Would That I Might

I am not going to put up a full entry today, but I wanted to welcome in 2019 with the hope that it will be an amazing year.  It is quite exciting that the first rehearsal for the staged reading of my play is tomorrow afternoon, and it feels like a very positive way to start off the year.  I hope everyone reading this is having a great New Year's Eve and will be back tomorrow to report on the rehearsal. 

One thing which I believe should not need to be said, but which I keep finding is apparently not recognized by many writers, is that just because something works in writing, it does not mean that it is the only possible way.  In many cases, writers will offer advice in such absolute terms, and I think this is very limiting to how craft is considered.  It is one thing to think of a certain path as valid, to acknowledge it as worth exploring or helpful in certain kinds of work, but it is another to, once finding a certain technique will work, close off the mind to potentials as yet unexplored. The traditional wisdom about writing talks of the needs of characters, about plot structures, and about many other elements of story which are indeed valid and useful to understand.  I would say, even, that it is often only possible to get past such ideas by knowing how they work intimately.  But it is foolish to create absolutes where they don't exist. I have talked about is...

I am having difficulty being productive these days.  I don't really want to get into a new project of any real substance until after the reading next week.  It seems worth-while to keep my energy focused in that direction, and so I am somewhat hesitant about getting serious about another project at this point.  There is something more, though, or I think there may be.  In part it is my current hesitancy to write a poem.  I am just not entering that mind space at this moment, somehow, and I cannot seem to get myself there.  In some ways, I am not even sure where that place is any longer, but I know I can get back there again.  I have felt this before, and have gotten through it then.  The thing is that I want to get through it now without the kind of guidance and support that I often had before in such circumstances. I want to get a few pieces written, though, in preparation for the class I'll be attending next month, so i am going to get mysel...

Today was not a particularly productive day for my writing, though I did get a lot of thinking done in terms of certain ideas relating to the story concept that I have been exploring.  For one thing, I have come to understand certain aspects of it as a whole, and have begun to see how it can be told.  The issue is that much of the story is about layers of belief that need to unfold and reveal deeper, previously hidden, truths, and that in order to construct this, I need an understanding of the world in the story that is beneath and beyond what is to be revealed.  As well, I need to be able to put those layers on and see how they can be removed. The goal is really to create something that has a certain structure that will resonate with the thematic concepts, to create a certain kind of experience for the reader.  In this case, my goal is largely to construct a set of beliefs that are strange and unreal, but somehow compelling and with a ring to them that feels true....

I finished editing on the script for my play, and handed in the version that will be used at rehearsal.  The new draft is short around 600 words, which still means it is running long, but I think I can find more of the edits through the rehearsal process, a belief that was endorsed when I turned in the current version.  In some ways, the process of editing has been more difficult than the actual writing.  Of course, it is a different difficulty, as the process of composition is quite different from that involved in editing, particularly in terms of cutting.  The thing is that all the material is in the play, and I don't wish to lose that, so it comes down to making small trims here and there, but doing so in a way that doesn't eliminate the voice or lessen other aspects of the plays impact.  That process is one that requires tuning in to the work in a very specific way, and is not the same as connecting with it when creating.  For one thing, it is a far...

So, after taking a bit of a break from it, I am at the point where my script is due and I must get it into shape.  I've done several passes, on paper, reading it over and marking some things that can go, but I need to do the final version, and to fix that ending.  I think the main issue for me, mentally, in terms of getting the work done, is largely my own confidence that I can do it without needing another pair of eyes, but I need to realize that I will have those eyes eventually, and that I will be able to make further changes.  I want this to be a script that feels close to done for me, though, and I think I am at that point, it is just making those final changes. I am going to keep this short again, though I will offer a full report on the work tomorrow.  I've not been sleeping well, and getting to bed early seems a wise choice, so I am cutting this short to turn in.

So. as mentioned in the past several days, I have been working on a gift, which is a short picture book that I wrote and illustrated for Melissa.  With her permission, I am sharing it here in lieu of my usual entry. It is embedded below as a PDF, which I have not tried before, but I think it is pretty self-explanatory.  Anyhow, I hope you enjoy it: