend to send products that actually address my needs!  How brilliant is that?  Do you have any beauty / grooming short-cuts you swear by to keep yourself looking your best with minimal effort?

Olivebox – While we’re on the topic of “boxes,” I might as well admit, I am a stationery junkie.  When I was young, I had pen pals all over the world, and my adoration of sending and receiving hand-written snail mail has never ceased.  I write by hand in a journal for 30 minutes every morning, and still send letters to relatives and friends.  My tax documents for each year are stored in a colorful storage box, to prettify the fact that I am supposed to keep these things safe for what — seven years?  In the post-technological revolution era, gorgeous hold-in-your-hand letters and packages are simply too few and far between, in my opinion.  I just can’t resist a letterpress card on thick, luxurious paper.  If you’re the same, check out Olivebox!  Similar to birchbox, the subscription service brings paper delights right to your door.  When’s the last time you sent a letter?  Or, do you even remember what your hand-writing looks like?

As I was preparing to post this, my friend Emily sent me another smile-related quote that I loved, and just had to share.  Perhaps this more nuanced description of happiness sums up what we’ve grown in the habit of trying to convey with a single online smiling photo… And, also explains why we obsessively update our photos with newer and better ones.

“Happiness is neither virtue nor pleasure nor this thing nor that, but simply growth. We are happy when we are growing.” -J.B. Yeats

What’s delighting you lately?

Hey, blog friends! How was your week? It’s always fun looking forward to a bank holiday weekend — cooking up any Memorial Day plans?

The past week has been a whirlwind for me! I’m working on lots of jobs behind the scenes right now, and just included one little sneak peek from a shoot with my college friend’s daughter, above. Isn’t she sweet?

All the other photos here are some highlights from my adventures over the past week in Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, and Ohio.

I still haven’t been to the historic Cinerama – have you? It always seems like a good idea to go to the movies in Hollywood, but the weather is so nice, I always find myself opting to be outdoors. (I nabbed this shot while sitting at a traffic light!)

This is a selfie of me with my aforementioned college pal from the University of Michigan who’s the Executive Producer of a new project. He invited me to the set where his team was filming an action sequence and I got to watch! However, his dutiful production coordinator had me sign a form that said I wouldn’t speak of it, so I can’t tell you about anything I saw there. It’s what they call, in the biz, a “social media lockdown.” Kind of an exciting term! We thought this turned out to be a shot of us in a quintessential LA atmosphere — a parking lot.

Fiat sighting in Santa Monica! I always miss my Fiat when I’m in LA. I wonder if I should bring old Bluey out there some time!

House-sitting for my friends turned out to be inspiring on the floral front — their succulent garden had become quite overgrown in their absence, so when I trimmed off all the long flowering branches, I kept them and made a little creamer arrangement.

Teeny, tiny flowers caught my eye at dusk while strolling around Santa Monica one evening. I captured these close-ups with the macro lens on my Olloclip, so you can’t even tell how minute the blossoms truly are. To give you some scale, imagine a ladybug using one as a hot air balloon.

Ahhhh…. to lay on the beach…. What a luxury! I only had a brief time during my day trip to Santa Barbara, but I did get to relax for a bit on the gorgeous beach at the Four Seasons Biltmore.

The weather was just perfect while I was in California, and I loved getting to catch some rays in this beautiful place. Santa Barbara’s streetscapes have a luxurious and inviting feel. As soon as I turned off the highway exit, I felt relaxed and welcome. And, it was excellent timing to arrive as the tide went out — check out the cool design pictured above that the ocean had made out of seaweed on the shore.

One of the jobs I’m currently editing is a kids photo party I did for SoHo House West Hollywood on Mother’s Day. They did a great job creating the event — the kids got to make frames for the Instax prints I shot for them, and they’ll get to choose from a collection of photos online, as well. This mirror selfie reminds me of how good it feels to complete a very full yet exciting day. You know that feeling? The best kind of tired, right?

I recently downloaded the newly popular iPhone photo app, A Beautiful Mess, and I love it! The filters aren’t my favorite because they seem to downgrade the resolution when applied, so I use filters in other apps before opening in A Beautiful Mess. What it does really well is offer fun fonts, doodles, and sayings in a variety of gorgeous colors, allowing you to add a graphic designer’s flair to your images.

Back in Ohio, I had a glorious walk through the countryside just as the sunset glowed the entire sky into pinks and rich blues. I felt like Dorothy, having landed in a totally surreal place where the light felt new and unusual, and thought, “We must be over the rainbow.” A Beautiful Mess helped me convey the light-hearted and whimsical feeling of that moment.

Another exciting Cleveland occurrence! My favorite café, Rising Star Coffee, now has its own cold brew! If you’ve never tried a cold brew coffee, I highly recommend it. The nuances of flavor are incredible when you realize how much is actually cooked out in the heating process. Cold brewing allows all of those rich and varied flavors to remain intact, and wash over your palette rather like a fine wine. And, the finish is much less acidic! I love everything about this cold brew bottle — the design, the branding, the advice (DO YOUR BEST!), and the fact that you can bring the bottle back for recycling.

Have a blast this weekend!

You know, I’ve been thinking. You and I should get to know each other better.

Maybe it would be fun for me to merge some of the thoughts I have while exploring online in an more interactive environment — here on my blog? You know, so I can share cool things that caught my attention in a given week, and then we’ll have something to talk about. Deal?

Deal. And, I’ll call it, “Delights.”

I’d love to hear from you if these inspire you! Please share your thoughts and ideas. I’m always fascinated by how a single topic can strike different people in totally different ways.

For instance, this week, my iPhone finally shattered after about the gazillionth time I dropped it, and I had to take it to Phone Ambulance, a local Cleveland phone repair vendor. When I mentioned the name to my dad, he just about fell over laughing! He thought I made it up! Here I was using “Phone Ambulance” as a proper noun, and he thought it was a clever nickname I was giving to some tech guy. It all depends on how it strikes you, eh?

(Instax-pictured above: My friends with their baby at Balboa Lake; my friend Ed and I in Hollywood.)

Without further ado, here is this week’s fodder:

The Office Finale – a stunningly designed TV-themed party by fellow Blogcadette Danielle of Ahoy Miss. (Incidentally, she makes the cutest brooches!) What’s your favorite reference from The Office?

What Should Richard Branson name his forthcoming book on Leadership? – I suggested, Like a Virgin. Also, I love how Sir Richard engages with his audience. What do you think?

Orphan Black – my new favorite TV show ever. It’s a super suspenseful drama about clones discovering their relationship to one another and why it’s been covered up. Tatiana Maslany plays so many characters — she’s in every scene! Sometimes as several versions of herself! It’s on BBC America — has anyone else seen this show or am I being totally random on this one?

The Seven of Pentacles by Marge Piercy – My dear friend Emily emailed me this poem this week. Inspiring thoughts about the fruits of one’s labors. Is there something you’ve been working towards a long time? A career goal or being a better friend or significant other? Perhaps these words will help your stamina.

Instax Camera – I ordered one of these cool modern Polaroids (actually made by Fuji film!) for the Mother’s Day event I photographed at SoHo House West Hollywood, and got hooked on it for snapping pics with friends! J’adore the design; way easy to use and gorgeous. Who doesn’t love an instant print? Get one of these puppies for your next party, to delight your guests with a — gasp — analog photograph. When’s the last time you took a Polaroid?

Brene Brown on Shame – I’ve been reading her book, Daring Greatly, and am convinced that everyone on earth needs to learn more about how shame operates in their lives. Think shame is a scary topic? Me, too! Yet Brown thinks if we speak it, it won’t stand a chance. What do you think about learning to value your own courage over other traits?

Take a Magic Walk – Gala Darling talks one of my favorite subjects — magic; though not in the sense of card tricks and hat-escaping rabbits. Find the magic in life and hashtag your #magicwalk photos on Instagram. Do you believe in magic?