Practicing serenity — and to paraphrase SARK’s “How To Be An Artist” poster — while I am friends with freedom, I am not so enamored with uncertainty…NOT AT ALL.
Lots of meditation breaks (aka “naps”).
Began in earnest writing the new, top-secret-ish play yesterday. Part of the joy/challenge was that this will be my first FINAL DRAFT written project. Felt vaguely remedial have to constantly go to the HELP section to figure out how to view both the index cards and the scenes at once — although it’s possible having small, upfront technical tests allowed the challenges of writing something new to fade into the background.
And — please note — this is a PLAY, something that will in fact 100% happen, whether it’s at some small workshop or the Cherry Lane. Something exciting about writing live theater again.
Fantastic — as always — beach walk with Susan and Belle. As one cannot buy a frisbee easily in our hood — just ironic postcards and vintage hats — the universe provided several on-site sticks and then, as a reward, several abandoned tennis balls for next time.
KEY INSIGHT — that I must not forget, and let slip away, like a forgotten dream: Have written before about how twice this year I have had birds fly into my LA and SF cottages and the difficulties or directing them. In LA, the hummingbird (symbol of joy) had to be released through blocking every single light source except the one I wanted her to take. Astonishingly, it worked brilliantly in a few moments, illustrating the power of focus.
With Belle these days, often a frisbee drifts a few feet out of her sight and I can see it but can’t communicate to her that “you’re almost there; it’s two feet to the left!” It’s both comedic and vaguely torturous not to be able to direct her passionate paddling towards her prize no matter how loudly we yell or gesture or hope.
I was reminded of my genius actress friend Patrician Scanlon’s short based on her HILDY, HILDY character THE MOTH. I strongly strongly strongly suggest you click on the link and watch it immediately. Hilarious and brilliant all at once.
So maybe there IS a god or an angel shouting down to me: “Everything you want is five feet to your right … just keep going!” Or “the extra budget for press campaign is just a little to your left — keep paddling!”
Most importantly, I am determined not to keep banging my head against the closed windows — “My Life is Right There!” “My Life is Right There!”
Anyway, once home, I then watched (500) DAYS OF SUMMER to see JG-L, top candidate for the lead in my optioned novel. Madly in love with the possibility. I think he’s perfect in every way. So perfect that I’m renting G.I. JOE, THE RISE OF COBRA just to see his scenes as the villain.
But honestly — he may just be “the guy.” Stay tuned.
