reminder: performance

It opened tonight and there are three more opportunities if you haven't seen it:

Music in the Middle: An Evening of Duets
with Mike Barber and Cydney Wilkes
Friday-Sunday October 31-November 2, 2008
8PM, $15 admission nightly
additional matinee performance Sunday @ 2 PM

(See October 27 for more information)

three hours and ten minutes

I just got home from a 12-hour job. Exhausted, physically and mentally. Not because the work itself was hard, but going into it with not enough sleep (for several days) and some other stresses, I don't have the resources to make it easier. It is a place where the service providers have to be aware of who is where and keep a sense of the pulse of the place and people nearest.

But the work day is done. And I found myself wondering if I was really going to the midnight write-in! Geez! I have been ready for this day, that hour, and looking forward to being there with others. And now that it is here - I am considering NOT going?!?

No. I will go. I am determined to start this adventure off on the right track by keeping to my commitment to myself and get this novel going. I am sure it is just old patterns getting in the way -- a new adventure, unknown people, the chance of failure (so why even try?), the chance of success (who do you think you are? don't go gettin' a swelled head there, missy) -- excitement and joy masquerading as fear and fatigue so I won't be disappointed.

I. Will. Go.

I stopped at a bento place on the way home, bought chicken & steamed veggies on brown rice and an order of edamame. This way, I can be home, check my email, eat something healthy and warm *and* take a nap. And I have an iced soy latte waiting for me for when I wake up.

And I plugged in my laptop to get it fully charged - since I don't plan on being an early bird (I will be there before midnight, but I am not going to hang around for two hours before we can start) and may not be able to get plugged in until a few people go home.

I am ready. I am tired so I will nap. I will go to the midnight gathering and begin my 50,000 words. I will not let fear of failure/success stop me from following my desire to begin my novel in a like-minded group with the same goal - to finish.

twenty-four hours from now

One major project was completed tonight. Just in time. Because twenty-four hours from now I will (hopefully) have written my first words of the novel I hope to have completed (or at least past the 50,000 word mark) in a month. I will be 15 minutes into my first NaNoWriMo!

My plan right now is to come home and catch a couple hours sleep after a 12-hour work day before I head over to Fireside for the Midnight Write-In. The trick will be quelling my excitement that the time is finally here so that I can actually *sleep*. I've been a little short on sleep and would like to get a good jump on the writing ... so .... a long nap is in order. If I can; I'm not normally a napper, though I did manage to get in nearly an hour before tonight's event since I arrived a couple hours before I needed to go in.

Sleep. Work. Short sleep. And the fun will begin!

in two days

Two days from now, at this same time, I will officially be 45 minutes in to NaNoWriMo. I wonder how many words will be on the virtual page? How long will I be able to stay at the write-in, writing? What will I be writing about? Who will be there? Will there be anyone I know from other parts of my life? (As far as I know, no one I know is actually doing it ... but I suspect there are a few who may be participating but I either haven't seen, haven't heard them talk about it, or I don't see them often.)

Two days! Yay.

And I received confirmation that I do have a place to stay at the beach for three days in the middle of the month. So me and my laptop will be heading over there for three days of intensive writing, sleeping, and walks on the beach (if it's not too cold and rainy).

found: new writing (theater)

Portland Center Stage’s
NOW HEAR THIS
invites you to a concert reading of

The Drunken City

By Adam Bock
November 3, 2008
4pm-6pm
@ Portland Center Stage
128 NW Eleventh Avenue (between Couch & Davis)
in the Rehearsal Room

Admission is free, but space is limited

Please email Megan Ward at meganw@pcs.org to reserve your seat

-----------------------------

Marnie’s getting married! The girls are out on the town to celebrate her last night of being single, when they run into Frank and Eddie. Sparks fly and Marnie is left questioning why she’s getting married. In The Drunken City, everyone is trying to sober up and find some balance — especially the bride-to-be.
*
Adam Bock’s plays include The Thugs (OBIE Award), Swimming in the Shallows (3 BATCC Awards, Clauder Award), Five Flights (Glickman Award), The Typographer’s Dream, The Shaker Chair and Three Guys and a Brenda (Heideman Award), and The Receptionist, which is currently running at CoHo Productions. He is the resident playwright at Encore Theater, a Shotgun Players artistic associate, and a New Dramatists member playwright. He is currently writing a screenplay for Scott Rudin/Miramax.

Our outstanding cast includes:

Brittany Burch, Paul Glazier, Chris Harder, Julie Jeske Murray, Chris Murray & Laura Faye Smith

Now Hear This and Portland Center Stage gratefully acknowledge the support of the Oregon Cultural Trust

Information from
Mr Mead's Pupu Platter

check:

I filled out my ballot and dropped it at the elections office on my way to work this morning.

With fingers crossed, I look at the clock and know that a week from now we could know who the next president will be. And how many of the local Sizemore and Mannix measures failed (all of them, I hope).

Vote. Done.

One more thing off the list and NaNoWriMo begins in three days, two hours and twenty minutes. hehehe gulp !

found: performance

Two of my all-time favorite dance performers are presenting new work. The process leading to this production is one of dedication to their art and communities. What the year-long commitment to practice, flying here and there (within and without the US) , fundraising, and performance entailed, I will leave up to readers to discover. Both of them have the skill, presence, and dedication required. I am sure it will be an evening of delight and inspiration. Four opportunities to see these masters perform their own duets and to perform a new work created for them by Deborah Hay, another master of dance.



Music in the Middle: An Evening of Duets
with Mike Barber and Cydney Wilkes
Friday-Sunday October 31-November 2, 2008
8PM, $15 admission nightly
additional matinee performance Sunday @ 2 PM



Music in the Middle is the NW premier of Deborah Hay's duet Found Music, as well as that of two duets created by long time collaborators and Portland favorites Cydney Wilkes (Cul De Sac) and Mike Barber (Bomb), These two duets explore the artists' responses to how two individuals can inhabit the same space. Original music for Bomb and Cul De Sac is composed by Barber's and Wilkes' long time collaborator Heather Perkins.

anticipation (insert song lyrics here)

I would type more of the song lyrics here, but have been told there is a five word limit without it being labeled copyright infringement. Even if it is a compliment or perhaps free advertisement for the song. Oh well, the one word probably conjures up what I want to say anyway, and those who know the song probably have it in their heads by now.

So: anticipation of the big event is growing. In case someone does not know what I am talking about: NaNoWriMo - to write a 50,000 word rough draft of a novel in 30 days.

The new webmaster for the organization where I have been filling that role for a few years seems to be doing well and pretty independently (I am still available for consultation and backup). My goal was to get that handed off before November: check, done.

I still do not have a plot nor a cast of characters. And that is fine.

One project this week is not going quite as planned and I am trying to be positive about that. It is being more stressful and energy sucking than I hoped - but it ends before Novemeber begins, so all should be well. I just need to plan a little down time to rest and let go of the stress.

I am so excited.six days from now I will have begun my novel. And will have had some sleep and may be back at the keyboard.

So I am waiting. And anticipating the journey which begins soon. A journey to 50,000 words in 30 days.

(Notice that I am practicing using less contractions: word count is two instead of one - a helpful hint from an experienced NaNo writer - although I doubt I will completely eliminate them since they are a part of my style. I guess it might depend on who shows up on the virtual page at midnight on 11/01/08.).

Artwork from BWH Bulletin

painting "Anticipation" by Joan Gold

it just keeps getting better

Today I received an email announcing that my favorite writing teacher and local author has set up a NaNoWriMo forum for her current, lapsed, and on the roles for future workshops/classes students. Good news, because now, in addition to the random community of writers I have been corresponding with online related to NaNoWriMo, there is going to be a community of writers whom I am assuming (dangerous -- yeah yeah) we have at least a little more in common via a shared teacher, mentor, friend.

Today the excitement far outweighs the nervousness and fear of failure.