Monday, May 27, 2013

You're Gonna Be Fine

I think I am back in the saddle again.

I recently put out a call to my friends on facebook to read the most recent draft of A DEATH IN THE FAMILY, and a bunch of people stepped up (thank you, you know who you are!). I thought I should actually go back through and read the play again and find the spots where I think things need to be changed that I want to ask the readers specifically about.

Ever since my reading last year and then my rejection from Last Frontier, I just haven't been able to work on it. It's no one's fault--I don't blame anyone. I think I was just coming to a stand still anyway, as far as my writing went. I was feeling burnt out and there were a lot of crazy life things happening (some of which I am still waiting to have happen). I needed a break. It was time. I was still trying to find some breathing room after coming back from Arkansas.

Now I have a new day job, which is wonderful and I am so glad I went after it as hard as I did. I really enjoy it, and my co-workers are fun, and I really enjoy the challenge. I've never had a job like it, and now that I have an office job, i can't imagine doing anything else. So this is good.

So back to A DEATH IN THE FAMILY--I am going to be rewriting a substantial amount of the play, possibly before i even get feedback back. I am going to save a separate draft of it, in case it turns out to be a bad idea. But I don't think it will.

For the first time, I see where all the changes need to happen to make the play stronger. And I want it to be stronger, because I really really love this play and I want everyone else to love it too.

I wrote 6 pages of the holocaust play. It had the most amazing strange energy to it. I don't know if what I wrote is actually going to be in the play, but I do know this: this is the furthest I've gotten on this play since I was introduced to Janusz Korczak in spring of 2005 in my History of the Holocaust class I was taking at Black Hawk College. And that's a big deal.

The fact that I am writing this at all, and actually feel positive about it is kind of miraculous on its own.

Right now I am really getting into FRINGE and this image means a lot to me right now:

2 comments:

SMartin said...

Keep writing, Toni! You've got a beautiful, unique, and important voice - glad you're feeling good about using it!
xx

Toni Wilson said...

Thanks, Sarah! I appreciate that more than you can imagine. Good luck in the new chapter of your life!