"Feed Me, Seymour"

WALKING TO WRITE These Sunday walks are actually much more helpful to my writing than almost anything else. This is where the ideas come together for what will eventually be books, especially if I’m writing a New York book. I wander these streets — my mind attuned to the idea, “Must feed ... must feed ... must feed” — but the wandering is really an excuse to look at the city and to reacquaint myself, consider how things are changing. What do people look like? It’s fun to see spring turn into summer, and people getting to shed their clothes. This is where I pick up new vocabulary — I remember a few years ago when I heard somebody say “OMG!” I was so excited. Back then, I didn’t have an iPhone. I had to write it on my hand.

-Gary Shteyngart "A Day Spent Foraging Food and Ideas" 

The creative process is an active and dynamic process. I've also been reading loads of acting theory and that keen powers of observation is a necessity.

The title of this post? The company is about to embark on Little Shop of Horrors rehearsals, so I thought that was fitting.

In other news, I've gleaned three monologues (a piece) from the following plays:

Leonce and Lena
Julius Caesar


There are plenty more, but I don't want half of my portfolio to be Buchner monologues.

Writing

December 2 - Writing.
What do you do each day that doesn’t contribute to your writing — and can you eliminate it?

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I make up excuses.
I think that I don't have time.
I write too many emails or copy for work (which isn't the kind of writing I think this question is asking).
It's hard to justify spreading my talents, efforts, time, hobbies too thin (I have enough trouble working on being an actor...blah, blah, blah: I can't buy that excuse even for a dollar, but it is a real, lingering doubt).


I struggle with the notion that I consider myself to be a writer. I don't even know what that means. I've pumped out essays, creative nonfiction, fiction, poetry, and even started a play. That was almost always for coursework in college. Thing is: I loved it (usually). But since graduating, I haven't committed to being a writer. And at the same time, I always say that I would like to be one (doesn't everyone?).

If that is truly the case, I suppose I should start writing everyday.

Today I wrote an email. It was a blast. It was tongue-in-cheek to the staff of the company I work at. I'm not quite sure that everyone appreciated it. In fact, it kind of spun the world into oblivion for an hour. But in any case, I had so much fun writing it. I felt the creative juices flowing again. There was a need to communicate and entertain with words.

I'm a bit irritated that this prompt has me swerving between feeling guilty about not writing and feeling completely content about doing what I choose.

But the bottom line is: if I'm going to say that I'm a writer, then I should write.

I'm not talking about making money or anything (would be nice, but it's a far, far shot). I'm just talking about writing. Whether it be a blog post, or even just journaling and working something out for my head.

At the same time, I probably do write via text, Twitter, email, or Facebook status everyday  (not all of them daily, but pretty close, I'd imagine). Does that sound lame? Maybe to some, but it IS communication and it is writing and it is a creative act.

I think the real answer to this question is the on-going battle in my head.

I'm only working with the first part of this prompt.

Is the next step to commit to something?

My hope is to complete this Reverb 10 project. I have a lot of catch up to do. But I'm working on it, and it's been a great benefit already. Once that's done, I think I may brainstorm a list of topics to write about. They are swirling around in my head.