Let's Talk About the Memoir

Hello from the last day of my residency at Write On, Door County. For the past two weeks, I’ve been living in a house in Fish Creek, Wisconsin and enjoying the longest social media break I’ve ever taken. Door County is on a peninsula that juts out between Green Bay and Lake Michigan. It’s a summer place, and, my stay here only reaching mid-April, it’s been quiet.

When I went to the nearby state park, I had every tree and view to myself. When I went to a gift shop, it was still closed for the season. When I treated myself to a massage, it was the first time the spa’s card reader had been used in six months. “Ooh! You smell really good,” the spa employee said when I was checking out. “I don’t mean that to be weird; I just haven’t smelled that lavender oil in a long time.”

This place is only just about to wake up for the year, and it feels kind of sacred to be here right before it opens its eyes.

Lillie GardnerApril 12, 2026Comment

This Year, I'm Planning Backwards

I feel a bit like Phil Connors in Groundhog Day when I write, “Happy New Year… Again.” And I’m suspiciously eyeing my blank 2026 calendar months, doubting they will indeed be anything different.

lillie's musingsLillie GardnerJanuary 7, 2026 Comments

Sign of Life

I distinctly remember a conversation I had with my sister a couple years ago in which we shared what our public tells were for, essentially, having our creative practice on track. For her, it was sharing new illustrations, which she’d lamented not being able to do more regularly due to a busy work schedule. For me, it was posting on this blog. I remember saying: “if you don’t see a Wild Minds post for months, that means I have completely lost control of my time and schedule.”

lillie's musingsLillie GardnerApril 20, 2025 Comments

Idea to Screenplay (and My Trip to the UK)

On Sunday afternoon, I lugged my suitcase back into my house after two glorious weeks in Scotland and England. Two weeks was the perfect amount of time to go away—long enough to really get away and fully enjoy the trip, and also long enough to become tired from 22,000-step days and spending 24/7 with other people (I love these fantastic people dearly, but I’m an introvert with a small social battery). It felt great to be back home with my cuddly cat, ready to luxuriate in my own personal space.

At least, until Monday arrived.

lillie's musingsLillie GardnerJuly 18, 2024Comment

Q&A with JaNay Brown-Wood: Bring Them Joy

Through my kids screenwriting world, I recently had the pleasure of meeting and reading the delightful writing of award-winning children’s book author JaNay Brown-Wood. Like many of her characters, JaNay exudes a warm, playful energy and has a can-do attitude about all the amazing things she endeavors to do—and overwhelmingly succeeds at, no less! JaNay’s beautiful mission to celebrate diversity and bring positivity into the world is at the heart of her stories about everything from toddlers learning about produce to magical puppies who help kids through tough situations.

q&aLillie GardnerFebruary 29, 2024Comment

5 Takeaways from Austin Film Festival

There’s a saying I’ve heard many times in my writing career journey, both in terms of the stories we write and the relationships we build: “People don’t remember what happened; they remember how it made them feel.” This is true of events too. Austin Film Festival is jam-packed with amazing people, brilliant minds, and incredible projects.

lillie's musingsLillie GardnerDecember 5, 2023austin film festival, screenwriting, film and tv, character development, ideasComment

Q&A with Nicole Houff: It's a Barbie World

2023 might have become the year of Barbie, but Minneapolis photographer Nicole Houff has been living in her own fantastic Barbie world for sixteen years and counting. It was delightful and inspiring to talk with Nicole about her process, her career trajectory, and how it’s more possible than you might think to follow your dreams.

q&aLillie GardnerSeptember 28, 2023Comment

Why Create When the World Doesn't Care?

All year, industry screenwriters have shared their accounts of not being properly compensated for vital contributions to an industry that makes an absurd amount of money off their ideas. Many writers and other artists are having existential crises. It feels like we’ll never be respected or rewarded for creating things, so why bother?

lillie's musingsLillie GardnerAugust 20, 2023 Comments

Q&A with Roxanna Walitzki: Finding Transcendence

Classically trained as a mezzo-soprano, Roxanna Walitzki integrates elements from electronic and ambient music into her art-song arrangements, and uses video to further the reach of classical music. After studying music at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and NYU, Roxanna expanded her art-making to photography, modeling and producing.

q&aLillie GardnerMay 17, 2023roxanna walitzki, photography, art song, singer, producing, modelComment

Do Not Submit Until: A Checklist

No matter the format or the genre, rejection is almost always due to one of a few common missteps. I want to share them so that we can all put our best writerly feet forward—because I, too, am a writer who submits my work to the mysterious realm of Readers who I hope will take my work seriously and consider it for a next step. First, some good news: readers are hoping to be enthusiastic about your work.

lillie's musingsLillie GardnerApril 12, 2023submitting, revision, revising, screenwriting, essays Comment