Inspiration

There are lots of times when I think about what kind of writer I want to be.

Some days I want to be like Joss Whedon and Josh Schwartz and Amy Sherman Pallidino and invent my own kind of lingo and rhythm like they did and have people on the internet praise my greatness, change pop culture forever with a television phenomenon. (I mean honestly, where would my generation be without Buffy, The OC, and Gilmore Girls respectively?)

Other times I want to be one of those writers that people in 100 years still talk about what I've written. You know like Jane Austen or Mellville or something.

A lot of the time I want to be Tina Fey. I think the reasons for that are obvious, so I won't elaborate.

And then there are nights like tonight. I'm watching Sleepless in Seattle and I realize that I really truly want to be a writer like Nora Ephron. I mean, I want to write something that totally transcends myself, the time it was written and the genre that it's in. Obviously Sleepless in Seattle isn't that piece, for her it was When Harry Met Sally. But that's what I want, I want to write something that changes people, that makes them happy and makes them cry and that they see themselves in.

I picked up my copy of I feel bad about my neck because of this and just reread the chapter about cook books, and how whatever cook book you use most is a reflection of your philosophy. Who thinks that way? She's truly brilliant.

Of course tomorrow I'll probably watch Sex and The City and decide I want to be Michael Patrick King. Or when I start doing my reading for the semester in a couple weeks, I'll want to be one of those writers. But for now, I definitely want to be Nora Ephron.