Recap of 2018

Okay, since everyone on Twitter and Facebook is doing this (mostly to recover from the rest of the disastrous year), here is what I'd like to think I accomplished in 2018. Most of the following is about writing, but ART made quite an impact.

1) First Half of the Year:Wrote half of a book (at least-or at most) that I had started on Xmas of 2017.  I spent LOTS of time on it and made GREAT progress. I had a VISION of the whole book, which HELPS.

2) Worked with an editor and a strategist, and figured out how MUCH I love feedback and being challenged. 

3) Deadlines SCARE me, and I need to keep them in my life!

4)2nd half of year: Started figuring out how to get an idea for a short story a week, and began to develop them.

5) When in doubt, I organize. And I'm AMAZED at how much of my own work is THERE, ready to get proper attention (Including plays, WPOM, 6DegMks, etc)

6) ART: Began taking photographs and printing them on metal. Looking for places to mount them in a more permanent fashion.

7) 2nd half of year: Began REALLY taking my 6DegMks project more seriously, including the relationship mapping and the chapters seriously-going over what I had from previous years-some of the files only had a page or 2.

8) Added ANOTHER blog (the total is now 25!! Only one entry a month, but still!!!)

9) Found MORE inspiration than ever, 2 or 3 new muses, 4 weekend workshops & more events, classes and meeting other creative types.  The social aspect is an angle that I had been seriously missing!

10)Learned how to take joy the work and how to take rest when I needed it.

Even though I published 5 short pieces in 2017 (of which I am STILL tremendously proud), all told, I think it was my BEST year in terms of work and happiness. ;)

Lost and Found

Lost and Found (to be continued)

Elyse, Ntozake and Maria

Three Giant Women of theater have passed away in the space of just a few days.

An influential director.

A playwright of African American women and expanded territories, opening her arms to inclusion of multiple communities. (For Black Girls who have Considered Suicide when the Rainbow is Enuf, a Choreopoem)

A playwright of Hispanic women, opening the theater walls to audiences to Fefu and her Friends.  Staging was nontraditional, taking people beyond a stage to different areas -seeing scenes in various order.

The world is better for them all.

1. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2018/oct/24/elyse-dodgson-royal-court-theatres-international-director-dies
2. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/28/obituaries/ntozake-shange-is-dead-at-70.html
3. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/31/obituaries/maria-irene-fornes-dead.html

Ntozake Shange at the Dodge Poetry Festival, Sunday, October 21, 2018

Cheating on Thoreau with Twain

This weekend, there is a Writer's Conference in Hartford, CT at the Mark Twain House and Museum.  2 days of authors, talks, workshops, discussions and just plain "trouble starting" (apparently in the Twain world, that's a regular in-joke)

https://marktwainhouse.org/event/writers-weekend/

I've already THOREAU-LY enjoyed one day of it (half) and am making note of a few things so far:

A) The sessions are wonderful, but the weekend seems especially small-like the size of a decent first-year attempt, but I believe this is not their first rodeo.  Personally, I LOVE that it is so small, bc I feel that I can get to know each participant, and there are not too many overlapping sessions. However, I'd rather make contact with MORE people and attend as many sessions as possible-noting the possibility of sneaking out of a dull one and into something better (the grass is always greener on the other side of the classroom wall-especially when you can hear them laughing!)

B) The vast majority of the attendees/presenters are female and 50+. SO much so, that I would encourage the organizers to rethink their focus for next year.  It's not a matter of Mark Twain representation-he only registers as a host in the mental conversation.

C) There were a few (2?) young African American women-but no corresponding African American women presenting.  Hartford has a decent population of African Americans and none/very few(?) were in representation within the sold-out Twain house tours.  Personally, I would LOVE to be taught by people coming from different experiences and especially the locals.

D) The Harriet Beecher Stowe house is right next door, but my friends and I had to wander over ourselves and take a tour during lunch (We had given up our lunch hour on the first day to tour the Twain house)

Dreaming of Vila

Dreaming of Vila

Love Made Visible

Invisible Magic IS Love.

And "Love made visible" is the deeper mission of the Barter Theater.  When farmers couldn't offer money, they could offer things to pay for tickets. And then the actors got fed. 

A way of living as close to the bone as you can, and being happy, truly happy, in a circle of friends who are in the same situation. 

Much like the Fringe Theater, or all theater.

Mutual Admiration Society

The BEST situations are around Mutual Admiration Societies.

It might not always be equitable, but it is important to come from a place of respect and enjoyment of the other person's talents.  Winning an award, one should always be gracious and effusive in thanks.

Winning and maintaining friendships, it is important to determine comfort levels of communication, how to ensure that you've made a secure bond and how to keep it going.

Dreaming

Dreaming of Portugal and of doing more art, both the book and painting.

Working hard.

Falling Out and in Love with the Man(uscript)

Falling Out and in Love with the Man(uscript)

Sometimes it's good to be obsessed with your writing.

And then sometimes, it makes you sick with the intensity.

So it's good to be able to take a step back, and get back into your life. AND, you'd be amazed at how much easier it is to edit when you have a little perspective.

And then, when you get back into it, there's a lot of THERE there. Sure, trim away all the fat.  Lots of crap, but now it's easier to let go of it.

And I'm sure it'll be a cycle.  I need to get through this draft.  And then, rinse, repeat.

I'll forget again. But I'll fall in love again.

Readable Draft

I hope you are as fascinated by the novel writing process as I am.

I'm taking 2 classes (1 on Query Letters to Lit Agents and one on World Building in Fiction). Getting an editor lined up, workshopping one of the chapters.  Very exciting.

My goal this month is a readable draft.  I have the structure, and 250 pages of scenes, notes, and things to write.  I want to send out the first 50 pages to my editor asap.

I've published several short stories and plays, but getting together a giant chunk of something (with a full time job plus travel) is tremendously difficult. But rewarding!

Writing a Novel Continues

A little while into this book, I've been writing some of the main stories for years, in my head, but am HAPPY, GLORIOUSLY HAPPY, to pick up the thread and keep going with binding them together.

A few moments of doubt, I could stop now and nothing will happen, but then I think about that and I keep going.

Because I have stopped before.  And I see the ending in the distance for this one.

FAR

Sometimes places seem farther in memory than in distance.

NYC is too far from me at the moment.