Okay, so my writing partner and I are having our television series pitched to a network this afternoon, and I am freaking out in the worst way. I can't concentrate, I can't sit still. . . anybody have any tried and true de-freaking formulae to help me get my mind off the big event??

-- Anonymous, June 12, 2000

Answers

Hot bath, cup of tea, cat on lap. Works a treat.

-- Anonymous, June 12, 2000

P.S. Good luck!

-- Anonymous, June 12, 2000

Valium?

Seriously... there IS no way to get your mind off it.... Just let the energy work for you... and have that cup of tea while you're at it.

Be sure to tell us all about it! Best 'o luck!

-- Anonymous, June 12, 2000

Oh my god, valium and a cat. I now DESPERATELY need both of these things!!! Thank you for the good wishes. You'll definitely know the results; I'll probably be starting a thread here tonight titled "What do I do now that my whole world has fallen apart??"

(Hey, valium and a cat works for that one too. Fab suggestions!!)

-- Anonymous, June 12, 2000

Get some big fat magazines and flip through them wildly. And Good Luck!

-- Anonymous, June 12, 2000

Girl, how awesome are you?

Here's what I do: shake your hands. Jump around. Put on your loudest, thrashiest cd and sing as loud as you can. Really. Perform your own little music video for 10 minutes in the privacy of your own home and laugh your ass off at yourself.

This is the only way to get it out. A bath t'ain't gonna relax you! You're just going to be nervous and WET. Neither is a cat - unless you pretend you ARE a cat and run around like a freak from room to room, eat too much and throw up, all in under 3 minutes.

Best of luck. We Squishy readers are so damn creative, aren't we?

-- Anonymous, June 12, 2000

One word: Snood.

-- Anonymous, June 12, 2000

Okay, upon reflection, my last answer might have been a bit too hasty, not to mention biased by what I've been occupied with for much of this morning. But if you can't sit still, even the addictive power of Snood might not do it. That being the case, I'd suggest a nice cup of tea. Alternately, I suppose you could keep checking this forum for new answers. :-) Good luck!

-- Anonymous, June 12, 2000

How to get rid of nervous tension: take a hot steamy bath, indulge in your most wicked fantasy, and masturbate.

Good luck on the pitch! Awesome..

-- Anonymous, June 12, 2000

Mini-road trips work for me. Drive somewhere rural (if that's possible - I'm in Kansas, so our backroads are in abundance), and then crank your CD player/tape player and sing. Loudly.

Also...this might sound stupid (it must if I have to preface it that way), but you might want to try yoga. I just started it recently, and it really does clear out your brain.

Congrats, and I'm sure we all have our fingers crossed for you! Keep us updated!

-- Anonymous, June 12, 2000

I generally try to burn off the nervous energy. Go for a walk, a bike ride, whatever -- I go to the gym and wear myself out, so that I'm too tired to fret much. Tea and a cat just make me more fidgety. Good luck!

-- Anonymous, June 12, 2000

If there is some other stressful thing you've been putting off - sorting out a bureaucratic mess, calling someone who gives you the shudders, taking responsibility for something unpleasant - now is the time to do it, because you'll get so nervous over that, you'll forget to be nervous about the pitch. Good luck.

-- Anonymous, June 12, 2000

WOO! So far today, I've called the credit counselors (thanks, Diana!) gotten addicted to Snood (damn you, Shmuel!) run about and pretended to be a cat with my kid (thanks Allison!) re-read all my magazines (thanks jeff!) and tried three different kinds of tea (thanks everybody!) If I could go driving around blasting the stereo or get my kid to take a nap long enough to ahem. . . explore my own intimate possibilities I would.

I am STILL waiting to hear back from my agent. I may have to puke. GAH! Thanks for keeping me sane. Checking back on a forum repeatedly is a GREAT tension breaker! :))))

-- Anonymous, June 12, 2000

when i have a lot on my mind, i can't sleep..... so, i count sheep - really! if you focus on seeing the sheep jump over the fence and count at the same time, it forces your mind to stop dwelling on those other things and it tires you out.....almost like meditation.

-- Anonymous, June 12, 2000

They didn't say no!!

*runs around, piddling on self in sheer excitement*

We passed the gauntlet of one programming exec, tomorrow we talk to the head of programming. No ink on paperwork yet, but they seem pretty upbeat, and if it goes well, we start production next summer. BOOYAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks so much everybody for making this day of waiting nowhere near as evil. I'll be using these tips (and more if you have them!) while we wait again tomorrow!!

-- Anonymous, June 12, 2000

Oof. I wish I'd been around yesterday, Saundra. I so know what you went through! I pitched my first book plan to a publisher a few weeks ago, and the waiting to hear was hell. *grin* Just think, could have been worse. I had to wait a whole five days to hear anything back!

Good luck and congratulations on your success so far.

(And btw, they're going with my book plan. I'm working on the first draft and waiting for my contract to come in the mail. Woo!)

Lisa
Till Human Voices Wake Us...

-- Anonymous, June 13, 2000

Animal Planet. It works for Marilyn Manson. Either that, or find something old, like, say, a yearbook, and look through it.

Stay away from curry and pizza.

-- Anonymous, June 13, 2000

Hey, gratz Lisa, that's fabulous news!! I am continuing to use everybody's amazing tips because. . . well, the network wants to see the script.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.

Mail is so slowwwwwwww, I'm going to be losing my mind for WEEKS now!!

-- Anonymous, June 13, 2000

Stay as busy as possible. Forget this relax with the cat stuff. All you do is sit there and freak out, and that's not a good idea with a cat in your lap. I would say something closer to running a ton of errands. Leave everything until that day. And race yourself so you have to go faster. Work out or something. Then you can either:

a. congratulate yourself on a kick ass day because you got a ton done and got your show

or

b. collapse for a week if things don't work out.

a. is the better choice! good luck.

-- Anonymous, June 15, 2000

When I'm COMPLETELY stressed about something, my motto is this: Tell anyone and everyone that you talk to about it. By the time you're done, you'll be so sick of it that you won't think about it. Another perk of this method is that people will voluntarily offer their stories of much worse things that have happened to them, which gives you the reassurance that "If they can do it, so can I."

Moral of the story? If you're not into a therapist, try complete strangers!

-- Anonymous, June 17, 2000