Today I answer your writing questions in an ‘ask me anything’ episode. I cover loads of topics related to playwriting, theatre and dramaturgy.

Here’s what you asked:

- How do play development workshops work, and how do you structure each day?

- What do you do when you're struggling with writer's block?

- How do you organise your life as a writer?

- Do you speak to people about your plays in early drafts, or are you selective? I ask because I find it hard to speak to people about my ideas in the early phase.

- How do you contact and collaborate with subject matter experts and sensitivity readers?

- How do you manage doubt and despair in the creative process?

- How do you switch off from writing?

- Can you suggest some music and playlists to write to?

If you enjoyed today’s episode, feel free to send through your own questions for me to answer in a follow up ep. You can reach out via email emily@emilysheehan.info or on Instagram @emilysheehan__.

AMA (Ask Me Anything) episode is next up! Send me any questions you want answered to emily@emilysheehan.info, or via DM on Instagram @emilysheehan__.

We all have ideas for plays (and movies and novels) that never make it to a finished draft. So today’s episode is about the steps you can take to develop an idea into an outline for a play.

Turning your ideas into a play is the process of asking yourself dramaturgical questions, making decisions about the story, then executing on those decisions. This episode covers my thoughts on this process. As well as the dramaturgical questions I'm asking myself as I turn my most recent idea into an outline for a new play.

I reference:
Episode 44. Confessional Writing (Emily’s version)

Other episodes about developing ideas:
Episode 22. Writing a Draft Zero
Episode 19. Writing the Next Thing
Episode 18. Tracking Progress in Early Drafts

Thank you for listening. You can learn more about my work on my website www.emilysheehan.info

It’s time to reacquaint ourselves with rest. Rest and recovery are as much a part of the creative process as phases of enormous artistic output. And we can validate our ambition to create our best work and chase our dreams, at the same time we talk about wellbeing and meeting our needs as artists. ‘Pushing through’ when we’ve hit our limit is rampant in the arts industry. This podcast is an invitation. I want to release you from the myth that those who are experiencing the most artistic success and the most artistic fulfilment are the ones who are pushing the hardest.

In this episode I speak about:
- The myth that those who are successful are pushing the hardest.
- Rest’s relationship with capitalism.
- My honest opinion on our obsession with ‘pushing through’ in the arts industry.
- How we can find rest within a broken system.
- The difference between high quality rest activities and unhelpful numbing techniques.
- My strategies for setting up small ways to rest, extended ways to rest, and making space for mindful distraction techniques during the week’s schedule.

References:
'Rest is Resistance' by Tricia Hersey

If you’re enjoying the podcast, please leave me a rating or a review. It’s a really friendly way to show your support.

To learn more about my work, visit my website, connect with me on Instagram @emilysheehan__ or send me an email at emily@emilysheehan.info.

As part of the publicity for Monument at Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre, I’ve done a number of radio interviews. This episode is a compilation of three of my favourite radio conversations.

So much about theatre and live performance is ephemeral, so including these in my podcast feed is a way to archive interesting conversations about the play. And even though art and writing can and should speak for itself and stand alone, I also really believe that artists should be part of the conversation about their work.

Listen to these interviews in full and check out other conversations with interesting artists by following:
Steff Kechaya on Arts Weekly on 3MBS Melbourne
Yvette Kean on She Bop on 3CR Radio
Richard Watts on SmartArts on Triple R

Read the play!
Monument by Emily Sheehan
Buy online at Readings
Buy online at Booktopia
Buy online at Currency Press

Today I'm joined by Artistic Director of Red Stitch Actors' Theatre, Ella Caldwell, to talk about the rehearsal room for my play Monument.

We speak about:
- Finding the right artistic team to build out the world of the play.
- Bringing different perspectives into the development room.
- The rehearsal process and the role of a director and playwright.
- New discoveries in the rehearsal room and going all the way with a choice to reveal the next layer.
- Being brave enough to expose your work early and when to open up the rehearsal room to outside eyes.
- The themes of Monument (politics and beauty culture) and our personal relationship to makeup.
- The challenges of working with a closed time closed place play.
- Engaging subject matter experts at different points of the artistic process.
- Working with a makeup consultant in the rehearsal room.

Come see the show!
Monument by Emily Sheehan
Directed by Ella Caldwell
At Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre
9 August - 3 September, 2023
Book now

Read the script!
Monument by Emily Sheehan
Published by Currency Press
Buy here

Monument by Emily Sheehan
Directed by Ella Caldwell
Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre
9 August - 3 September, 2023
Book now: www.redstitch.net/monument-2023

Next Episode
If you have questions about the rehearsal room or working with a director that you want Ella or myself to speak about, DM me on Instagram @emilysheehan__ and that will give Ella and I some ideas for our podcast chat later this month.

Playwriting Workshop 
September 5 - November 7
Details here: bit.ly/banyule-playwriting

I’ve been intrigued by the concept of ‘slow looking’ from my visits to galleries in my travels. Slow looking is an approach to visiting a gallery that encourages spending more time with a few selected artworks, rather than rushing through to try and see everything.

In today’s episode I’m sharing some thoughts on slow looking, how it’s extended to my experience watching theatre, and how I’ve been using it as an entry point for writing scenes.

References
'A guide to slow looking' on the Tate website

To learn more about my work, visit my website or connect with me on Instagram @emilysheehan__. If you’re interested in working with me as your dramaturg then send me an email at emily@emilysheehan.info.

In today’s episode I share one of my favourite pieces of writing about playwriting. José Rivera’s ‘36 Assumptions About Writing Plays’, originally published in the American Theatre Magazine. It’s a beautiful list of provocations about playwriting craft which I have found enormously helpful and returned to again and again.

References

‘36 Assumptions About Writing Plays’ by José Rivera

To learn more about my work, visit my website or connect with me on Instagram @emilysheehan__. If you’re interested in working with me as your dramaturg then send me an email at emily@emilysheehan.info.

Today I talk about staying consistent in our writing practice even when life gets busy. I've been feeling motivated and inspired, but despite my best intentions, life has been intruding on my writing time. This has made for some rushed and unsatisfying writing sessions this month.

So today I'm sharing what has been helpful creative process wise when it comes to writing when life gets in the way. Because I hope that my artistic self can still feel welcome in all seasons of life, even if the conditions are less than ideal. 

I cover:
- Physical, mental and emotional exhaustion. 
- When to rest and when to persevere.
- Asking 'Do I know what the next step is?' Followed by, 'Do I have everything I need to take the next step.'
- Writing in less than favourable conditions. 
- Why taking smaller steps more often is more supportive than finding days for enormous progress.
- Finding smaller pockets of time to create in.
- Journaling on life's big themes when they're present in our life. 
- The inhale and exhale of a writing life.
- Sarah Ruhl’s wonderful words on why writing is more about life than it is about writing, and so life by definition is not an intrusion.
- And finding what you can drop and where you can lower your standards, because there is magic in C-grade work.

References 
'100 Essays I Don't Have Time to Write' by Sarah Ruhl 
Episode 10: Creative Pace, Timing and Patience

To learn more about my work, visit my website or connect with me on Instagram @emilysheehan__. 

If you’re interested in working with me as your dramaturg then send me an email at emily@emilysheehan.info.

As playwrights, it’s useful to understand the audience-facing aspects of the genre we’re working in, so we can make interesting decisions as we write. In this episode I share how I'm letting genre inform many of the dramaturgical choices I’m making in this draft.

I speak about:

- Leaning into the natural momentum of a genre you’re writing in and letting it draw things out of you.

- Managing and playing with audience expectations and the kind of story they might expect to see.

- How genre can influence: the world of the play, the emotional and stylistic palette, the controlling ideas, the themes and the wants and needs of our characters.

- Knowing which genre conventions you’re aligning with and which you’re choosing to twist and subvert.

- How different genres have slightly different ways they work to evoke emotions, frame central questions, and show specific changes across the arc of a story.

- The fear of predictability when working with well-known story conventions.

References:
Prima Facie by Suzie Miller

To learn more about my work, visit my website or connect with me on Instagram @emilysheehan__. If you’re interested in working with me as your dramaturg then send me an email at emily@emilysheehan.info.

Creating characters that are both interesting and integral to the plot of your play can take several rounds of revisions. I’m currently in a second draft and working on enmeshing my characters with the themes and story more.

In this episode, I share some of the writing exercises and prompts that have helped me develop my characters in meaningful ways.

These include:

- Identifying when a character doesn't feel fully developed on the page.

- Basic story work to uncover a character's wants, flaws, wounds, and needs.

- Journaling to explore a character's relationship to the themes.

- Making a list of the decisions each character makes within the timeline of the play that moves the story forward.

- Mapping out the character constellations in each scene.

- Experimenting with point of view in key moments.

- Rewriting scenes to centre a different character's perspective.

References

16 Personalities test

Thank you for listening! If you've found this episode helpful, leaving a rating or review is a really friendly way to show your support.

To learn more about my work, visit my website or connect with me on Instagram @emilysheehan__.

So you finished the first draft, now what? Today I share some thoughts about where to begin for Draft 2. Because if we jump in and start editing out the weird bits before we sit with what is so uncomfortable about them, and why are we so desperate to tidy them up, we’re going to lose that deeper insight. We won’t discover the gift of understanding the more shadowy depths of this play that could be explored through a second draft process.

I speak about: 
- The difference between a genuine artistic impulse and our inner editor.
- Setting aside the impulse to jump in and start ‘fixing’ things.
- Consider what the messy parts of your draft might reveal about the ideas underneath your idea.
- Discovering the shadowy parts of your draft that are hiding in the corner or under the bed.
- Letting the strangeness feel welcome in your story, even if you’re not totally comfortable with it being there.
- How scary it can feel when more and more of our idea becomes known to us, and we discover parts of it that make us squirm. 
- If your first draft isn’t messy, then perhaps you’re hiding your mess from yourself?

Thank you for listening! This is an independently produced podcast, which means I do all of it myself. Rating and reviewing is a really friendly way to show your support.

If you’re interested in working with me as your dramaturg then send me an email at emily@emilysheehan.info. 

You can learn more about my work on my website or say hi and ask me a question via @emilysheehan__ on Instagram.

Today I’m riffing on Taylor Swift and how as playwrights we can find ways to write in a way that feels incredibly truthful, to the point that it feels confessional. In what ways can we better embrace the cringey, diaristic, oversharing in our early drafts, so that we can move through to subtle, nuanced insights in our polished work? Because you can’t get to sophisticated sincerity, if you don’t nurture your cringe. And if we think being emotional in our writing isn’t intellectually rigorous enough, I think we risk suffocating where a piece of writing might take us…

I reference:
‘All Too Well (10 Minute Version) (Taylor’s Version)’ by Taylor Swift
‘All To Well’ by Taylor Swift
‘folklore’ studio album by Taylor Swift

I'm doing an AMA (Ask Me Anything) episode next up! Send me all your questions to answer by email emily@emilysheehan.info or on Instagram @emilysheehan__

Today I’m speaking about the benefits of hearing your script read aloud in a group environment and some methods for getting useful feedback on your play. I recently finished a polished first draft of a new play, and organising a table read with actors was a key part of moving the draft into its next iteration. 

I speak about:

- The similarities between playwriting and music composition, and why we need to hear our words read aloud.

- Methods for giving and receiving feedback in a group environment.

- Knowing when you’re ready to discuss your ideas and unpack aspects of your play in a group environment. 

- The concept of ‘works in progress’ in your artistic pursuits as well as more broadly in your life.

- Types of table reads and how they’re used as a tool at different phases of the creative process. 

- Using table reads and development discussions to find those gemstone notes that will unlock that next iteration of your play.

- Tips for making table reads run smoothly.

- Prompts and questions to ask for areas of playwriting craft you might like to get feedback on.

I reference:

Episode 9 Dramaturgy, Feedback and Implementing Notes

‘The Critical Response Process’ by Liz Lerman and John Borstel

‘The Director’s Craft’ by Katie Mitchell

Thank you for listening! This is an independently produced podcast which means I do all of it, end-to-end, myself. Rating and reviewing is a really friendly way to show your support.

If you’re interested in working with me as your dramaturg then send me an email at emily@emilysheehan.info. You can learn more about my work on my website or say hi and ask me a question via @emilysheehan__ on Instagram. 

Special thanks today to Ashton Sly, Joshua Monaghan and Danny Carroll.

Today I share the habits that have helped me overcome procrastination and get back on track to finishing a polished first draft before the end of the year.

I speak about:
- The fatigue of continuous self-motivation.
- Creating manageable and meaningful goals worthy of pursuing regardless of the outcome.
- Deciding on a lighthouse to 'sail towards' for this draft only (knowing you can always change course in the following draft).
- Discovering what habit cues support a fulfilling writing session for you (everyone's different). And what cues in your environment distract or delay your writing sessions.
- How to switch between intrinsic and extrinsic rewards.
- Minimising multitasking on writing days - something Twyla Tharp goes into in her book 'The Creative Habit'.
- Building up our tolerance for solitude.
- Using meditation and mindfulness to better hear the voice of our work.

I reference:
Episode 24 Playwriting and Procrastination
The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp
Dr Rebecca Ray 'Breakthrough' podcast on Audible

Thank you for listening! This is an independently produced podcast which means I do all of it, end-to-end, myself. Rating or reviewing is a really friendly way to show your support.

You can learn more about my work on my website or say hi and ask me a question via @emilysheehan__ on Instagram. If you’re interested in working with me as your dramaturg then send me an email at emily@emilysheehan.info.

This month I look at procrastination as part of the writing process. I consider both the micro and macro ways it shows up in our specific projects, our creative process and our life as an artist.

I speak about:

Shame and the procrastination loop.

Worrying, avoiding and anxiety’s relationship to procrastination.

The desire to do something that we love beautifully.

Delaying moving from one phase of a creative process to the next.

Journaling as a tool to discover which part of yourself is procrastinating; the human, the artist or the project

Artistic detachment as a cause of procrastination.

Creative scar tissue from past projects.

Feeling behind - as a result of procrastinating as well as a cause of procrastination. As well as the loop of procrastinating, feeling behind, getting stressed, then procrastinating because facing that we’re ‘behind’ is too painful.

References:

The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron

Playwright’s Process Podcast Episode 15 'The Artist's Way' Weeks 1-4

Thank you for listening. You can learn more about my work on my website www.emilysheehan.info or say hi and ask me a question via @emilysheehan__ on Instagram.

If you’re interested in working with me as your dramaturg then send me an email at emily@emilysheehan.info.

In this episode I share how baking bread is a useful metaphor for writing a first draft. Both bread making and playwriting are an illusive combination of raw materials, method, mastery and luck. The final outcome depends on factors we can't even see. The writing process can be illusive. It can be hard to find language to articulate your experience. So when we grasp onto metaphors that mirror the creative process, it can give us new insights into our craft and help us speak about our writing.

I speak about:

- The ingredients - the humble raw materials we want to transform into a cohesive draft.

- Similar raw materials will behave differently depending on context.

- Activating the yeast - a live organism that gets things going. Yeasts ‘aliveness’ is key. What small piece of life are you delicately incorporating into this draft?

- Kneading the dough - working with the materials to shape them into a smooth, silky dough. This takes work. There’s a physicality and effort involved at this part of the process.

- The word ‘fiction’ and ‘dough’ share a root word that means to shape by hand.

- Let the dough rest - once you get the texture you're after you need to step away so it can rest. The dough won’t rise unless you leave it alone. This makes a key piece of the puzzle is time. Time to let things happen. Time to let the yeast come to life.

- The environment in which you rest your dough matters. The context affects the process. The skills of the bread maker is to be sensitive to this, and adapt and adjust to the environment.

- Kneading the dough again - intuiting the exact moment to begin working with it again.

- Letting the dough rest again - going back and forth between kneading and resting depending on what you’re making.

- Baking - not wanting to put your work into the world half baked, but there is a risk of leaving it in the oven so long that you over cook it and it gets burned. Timing is key.

Thank you for listening. You can learn more about my work on my website or say hi and ask me a question via @emilysheehan__ on Instagram.

If you’re interested in working with me as your dramaturg then send me an email at emily@emilysheehan.info.

‘Draft Zeros’ ‘Discovery Drafts’ ‘Dirty Drafts’... In this episode I share how writing a draft zero has really helped me move my play into its next phase of development. I think the biggest distinction between a Draft 0 and a Draft 1 is that a first draft needs to be written to a standard where someone else can respond to it. Whereas a draft zero is a way to tell yourself the story during its very infant phase.

I speak about:
- The difference between a draft zero and first draft.
- The purpose of a draft zero.
- Realising I wasn’t meeting my own personal writing goals this year.
- Finding a deadline that’s both meaningful and manageable. 
- How I created a very loose structure for my play and very simple writing plan to follow.
- What to do with all the initial exploratory pages, scraps of scenes, process journal entries and story work I had already created.
- Using each writing session to write through the very strange, very bizarre rollercoaster of a draft zero without going back to fix, change, polish, or edit.

Draft zeros are kind of like therapy - you just need to get it all out and surprise yourself with what you begin to excavate. You don’t want to tidy up the mess before you get to what the heart of this thing is really about.

Things I reference: Miro online whiteboard, Mark Ravenhill’s 37 Plays Podcast and Episode 20 Writing the Next Thing. 

Thank you for listening. You can learn more about my work on my website or say hi at @emilysheehan__ on Instagram.

A chat about playwriting, dramaturgy and the ups and downs of pursuing the life of a writer with author Gillian Jakob Kieser on the Beautiful Possibility podcast.

Today’s episode is a replay of my recent interview on the Beautiful Possibility podcast. We speak about the process of coaxing a story into existence - the inspiration, the daily practice, and the many ways in which we create, interrogate, and refine our work.

We also speak about the very personal and non-linear process of discovering the stories and themes that want to be explored through you. And the personal thematics within your own life that find their way into your writing.

If you’re interested in working with me as your dramaturg then send me an email at emily@emilysheehan.info. 

Listen to all of Gillian’s episodes on the Beautiful Possibility podcast and be sure to read her book 10,000 Doors.

Tracking progress in the early phase of a project is pretty nebulous. What you’re tracking isn’t always clear, because how your ideas develop might not be observable. 

An image I find helpful to keep in mind in early ideation is approaching the idea like an iceberg. 90% of an iceberg is  beneath the surface. We can’t see it, but we know that it’s there. So most of the ‘progress’ we make in Draft 0 is becoming more and more conscious of the depths of your idea. And finding ways to inspire and develop your unconscious connection with the story.

What is usually my go-to 'meaningful unit of progress' (3 x 30min writing sprints per writing day) isn’t helpful right now. So with that in mind, I’ve been finding more appropriate ways to work on my idea.

In this episode I share what I’ve been finding useful to develop the idea in the ideation phase. I talk about:

- Removing as many of the obstacles as you can.
- Tracking how your resistance shifts at different phases of the project.
- Committing to the habit over the outcome. 
- Swapping out my usual writing sprints with other ways of working on the idea.
- Creating a list of non-prescriptive, enjoyable, artistic tasks to move between.
- Bouncing between research, reading source material, analysing play texts, deep story work on the dramatic world, the characters and the locations, process journaling, and writing the story in prose.

Favourite episodes you might like to go back to listen to:
- Episode 19. Writing the Next Thing
- Episode 13. Finishing Creative Projects
- Episode 12. Managing Research Draft to Draft

- Episode 11. Writing to a Deadline

- Episode 9. Dramaturgy, Feedback and Implementing Notes

- Episode 7. Motivation and Momentum 


Thank you for listening. You can learn more about my work on my website or say hi and ask me a question via @emilysheehan__ on Instagram.

I’ve started working on a new play. This month’s podcast is about what’s been helpful and supportive as I’ve taken the very first steps to develop my next idea. I speak about:

- Bringing more attention to areas of influence and inspiration that are already capturing your attention.
- Brainstorming and freewriting on the themes, genres, central relationships and formal references you’re most drawn to at the moment.
- Noticing the threads and patterns and finding ways to draw them together.
- Prompts I used in my process journal to develop these different threads further.
- Writing prose before trying to write scenes.
- Letting the themes guide the content I was consuming (audiobooks, podcasts, radio etc) and creating a thematic container in day-to-day life.
- 'Writing under the influence' of what you let in.
- You have to begin with what’s on your heart to write and trust that good writing is the stuff of multiple drafts, not perfect ideas.

Resources: I also speak about themes and creating thematic containers in Episode 12 Managing Research Draft to Draft.

Thank you for listening. You can learn more about my work on my website www.emilysheehan.info or say hi and ask me a question via @emilysheehan__ on Instagram.

Oops! I’m Drafting Again. In the background I’ve been reworking some aspects of the play I finished last year, so this podcast is on diving back into writing projects after an extended amount of time away.

I speak about:

- Reading your own work at the same time of day you prefer to write in, as your mood and your energy levels can affect how you perceive the text.

- Using a creative process journal or project workbook.

- Listing out the events of your play (i.e. things that significantly alter the dramatic action or the trajectory of a character)

- Using index cards to physicalise the structure.

- Dramaturgy, feedback and implementing notes.

- Prioritising rewrites by asking, ‘Which changes will impact the story the most?’ Start there, rather than going for quick wins.

- The magic of asking, ‘Do I have everything I need to take the next step?’ Then keeping it simple and taking one step at a time.

Thank you for listening. You can learn more about my work on my website http://www.emilysheehan.info or say hi and ask me a question via @emilysheehan__ on Instagram.

It’s Part 3 of my summer project, which is completing ‘The Artist’s Way’ by Julia Cameron. In this episode I debrief on Weeks 9-12 and speak about:

Week 9 | Compassion
- Procrastination and discovering your particular brand of procrastination.
- Overcoming procrastination requires self-compassion more than it does self-criticism.
- Enthusiasm and discipline in long term projects.

Week 10 | Self-protection 
- Getting honest about the things we use to distract and disrupt ourselves when we write.
- Glorifying busyness and productivity is detrimental at the start of a new project when in fact we need more white space.
- Boundaries and setting bare minimums.

Week 11 | Autonomy
- Taking responsibility for our art, our point of view as an artist and our creative process.
- Why it’s not helpful to look outside of ourselves for what we ‘should’ be writing, how we ‘should’ be structuring our writing sessions, what our artistic life ‘should’ look like… 
- Planning artist dates with ourselves.

Week 12 | Faith
- Being willing to be optimistic in a culture and industry that can be cynical.
- Accepting mystery and what’s unknowable in the early stages of a creative project.
- Getting comfortable sitting in the dark with an idea while it takes root.

Next month I’ll be back to speaking about craft as a new project unfolds…

Thank you for listening. You can learn more about me on my website www.emilysheehan.info or say hi and ask me a question via @emilysheehan__ on Instagram.

Should we have multiple scripts on the go? Today I delve into the benefits and challenges of writing more than one idea at the same time. As well as some strategies for focus and momentum when bouncing between stories.

I touch on: 
- The temptation to do 'all the things' when it comes to new ideas.
- The complexities of managing more than one writing project at once.
- Identifying a primary project and side project and letting them ebb and flow.
- Planning your writing week when you have more than one thing on the go.
- Allocating the right amount of time to make manageable and meaningful progress.
- Leaving space for setbacks.

Thank you for listening.

To learn more about me and my work visit my website www.emilysheehan.info, say hi on Instagram @emilysheehan__ or reach me in an email at emily@emilysheehan.info.

It’s Part 2 of my summer project, which is completing ‘The Artist’s Way’ by Julia Cameron. In this episode I debrief on Weeks 5-8 of ‘The Artist’s Way’ and speak about: 

- Showing up to create even when you’re not feeling yourself.
- ‘Feeling behind’ versus allowing time to be elastic.


Week 5 | Possibility 
- Exploring what might be possible for our projects, our craft, our collaborations, our platform.
- Uncovering the ways we might limit what’s possible for our art and our creative expression.

- Reframing what being ‘self-destructive’ can look like and making sure we’re not undermining our progress.

- Ugly duckling phases of growth - we can’t ‘look good’ all the time, especially if we’re exploring new territory.


Week 6 | Abundance
- Cultivating a rich and enriching arts practise that’s well-resourced, and finding new ways to make our creative process spacious, generous and luxurious.

- Bringing more sensorial beauty and sensorial stimulus into your writing routine.

- Noticing if we’re being unnecessarily stingy with ourselves. Something we think, ‘Well, if I were a ‘real’ writer I'd be able to write with this crappy pen and broken laptop and it shouldn’t affect the art.’ Well yes, but also are withholding tools that could make your process more enjoyable?
- The arts don’t have to be productive and efficient all the time. Neither does your creative practice. You’re allowed to be indulgent, inefficient, meandering and luxurious. 


Week 7 | Connection
- Practising deeply listening to ourselves, our muses, our ideas to connect more intimately with our writing.
- How perfectionism is pervasive, adds noise, and crowds out our ability to listen to ourselves.

- The gap between your taste and your abilities. Trusting that you got into this work because you have killer taste and all you need is time for your abilities to match your taste levels (Ira Glass quote copied below).

- Jealousy is just another way to listen to yourself and connect with the deeper desires in your heart.

Week 8 | Strength
- Setting goals.
- Committing to tiny steps, taken consistently, that are going to add up. This is the ‘bread and butter’ of your project.

- It takes a lot of strength and courage to consistently show up (often privately, often quietly) and repeat this again and again.

References:

Ira Glass quote: “Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”

Thank you for listening. You can learn more about my work on my website http://www.emilysheehan.info or say hi and ask me a question via @emilysheehan__ on Instagram.

It’s my first episode of 2022 and I’m talking about my summer project; completing ‘The Artist’s Way’ by Julia Cameron. In this episode I debrief on Weeks 1-4 of ‘The Artist’s Way’ and speak about:

- Using ‘The Artist’s Way’ as a reset between major writing projects.
- How ‘The Artist Way’ works. It's 12 weeks worth of essays, journal prompts and assignments on a particular theme related to creativity.

Morning Pages

- Committing to daily journaling for the full 12 weeks.
- Using journaling as part of my writing practice.
- How journaling helps me to be in conversation with the themes and narrative threads of my play.
- Switching between my ‘Artistic Self’, ‘Personal Self’ or ‘The Voice of my Project’ as a way to focus my journaling.
- Discipline to not letting my anxious thoughts hijack my journal sessions as a way to ‘stress out’ on the page.

Artist Dates

- Committing to a weekly date with your artistic self.
- Consider yourself in a long-term, romantic relationship with your inner artist. If this is true, how would you romance your artist, treasure your artist and listen to what they’re inspired by?

Week 1 | Safety

- Exploring your creativity and the work you want to make less fearfully.
- Creating your own affirmations using these steps: 1. Complete the sentence ‘I (name) am a brilliant and prolific (artform)’. 2. Notice what thoughts you use to shut yourself down after completing this sentence. 3. For each negative thought, write an alternative statement in defence of yourself.

Week 2 | Identity

- Exploring your identity as an artist and how you define yourself and the work you make.
- Taking baby steps in your artistic identity. Our ego wants grand gestures and to overhaul our identity before we try something new artistically.
- The magic is in small steps, tiny progress and bare minimums.

Week 3 | Power

- Creative scar tissue. There can be anger and pain and disappointment once you get some skin in the game. Sometimes this makes us less open-minded about what’s possible for ourselves and our work.
- Creative detachment. Sometimes when we get closer to finishing projects we can pull away or detach emotionally from the work. - Be suspicious of indifference about your own work. Reinvest!

Week 4 | Integrity

- Having the integrity to take action on any new artistic self-awareness.
- Playing the long game. Each decade can hold meaningful and significant artistic work for you to create.
- Expanding your idea of what body of work you could create across a lifetime.

Thank you for listening. You can learn more about my work on my website www.emilysheehan.info or say hi and ask me a question via @emilysheehan__ on Instagram.

There are many points in an artistic timeline when you might need a creative reset. I’m currently in the threshold between one creative project and the next and in this episode I talk about:

- Resting and recharging without letting go of the habits and routines built by writing to a deadline.
- When moving from one project to the next feels like departing from a piece of yourself.
- Not letting life fill up the space I usually guard for writing.
- Taking an intentional pause between work. As writers we use space and silence in our text because an absence of dialogue allows the subtext to be felt. I hope this same absence of a project can allow my own deeper themes of where I'm at now rise to the surface and inform what I'm inspired and moved by at this point in time.
- SUMMER PROJECTS: ‘The Artist's Way' by Julia Cameron. I'll be making my way through the twelve-weeks of creative prompts in this book over summer. If you want to join me in using this as a creative reset, please do.

Thank you so much for listening. If this is your first time listening to the podcast, then some of my favourite episodes are:
- Episode 7. Motivation and Momentum 
- Episode 9. Dramaturgy, Feedback and Implementing Notes
- Episode 11. Writing to a Deadline
- Episode 12. Managing Research Draft to Draft
- Episode 13. Finishing Creative Projects

This episode was originally recorded in November 2021. You can watch the video diary here: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CWuhUDYFhG7/

You can learn more about my work on my website http://www.emilysheehan.info or say hi and ask me a question via @emilysheehan__ on Instagram.

I finished my play! Today's episode is about finishing creative projects and all of the decisions and mental shifts that happen as you work towards getting to the end of a major work. 

I speak about:
- Mindset and making a commitment to finishing an artistic project.
- Making it the best version of the story it already is and not leaving things open for the other versions it could become.
- Realising I was writing in a way that was leaving the draft open to future changes I ultimately wouldn’t be making. So instead, I started to write in a way that closed down those options.
- Grieving the versions it's not going to become.
- Effort in versus distance travelled. Each new draft feels like travelling half way towards an end point, and eventually moving half way becomes impossible/invisible which is when you realise you've 'arrived' at your final draft.
- Hitting a point where edits are only making the creative work 'different' rather than 'better'.- Getting feedback towards the tail end of a project and the difference between: Feedback we agree with and we take, feedback we agree with and we don't take, feedback we don't agree with and we take, and feedback we don't agree with and we don't take.
- Deciding which parts of the project are worth getting right and which parts you're comfortable having some wonky bits, because perfection isn’t the purpose of art.
- There are always going to be things about your project that aren't perfect. Sometimes we think perfecting everything will protect us from criticism, but that's not true. It's up to us as artists to decide what about our project we're comfortable with leaving 'imperfect' and loving it anyway.

This episode was originally recorded in October 2021. You can watch the video diary here: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CVWXA4Rh14g/

You can learn more about my work on my website http://www.emilysheehan.info or say hi and ask me a question via @emilysheehan__ on Instagram.

Today’s episode is about how I've used research to inspire the content and themes of my play. What’s been useful to research - and the tools and exercises I've used - have been different from draft to draft. So in today’s episode I speak about how it’s played a different role in Draft 1, Draft 2 and Draft 3. I cover:

Draft 1
- Letting the themes guide the content I was consuming (audiobooks, podcasts, radio interviews etc) and letting them be on in the background during my day-to-day life. 
- Consciously curating a thematic container.
- Journaling on the themes as I was writing.
- 'Writing under the influence' of what you let in.

Draft 2
- Imposter syndrome.
- Letting content guide the research - knowing the difference between details that the narrative hinges on versus details that become the backdrop for a more human/universal moment or scene to take place.
- My process for using brackets in the text to flag the details you need to research later. 
- In the middle of a writing session is not the time to research a small detail.

Draft 3
- Asking people who live and breathe the world of the play to note any red flags.
- Making sure all the small details are cohesive and speak to the heart of the story.
- 'Furnishing' the play in a way that's well-researched. This can be so fun and satisfying if you do it at the end of the process. If I did this in Draft 1 it would be way too overwhelming and feel like a test.

This episode was originally recorded in September 2021. You can watch the video diary here: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CT6HtOblSxl/

You can learn more about my work on my website http://www.emilysheehan.info or say hi and ask me a question via @emilysheehan__ on Instagram.

I’m working towards a deadline for my final draft (Draft 3) of my play and using every spare pocket of time to make it happen. Working in this intensive, focused way has been unique to other parts of the writing process so in this episode I speak about what has been helpful and unhelpful in managing my time, my brain and my emotions in this final stretch of the project.

I speak about:
- Not rushing through your process even though you're on a deadline.
- Trusting the habits you’ve built already and depending on the routines and writing rituals that work for you. Don’t throw them out the window now that you need to ‘go faster’.
- Creating a goal that is more meaningful and motivating than ‘get to the end’ or ‘finish my play’.
- Leaning on my new goal of ‘continuing to deepen and master my craft’ to guide each writing session. This helped reframe the minutiae of the notes I had to implement as I was willing to put in the work to become a better writer beyond the outcome of this project.
- The magic of asking myself, ‘Do I have everything I need to take the next step?’ and recommitting step by step.
- Leaps of faith when you hit a block and feel overwhelmed. Be willing to believe you will pull this off.
- Writing when you’re not in the mood to write. My capacity to handle discomfort and to keep writing when my mood wasn’t ideal was key. 
- Writing treats. For me that means stationary and snacks.
- Being conscious of the media and entertainment I was consuming and staying in the genre of my work just for the period of getting to the end of my play. 

References:
Episode 9. Dramaturgy, Feedback and Implementing Notes - for my workflow and process for working with feedback.

This episode was originally recorded in August 2021. You can watch the video diary here: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CStcGi7JWht

You can learn more about my work on my website http://www.emilysheehan.info or say hi and ask me a question via @emilysheehan__ on Instagram.

I’ve been thinking a lot about pace and timing this month as each draft of my play has required a completely different creative pace. In this episode I talk about:

- Different drafts require a different pace. 
- Our inner artist requires a different pace in different seasons of projects. 
- Anxiety and our relationship to time.
- The story we tell ourselves about the pace our project is moving at. Do you feel better about your writing when it’s coming along quickly? Are you patient with the slower parts of the project that are more about hours spent than outcome?
- Working consistently versus only working in 'favourable conditions'. 
- When pace impacts how successful I feel.
- For myself, fitting in small amounts of writing more often gets me further than waiting for chances to do big creative marathons. Even though this is true, I so rarely celebrate chipping away and often only allow myself to feel successful after a marathon effort.
- Meaningful progress can’t always be measured and yet we still need to tend to our ideas as if they are progressing.
- Allowing our ideas to reveal themselves to us on their own timing. Maybe, like people, our ideas feel shy and introverted some days and more extroverted and talkative on other days. So we need to develop a patient relationship with our project.

This episode was originally recorded in June 2021. You can watch the video diary here: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CQwrSWaD7zr

You can learn more about my work on my website http://www.emilysheehan.info or say hi and ask me a question via @emilysheehan__ on Instagram.

I’ve just finished implementing a round of notes on a completed second draft, so thought I would talk a bit about dramaturgy and working with feedback in today’s episode. I cover:

- Dramaturgy as a way to bring your project closer to your vision for the work.
- Closing the gap between your intentions as an author and what’s coming across on the page.
- The difference between the feedback you hear and the feedback that is actually given.
- Why I always record feedback and note sessions.
- Being asked good, dramaturgical questions forces you to articulate yourself in ways you haven't before, and this can reveal a new depth and new intellectual or emotional connections to your project.
- Taking the time to give yourself notes as if you were a writer you were working with. This can change how you approach the feedback you give yourself and force you to be more specific and thoughtful. Give yourself the best of yourself.
- Reading your own work at the same time of day you prefer to write in, as the mood you’re in and your energy levels can affect how you perceive the writing.
- Organising feedback and prioritising notes by asking, ‘Which changes will impact the story the most?’ Start there, rather than going for quick wins.
- Breaking feedback down into achievable sections.
- Typing directly into the draft when making changes can have a weight of expectation, so I like to copy the section I’m working on into a blank document and make any changes in there to stay playful and open to new discoveries. 

References:
Episode 5. Rewrites and Revision - for my process on rewrites and writing new material.

This episode was originally recorded in May 2021. You can watch the video diary here: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CPcogHwHc1A

You can learn more about my work on my website http://www.emilysheehan.info or say hi and ask me a question via @emilysheehan__ on Instagram.

If you haven’t worked out what happens in your story in your first draft, don’t despair. I’m finding plotting the second draft so much smoother than I was expecting. The more you go on, and the more you know the story, the easier it is to make your project what you want it to be.

In today’s episode I talk about plotting, as Draft 1 and 2 are uniquely different experiences. I speak about:

- Planning the story.
- The 'good enough' plan is far more useful than the ‘ideal’ plan.
- Imagining the idealised version of our story doesn't make enough room for the shitty scenes and less-than-average moments that will inevitably show up in a first draft.
- The route we take through a story depends on our taste as a writer.
- Getting stuck in the first 20-page loop of rewrites.
- When we hit a point in the story that isn't where we thought we were headed, don't be tempted to head back to the beginning and start over with a new plan. Keep going and know you can take a different path next draft.
- Getting to the end before you start changing things. Then you have an embodied knowledge of your story to work with (not just an imagined concept of what would/wouldn’t have worked).
- The beauty of straying from the path in Draft 2 is you can take detours depending on your taste and aesthetic.
- You have decisions available in Draft 2 that are only possible because you've walked through it once already.  

This episode was originally recorded in April 2021. You can watch the video diary here: https://www.instagram.com/tv/COWaftSHI7u

You can learn more about my work on my website http://www.emilysheehan.info or say hi and ask me a question via @emilysheehan__ on Instagram.

In today’s podcast I share what’s helped keep up momentum and motivation while writing and rewriting a second draft. I talk about:

- Creating a goal for each draft that is more meaningful and motivating than ‘get to the end’ or ‘finish by this date’.
- How to know when you're 'done' with a scene or section.
- Using my new draft two goal of ’reveal as much of the story as possible’ to measure the work I put in within each writing session. I’m also using it as a temperature check for if I’m done rewriting specific sections.
- My thoughts on the similarities between writing and watching a foreign language film. It’s almost like when working on a new creative project you’re watching a foreign language film without subtitles for the first time. You’ll be able to pick up on so much information even if you don’t know exactly what’s going on. But on the second or third watch (i.e. your second draft) you’ll be open to receive even more information with new context and familiarity with the story.
- Setting a timer when I write. It will reveal so much about your inner rhythms and you’ll start to notice patterns at which ‘minute’ your inner critic usually kicks in. I use 20 minute blocks because I find it to be the most motivating and achievable.

This episode was originally recorded in March 2021. You can watch the video diary here: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CMlUoc3HfZP/

You can learn more about my work on my website http://www.emilysheehan.info or say hi and ask me a question via @emilysheehan__ on Instagram.

Having our work reviewed publicly is a strange and unavoidable part of writing. It's something we all have to deal with when we put new work out into the world. In today's episode I talk about reviews, theatre criticism and 'perfect opinions'. I touch on: 

- Writers' different appetites for reading reviews of their work. 

- The difference between theatre criticism and reviews.

- Frustrations with an imperfect reviewing culture.

- How reviews are one small piece of the broader cultural and critical response your work. 

- Knowing what's important to you. Whether that's the audience response, the industry response, the response from the community the work represents, box office sales, awards and nominations etc. 

- Asking who or what art criticism meant to serve?

- My thoughts on writers being part of the broader conversation surrounding their work. 

I reference: 

'Beejay Silcox on literary criticism and the art of judging' on The Garret podcast

Thank you for listening. If you're enjoying the podcast, leaving a rating or a review is a really friendly way to show your support. 

To learn more about my work, visit my website, connect with me on Instagram @emilysheehan__ or send me an email at emily@emilysheehan.info.

Something I have been finding really useful at this point of the writing process has been bringing more self awareness around my own expectations about where I think the writing should be in Draft 2. I’ve noticed I’m putting more pressure on myself now that it’s a ‘second draft’. Do you do this to yourself? In this episode I talk about: 

- Expectations we place on the 'quality' of our writing at different points in the process.
- Expectations we put on ourselves when we’re writing hard-hitting scenes.
- Writing the significant moments and how this can bring up more pressure and self-criticism in the moment while we’re writing.
- Being willing to write material you aren’t in love with even when it’s a scene you really care about and even when it’s a second draft. 
- Having 'bad writing days' and questioning what constitutes a ‘bad writing day’ (it will be different for everyone!)
- In Draft 1 I found the hardest bit was ‘showing up’. Well in Draft 2 the hardest bit isn't showing up - it's writing the hardest pieces of the narrative puzzle which can get frustrating when you are showing up and it feels like average stuff is coming out.
- Consistency will get you somewhere. Average material will get you somewhere. Creative projects get written one writing session at a time so have faith in consistent progress over less frequent, inspirational bursts.

This episode was originally recorded in February 2021. You can watch the video diary here: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CLxgy0lHnJl/

You can learn more about my work on my website http://www.emilysheehan.info or say hi and ask me a question via @emilysheehan__ on Instagram.

In this episode I talk about rewrites and revision after spending a month or so working on a second draft. I touch on:

- Revision as a chance to ‘re-vision’ the story, seeing it through new eyes and with more depth than what was possible in a first draft.
- Loosely structuring the play by each narrative thread. Considering each thread of the story as it’s own narrative, then asking if each narrative only had five moments of stage time, which five moments would I choose? Then writing the five moments for each thread onto index cards and shuffling them around to see what felt right (I have 25 index cards because I have five narrative threads in my play).
- The moments you choose will depend on who you are as a writer, what you’re drawn to and your aesthetic and voice as an artist. 
- Overcoming decision fatigue.
- Using index cards (described above) and selecting one per writing session to focus on for rewrites.
- Aiming for manageable and meaningful progress each time I sit down to write. Making it manageable is key. You can’t think about all of the changes for all of the sections in each writing session. Keep it focused on one piece of the puzzle at a time.

This episode was originally recorded in January 2021. You can watch the video diary here: https://www.instagram.com/tv/CKtQICVHKg_/

You can learn more about my work on my website http://www.emilysheehan.info or say hi and ask me a question via @emilysheehan__ on Instagram.

Before I get started on rewrites, I’ve been hanging out in the space between Draft 1 and Draft 2. In this episode I share the writing exercises and prompts I’ve been using to keep developing the play until I feel ready to write another full draft. I touch on:

- Using the space between drafts as a chance to recapture the magic of what drew you to the story.
- The gap between what you think you’ve written and what’s actually on the page.
- Working with the season your project is in and tending to that season in a supportive way.
- Freewriting moments that never ‘made it in’ to the script.
- Writing by hand versus writing on a laptop.
- Moving from digital (my laptop) to analogue (a notebook) to slow down and see the words in a different way, without the pressure of formatting.
- Writing out the peripheral scenes and key moments in the story that aren’t in the script, but still affect the plot.

This episode was originally recorded in December 2020. You can watch the video diary here.

You can learn more about my work on my website or say hi and ask me a question via @emilysheehan__ on Instagram.

Historically I’ve found finishing a first draft much more creatively demanding than rewriting second and third drafts. Different writers have different preferences and in this episode I share my thoughts on committing to finishing Draft 1. I cover:

- Letting go of perfectionism in order to move ideas from a concept to words on the page.
- Devotion and discipline when it comes to showing up and putting in the work.
- How frustrating it can be when your creativity feels like a slog.
- Committing to being a devoted writer even when you don’t feel like an inspired writer.

This episode was originally recorded in September 2020. You can watch the video diary here.

You can learn more about my work on my website http://www.emilysheehan.info or say hi and ask me a question via @emilysheehan__ on Instagram.

I've been stuck in Draft 1 for months and months. I’m taking two weeks off to focus solely on getting to the end of Draft 1, so that I can create the momentum I’ve been lacking. In this episode I talk about taking our writing process seriously and the steps I’m taking to do my best work in an intensive environment.

This episode was originally recorded in September 2020. You can watch the video diary here.

You can learn more about my work on my website or say hi and ask me a question via @emilysheehan__ on Instagram.

Welcome to the Playwright’s Process Podcast! A monthly process journal about writing, craft and the creative process that will prompt you to think about the way you work and talk about your writing.

Episode 1 is about sharing in between projects. As a creative, it can be easier to show up online when we have a finished work to share and promote, but in between projects it can feel vulnerable talking about what we’re writing while things are half-formed. But I dont think talking about playwriting, theatre and performance (or whatever artform you work in) should have as much pressure and weight as a finished work. So this podcast is the first step of an experiment in showing up in between projects and sharing along the way. 

I hope you’ll get something out of listening and it will prompt you to think about the way *you* like to make work, as well as encourage other artists to talk about the artistic process as it unfolds.

This episode was originally recorded in July 2020. You can watch the video diary here.

About me… 

My name is Emily Sheehan and I’m a playwright and dramaturg living and making work in Australia. I also teach playwriting at the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) at the University of Melbourne. You can learn more about my work on my website or say hi and ask me a question via @emilysheehan__ on Instagram.

Today I'm joined by Artistic Director of the Old Fitz Theatre, Lucy Clements, to talk about the rehearsal room for my play Frame Narrative.

We speak about:
- Finding the right artistic team to build out the world of the play.
- The rehearsal process and the role of a director and playwright at different stages.
- The many design elements and working with composition in the rehearsal room.
- Working with an intimacy coordinator to choreograph the work.
- Making changes to the text on the floor.

Come see the show!
Frame Narrative
By Emily Sheehan and directed by Lucy Clements
8-30 March 2024
At Old Fitz Theatre
Book now: https://www.oldfitztheatre.com.au/frame-narrative

Follow Lucy on instagram @lucypodstolski and @newghoststheatrecompany

Follow me on instagram @emilysheehan__

I've been writing an adaptation! (Frame Narrative and it’s on March 8-30, 2024 at The Old Fitz in Sydney.) Working with source material has changed some parts of my writing process. So I thought it could be useful to share what's been helpful along the way.

I speak about:
- The many kinds of adaptations: retellings, reimaginings, cover songs, fan fiction, prequels, sequels etc.
- Bridging the gap between the source material and the liveness of theatre (or whatever form you write in.)
- The relationship between form and content.
- Using research to broaden your access points to the material and find new ideas and inspiration.
- Imagine filtering a story through your voice and aesthetic like it’s a cover song. How does this particular story sound in your voice?
- Marginalia and the long history of readers writing in the margins of books.
- Working with the expectations audiences bring to a work when they know it’s an adaptation. Can you deliver on the expectations that open up possibilities, and subvert the ones that don’t.

I reference:
- G Flip’s cover of Cruel Summer by Taylor Swift on triple j Like A Version
- 'Like A Version and the art of making a cover song' by Madi Chwasta on ABC

See Monument at Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre!
By Emily Sheehan and directed by Ella Caldwell
February 20 - March 10, 2024
Book now: https://www.redstitch.net/monument-2024

See Frame Narrative at The Old Fitz Theatre!
By Emily Sheehan and directed by Lucy Clements
March 8-30, 2024
Book now: https://www.oldfitztheatre.com.au/frame-narrative

Sometimes in order to make a piece of writing stronger you have to remove something. Whether that's a conversation between two characters, a whole scene, a whole narrative thread or maybe even a whole character. In today’s episode I unpack the common piece of writing advice to ‘kill your darlings’ and share some of the provocations and writing tasks that have helped me cut material from my latest draft.

I speak about:
- Stepping back and looking at your play as a whole rather than its individual parts.
- We often default to adding something to our draft to improve it, but subtraction is just as important.
- How to know when to add something and when to take something away.
- When not to kill your darlings.
- Why going for clarity in each moment of the script isn’t the same as being vanilla.
- Some prompts for cutting dialogue, cutting drama beats, cutting key events, cutting scenes, cutting narrative threads, cutting whole characters and cutting stage time.

I reference:
- Episode 28 ‘Character Development’
- Episode 38 ‘Stay With the Story’
- Mark Ravenhill’s series of tweets ‘101 Notes on Playwriting’

See Monument at Red Stitch Actors’ Theatre!
By Emily Sheehan and directed by Ella Caldwell
February 20 - March 10, 2024
Book now: https://www.redstitch.net/monument-2024

See Frame Narrative at The Old Fitz Theatre!
By Emily Sheehan and directed by Lucy Clements
March 8 - 30, 2024
Book now: https://www.oldfitztheatre.com.au/frame-narrative

Get one-on-one support for your writing by visiting www.emilysheehan.info/dramaturgy and say hi, ask a writing question or request a podcast topic on instagram @emilysheehan__.

What’s your play about? What questions is it trying to answer? What provocations does it make? After a period of intense focus on the big ideas of the play, it can be helpful to switch focus and 'stay with the story'.

In today's episode I speak about:
- Writing from your authentic voice. The place where you are the most honest, most lyrical, most creative.

- The difference between what your play is about, and what it’s really about.

- Developing the story versus developing the ideas.

- The dance between complex ideas in a simple story, and simple ideas within a complex story.

- Looking at feedback through a story lens.

- Looking at your outline through a story lens.

- Using note cards to physicalise your story spine.

- Why I always print out the material I’m working on.

I reference:
Episode 22 'Writing a Draft Zero’
‘36 Assumptions About Writing Plays’ by José Rivera

Get one-on-one support for your writing by visiting www.emilysheehan.info/dramaturgy  

Say hi, ask a writing question or request a podcast topic on instagram @emilysheehan__

A seductive psychological defence is that we will one day feel ready. Ready to start a draft. Ready to tackle these rewrites. Ready to send the script to a friend to read. But feelings of readiness don’t always arrive…

Today I share my thoughts on whether we need to feel ready before we take the next step in a creative project. And some strategies and tools to try out if we don’t feel ready. I speak about:

- Readiness is an emotion and emotions are fickle.

- How to focus on what you can control: where you place your attention and the action you take.

- Discovering a supportive writing routine and setting up writing sessions.

- Getting curious about the pace your project wants to move at. Does it want to go slow? Or does it want to bolt? Are you getting in the way of that pace?

- A travel story about the opulent dinner parties thrown by Salvador Dalí and his wife and muse, Gala. Hint: if you’re given a bottle of champagne, it’s only good on your shelf for a year. So don’t save it. Drink it!

I reference:
Episode 14 Episode Creative Resets Between Projects
Episode 15 'The Artist's Way' Weeks 1-4
Episode 16 'The Artist's Way' Weeks 5-8
Episode 17 'The Artist's Way' Weeks 9-12
Episode 25 Writing Habits to Overcome Procrastination
‘Dali: Les Diners De Gala’ by Salvador Dali.

Get one-on-one support for your writing by visiting www.emilysheehan.info/dramaturgy

Say hi, ask a writing question or request a podcast topic on instagram @emilysheehan__

How does a new Australian play end up on the main stage? One way is by being commissioned by a theatre company. In today's episode, Dom Mercer, Head of New Work at Belvoir, talks us through this process. We discuss how new plays go from an idea to a story outline, and then through three drafts before they are considered for programming in a main stage season.

Dom takes you step by step through the development process within the commissioning model, and shares his provocations for playwrights going through their own drafting process. As a dramaturg of new writing, Dom has so many wonderful insights that are unique to each specific draft and his provocations for playwrights are some of my favourites.

About Dom Mercer: Dom Mercer is a dramaturg, director and producer based in Sydney. He is currently Head of New Work at Belvoir. At Belvoir his role has a focus on new writing and artist development, including leading the commissions and supporting the creative development pipeline for Belvoir's main stage productions in the upstairs theatre. He also founded and runs 25A; a curated season of independent works made in Belvoir’s Downstairs theatre.

We recorded today's conversation at Belvoir on Gadigal land. I acknowledge and pay my respects to the Gadigal people of the Eora nation who are the traditional custodians of the land on which Belvoir St Theatre is built.

In today’s episode, I’m joined by Jenni Medway, Head of New Work at Melbourne Theatre Company. With over a decade of experience in dramaturgy within theatre companies, Jenni shares her approach to developing plays, the role of a company dramaturg, and the unique responsibilities that come with programming new works for a state theatre company. As a dramaturg dedicated to new writing, Jenni has so many wonderful insights on finding your voice as a playwright, writing with a specific audience in mind, and the collaboration between a playwright, director and dramaturg when moving from text into production.

About Jennifer Medway: Jennifer Medway is a dramaturg with over a decade of experience in developing new Australian plays. She is currently Melbourne Theatre Company’s Head of New Work where she runs one of the largest play development programmes in the country. Prior to this, she was Melbourne Theatre Company’s Literary Associate. Her past roles include Resident Dramaturg at the Australian Theatre for Young People, Studio Artist at Griffin Theatre Company, and Literary Assistant at Belvoir Street Theatre.

We recorded today's conversation at Melbourne Theatre Company on Boon Wurrung and Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung land. I acknowledge and pay my respects to the peoples of the Kulin Nation who are the Traditional Custodians of the land on which MTC is built.

Thank you for listening. You can learn more about my work on my website www.emilysheehan.info.

In this special New Year episode I invite you to reflect on your writing year and share a practical way to kick off January: Choosing an Artist Word of the Year. I also reflect on my artistic values and share a personal update on life with a newborn.

In This Episode:

A personal update about motherhood so far

Why choosing a word of the year can be more powerful than traditional resolutions

The difference between goals and values in an artist’s life

Exploring Wants vs. Needs - both in storytelling and how this mirrors real life

50 of the most common values (from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy Mindfulness)

Consider:

What word would you choose to guide your creative practice in 2025?

How can this word influence the way you show up as an artist this year?

What deeper needs might your creative goals be helping you fulfil?

Thank you for listening! To learn more about my work visit https://www.emilysheehan.info/ or connect with me on Instagram @emilysheehan__. If you’re interested in working with me as your dramaturg then send me an email at emily@emilysheehan.info.