Shondaland

As a writer there is really no other way to express how I feel about Shonda Rhimes except to say I am absolutely blown away by what she has been able to accomplish.  I won’t use the word obsessed because obsession tends to hold a lot of negative connotations but I will say she more than impresses me.  She has definitely set a precedent in the writing world that we all can aspire too.

Tonight ABC was taken over by two of her hit shows, “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Scandal” and a new show created by her protégé Pete’ Norwalk, “How to Get Away With Murder”, produced under her company Shondaland all of them running simultaneously from 8-11pm.  The Washington Post says, “There is not really a serious contender that can take on Shonda Rhimes for the role of most powerful show runner.”  I have to agree with them.  Especially as Grey’s Anatomy debuts it’s 11th season.

Now enough with the statistics let me speak from the heart for a moment.  I have the up most respect for Shonda Rhimes because as a writer I think about how hard she had to work to get to where she is today.   I have read some articles about her success and it is commonly mentioned that she is successful as a black woman in the industry but lets be clear her success stands beyond her being a black woman.  Her success is what writers of any race, orientation or background would aspire too.  She has set the bar so high that for me it makes me want to put my work ethic in overdrive.

I was watching her commencement speech that she did at Dartmouth College and in her speech she said, “stop being a dreamer and be a doer.”   As much as I’ve always classified myself as a doer more so than a dreamer hearing it come from her made me think of all the things that I have been procrastinating on.  I am not going to pretend that I don’t procrastinate on things and sometimes find myself sulking over all the things I haven’t accomplished yet.  I believe I have what it takes I just have to work a little harder and if Shonda Rhimes advice to me is to just do than I am damn sure going to take it.  So thank you Shonda for being such an inspiration and a positive model for writers and creators to follow.  I’m taking off my dreaming cap and putting on my doer cap so that I can one day look my dreams in the face and realize they have made it to the gates of reality.