Post Play Thoughts

This Week in Writing: I’m a Playwright!

This Week in Writing: Happy Thanksgiving and Tech Week

August 2016 Wrap Up

This Week in Writing: Homestretch

5 month check in (2016)

*This was written early July 2016.

I am succeeding even though moment to moment it does not always feel that way. Right now, I am earning half of my income from this copywriting/video editing job. My first article was published on The Billfold. On other writing, I wrote two one act plays that I submitted to a playwriting festival. I’ve outlined a non fiction book and a tv pilot I want to write this year. Let’s take a look back.

Jan: I shared my 2016 goals. “My goal is 75% freelance writing a la Nicole Dieker or Ester Bloom of The Billfold, 20% social media management and 5% other.“

Feb: I got a copywriting job! With this, I became a paid writer, not just an aspiring one. 

Mar: Outlined my book. Wrote my first one act.

April: Outlined a tv pilot. Wrote my second one act.

May: The Billfold published my article about gardening. I am now a paid writer under my own name.

June: Business Insider and Insider republished my gardening article.

REVISED GOAL: Earn 100% of my income from writing. The writing will be a mix between fiction writing (tv and plays) and content writing.

Ariana Burrell is a freelance writer and poet working in Southern California. You can find her lurking around the internet here: Instagram or Twitter or Website. If you’re so inclined you can leave her a tip here.

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This Week in Writing: Too much to do, not enough time (Sept 30th)

This Week in Writing: Where have I been?

This Week in Writing: Picking a Niche

Total Pieces Written: 4
Total Pieces Published: 5
Total Pitches Sent: 0

VIDEO: The Play Diaries: Casting

Most of this year, I’ve been writing a bit of everything. To really take my writing career to the next level, I need to focus more. Nicole Dieker writes about finance. Jorden Roper writes about writing and IT. Cashville Skyline writes about finance and new media. Mridu Khullar Relph writes about India/Indian culture and writing. You see what I mean? In half a second, I can quickly and easily tell you what they specialize in writing. It took me longer to remember how to spell their names correctly.

Did I pick a niche? Yes, I think so. How to use social media to grow your business. I have spent the last 4 years or so working as a social media manager for various companies, in addition to my own business. Although I don’t have a huge social media following, I’ve parlayed my presence into a lot of opportunities for myself. Why not use that skill to help other companies.

Ariana Burrell is a freelance writer and poet working in Southern California. You can find her lurking around the internet here: Instagram or Twitter or Website. If you’re so inclined you can leave her a tip here.

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Mainstage performances from VidCon 2014

Is this video 2 years late? Yes but it is finally here.

Here are some of the mainstage performances from VidCon 2014. Clearly I have a backlog of footage.

The Play Diaries: Casting

Last week I announced that I wrote and am directing a play. This week I talk about the casting process. There will be a second part to this video because I ended up recasting half the show.

This is a new series documenting the production of my first play. Each episode will tackle a different aspect of writing and directing a play. This week is all about casting.

This Week in Writing: Thoughts

Total Pieces Written: 1
Total Pieces Published: 1
Total Pitches Sent: 0

VIDEO: Mainstage Performances VidCon 2014

I didn’t post last week.

I had a real shift in how I’m thinking about work. During the Dear Hank and John podcast, they said that if you’re more than 50% happy with your work, then you are doing well. John said he’s 75% happy. Hank said 80-85%. I am about 75% happy with work. I’m dissatisfied with the amount I’m earning but overjoyed with my schedule and the kind of work I’m producing. That was a nice realization. I found it to be a simple yet helpful metric for assessing my situation.

Ariana Burrell is a freelance writer and poet working in Southern California. You can find her lurking around the internet here: Instagram or Twitter or Website. If you’re so inclined you can leave her a tip here.

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Exciting News!!!

Alt title: The reason why I disappeared from VEDA.

I ended VEDA by making 15 of 20 videos which I’m happy with. I made more videos this month than I did all year. Moving forward, I plan to post a video a week and am starting a new series on my channel. More info about in the video. 

Thanks to everyone who watched VEDA this month!

This Week in Writing: Grief vs Excitement

Total Pieces Written: 2
Total Pieces Published: 1
Total Pitches Sent:1
Total Pitches Accepted: 1

LAST SUMMER I GREW HALF OF EVERYTHING I ATE – HERE’S HOW YOU CAN TOO
I Ship It Webseries Thoughts (SPOILERS)
VIDEO: Filming at the Youtube Space LA

I’m working on a project that I’m thrilled about. It’s been a goal of mine for a long time. But it’s also tempered by grief. A professor of mine unexpectedly died. Then not long after my uncle died. For whatever reason, it all hit me this week. Such a weird dichotomy to be excited about your life and successes as someone else’s life ends.

Ariana Burrell is a freelance writer and poet working in Southern California. You can find her lurking around the internet here: Instagram or Twitter or Website. If you’re so inclined you can leave her a tip here.

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Farm Animals

Continuing the theme of farm animals, today's video is from when I visited a farm in San Diego.

LACMA

In yesterday's post I shared the Rain Room exhibit at LACMA. Today's video shows the rest of the visit.

Rain Room

"Random International’s Rain Room (2012) is an immersive environment of perpetually falling water that pauses wherever a human body is detected. The installation offers visitors an opportunity to experience what is seemingly impossible: the ability to control rain. Rain Room presents a respite from everyday life and an opportunity for sensory reflection within a responsive relationship."

The above description is from the website about the exhibit. I loved it. It was a really cool interactive experience. Exhibitions like this really make art visceral in a way that other types of art is not. If you have the chance, definitely check it out.

Hackney City Farm

Hackney City Farm is a fully functioning farm in the middle of London. It was a strange experience get off the tube to then be surrounded by farm animals. If you ever visit London, I highly recommend checking it out.

I Ship It Webseries Thoughts (SPOILERS)

I finished watching I Ship It the webseries on the CW Seed by Yulin Kuang. First off, congratulations to Yulin on her successes. It’s been a pleasure watching her micro series Kissing in the Rain up to I Ship It. I know how much work you must have put into this series, especially because this is the longest thing you’ve worked on before. It’s the length of a feature film broken up into 10 chunks.

I LOVED the last chunk of episodes. That’s where the story really came together for me. I understood who these people are and why they wanted what they wanted. 

I love that Ella chose herself. Her line about not being a vending machine was SO true. I appreciate the flipping of the script. Ella doesn’t end up with anyone. No one neatly pairs off because that’s not real life. Denver and Sasha don’t end up together. I love how Sasha handles it. She acknowledges that Denver doesn’t want the same thing and respects that decision. 

Music. I’ve been listening to the soundtrack on repeat since it was released on soundcloud. The music was great, especially the songs Ella sings. Kirstyn Hippe wrote some catchy tunes. Ella’s last song was one of my favorites. Ella, “I watch too many shows and read too many books and have too many feelings, so I write nerd rock songs and that makes it better.” I think that’s why a lot of us make art.  

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This Week in Writing: Personal Things

Total Pieces Written: 1

Total Pieces Published: 3

Total Pitches Sent: 0

VIDEO: Rain Room

VIDEO: LACMA

VIDEO: Gallifrey One

VIDEO: Farm Animals

I did not write very much this week. Things were happening in my personal life. I don’t have much to say other than it was a tough week.

Ariana Burrell is a freelance writer and poet working in Southern California. You can find her lurking around the internet here: Instagram or Twitter or Website. If you’re so inclined you can leave her a tip here. 

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This Week in Writing: Tough Week

Total Pieces Written: 12
Total Pieces Published: 16
Total Pitches Sent: 0

2015 in Pictures
VIDEO: 2015 in Pictures
Why Diversity Matters?
VIDEO: Why Diversity Matters?
Napa Valley
VIDEO: Napa Valley

It’s been a strange week. It’s made me think a lot about life and what I want out of life. Also self care. I intend to finish VEDA but it may not be completed in the month of August. I just need a bit of time to deal with things.

On a more positive note, I’m really pleased with how my writing has been going. I’m starting to feel confident in my abilities to produce content. At work, one of my pieces didn’t get any rewrites. It was published as it. : )


Ariana Burrell is a freelance writer and poet working in Southern California. You can find her lurking around the internet here: Instagram or Twitter or Website. If you’re so inclined you can leave her a tip here.

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Napa Valley

Last summer I took a road trip up the coast of California stopping in San Diego, Cambria, Berkeley and Napa Valley. I had a great time and got to see so much of the state. It's amazing that you can drive for 12 hours and be in the same state!

Why diversity matters?

Why does diversity matter? Why is it important to see yourself reflected in the media?

I forgot to say in the video that Belle is based off of a true story!

2015 in Pictures

Today's video is a picture recap of 2015.  2015 was an interesting year. I was working a ton and pretty successful in my career, but I was not making anything, nor did I document much of the year. As you watch there are several months that have no pictures. Overall, it was a year of painful learning and a change of career paths. I hope you like it!

This Week in Writing: Taking my career seriously

Total Pieces Written: 7
Total Pieces Published: 6
Total Pitches Sent: 0

July 2016 Wrap Up
VIDEO: Life Update
VIDEO: But I Didn’t (Poem/TW)
VIDEO: The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up
VIDEO: VidCon 2015
VIDEO: 2015 in Pictures

I spent a fair amount of 2015 complaining about the lack of progress in my own projects. But at the end of the day it’s up to me to create things. I can’t expect people to support or pay for my content if I don’t produce any.

The people whose careers I admire dabble in a bit of everything - The Vlogbrothers, Emma Gannon, Amanda Palmer, Dodie Clark. I want to try new things and be allowed to meander between mediums. And to get paid for the things that my name is attached to.

So this month I am doing VEDA-video every day in August. Or almost every day. I’m planning on making 20 videos, so one video each weekday.

Ariana Burrell is a freelance writer and poet working in Southern California. You can find her lurking around the internet here: Instagram or Twitter or Website. If you’re so inclined you can leave her a tip here.

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VidCon 2015

I realize I'm a year late but here is my VidCon 2015 video. This was the first year of the creator track. I loved the 3 tiered system. It made it so much easier to find what you were looking for and have much more meaningful conversations. They kept the 3 tiers this year, but I wasn't able to attend.

The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up

Today I did a book review of The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo. One thing I don't mention in the video is my thoughts on the audiobook. I really liked the voice of the audiobook reader. It was a fitting book to listen to while tidying up. But it was difficult to visualize some of her folding methods. Many of the visuals in the print version of the book I had to google while reading. It was a very quick and enjoyable listen. To hear my thoughts on the content of the book, check out my video below.

July 2016 Wrap Up

Total Pieces Written: 58
Total Pieces Published: 52
Total Pitches Sent: 2
Total Pitches Accepted: 1

This is my most productive month. And lowest earning month. I feel great realizing how much I can produce even when life gets in the way. I’m on par with Nicole Dieker for pieces produced. It makes me feel like I can do this.

THIS WEEK IN WRITING was about energy, self promotion and productivity. This month was not about increasing earnings.

THINGS I’VE LEARNED July was about being thankful for my savings account and having a safety net. I earned way less this month even though my output was way higher. It’s really time for me to find some new clients.

This Week in Writing: Productivity
This Week in Writing: How much are we willing to inconvenience ourselves for someone else?
Networking Ideas
This Week in Writing: Energy
June 2016 Wrap Up
This Week in Writing: Self Promotion
This Week in Writing: Productivity Up, Earnings Down



Ariana Burrell is a freelance writer and poet working in Southern California. You can find her lurking around the internet here: Instagram or Twitter or Website. If you’re so inclined you can leave her a tip here.

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POEM: But I Didn't [TW]

A few years ago I wrote a poem dealing with consent, or the lack thereof. I'm really proud of it. There is definitely a trigger warning on this for sexual assault. Please take care of yourself. Click here and here for previous posts talking about consent.

Where have I been?

I am making a video every weekday this month on my youtube channel. If you've been wondering what I'm up to and why I haven't been posting much on the internet, check out today's life update video. There will be closed captioning on all non travel videos.

This Week in Writing: Productivity Up, Earnings Down

Total Pieces Written: 11
Total Pieces Published: 1
Total Pitches Sent: 0
Total Pitches Accepted: 1

And interesting spot with this whole writing career thing. Productivity is up and wages are down. You’ll see this in about a week when I publish my July wrap up but I produced almost 40 blog post between this blog and my job. And I edited almost 40 videos this month. For a point of comparison, I usually average around 25 to 30 blog posts per month. I produced more content but earned less money, in part because I’m just faster at using the editing software. The current problem of the American economy, how do I make my income match my productivity?

From everything I’ve read, I may need to start switching over to a per project fee instead of a per hour fee. Also finding higher paying clients.

Ariana Burrell is a freelance writer and poet working in Southern California. You can find her lurking around the internet here: Instagram or Twitter or Website. If you’re so inclined you can leave her a tip here.

April 2016 Wrap-up

Total Pieces Written: 26
Total Pieces Published: 14
Total Pitches Sent: 0
I have things to say, stories that need to be told.
I keep circling the drain about wanting to write. It’s not a lack of desire but fear of the consequences. I’m really burned out from this freelancing life. I don’t want to hate writing once I do it full time. There’s no way to know if that will happen but it’s not an irrational fear. It happened to me with theater and with film.
But I can’t stop thinking about it. I’m really proud of the creative writing I did this month. I feel empowered to tell stories.
THIS WEEK IN WRITING was about the importance of editing, leveling up, self care and moving forward. A lot of ups and downs with writing this month, in part because my focus was split between theater work and writing work, to the detriment of both.
THINGS I LEARNED: Sometimes you have to walk away. More and more I’ve needed to walk away from theater. Walking away also means having a more stringent schedule. In theater, I could get away with going to bed late or not eating well the day before. But I can’t write well when I don’t put the utmost care into my health.
This Week in Writing: The Importance of Editing
March 2016 Wrap-Up
This Week in Writing: Leveling Up
This Week in Writing: Self Care while making a change
This Week in Writing: Moving Forward
Episode Review: Girls 5.6 (SPOILERS)
The Gig Economy and Mentorship

*also posted on tumblr: http://arianaburrell.tumblr.com/post/144106420899/april-2016-wrap-up

Misty Copeland & Degas

READ: If Male Characters Were Introduced in Scripts Like Women

Originally posted by audreylynnillustrationhp

“With a boom and a thud befitting of his sinewy legs for days, enter the sparkly-eyed, pink-lipped RUBEUS HAGRID. He was once a sought-after sex god, but his many years as groundskeeper of a large boarding school have taken their toll. Nevertheless, his capable manhood hasn’t shrunk a bit.”

READ: How I quit my smartphone addiction and really started living

Originally posted by defaerie

I’ve thought about getting rid of my cellphone many times. It’s impractical for me, however, I love the idea of being unreachable. Throughout the year, I’ll have cellphone free days, where I purposefully leave my cell at home and have a me day.

VISUAL: Misty Copeland recreated Degas Paintings

HUMOR: Obama Resigns From Presidency After Michelle Lands Dream Job In Seattle

Originally posted by spacethomasjefferson

I realize this is a sarcastic article but I wish it were true for the Obama’s and for many American families. I want to live in a world where it’s just as normal for a husband to put his wife’s career first. 

POEM: Lesbihonest

“My desires do not walk 
hand in hand with your 
stereyotypes and expectations
of what I should look like
so this is
an open letter to my grandmother
who cringes at the lesbian couple on doctor who”

This Week in Writing: Chugging Along

Total Pieces Written: 8                                                                                              Total Pieces Published: 2                                                                                           Total Pitches Sent: 0     

Newsletter: On Pandering & Exclusivity

I don’t have much to say in this week’s roundup. I’m chugging along, working more on playwriting than this blog at the moment. But also living my life in a lovely way. This week week there isn’t really an update.

On Pandering & Exclusivity

READ: On Pandering and Exclusivity

“It is easier to complain about the power you don’t have than to think about how you are exerting the power you do have. And fighting for your own rights is not the same as fighting for equality.”

READ: Children’s Stories Made Horrific: The Beauty And The Beast

Originally posted by ronoroa18

This is a beautiful yet unsettling Stockholm Syndrome version of Beauty and the Beast. It takes the story out of the fairy tale land and brings it closer to reality.

“The library is yours.
The books are mine.
Your eyes are your own.
What you read is up to me.”

READ: Yes I unfriended you. Don’t Take it Personally

Originally posted by naiveyouth7

I use social media a lot but I still have my criticisms. Casey Neistat’s piece about facebook is spot on. I use facebook as an extension of my email now and not as a social gathering place any longer. I want the status updates back. I want to know what’s happening in my friends’ lives. I don’t care about buzzfeed articles or quizzes. 

READ: British remake of Roots

Roots is a book by Alex Haley that follows the life of slave, Kunta Kinte and subsequent generations. The 1970s miniseries adaptation was smash hit and spawned really important discussions about race and American history. British remake is in the works with Malachi Kirby playing the title character. LeVar Burton originated the role.

WATCHED: "Questions I've Been Asked as a Midwife" [Poem]

 “Females prepare ourselves enough to know we will never be prepared, so every decision and choice we make about our body is always the right one.”

This Week in Writing: Setting Goals

Total Pieces Written: 3                                                                                             Total Pieces Published: 3                                                                                         Total Pitches Sent: 1     

January 2016 Wrap Up

Newsletter: It’s Off to Work We Go

Originally posted by writersrelief

I was really down on myself at the end of last week until I wrote my January wrap up. It was really helpful seeing the numbers in black and white. I wrote almost daily and send out a few pitches. Progress was made, even if it didn’t feel like it. Social media management lagged. I didn’t post much nor did I do any work towards gaining any clients. So yesterday, I set clearer goals. I am giving myself six months to see some progress. By progress I mean having some pitches accepted, getting paid for those articles, and acquiring a new client as a social media manager. At the six month mark if nothing has changed, I will reevaluate. Part of the problem was unactionable goals. No one can expect to see huge changes in the span of a few weeks. With these new goals, I hope to have a clearer idea of where I'm going.