In one sense it’s encouraging that my mentor is extremely busy. I often hear of the anxious time spent searching for employment or the desperate jobless waiting that even professional writers must regularly undergo. Jon doesn’t appear to be one of those writers. Soon after leaving Law and Order: SVU he got a new staff job writing for A Gifted Man (CBS this fall). As I’ve talked to him, he’s also been hurrying to finish a book he’s writing. “This chapter’s way past deadline. I’ve gotta get it done before the publisher puts out a hit on me.” Unfortunately this leaves him with very little time to talk. We’ve been able to squeeze sessions into the cracks in his full schedule. Though meetings have come less frequently than I’d hoped they would, knowing how busy Jon is makes me really appreciate the fact that he agreed to work with me in the first place and that he’s given me the little time he has.
I aspire to be as busy as Jon is, and I aspire to be busy in the same way he is, busy in the best way—busy working. However, I’m keeping occupied. Developing ideas, character sketches, storyline summaries, and beat sheets takes most of my time. I split the rest between networking and applying for jobs. This internship has been a nice glimpse into the life of a writer, both because I get to see what it looks like in Jon and because I get to live it (partially) through my daily activities. Aside from the absence of a writer’s room, my life during this brief three-credit endeavor feels much like that of a professional writer, although it’s a simulation—the student version. Here’s to hoping that I won’t wait too long experience the real version and to feel this again in the professional world.