A very popular show is Girls, on HBO. The show is about four women in their 20’s, living in New York City and wondering which direction to take their life. The writer, the star and creator of the show is Lena Dunham, a 28 year old living in NYC.
Dunham has written the show based off of her own personal experiences. Although, she is not the writer that I am profiling, she is a writer who works in a very similar way that I do. A few years ago Dunham had an interview with salon.com about her life, her family and friends, the show, her inspirations and her writing process.
Writers suggest that you should write for a few hours, everyday, but some of us just don’t have time to do that or we are bad at keeping that habit. Both Dunham and I share that quality in common. Here is a clip out of Dunham’s interview:
“What role does writing play in your life? Are you more of a Joan Didion notebook writer, a Hemingway-blood-on-the-page type, or an “I’m emotional, I’m just going to throw it out there” maniac? I want so much to be someone who sees something and writes it down in their beautiful leather notebook. The fact is that I write under duress, often in my bed, often at the last minute. I’m kind of a binge writer I would say, which I don’t support. I was always kind of that way. Probably the time I was the most regular as a writer was college. It was like, what else is there to do when you’re living in the Midwest studying creative writing?”
Everyone’s writing process is completely different but I feel that when I write my best it is last minute, when I am in my pajamas in my bed, just like Ms. Dunham. It is not the best habit to have but all of us our different.
If you ever watch the show Girls and watch an interview of Lena Dunham, you would instantly notice how similar Dunham is to her character, Hannah. Hannah is also a writer in the show and her writing process is very similar to Dunhams. Hannah is constantly sitting in her bed, almost nude, trying to come up with a creative essay for her e-book.
Lena Dunham is one of my inspirations and I highly recommend her book Not That Kind of Girl and the TV show, Girls.
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