Daily Booth
Hollywood Hills, CA
I went to class tonight with what I thought was a giant turd of a poem. Sharon Olds and I spent as much time together this week as we have over the last month, but instead of inspiration there was nothing.
So I took my six terrible lines and stood up in front of everyone and read my dreck.
That's when the best thing happened. Jack and my classmates took my horrid six lines and saw the heart of this piece. Rather than criticize, I was given ideas for how to make it really rather brilliant.
I'll be rewriting it this week and shaping it into something more than I could have imagined. This is why I cannot imagine my life without Method Writing.
The Play is the Thing: Day Seven
It's done. Mission accomplished. I did it!
The first draft of my play is complete.
That hardly means it's ready to be produced. But boy is it close.
I'm going to be ready for Hollywood Fringe next year.
Cesca mention a table read.
That sounds like something I might be able to do with Julie.
I have no idea what I'm doing, but I'm doing it.
Cheers to me! Woo Hoo!
The Play is the Thing: Day Five
Today was not a great day for the play. Or writing in general. Think I needed a break. However, the end is in sight and I've got two more days before going back to the pens. It will be finished on Mother's Day. Something very poetic about that.
Have also made an important decision to not be the guest star in someone else's life.
I'm going to accomplish the things I want.
Keep sight of my goals.
Find my way back to the surface.
The Play is the Thing: Day Four
My ambition may be getting the better of me. I can see it all coming together and it's real and there is a vision of it on the stage that is astounding me. But I have not formal guide, no theatre training or geekyness to fall back upon. So I'm looking at plays that I've read. Some I've seen produced, some not. Who do I find speaking to me? Tony Kushner. I'm reading his Playwrite's Notes for Angels in America and they are making sense to me. Not that I see That's Why I Hold On as anywhere near in the same league. I mean, let's just get a grip. I'm playing t-ball while watching game tapes of the World Series.
But if you're going to find heroes
you might as well pick the best:
Tony Kushner, Eugene O'Neill, David Mamet.
The Play is the Thing: Day Three
Nothing done in the computer today. Edited on paper. Went to class.
Feeling good about this.
The Play is the Thing: Day Two
Things are rolling right along. So very please with my progress. Five days left. Exciting!
The Play is the Thing: Day One
C'est la vie! All is well and I'm ready for tomorrow.
Space Stories
My dear friend, Diana, is involved in the Book Fair for her daughter’s elementary school in Burbank. As part of the week long event, they held a writing contest. Students at Walt Disney Elementary (K-5) wrote stories with an outer space theme and Diana asked if I would read and judge the stores picking a winner for each class. I was thrilled to be a part of it!
There were entries obviously turned in because the teacher made this a class project and students fulfilled the assignment by writing six lines. A couple of stories featured broken down space ships, several dramatized invasions and one even had a space-owl whose mother saves the day. Much mention was made of pizza and many protagonists were named Bob. Most classes had a dozen or more submissions and had me tied up in knots to select the “best.”
Some students wrote reports: “There are nine planets in the solar system...” They were well written, but they weren’t stories.
One second grade class had tons of entries and most of them were both well written and interesting. But there were three that astounded me. I had the hardest time trying to pick a winner. They were that good. From second graders! Simply wonderful to read imaginative stories full of details and dialog from such young minds.
The other class that impressed me with their stories and made for a difficult decision were the fifth graders. One story particularly stayed with me. It was 8-10 brief lines written in the voice and from the perspective of Hillbilly Bob talking about stories told by his grandpappy that completely turned on end what the other kids had written. I thought it was a little slice of pre-teen genius. Unfortunately, another story had to win. It didn’t follow the contest guidelines. There was no mention of outer space beyond Hillbilly Bob living next to Mars. Which could simply mean that he lived on Earth. It was so hard to set it aside.
The only bad thing about the fifth grade stories was the spelling. It wasn’t just bad, it was atrocious. It wasn’t just a few words, they were in every sentence. It wasn’t one or two stories, it was all of them. It was like the spelling didn’t matter. But that made several of the stories difficult to read and understand because I couldn’t figure out what a sentence meant because the spelling was so butchered. At least one I disqualified for that reason. I couldn’t figure out what this kid was saying! It wasn’t a case of using texting abbreviations either, though I also would have found that disturbing. This was just plain old fashioned not giving a flying fig about the spelling.
Overall, this was a great experience. I loved reading all of the stories. The creativity of these kids amazes me. Such a joy.
P.S.
I should mention that I know exactly one student at this school. While I did read the submissions from Cate’s class, her printing is indistinguishable (to me) from the other second graders and the names were covered with sticky notes so I couldn’t see them.