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Sara Benincasa

over 4 years ago

Thank you so much!

Getting Shit Done with Sara

Benincasa
Andy Boyle

Jun 22, 2016·8 min read

This first appeared in my weekly newsletter. Subscribe right
now right now right now!
Image from SaraBenincasa.com.

Sara Benincasa is a comedian and author of “Real Artists Have

Day Jobs” as well as the books “DC
Trip,” “Great” and “Agorafabulous!: Dispatches From My
Bedroom.” She’s currently adapting “DC Trip” as a film, and
“Agorafabulous!” as a TV pilot. In addition to writing, she’s hosted
a nightly talk show about sex for Sirius XM, she’s been a school
teacher, a tutor, a janitor. She was born and raised in New Jersey
and now lives in Los Angeles. Basically, she rules.

I first heard about her on Marc Maron’s WTF podcast years ago.

She’s always been creating, doing new things and just kicking ass.
She was kind enough to answer some of my questions about how
she gets shit done. You should also check out her latest
project, The Focus Group, which is definitely not suitable a for
work. It’s a short film where she takes off her clothes for a focus
group.

What is your process for getting something done? (Do

you have a daily word count goal, pages goal, etc? And
this doesn’t have to just apply to writing, it can also be
for literally anything in your life.

Usually I don’t have a daily word count or pages goal. I don’t thrive
well with that kind of plan. I get done what I get done when I get it
done, and I have window of time in which to turn projects around.
Of course I procrastinate so sometimes I have to rush at the end.
But you might have a day where you write 2000 words (that’s rare
for me) and you might have a day where you don’t write anything
(that’s also rare for me).

I take on “too much,” according to my parents and friends. They

are right! I really do. But I’m someone with quirky indie credit and
mild manic pixie dream success in Los Angeles, CA, so I have to
take on a million jobs. Half my time is spent pitching or chasing
freelance payments from giant corporations that love to not pay
writers because they don’t have to, and we don’t have enough
money to get lawyers to chase them down, and they know it.

You know who pays on time? The New York Fucking Post. They
really do.

I used to live in a dual-income household and last year I moved to

Los Angeles, in a single income household (because I am single
now, you see. Is this a dating newsletter?) My expenses have risen.
LA is cheaper than NYC but it’s still pricey. I’m wondering what’s
best — to get a cheaper place in LA, to move to my beloved San
Fernando Valley (very hot but so awesome!) or to gorgeous
Pasadena (very pretty!), or to move to Denver (full of old friends I
love and wonderful mountains and stuff to do!) and to commute
easily on cheap-ass frequent flights, or what. There are seriously
days when I can get from Denver to a meeting in Santa Monica on
a Monday at rush hour in less time than it takes me to get from
Pasadena to Santa Monica on a Monday at rush hour. I can write
anywhere!

Los Angeles is where I work but it doesn’t have to be where I live

full-time in my freaking $1400-a-month studio apartment in the
hippest neighborhood in town. On that note, anybody with advice
can bring it on! Or if they want to sublet my apartment in
Silverlake so I can afford to go see my family and stuff. Or, you
know, if they want to hire me for steady work. Any of that sounds
cool.

But I digress! I enjoy reading about different writers and their

routines because each person is different. It can really make you
feel less alone in the world.

What’s your workflow like? And where do you work?

What do you use (software, computer, pen and paper)?

When it is comfortable (not 108 degrees like it was yesterday) I

work in my kitchen in Los Angeles. I also work in bed sometimes,
laying down. I use my laptop. I have giant boobs that make my
back hurt, so I can only sit or stand upright for so long. I begin
work with a trainer soon to build strength and flexibility in my
back to help. I’m also looking at breast reduction options.
Seriously. Los Angeles is great for that. Do people usually talk
about boobs in these interviews? They should.

I really can’t get much in depth work done in public. I do enjoy

using coffee shops for my emailing and clerical tasks. Paying bills,
following up on pitch emails, etc. It is really nice to be around
people because one of the things I struggle with as a freelance
writer is loneliness. Not coincidentally, that is also one of the
things I struggle with as a human being.
For the in-depth act of creation, I can’t be around distractions.
And people are very distracting. So when I am actually writing a
first draft I have found it is best for me to find solitude.

How do you deal with distractions or procrastination?

Not particularly well. Sometimes I will turn off my phone and the
Wi-Fi on my computer. That’s a really good technique actually.

How do you self-edit your work? How do you know when

it’s ready to be shared with anyone else?

If I am writing something that is just for my own pleasure or

simply because I need to get it out of my head, I will write it and
then walk away for a few minutes or a few hours and then return
to it and edit it with fresh eyes. Otherwise, I just feel it out with
each individual producer or editor. Every working relationship is
different. I feel very fortunate to have working relationships.
Motivating oneself is quite tough. I had to do it for years and I still
have to do it sometimes. Asking a friend to hold you accountable is
QUITE helpful. I suggest it.

How do you deal with or accept feedback?

Typically very well. I love that people are actually looking at my

work. If they are my friends, clearly they care enough to devote
some time to it. If they are my editorials or producers, that means
I’m getting a paycheck! I love paychecks. I wish they would show
up more often, and on time. The joy of freelancing is that you
spend a ton of time chasing down checks from giant companies. It
is a terrible scam of a career but when it is great, it is really great. I
get to lay naked in front of my air-conditioner and write most of
the time. That is a glorious thing.

For awhile I was in a writers group in Los Angeles with Stephen

Falk (creator of “You’re the Worst” on FX), Lauren Morelli
(writer/producer, “Orange Is The New Black”), Dave Holstein,
Liana Maeby, JD Ryznar, Rob Sheridan, Kelly Fullerton, Francis
Stokes, Leila Cohan-Miccio and some others. I was so fucking
fortunate that Steve asked me to be in the group. I got to work
with these amazing professionals and learn so very much. It was a
great place to learn about feedback. Plus we drank loads of wine
and Stephen has a great dog.

How do you know when something is “done” ? Or is

anything *ever* finished?

It is done when it feels right in my gut. I can look at pretty much

anything I have ever written and find some things I would tweak.
Usually I am concerned with sensitivity and inclusivity, because
my education as an intersectional feminist has really come a long
way since I started publishing books in 2012. So there are certainly
things I would change in the past and I imagine that is not unusual
for writers.
I am proud of all of my books. I love them each in different ways. I
don’t go back and reread them unless it is required for a work
assignment.

My books are not my diaries. My diaries are brain barf. They are
soul vomit. They are gut instinct and pure primal reaction. But just
as I can see myself grow up in reading my diaries, so I can see
myself grow as a writer as I look at old writing versus new writing.
And let’s be honest… Some of our old writing is inevitably kind of
embarrassing. I find that more on stuff I’ve written for the web
over the years rather than books. With books you generally have a
pretty attentive editor. Not always, but usually. Whereas web
editors are typically grinding it the fuck out and getting paid
garbage money with the knowledge that they will eventually be
fired once the website fails. Which it will.

Let’s talk specifically about “Real Artists Have Day Jobs.”

Can you walk me through the process of that book
becoming a reality? Did you pitch it? Did someone come
to you? What was your process like for writing/editing
each essay?

It’s my fourth published book. I wanted to subvert the self-help

genre while paying homage to the books that have genuinely
helped me. It was originally called “Let’s Grow Up Together.” Then
we changed the title, naming it after an essay I wrote for Medium
that went viral. I love this title. I created a proposal and my agent
pitched it to Cassie Jones at William Morrow. She edited my first
book and she is fucking great. We banged out an outline, I
executed said outline, bing bang boom, a book!

Has the process of writing that book been different than

your memoir or previous fiction books?

Writing this was fun as hell. I got the extraordinary opportunity to

write a love letter to the world, and that’s exactly what I did.

If you have imposter syndrome, how do you deal with it?

I don’t have imposter syndrome. I’m awesome at what I do and I’ll

get greater the harder and smarter I work. I work really, really
hard. Sometimes too hard.

I deserve everything I have inasmuch as anyone deserves to be

financially rewarded for fingerpainting in the sky. I didn’t get here
alone. I’ve been helped emotionally, physically, spiritually,
financially by my family and my friends and various employers
and strangers. I am a kind and decent person who pays it forward
and who apologizes when she messes up. Sometimes I’m grumpy,
cranky, jealous and mean.

But I’m never an imposter.

I absolutely deserve all of this good stuff, and more. I suggest
anyone reading this adopt that statement as their mission
statement and say it over and over whenever they’re bored. You’ve
got to do the work. I’m not entitled. I’m an earner. And I’ve been
lucky, a bit. All of this takes talent and hard work and luck and
that’s unfair because life is unfair. Wonderfully, terribly unfair.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given in regards

to creativity?

Live a little before you try to write about it.

If you could give the younger you advice when you were
starting out, what would you say?

Go through the UCB system even though you’re terrified of

improv. Don’t have sex with comedians just because it’s easy and
they’re there. Don’t take on so much credit card debt. A little is
fine. A lot sucks. Cool it with the American Apparel already. Start
exercising now. Drink more water. Have fewer boyfriends. Have
more girlfriends but not too many. Date less overall. Move to Los
Angeles a couple years sooner. And take a walk.

Anything else?

Watch my short film, The Focus Group. It’s fun! And buy Real

Artists Have Day Jobs. And make a soundtrack for when you write
a particular project. I’ve got different soundtracks for every
project. It’s quite fun.

If you dig this, hit that heart down there or share it with a friend.
Or share it with an enemy! Make them into a buddy
instead. And sign-up for my newsletter, where you can get
interviews like this early.

I’d love to hear from you. So leave a comment below, or yell at

me on Twitter.
WRITTEN BY

Andy Boyle

Writer, website maker, person. First book coming summer 2017.

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