Work in Progress: Chris Colfer

Published Jun 13, 2024, 4:00 AM

He lit up the small screen as Kurt Hummel in the mega-hit show "Glee," and now he's lighting up the literary world with his diverse young adult novels!

Actor, singer, and best-selling author Chris Colfer joins Sophia to talk about the grueling and challenging process of being on Glee, what terrified him about playing Kurt, and his struggles with perfectionism. He shares how writing became his escape, and how it kept him sane throughout his time on Glee!

Chris also reveals he would love to tackle Broadway someday, offers advice for those who want to break into the industry, and discusses the inspiration behind his new sci-fi book, "Roswell Johnson Saves the World!" available in bookstores now!

Hi everyone, it's Sophia. Welcome to work in progress. Hello whip smarties. Today we are joined by an absolutely brilliant actor, singer, and yes author. Today's guest is none other than Chris Colfer. I came to absolutely love Chris playing Kurt on the critically acclaimed TV show Glee. He won many an award for that series, and somehow, while he was managing to learn all of that choreography record albums travel the world on a global tour, he also started writing books for kids. He has written the best selling series The Land of Stories, a series of YA books that started with the Land of Stories The Wishing Spell.

His latest book is.

Called Roswell Johnson Saves the World, and it is actually his twentieth Yes to Zero twentieth book. Eleven year old Roswell Johnson is obsessed with conspiracies about extraterrestrial life, an interest he inherited from his late father, who actually named Roswell after the infamous UFO crash in Roswelt, New Mexico. In this book, Roswell is accidentally abducted by aliens, so he gets to learn their real but also learns the Earth is in grave danger and he might just have to figure out how to save it. I can't wait to talk to Chris about his career and how he wound up writing the coolest kids books ever, let's get to it.

Hi, Hello cutie. So what's happening in New York? What's going on?

Well, I'm here promoting my new book you Bom. I literally just walked through the door. I did the View this morning, and I'm doing Seth Myers later today. So one of those crazy rowin Yeah, press weeks, as I know you're very familiar with totally.

But what an interesting thing, you know, because you've done this incredible circuit. You know, you've had this like unbelievable career. I mean, my god, Like, I know none of you had a clue what Glee was going to be when you were like auditioning for it, and then bam, you know you're like all over the world and winning Emmys and like doing all the things.

Is it is it sort of.

Surreal to be in the promotion universe for your writing or are you sort of like, oh, I'm old hat at this because you've already released a book.

You know, I feel like because I've released so many books, that is kind of old hat.

Now, yeah, did I just say a book. I'm like so many books. This is your twentieth book. Did I read that correctly?

Oh my god, I know that really snack up on me. I thought they were joking until I counted them myself and I was like, oh, yeah, I guess, I guess the R twenty. But uh, I still get just as nervous as I as I as I I did when the first book came out. Really oh yeah. So socially the press stuff, I feel like I can handle better now that I'm a little older. It's not quite as terrifying as it used to be. Uh But uh yeah, but no, I mean I because I just want people to to like the book so much that I that I still I still get nervous every single release.

Okay, I'm so curious about that because it's funny. On the on the other podcast, the Girls and I just watched our season six finale and that was Hillary's last episode, and we were talking about how interesting it is when you see this wish fulfillment for these people that you played for so long, how meaningful it is because we love them, like we sort of feel like our characters are our sisters or something, and right, and I think about what it is to be with someone for that long and how you guys got to do the same thing on Glee. You you embody someone. You you understand their motivations and their fears and all of these things. And that's just playing one character. That's not even creating the whole universe. So would you say that doing that as an author and and building out these worlds for these characters that you love and that you want to see succeed and you know, achieve goals, dreams, et cetera, Like, do they feel like your family in a way?

Absolutely? I think you described it perfectly, where playing a character is very much like having a sibling you know, you really really want you know, it's it's like a symbiosis, as simbling symbiosis. And in a way, I would say when you write a book and it's filled characters, they're like your children. So it's more of experience where it's like you you want to protect them and yet exploit them at the same time.

Well totally, you're like, I have to do this really scary thing to you because it'll be so.

Good for the drama. On page sixty four.

Right right. Yeah. It's also because because you know, when you write something and you write every word, it does kind of feel like you're exposing your soul a little bit, and that part itself can be can be nerve wracking because I guess my biggest fear is people are going to find out how illiterate I actually really am.

Right, Okay, wait, so this is actually really interesting because I've just jumped into questions with you that go very out of order. I'm sure my producers are like, what is she doing?

Oh good, raging ADHD So I me too, wonderful.

Yeah, halfway through this interview I'll be like, oh my god, there's a part outside. But this is really interesting to me because you're you're actually in this series of books that are for young people, and I love God.

I love a kid hero.

And it makes me curious because for you, as a storyteller, I wonder if you look back at your own childhood, like do you see the through line always of wanting to be an actor, a performer, a writer or were you were you a totally different kid and and you found your passion for storytelling somehow, like like do you do you see it all?

So when I was young, I think writing and acting bit me at the same time. And when I was younger, I didn't know the difference because they're both to me, just they're both different versions of playing pretend. So it wasn't until I got older when I realized what, you know, what the difference of both of them was, and you know, the the very unique art behind them both. So for me, it's always been the same thing, and I actually, really to this day it feels like the same thing because it's all just a matter of storytelling. I think when I was when I was the middle grade audience eight twelve, and I think when I was that age, books had such a significant profound effect on me. They were my very very first means of escapism that I knew then that I that I wanted to contribute to that world. It's still my favorite world to to contribute to.

That's so cool. And And was the escapism for you as a kid, like rooted in excitement and curiosity? Was it was? It was? It rooted in I don't want to view where I am? Was it maybe like a little bit of a mix of both, a.

Lot to both. Yeah, Yeah, So I was, you know, slowly discovering that I was gay in a very very conservative environment, which was not fun. I also had a sibling who had extremely at an extreme case of epilepsy where she had fifty seizures an hour, so it was really tough on the family. And I remember just being so frustrated with the world at a very young age. And so anytime I got my hands on a story about kids, you know, going to going through a wardrobe or you know, getting a letter from an owl or falling down a rabbit hole, I just I couldn't get enough of it because I wanted that so desperately, and I think to this to this day, I'm still I'm still really frustrated that none of that ever actually happened for me. Yeah, me too, And so I'm like, I'm trying to almost make that a reality by producing fiction.

I love that.

And what a cool thing that, in a way you get to help create more of what gave you an outlet as a kid.

I hope. So, yeah, there's there's a there's a really a therapeutic quality with that, with you know, creating what you so desperately wanted as a kid. Yeah, I definitely have some some therapeutic qualities with.

That is that where it starts, like when you think about, you know, one of these twenty books that you've written in your latest book, do you do you sort of imagine a scene first and then build the world, or do you get inspired about a world and then build all of the scenes.

So my first series of Land of Stories, it really they were my imaginary best friends when I was a kid, and the books are just the ventures that I wanted to go on when I was a kid. And I think that's one of the reasons why kids have responded so positively to them, is because it's really a story created by a kid or kids. Now, I'm very, very lucky because whenever I start writing something, I see it in my head almost like a movie trailer, and then I outline it and try to piece the images that I that I see together and create a story out of those. And that's that's just always, that's always how stories have come to me, kind of almost like lightning, just in my head. I just you know, I think about like the kind of story I want to tell and the message I want to send, and then and it's it's kind of magical. And then and then image just bow my head instantly and then and then I go from there. So yeah, and I'm very grateful to that whatever that is, and I hope it never goes away.

That's so cool. It's like, did you ever read that book The War of Art? No, it's so cool. It was done by an artist who had read you know, the classic Sunsu Art of War and was like, yeah, but what we go through as artists is different, like you, yes, there's meditation required and training and all of these things, but it's it's a it's like a war with self. And he talks about how if you really, you know, create a cadence to make space for your art, it can begin to come through you. And it sounds like you have that like like these stories come through you and you you're like molding this clay. It's so cool.

Oh thanks, Yeah, No, that's a that's a really interesting, uh, really interesting with with with they put that. And I think even now, like I'm I'm still struggling with with ways of like taking care of myself and recognizing that in order in order to write and to create, your brain is just wired differently than than a lot of people and finding healthy habits and and and uh, ways to just just you know, take care of yourself. I think I'm still I'm still struggling with to this day.

Yeah, oh my gosh, I do too. And I think that's such an ADHD thing as well. Like someone explained to me recently that the people whose brains are wired quote normally or neurotypically, you can imagine a row of building blocks set out in front of you and you go block by block. And for people like us whose brains are wired in this special way where like we're constantly inspired, great for artists, but also hard to go through it to do list. The blocks don't extend in front of you. They're vertical, so it's a stack, and it's really overwhelming to try to figure out which one to deal with first because they're all equally close and they're insummation really big and kind of overwhelming. And I was like, oh, yeah, that tracks really really interestingly. So it's so inspiring to me to hear you talk about not just the way that you're creative, but to see how creative you've been in like, in hard fact, there are twenty books and I'm like.

Wow, how did you do that?

Because I've got posted notes and you know, everywhere of like I'm going to do this project eventually and that project eventually, And there's you know, fifty six begun but not finished projects in my home. So I'm really like, oh, okay, you're figuring out habits and like, I guess modalities of making that are working for you.

Yeah.

Absolutely, And it's funny. It takes so much self discipline to sit down and write a book that I have noticed I have no form of self discipline and any other asset aspect of my life what like like diet sucks, exercising sucks. We habits suck. But I kind of use all all the self discipline that I'm capable of in in writing and then and then everything else just kind of uh, is this kind of a mess.

Yeah, wow, that's so interesting. How do you think you figured out how to create that discipline? Like for folks at home that are like, oh my god, I'm the same. Are there are there tricks to it? Are there like two or three things you'd say, Oh, if you're trying to create a routine of discipline to write or whatever it might be, these things worked for me.

Oh gosh, you know, it's interest because life is so ever changing that I've never really had the opportunity to actually come up with one, like one method that that works. I really think it just it depends on where you are in your life and what you're going through at the time, and it changes, like I think my writing process changes constantly depending on how much is going on at the time. And I think you just have to really really focus on how badly you want to finish it, you know. I think you have to visualize the finished book in your hands and what you know, and visualize the people who who that story or that book could help. That That always helps me is envisioning the people that the story could benefit a lot. But you really you have to take it day by day, and you have you not be so hard on yourself, you know, just have to have self discipline, but no be so hard on yourself.

Yeah, I think that's really good advice. And I think the idea of focusing on the finished thing, like if you continue to remind yourself that there is actually an end goal, there will be a thing you can hold in your hand, whether it's literal or metaphorical, that's a great that's a great reminder because then it's not so amorphous.

And also just the that the finished product. Don't just celebrate the finished product, like have little celebrations along the way, like if you finish a chapter, treat yourself as you know, relish in the fact that you finish a chapter, because even if you just finish a chapter, you're still finishing more than most people can't.

Yeah. I love that. Celebrate the wins and focus on the goals. It's like a both and which is really our job as actors too, you know. And it's it's funny when you talk about the you know, the shifts, and what I think I am hearing you talk about is something that I am really conscious of lately, which is that doing what we do as a day job, it's virtually impossible to have a routine, Yeah, because sometimes you're on night shoots and sometimes you're on splits, and sometimes you're going to work at four in the morning, and everything is by nature. You have to not be rattled by the fact that you can't make any plans or have any expectations about time.

So then when you're not on a set.

If it's hiatus or you're between shows or whatever it might be, suddenly everyone's like, well, why don't you have a routine And you're like, because I can't, and I can't be attached to one, And it's a really it's something I've definitely had to wrap my head around, and I'm trying to practice some of what you're talking about, which is not being so self critical about it, but looking at the ability to be so flexible and present as a little more of a superpower than a hindrance. I think about it too, like when you start on TV so young. You know, we had been twenty one for I don't know, eight days when we started filming Season one on One Tree Hill, and you were you guys started in two thousand and nine, you know, the early aughts. We like such a moment. What was that like for you as as not the author artist but the actor artist. What was that sort of time like the audition process and the whole rigamarole of it. Was it exciting? Was it terrifying? Was it both?

Yeah, It's funny you touched on something a second ago that really made me think. Ever since Glee ended, I've kind of been like a schedule nomad because it's been I think it's been eight or so years since since Lee ended, and I saw ten years like I can't. I don't. I'm not sure time is much. You know, time goes I know, time really goes by when you're you know, having fun, I guess. But I still haven't been able to develop like a routine in my personal life because I had I spent a decade not having any freedom soever. So that's that's so interesting you said that, just that that just clicked for me. But yeah, I know, it was a very the beginning of Lee was a very grueling process. We I think we each had four auditions. We had casting director, callbacks, network, and studio all in all in a row. We had to sing and and and and act in those auditions. It wasn't until we all showed up for the first day of singing rehearsal for the pilot that we realized that you have to dance and show choir. And none of us had ever danced before, and so that was a complete shock to us and to our bodies because it wasn't even part It was never part of the audition process and and it was never written into the script. And when I think of show choir, I think of like Sister Act two, where where they they you know, the kind of step touch, step touch, but it's really focused on on the singing part. So having these so having to learn these huge choreographs sequences was just so foreign to to most of us. A few of us had been on Broadway and we're you know, we're used to it, but for the most part, it was like the first time any of us had ever had to dance like that. So and I remember when we uh the main song we did in the pilot was Don't Stop Believing, and we had to learn like I want to say, six or seven versions of that song because because the producers just weren't happy with it, and so so that was that was a really it was it was it was a culture shock on many, many, many levels. And then when we got into the filming, you know, just just just the amount of material that we had to learn, like like like just nothing, the lyrics of the song, the vocal, the vocals of the song, the dancing, the dance, the movement, the the the the the dialogue. That it was just it was crazy. And then and then and then it's like we never had that like the yeah, we did it because as soon as another episode. So it's like creating a new Broadway show every single week.

Oh my goodness, and now for our sponsors, it's so interesting, Like the technical stuff you're referring to, I think so many people just don't know about. You know, audiences get to see this perfect hour of television that's edited in color, timed and the music is synced beautifully, and you know, the montages are gorgeous, and you're just like I nearly died that week.

You know, nobody knows.

That you are on like our eighteen in a sound stage with broken air conditioning, like trying not to pass out.

They never see like the of the costumers having to to hair like with a hair dryer, like like dry out our like our pit stains.

Yeah, oh my gosh, you've shared something, because you know, obviously I love to do my homework. And I read that you talked about how you know your your creator and writing team on that show would sometimes write real stories from your life into the show. And we had that too, And I realize, I don't know if that is so common in shows that are you know, about post school adults, but it does seem to be a thing that happens a lot when you're making a show about high school. Was that was that weird for you guys or for you or or was it sort of special to be able to portray things that felt really truly important to your own kind of life and journey.

It was really fun, uh, First, because it meant that I got for me. It meant I got to do something on the show that I didn't get to do in real life. The one that the instance that comes to me right off the top of my head is I actually I wanted to sing define Gravity so badly in my school talent show when I was in high school, and I was told, no, you're a boy, you can't sing that song. And I was like, but I can sing it. I actually physically can sing and they said, no, it's a woman song, you're not singing it. And so I told that to the producers and they wrote that storyline into the show and so I actually got to sing the song. So that that was That was a blast. That was that was fun. But what I didn't realize was when the audience found out that a lot of these experiences that they were watching were autobiographical of us, the separation between actor and character became non existent, and that was that was probably The most challenging part of Glee was having this huge having millions and millions and millions of people think you were someone that you were not, and and not recognizing that you were you were a good actor that they just thought you were that person, and having things from our own lives on show didn't help establish that separation.

Yeah, I know that. Intimately, it's such a weird thing because it is kind of a double edged sort. You get to do these really special things, and then also there is an assumption that one hundred percent of who you are on screen is one hundred percent of you, and it's so fractional. Even if you are recreating a version of something that's happened to you in your real life, what's on screen will always be such a small case of like a full human experience. And so, yeah, I know that feeling, and I don't know, looking back on it on my show, I realize how I don't.

Know I felt. You know, I just turned twenty one. I was like, listen, I'm a legal drinking age. Look at me out here. I'm a young adult.

And I look back.

Down, I'm like, oh my god, I was a baby. Yeah, Like I was still such a little kid trying to call play as a grown up. You were nineteen when the show started, and I think every year when you're a teenager into your early twenties is like five years when you're you know, forty. Was it surreal for you? Did you feel like you had to pretend to be more grown up or expert than you were?

Absolutely, I mean, like our friendsal Lobes weren't fully developed yet. Yeah, and you know, like you said, cosplaying as an adult, it's a great way to put it. And I remember I really should have had a parent or someone with me during during that too, a lot of that, and I didn't because I, you know, in my eighteen year old logic was like, no, I want to be taken seriously, and no one will take it seriously if I have a mom or a dad hanging out with me. And I really wish I did, because I think income I would have handled and processed things a lot easier if I had someone with a little more maturity with me at all times.

Totally. I think about it, especially with shows like ours that were set in high schools, and I'm like, high schools have guidance counselors. Why isn't there. You know, now we're finally at this moment where we're talking about intimacy coordinators and more professional practice on set with regards to how we feel in our physical bodies. But I'm like, what about like our our mental health. Yeah, Like I wish that TV shows that were surrounding high school and that had such young actors on them had to have a version of a of a real life guidance counselor on set.

Absolutely, yeah, I feel like I think they do that for for like some some reality competition shows. Really Okay, I believe I read someone where like the American Idol Kids and and like the Voice contestants, like they have like people to help them go from you know, obscurity to sensationalism overnight. But yeah, we didn't. I guess because it's scripted, they didn't think we needed it. But I do. I really think that's a great idea.

Yeah.

I think it would be so cool just to have somebody help you make sense of things.

Yeah. I think I think everyone, every child star, teenage star absolutely should have a therapist. Even if you are very very well adjusted and you have a great support system, it's so good just to go and you have to go look under the hood every now and then.

Yeah, it's interesting. You know, when we talk about how hard it is to have a routine, I think the inability to do so when you're working on TV is what made me always sort of put therapy on the back burner, like I dip in and then I dip out.

Work would be busy, I'd be like, oh, I just.

Don't have time. And it for the last couple of years, like truly the last two years straight. It is a non negotiable, like Tuesday at nine am is my time. It's my hour and when I have to be on set. Luckily the professional that I work with now we have like a flexibility system, but it is it's just like once a week I have that hour. It's my thing, and it is wild to be like wow, it took me almost until my forties to like take it seriously enough. It would have been really great to have had in my early twenties for sure.

And I don't understand people who don't believe in therapy. I mean, like I love it, like like you just you get an hour where you just get to talk about yourself NonStop and they can't leave. I mean it's great. I mean, who wouldn't want that?

Well, it's also like we've gotten so good about understanding whether we actually do it or not. You know, you need to take care of yourself. Your physical body needs to move, like your brain needs care too. An hour a week to take care of your brain actually doesn't feel like that much when you think about it that way. So I'm with you, I'm all in. Did you start any kind of like mental health care practice toward the end of Glee or did it take you until that was like fully done to begin to create that space for yourself?

You know it was really Unfortunately I wish I wish I had started it right off the bat. It was when I first started getting death threats that I started going in, But unfortunately took that for me to realize, Oh, I can't handle everything you said I was. I was. I was eighteen when when the show started, and and I, as an eighteen year old, thought thought I thought I knew everything, thought I could handle everything that I thought I was. You know, thought I was, And I mean, to my credit, I was. I've always been very I've always been an old soul. But even old souls can't handle everything especially things that are completely foreign to them. So I wish I had started much earlier, but I did start, and once I started, it was it was it was a major, major help.

That's really great. I'm glad to hear that it is. It is very strange, and having been through versions of that myself, like it took me a while to understand that unless it's happened to you, you just can't understand how traumatic it is, and that no matter what happens in your career, you don't change. You remain one person. But what's on the other end of the funnel continues to grow and grow and grow. And there are wonderful parts of that, like look at this career you have as an author and all this other exciting work you get to do. But to be on the receiving end of the energy of millions and millions of people when sometimes there's a large section of those people that are you know, violent or scary. You're like the people who read my books and want to talk about like kids saving the world are pretty great.

But the other end of the spectrum.

Like, ah, right, you know, it's tough. Do you think part of what made that feel? I mean, as intense as it is for you. But part of what made that journey so enormous because you might you know, you grew up in a conservative environment. You were figuring out you were gay as a young kid, but you weren't like out out yet right when the show started and then and then your character was having this journey. Did that feel freeing for you in a way or scary or maybe also a mix of both.

Oh, it was terrifying, guess because I think because I knew that it would make me, it would force me to look into myself in places that I wasn't ready to look into. And I mean, I knew very well how dangerous it was to to to be young and gay from my surroundings, uh as a kid, and to go from that to a global uh stage was it was terrifying. But I have no idea what came over me, But I just I really I'd like to think that I rose to the occasion. And I'll never forget. We were on a hot topic signing tour right before the show came out to promote the show. This little boye like like slid when his parents weren't looking slid this like this envelope to me and there was a little handwritten note in it that just said thank you, and he created a like a chain out of paper clips in the colors of the rainbow. It was in that moment I knew, like, I I have to I have to come out and I have to be honest because because because because kids like that need need someone to look look to. And it was it was never a role that I planned on on on on a taking on, but I just I just knew I needed to.

Yeah, well that's the thing, Like, visibility can change everything for people. And one of the things I think I've realized is that the more myself I am, the more yourself you are, the the more space you have to help other people be themselves. And we are in these constant states of becoming. And so if if by modeling or being courageous about your becoming, someone following in your footsteps, you know who's on that same life path as you can say, oh I'm gonna be okay, Oh I can do that, I can achieve that. You know, that's really really beautiful.

Yeah, it's I mean, it's kind of like the whole point of I guess life really is just you know, making life a little easier for the next generation. And I think Glee put me in a position that I got to do that. And what an honor and privilege because not everyone gets skits that opportunity.

Yeah, and now a word from our sponsors that I really enjoy and I think you will too.

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How did you know, because obviously you know, we're talking about book twenty and I want to get into some of the details about.

Roswell Johnson saving the world.

But you you wrote your first book while you were still shooting Glee, right, How did you do that?

You know? I think very much. It offered me a great way to escape some of the challenges of shooting.

That show, like an outlet for your energy.

Yeah, and especially like when because it was a very grueling shoot. Uh. You know, we worked eighty hour weeks, non stop, up and down, singing, dancing, and even even on our days off on the weekends, we'd have to go in and record and rehearse. Yeah, person and all of that so it really helped my sanity, having just something else to focus my my tension on. Uh uh holy. And I remember, like, even like when we went on like the the world tour of Glee, I would show up at the stadiums a few hours earlier than everyone else, and I would I would sit underneath the stage because it was the only place that was quiet, and I would and I would write. And just having having that that escape really I think helped my sanity so much through that whole, that whole, that whole period of time.

That's so incredible. And and the fact that you had the wherewithal to care for yourself in such a healthy and productive way amazes me.

You know, I didn't realize. I didn't realize it was healthier productive because because it was.

It was.

I mean, it wasn't It wasn't easy. It was it was tough to write a book regardless, and and it was really tough to find time to write it. But now looking back, I realized how like how much that saved me.

It's so cool. I'm like, wow, the thing that I wind up doing when I'm doing eighty hour weeks and I like can't sleep when I first get home as I started designing houses I don't own on Pinterest.

Oh, and I'm like, huh.

I mean my Pinterest words are great. By the way, anyone who's ever like moving I help them with their space. But I'm like, interesting that there's just these like eighty seven made up homes in a secret internet file. There are not there are not twenty books. How tell me about Roswell? Because I I am such a space baby, Like all I ever want to do is watch cartoons about space and read about space. There's something about like kids books that center on it that are my very favorite thing. And I want to know everything about Roswell Johnson. I want to know where these obsessions with conspiracies and extraterrestrial life came from. Give me and our friends at home the full rundown.

Oh my gosh, where do I begin. Well, it sounds like we're cut from same cloth. So that's fine. That'll make a fuck to you. I have, oh similar. I have been fascinated with space and our galaxy, our universe. Uh, for as long as I can remember and and cannot get enough. I mean, I watch every documentary, I read every book. I I just I'm obsessed and I'm obsessed with the idea of alien life because to me, alien life is always represented possibility and progress and unity because I mean, for for beings to have that kind of technology and have those those those vessels that can move like they do, if if they exist, it would take an incredible amount of uh of camaraderie and unity and sources. So that means that maybe somewhere in this universe there's a planet that got it right, that that that come together and be together and and bond over one common goal. So I love that. That's that's what aliens have always represented to me, and I I just thought it would be a great world to a book in. And I started fantasizing about writing this series about halfway through when I was writing the Lamb story series, and I was planning on writing this right after the Lamb Stories, but my publisher persuaded me to write a prequel series instead, so I wrote the Tale of Magic series in between the Lamb Stories. In this one. So this has been in my head for a very long time, That's what I was.

Going to say. You've had so long to really let this marinate.

Yeah, yeah, And I don't know, like I've always had this like this just just drive to tell some sort of alien story. And I've pitched so many shows about aliens and about the Indigo children, and and and so, I don't know. It's been a passion of mine just to get a story out there about about aliens and and get a story out there that maybe hopefully makes people less scared of them. Yeah, hopefully, hopefully that's what this does. But this is a This book is about a little boy who accidentally gets subducted by aliens and while he's up in Spain, finds out or uncovers this evil plot to destroy Earth. And so he teams up with a bunch of quirky aliens and together they they fight to save Earth, and along the way, Roswell, the main character, regains his faith in humanity and the world.

I love that realizes the world's worth saving.

He realizes the world is worth saving, right, And when we meet him in the beginning, he's not invinced. He he goes through one of his first experiences of racism, so he's very very down and very very I'm depressed. But after an adventure through space that that whoops him back into shade.

I love it. I love it so well, how how many books do you envision being in this series?

I think four. It really just depends if people hate it, maybe not for it. That's always that's always a deciding factor because you have to think, like how many things can he save? You know, he can save the world, he can save the Solar System, you can save the galaxy. Then he can save the universe, and after that there's not much left to save you. But yes, so I think, I think, I think, I think, uh, I think four would be would be a good number to tell.

The story that feels really exciting. Not that I imagine you have any more time, because look at all of what you're doing, but you you are such a gifted musician and worse, Oh my god, right, well it's so funny, Like I just met the sweetest gal the other day and she was like, I'm such a fan and sorry that's probably so annoying, and I was like, I'll take I'm such a fan over. I absolutely hate everything you do right.

Any day, it's so nice, don't stress.

We were giggling. It was like it was very very funny. But I'm such a fan of your music and you're singing and and you know you earlier you mentioned that some of you guys you know, on the cast of your first show came from Broadway, and I know you re performed with our dear work in progress sister friend Dylan mulvaney, just a gorgeous Broadway baby. Like, do you when you sort of think about, Okay, you're going to work on this series and you're launching this first book in the series now, and you look at the future landscape of your creative endeavors, do you maybe want to go back to Broadway? Are you going to make more music?

What do you think?

I don't know.

I mean, for me, singing has always just been It's been a tool, not a not a passion interesting. But I think I would love to do Broadway some someday. I don't know if I could do it in the in the foreseeable future, but I would like to do it someday just just for the experience. And I would I would really love to be like in like a big like ensemble play at first, and that would be a great segue into into that world. Gosh, but in music, like you know, I always say my doing thing for music, but then I always get asked to sing places, So I'm sure I'll get roped into some of their charity event or or you know, I'm sure Jalan will make me sing again with her.

I would love it. I'm I'm firmly on team Chris goes to Broadway. So you just keep me posted on what the plan is.

Thanks.

I will when we talk about you know, because you're you're writing these wonderful young adult books and giving kids these spaces to dream and escape and be creative and all of this creative energy performing, singing, writing is something that you always needed and wanted to pursue. Is there from where you sit now, is there advice that you would give to a young kid kind of in that you know, eight to twelve demographic, maybe about pursuing creativity or you know, starting in this industry or or any of the others that surround it.

Absolutely, I would say, dream as big as possible, but also dream as broad as possible. Don't dream specifically, because this industry is so uh what's the word unreliable? Uh it's so unpredictable. Uh. The more specific you dream, I think, the more disappointment you you will you will have. Don't give yourself, you know, don't give yourself like deadlines like I have to do this by this age, or I have to do this by this certain time, or if I do this, it has to be this specific thing. You know. Really, just say to yourself, I want to I want to do this, this, this, and this in my lifetime, and then just be open, be as open as you possibly can to uh, whatever comes your way.

I love that. I love that so much. That's phenomenal advice. So from this place, you know, a top this pile of books that you've written and published, uh, and and everything that you've done so far and the things that you will do when you kind of take stock, what feels like you are work in progress right now?

Oh my gosh, that's a great question. I feel like I have so many answers.

You can say, and as many as you want.

I think taking it in is the ultimate work and progress for me, because I always always feel like a failure and it doesn't matter how much I accomplish, it doesn't matter, you know, like like like like like the reviews for my new book came out and they were all they were all really great reviews, and I can't accept that for some reason. I just I can only accept accept like negatives sometimes and so I think, yeah, for me, the ultimate work in progress is just take you step back and accepting the positivity. Does that make sense?

Yeah, Oh, it totally does. It totally does.

Like, like I you know, I hear from LGBT kids around the world every single day. I've gotten a thousand messages a week since the show started fifteen years ago, and I love it and I feel so I'm so proud of that, but there is part of me that just cannot accept it as reality, Like like, I don't know, there's just like this and I don't know what it is, but there's there's just this I don't know if it's like like a false sense of protection for myself or what, but there is a there's a block where I can't I can't let it in all the way.

Yeah, I totally understand that. It's actually really interesting because one of the things I've been learning about ADHD and like us, you know, sparkly neurospicy folks, is like there is an immediate desire when someone shares something to be like I.

Understand that because like here's my.

Experience with that, and that some folks whose brains aren't like ours are like, well, it's not about you right now, and you're like, no, I'm.

Trying to empathize with you. Like I'm telling you, I literally know how you feel.

So it's interesting because I can track it, and I'm like, oh, yeah, I want to be like exactly, I feel that exactly. And I don't know if it's brain chemistry. I don't know if it's the toughness of being an artist that makes you a little prepared for the worst always, but I really struggle with the same and yeah, for some reason, the successes don't matter, but like the one failure is forever, and I think to begin to see that a little bit differently. I had a really impactful experience years ago that I talked about a lot with a coworker. I was like having one of those days where I was really just like ragging on myself and I was sitting in a chair and she spun my chair around and grabbed me by the shoulders and she said, watch your mouth. You're talking about my best friend like that.

Oh, And I was like, oh shit, Well, like, oh oh, because I would never allow somebody to talk about my best friend.

Yeah, I'll talk about myself or to refuse to let her relish in her accomplishments. And if she were to say to me, yeah, but I haven't done pill in the blank, I'd be like, so, look at everything you have done, and all we have is more time. As long as we're so lucky to not get hit by a bus tomorrow, we have plenty of time. We'll achieve that shit like all in due time. You know you just you gave the advice to a stranger just a minute ago, like, don't set timelines for yourself, just have the goal, give yourself a lifetime. And so I wonder if there's something in that to be like, oh right, I like my wish for you would be that you get to go oh, I do deserve to feel as good about what I'm doing as I would want my best friend to feel about what they're doing.

Yeah. Yeah, it's also for me. It's also a perfectionism issue, like like, for some reason, I don't know where I picked this up, but if it isn't perfect, it doesn't matter. It's not a value. Look, I was just on the view a few hours ago, and it was it was a great It was a great interview. Everyone was everyone was so kind and I got to tell fun stories and I and I walked off that stage and I was just like, I failed. I failed. It was it was, it wasn't perfect, therefore therefore it doesn't matter.

I interviewed Julian Huff years ago, like when I think about my friends that are like triple threats like you, and she talked a lot about learning perfectionism in the ballroom world and how perfectionism is like essentially a mental death sentence because perfect doesn't exist. So when you're a perfectionist, you set yourself up to fail all the time. And I was like, oh, I feel attacked, my god. And I do think there's something about like, in an industry like ours, nobody wants you to get too confident, and they certainly don't want you to get too expensive. And then there's this perspective from the outside that if you're in this industry, everything must be so easy for you. So it's just like constant criticism. And I wonder if the propensity to self criticize, like you said, is a defense mechanism. Well, if I say I failed first, you can't tell me anything I don't already know. And it's like I hate that for us so I don't know, that's really interesting. I think vocalizing and naming, letting the good in as a work in progress is a really that's beautiful, and I know that's important to you, and it's important to me, and it's probably really important to a lot of people listening today too. Thank you, yeah, thank you.

Oh,

Work in Progress with Sophia Bush

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