Save the Cheerleader . . . Save the Comedian

Last night, three kids slept over the house, in addition to the four I have. Yeah. Think about it. So while I was up at midnight, waiting for them to settle down and go to sleep, I watched Dimitri Martin on Comedy Central. If you've never seen him, he is really, really sardonic, with a dry delivery, and he is quite funny. I mean, his hobby is composing palidromes. (He's also, you can tell in an instant, super smart.)

Anyway, there was this finale to his act in which he talks about where he gets his ideas. "People are always asking me . . . and so now I am going to tell you." And so he sings this silly song, which is acted out on stage, and includes fairies and wizards delivering him pieces of paper containing one-liners. As a writer who is always asked, "Where do you get your ideas," I always laugh at this part (I've seen the special before). And somewhere in his act is a throwaway line about his not being cool in high school and the cheerleaders wanting to have nothing to do with him, so he turned to comedy.

And in fact . . . I don't know any former cheerleaders who have become writers. I am sure you are out there. But my experience has been a lot of writers START OUT solitary and different . . . and just get more so as time goes on.

Now, another thing about this comedian is he has sold a couple of screenplays. That's another thing . . . I find writers are often talented in other areas. My best friend is a writer, but she also is an amazing visionary when it comes to costume design and interior decorating and baking and art and gaming. Me? I can't draw, sketch or craft to save my life.

BUT . . . I have a secret--well, not so secret now--dream to go to film school when the baby is in school full-time provided no more babies arrive between now and then. So FOUR years from now, say, I want to go to film school to make a documentary. I know what my film will be called. I know my interviews. I know what I want to say and how I want to edit it. I SEE it, and it is something I really, really, really want to do--and have wanted to do for at least three or four years now. I can't claim that I am creative all the way around, but I do think it's within me to work in more than one media. I have written a screenplay (a bad one a long time ago), and I plan on writing one this winter and entering it in this screenplay contest.

So . . . do you feel different as a writer? Not one of the cheerleaders? Do fairies magically deliver you one-liners and opening lines to your novels? And are you creative in another area?