Ms. In the Biz Post: THE WRITE STUFF – Finding the Right Mentors

Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse in the Lost writer’s room. They have nothing to do with my Ms. in the Biz post – I just really loved Lost.

Hey there everyone! First, I should let you know that there’s been a slight change in what I’ll be doing for Ms. In the Biz. I will no longer be doing a Pretty Plus column on its own, though I might pull that into my Pound By Pound posts on occasion. So, you can expect to hear from me weekly re: my Pound By Pound efforts and monthly re: writing. Got it?

Good.

And hey, speaking of writing, the first installment of “The Write Stuff” hit Ms. In the Biz today! My first writing column for the site both talks about seeking mentors and introduces The Writer’s Room, a select group of professional TV writers I know who’ve been kind enough to share their experience with you once a month. I hope you’ll find my writing journey enlightening (and when you don’t, I hope that you’ll at least garner some wisdom from folks who actually know what they’re talking about!).

EXCERPT:

6)    BE THE KIND OF PERSON PEOPLE WANT TO HELP – In the entertainment industry, more than anywhere else, collaborations and successful partnerships often come about by chance, and they come about through relationships you nurture, sometimes over years. You never know when they’re going to happen, or when those relationships are going to “pay off.” So, don’t be the kind of person who’s only interested in the payoff. Be kind and respectful to everyone. Yes, everyone. Even the people you’re not too crazy about. Even the assistants and the receptionists. Even people who aren’t already Somebody. Because you just never know. Also, help others. Don’t expect to receive without giving. Don’t hoard all of your opportunities. If you hear about a cool writing group, or a job opportunity you know would be up someone’s alley, tell a writer friend about it. If you write for an outlet that can promote someone’s work, offer to interview them or to do an article about what they’re working on. Offer to be a reader of people’s work, and give them thoughtful, constructive criticism when you do. I mean, you should strive to be this kind of person anyway. You know, because it’s better to not be a douche than to be a douche. But also keep in mind that the best way to get what you want is to help others get what they want. Kindness begets kindness.

To read the full article, and to leave a comment, CLICK HERE!

** DON’T FORGET THE POUND BY POUND PLEDGE DRIVE – RUNNING APR. 5TH 2013-APR. 5TH 2014 **

MS. IN THE BIZ LAUNCHES TODAY!

Me and Ms. In the Biz founder/editor, Helenna Santos-Levy at the Ms. In the Biz/FilmBreak launch mixer. Photo by Michael Jackson of ChileJam!

I’m so excited to finally be able to tell you that MS. IN THE BIZ, a new site I’ll be writing for, LAUNCHES TODAY! Go on over and check it out!

One of the things that excites me most about this new endeavor is the community that editor and founder, Helenna Santos-Levy, has managed to create. There are 70+ bloggers on the site, and having had the opportunity to meet many of them at several events now, I have to say that I am so proud to be associated with such a creative, brilliant, and genuinely kind group of women. We are at all different levels of the entertainment industry, but we are all there for each other and support each other and each other’s work. I can’t wait to get to know these ladies better and read all of their contributions to the site!

As for me, I’ll be contributing 3 regular columns:

• Pound By Pound – updates on my fitness and my pledge drive. Weekly.
• The Write Stuff – a day in the life of a woman trying to break into the mad, mad world of TV writing (and other types of scribbling for a living). Monthly.
• Pretty Plus – I try to get my look together and show you how to find awesome, quality plus-size fashion on a budget, with the help of some stylish friends! Monthly.

And you’ll be able to find links to all my Ms. In the Biz posts here at The Teresa Jusino Experience! Stay tuned for those, and in the meantime, go check out the site now! You’ll love it!

Me and some of the Ms. In the Biz ladies (and a gentleman!) at the Ms. In the Biz/FilmBreak launch mixer. Photo by Michael Jackson of ChileJam!

** DON’T FORGET THE POUND BY POUND PLEDGE DRIVE – RUNNING APR. 5TH 2013-APR. 5TH 2014 **

SONG OF THE DAY: “SAIL” – AWOL NATION

Awol Nation

When I was writing for the now sadly defunct Red Bull culture site, ChinaShop Magazine, I went to my first (and thusfar ONLY) Fashion Week party a couple of years ago. This up and coming band called Awol Nation was playing the party because they were a Red Bull artist, and their CD was all up in the gift bags. I was like, meh. Whatever. Wasn’t particularly impressed.

This morning, I couldn’t get their song “Sail” out of my head. It’s funny how a couple of years can change things!

Today’s Song of the Day is “Sail” by Awol Nation. Enjoy!

** DON’T FORGET THE POUND BY POUND PLEDGE DRIVE – RUNNING APR. 5TH 2013-APR. 5TH 2014 **

WELCOME SLATE READERS!

So, as it turns out, being featured on Slate.com is a pretty big deal.

If you’ve found your way here because you clicked over from the Doctor Who post I did with Mac Rogers over at Slate.com…WELCOME!

Feel free to poke around the blog! A little about me: I’m a freelance writer based out of Los Angeles (current outlets include Al Dia, NerdSpan, and Ms In the Biz, which launches MAY 6th – previous outlets include Tor.com, GirlGamer.com, Newsarama, ChinaShop Magazine, and Pink Raygun), and I tend to write about:

• geeky pop culture (love sci-fi and fantasy stuff – TV, comics, film…)
• music
• feminism and LGBT activism (usually in the realm of media, though I write about it more generally, too)
• writing (fiction, TV writing, freelancing in general)
• issues that face minorities of all types. Again, particularly in media, but elsewhere, too.
• politics (sometimes)
• general activism and ways to make the world better
• whatever strikes my fancy!

So, if you’d like to keep tabs on my fiction and non-fiction, or join me in my journey to make the world a better place one well-placed sentence at a time, subscribe to the blog and stay tuned! You can also follow me on Twitter (@teresajusino), “like” me on Facebook (facebook.com/TheTeresaJusinoExperience), follow me on Tumblr (tumblwithteresa.tumblr.com), or check out my pins on Pinterest (pinterest.com/teresajusino).

Happy reading! And thanks for stopping by!

Talking Doctor Who at Slate!

Hey there, kids!

As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, I did a chat with my friend, Mac Rogers, as part of a series of Doctor Who reviews he’ll be doing with prominent Whovians for Slate. Well, our chat about “The Bells of Saint John” has posted!

EXCERPT:

Mac: Fortunately the revelation of the identity of Miss Kizlet’s mysterious “client” was well within the episode proper. And how cool was it that the client was unveiled as the Great Intelligence, now having permanently assumed the always welcome appearance of Richard E. Grant? When it comes to recurring villains from the classic series, it’s hard to think of a deeper cut than the Great Intelligence, which menaced the Doctor in 1967′s “The Abominable Snowmen” and 1968′s “The Web of Fear” and made a surprise return in the this past December’s Christmas special, “The Snowmen.” It’s interesting, between Doctor Simeon in “The Snowmen” and now Miss Kizlet in “Saint John,” we’re seeing the Great Intelligence as an evil mirror of the Doctor, first visiting people in childhood and profoundly influencing the rest of their lives. What do you make of the often nostalgia-averse Moffat bringing back such an obscure villain? And do you think we’ll get to see some Yeti?

Teresa: I have to admit I rolled my eyes. Sorry! You say Moffat’s nostalgia-averse, and I’m like, “What?” All current Doctor Who seems to do (not just the Moffat era, but Davies, too) is rehash old villains from Classic Who: Daleks, Silurians, Sontarans, Cybermen. Moffat’s definitely been better about creating new threats: the Weeping Angels, the Vashta Nerada, the Silence, all genius and horribly frightening. But then he insists on going back to old stuff. For what? To appease the fans of Classic Who? It’s a huge universe. The Doctor could swing 50 cats and never hit another Cyberman again if he really didn’t want to. I long for one, just one season of Doctor Who with completely new aliens and monsters.

For the entire post, and to leave a comment, CLICK HERE.

And thanks, Mac, for a great chat! It was fun! (And if only people could read the stuff that was cut out! Hmmm….)

I’M IN A HUGO-NOMINATED ANTHOLOGY, YOU GUYS!

Guess what I found out yesterday?

Only that CHICKS UNRAVEL TIME HAS BEEN NOMINATED FOR A HUGO AWARD IN THE “BEST RELATED WORK” CATEGORY!

That’s right, kids, I have an essay in a Hugo-nominated anthology! Career milestone….check.

For those who don’t know, the Hugo Award is the highest honor in science fiction, and is given out and administered by members of the World Science Fiction Convention (WorldCon). It’s basically the Oscar of sci-fi.

The full list of this year’s nominees can be viewed HERE.

I can’t begin to tell you how excited I am about this! I’m so proud of our wonderful editors, Deborah Stanish and LM Myles, for their amazing work. They are so smart, and were so great to work with in the editing process – they deserve every bit of success! Also, I have to commend the other writers who contributed to the anthology. As I’ve been reading each essay over the past couple of months (I spread things out when reading anthologies), I’ve been marveling at the totally different takes on Who throughout. These essays are so insightful and intelligent (and often funny!). I’m honored to be in their company. And just FYI – if this wins, the award would be going to our editors. I would not be winning one. Still, it’s exciting that something I wrote contributed to something possibly winning a Hugo. That’s super-sweet!

Good luck, Chicks! And we’ll see you at WorldCon!

DOCTOR WHO WEEK 2013: I’M GONNA BE TALKING WHO ON SLATE.COM!

Photo Credit: BBC

So get this, my awesome playwright friend (and fellow Whovian), Mac Rogers, is going to be conducting chats about each upcoming new episode of Doctor Who with prominent Doctor Who writers and bloggers over at Slate.com.

And get this….he’s asked ME to be a part of it! I’ll be chatting with him about the premiere of Season 7.2, “The Bells of St. John,” and it’ll be posting on MONDAY. So make sure you check it out! Don’t worry, I’ll be posting the link here, too.

By the way, if you’re anywhere near New York City, and you have a chance to see a Mac Rogers play, you really should. He’s an amazing writer. In fact, his play, Air Guitar, is going to be premiering at the New York Fringe Festival in August! Get thee to that theater! I will be uber-jealous if you go, and expect a full report from any and all of you who attend!

Amanda Palmer Is My Artist Soul Sister

Me and Amanda Palmer in 2009. Yes, there was a reason she posed that way that SHE didn’t even know. No, I’m not gonna tell you now.

I’m so grateful to my friend, writer Jenner Gandin Le, for posting Amanda Palmer’s recent TED Talk on her blog so that I knew it was available! I, like all of Amanda’s fans, have been privy to her nervous, excited preparation for the talk for a while now.

And it was worth her effort, and worth the wait.

I’m not a rock star (except in my own mind), but I do seem to have what some have referred to as a “magical super power.” Generally, when I ask for something, there’s a good chance that I’ll get it – be it financial help, or a place to stay, or a ride somewhere I can’t get to on my own. I’ve asked for jobs and gotten them. I’ve asked for seemingly outrageous favors from seemingly out-of-reach people, and gotten them. I don’t think that I’m particularly special, but when I think about it, I think there are reasons why this happens so frequently. First, I trust people. I trust pretty much everyone unless they prove to me that I shouldn’t. My trust isn’t something that has to be earned, but rather, everyone gets an allotted amount and it grows or shrinks depending on your treatment of me and others around me. I don’t trust blindly or naively – I’m cautious when I need to be – but I do trust that everyone is, at their core, a human being, and deserves the respect of being treated without suspicion. My suspicion is something you earn.

I have many dear friends who find this way of thinking totally backwards; who think it should be the other way around. Yet, these are often the same people who marvel at the fact that, no matter how dire any situation I face might seem, that I always manage to have people around me willing to help. It makes me really sad that this isn’t everyone’s experience, and a big part of me wants to tell them that the reason why this works is because trust allows you to be open to people, and when people sense that you’re open to them, they’ll be open to you. Secondly, (and this sort of ties into the first reason), because I trust people, and because I’m open to people, they know that if it’s within my power to help them when they ask, I will. And I won’t expect anything in return, except their kindness. Third, for whatever reason, there are people who believe in my talent and my creativity, believe in the work I do, and feel like their helping me allows me to do more of what I do, which they seem to like. Also, they know that I’m not a slacker. That if I’ve borrowed money, it might take me a while, but I will pay it back if you’ve asked me to. That if I have a couch, or a corner of floor space, it’s yours if you need it to crash. That if I have the cash, and you need a meal, you and I are going to the nearest food establishment on me. I’ve convinced people that I am a worthwhile investment. I work hard with my writing, and I work hard to maintain my relationships, so people know that I will work hard to prove that their faith in me was well-placed.

I’m not perfect, but I do have integrity, and I think people know that.

When I watched Amanda Palmer’s TED Talk, I recognized a lot of myself in it. In the shame felt for asking, and in the knowledge that I need to trust that whether people respond with “yes” or “no” (and believe me, I’ve been told “no” plenty of times – there goes that “magic super power” theory!), they will not hate me, or think less of me, for asking so long as the asking comes from a good place. It’s a difficult thing to live a lifestyle that is uncommon and unsteady. What makes it less difficult is trust. Trusting that if you fall, there will always be someone there to catch you. It could be someone close to you (as in my best friends who have ALWAYS been there to help me through thick and thin), or it could be someone you’ve never met (like the people online who supported me going to my first Gallifrey One), but there’s always someone if you’re willing to be open to them and willing to be brave enough to ask.

I realize that not everyone feels this way, or that not everyone’s life experience hasn’t taught them this. All I can say is…no war has ever started because one side was too open to or tolerant of the other. I’m not magical, and I haven’t come through life unscathed, but I’ve learned that the more I’m open to others, the more others open themselves up to me. It’s as close to “math” as the human experience can get.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes…

Logo by JennyDoll (www.jennydoll.com)

As many of you know, I’ve been involved with an upcoming new webseries called RETCON, created by and starring Miley Yamamoto, and co-starring Yuri Lowenthal and Sean Maher.

However, yesterday I made the difficult decision to step away from the project. Just looking realistically at my 2013 with the writing fellowships I want to enter, the pilots I need to write, the essay for yet another sci-fi anthology (hasn’t been announced yet, but soon!), and the comic I’ll be working on for Monstrous (along with supporting that anthology’s crowd-funding efforts, etc), I just wouldn’t have the time and energy to give RETCON the kind of work it deserves. As it is, I already haven’t been able to give it that. So, me stepping away is the best thing, both for the project and for me. I wanted to let everyone know all at once, because I know I hear “So, how’s RETCON going?” at least once a day! You can always keep up with them on FB (link above), Twitter at @WatchRetcon, or by signing up on the mailing list at watchretcon.com!

I’m writing this, first, to thank those of you who have supported the project! I’m really touched that so many of you would back something or be curious about something I’m working on. It really means a lot to me.

Secondly, I’m writing to let you know that RETCON is still going on! I’ll be keeping up with their exploits, and I hope you do, too! They’re going to be having a very exciting 2013, and I’m looking forward to seeing RETCON on the big…um…web!

Lastly, I want to wish the creator, cast and crew of RETCON luck! You all have worked so amazingly hard, and I’m so proud to have been a Field Agent for a while. I learned so much, and I’m very much looking forward to seeing the finished product!

Join the Mission!

My First Foray Into Comics!

Art by Mariah McCourt, from her Masters final project, EAT. As seen on the Monstrous blog.

OMG, I’m so excited right now, I’m literally bouncing up and down in my seat!

So, over Thanksgiving weekend, I heard about and submit to an anthology project edited by the the uber-talented writer of IDW’s True Blood: All Together Now, Angel, and Illyria: Haunted, editor of The Last Unicorn, Lucifer, and Fables for Vertigo, and fellow Whedonista, Mariah McCourt. You might also know her as one of the editors of the crazy-successful Womanthology: Heroic as well as the follow-up Womanthology: Space. Well, now she’s got a new, female-focused anthology in the works…

AND I’M GOING TO BE IN IT!!

It’s called MONSTROUS, and it will be a a collection of stories exploring body image through prose, comics, poetry, and art for women and girls. For now, I know that there’ll be a crowd-sourcing campaign for it sometime in January, and that there are already several comics heavy-hitters interested in contributing! I can’t tell you how honored I am to be considered worthy enough to be a part of it.

Now, I’ve never written a comic in my life… (eek!) But in addition to being a part of an awesome project that not only utilizes female talent and speaks to an issue close to my heart (how appropriate that I get to announce my involvement just after my previous blog post!), this is exactly why I’m so excited! I finally get to delve into an art form that I’ve been dying to delve into. I love comics, and now, I get to write one. I’m so excited to be paired with an artist and dive into that relationship. The comic I write will only be about eight pages, but it’s a story I’ve been thinking about for a long time, and one that I’ll be so proud to tell.

EEEEEK!

There’ll be more news on this as time goes on, but for now I’ll just giddily say YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!