Finishing Another Draft

It has been awhile since I last posted here.  I won't go into too much detail about the reading.  There was a lot that I was disappointed about, but the feedback was pretty good overall - certainly helpful.  I left feeling discouraged but after having it ferment a bit in my mind, I came up with some new ideas that I'm working on now and I think that will really help.  I'm adding a character and making some fundamental changes.  Also, cutting a lot and adding a scene or two and some commentary.  We'll see how that reads.

In the meantime, I had a short visit to Lowell.  It wasn't as long as I'd hoped for.  I took my Dad and he tired quickly and we had to leave.   BUT, I did get to go to the American Textile Museum.  I'd never been there before and spent a lot of time with a docent looking at the machinery and talking about what each machine does.  It was fascinating.  I could have spent all day there.  I'll go back in July and maybe in August.

I'm hoping that I can get this draft done today and out to Julie and Roseann to read.  At any rate, I'm feeling better and excited.

Some pictures:

This first picture is raw cotton.  I love it.  It is, of course, the beginning of the process.

 This second picture is of a picking machine: preparing the cotton and cleaning it.

This next picture is of an old factory that is next to the Lowell Park Visitor Center.  Some of it is condominiums and offices, not sure of the rest.

Reading Tonight

I'm excited and nervous to hear the piece read tonight.  We'll see what the evening holds...

Ready for a Reading

Well, the time has come to hear the play read.  Next Monday is the day, and my friend Roseann and my partner Julie will join me in listening.  I'm feeling pretty anxious about this as I don't know where I really am.  I think this can work as a reading, but it definitely is not a traditional play with dialogue and conflict. I'm still not sure how I feel about that.  I guess, in some ways, I feel that I have failed and I'm very concerned about other people seeing that.  At the same time, the goal was to do this as a reading in our FreshINK series in the fall, and I need to make a decision in the next week if I'm really going to be ready and open to doing that.

I think that writing and/or creating anything is complex.  For me, at this point in my life, after talking about this and wanting to do this... I can't really gage the work and feel unsure about how to move on from here.  I'm certainly not sure that I'm ready for the kind of critique that I know will come, even if it works on some level.  It is hard enough to be honest here.  Publicly and face to face?????  I'm not sure.  BUT, I'm going to have the reading and that is the next step.    Whoever might be reading this, wish me luck.

As I wrote that last sentence, another idea came to me.  It really only has to feel like a success to me.  I have to remember that.  The goal has never been to have this published or see it move to other places, but rather to engage with ideas and a topic that feel important and exciting to me.

Stay tuned to next week's 'assessment' of the reading.