26 Comments

Yes, and I don't want to be merely supportive, I want to critique, analyze, test, and consider, but without suppressing other people or making them angry or sad. If your first impulse when anyone says anything is to turn it upside down and try to take it apart, you need velvet gloves. "Yes and" is just such a pair of gloves.

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Oh, Ellen! It is so exciting to read about how well--and how MERRILY--your revisions are going!

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couldn't do it without you, love!

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I love this rule, in theatre and games and life. I hope to do more of it myself, and surround myself with people who do.

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It's such an interesting thought experiment! Sometimes when I'm writing - or even speaking - I play with what changing the word BUT to an AND will do to a sentence. It tends to be pretty nuanced - but there is a definite trajectory over the weeks.

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Regarding the first photo, if I had a retreat like that, I’d write, too! (Of course it would be “dreadful,” but I wouldn’t care!

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"Dad, I love you, and you're causing me grief." (I know you'll know why I chose this sentence)

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I do. And it's perfect.

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Yes, and Brava! 💙

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Good to read you again. Keep up the good work. Love your hair!

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Thank you!

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It’s quite nice hair; also, as selfies go, it’s excellent.

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You are kind!

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When I was around 11, my yeah-buts (also pronouced Yebbuts by my family) were so frequent that my fathet made a house rule: No Yebbuts after 6:00 pm.

(This was, not coincidentally, the time that he arrived home from work.)

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Ha! It must have been in the air!

And, yeah: I should have spelled it "Yebbut"

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I guess it’s a known Young Ellen trait…

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Clearly.

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I sent one of those "oh my god, this is so boring" texts to my writing group just yesterday. It's very reassuring to hear this is not just something unpublished writers are plagued with.

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I'm glad you have a group you feel you can be angsty at!

Everyone needs one.

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Writing groups are essential!

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Well yes, I would like to hear as much about the process as you want to share. Certainly some of why I'm here!

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Thanks - good to know!

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I've always thought that "Mr. Earbrass" is the best depiction of the inner life of the writer anyone has captured.

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Without a doubt.

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I think you've hit on something with notes 5 and 6 here: that incoming repellent personification of a lego under one's foot IS evil AND lies to create a different reality.

400 years ago, In The Times Of LiveJournal, Yea, the tagline of mine (grabbed from a meme, probably) was "making new internets to push the bad internets down."

Ellen! I'm going to sit down and have a think (with pens in different colors, of course) about this. Clearly we need to make new realities to push the bad realities down.

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Colored pens will definitely help!

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