If you’d told that 22 YO in Prague that it would take 20 years to make her next film, she’d have been incredulous. Alas, life intervenes. Some hard lessons later and here I was at 43 living in Vermont wondering how did I get here? I used to be so free! Where’s that voice that wrote without hesitation? There’s that black coat again. This time on the shoulders of a woman who is a wife and a mother who gets away for the weekend. She meets a singer-songwriter who reminds her what it’s like to connect to your voice. There’s no secret, other than when you want to make a fire start small: write a short script, gather friends, and go shoot it in a weekend at a friend’s cabin. Then you’ll find out that by remembering what you love, the fire will roar.

I love how Molly Walsh, who plays Maggy, lets her hair down. In real life, she is a mother of young twins with an amazing theater background, and she inhabits this so perfectly. Lowell Thompson, who is an extraordinary singer-songwriter, threw himself into his role with an ease that was marvelous to work with. I truly love actors.

The Flaubert quote is from Madame Bovary which I’d read in high school and totally didn’t understand. When I read the novel a dozen years later during my MFA, I was floored. To me the quote voices the doubt we all feel as creators. At first we’re enamored with the possibility of our ambitions and the exciting newness of an idea. The reality during and after the struggle of creation is often much less.

Still you gotta do it and remember the work doesn’t owe you anything. Oh and don’t forget the olives!