Spinning.

A lot has been going on lately. My head is spinning from the force of it.

Last week I was very angry. That doesn’t happen very often. Things are better, though. Cooled down considerably. But it’s NOVEMBER now—When did this happen? Egad—And it’s looking to be a very busy month. Exciting stuff coming up and going by and everything in between.

I need to play some serious catch-up, and I feel like I’m cheating a bit by counting this as a post, but it helps me to be public about things—stating goals and intentions—something about being less likely to back out on them. Ha!

I do have several more essay-like posts brewing, but those do take time… My first drafts always come out ranty. Maybe because I’ve been so very angry? Who knows? But this is potentially a new leaf, so I’m gonna turn it, so help me.

The crazy thing about it being November—aside from the fact that it’s FRAKKING November—is that it’s basically National Writing Month. Poetry, novel, stage play, daily blog, whatever form floats your boat. The trick is—at least with the playwriting rules—is that the new work you’re creating in November has to be just that: a completely new work. Not a project you started last July but haven’t finished. Not a major overhaul of a pre-existing dramatic mess. A spanking new idea, and thus a spanking new full-length play. In a month. Egad.

With the end of the UVU chapter of my career, I found myself looking at several very viable freelance opportunities, so I’ve actually been writing this fall for real. For people who are not me. For pay.

I do have several projects in the hopper, including a couple of screenplays and stage projects I’m collaborating on. So this month, with NaPlWriMo already under way, I’m hoping to be a better manager of of my time. I think I am a master of multi-tasking, but I need deadlines. Structure is a big part of that.

Structure is the one thing missing from freelance work. You’ve got to construct your own and then stick to it. This is the challenge for me and my wandering soul. Pay attention, Mel. Get stuff done.

Because why not get a first draft done in a month? Why not get the thing out on the page so you can tear it to pieces later? It’s the rewriting that takes time, right? At least, when you make yourself get that first draft down. Down and out.

So I’m making myself a schedule for the week. I’ve got work to do! Honest to goodness work. Grown-up work! And fantastic projects that could turn into real work, too.
Work. Experience. Exposure. Break that is big.

That’s the plan, right? The master plan. Whew.

I’ve been going to a ton of shows lately. Two reviews for Utah Theatre Bloggers within a week. Going to another one tomorrow. By the end of this week, my list of Utah theatre going will be: Bram Stoker’s Dracula (Pioneer Theatre Company); Scarlet Pimpernel (Hale Center Theatre Orem); Stage Door (BYU); Dracula (Mortal Fools Theatre Project); Angels in America: Parts I and II (Salt Lake Acting Company); and She Was My Brother and the Script-in-Hand readings, both at Plan B Theatre. Before Thanksgiving there will be Boom at SLAC, Romeo and Juliet at BYU, Drowsy Chaperone at Hale Centre Theatre West Valley, and Little Women at the Empress Theatre in Magna.

Are you impressed? You should be impressed. If for no other reason than the fact that I’m exhausted just thinking about it.

Monday I had the chance to go to my first Producer Briefing at BYU in seven years. Crazy town. The Persuasion design team is hard at work, and Eric Fielding and Landen Gates, the scenic and costume designers respectively, presented their concepts. Good times! I also snuck into the staff production meeting later in the afternoon. Made me realize how much I miss working on a show. Hard to believe Big River was so long ago. August! August was so long ago! Seriously?

Anyway, I am working on a new play and several not so new ones. I’m looking to rename November Serious Productivity Month (SePrMo? Not like NaPlWriMo rolls off the tongue terribly easily). Because every month should be playwriting month for a playwright. The call to focus is good, though. Set a schedule, organize myself so that multiple projects get finished, and not just the one.

Cross your fingers. We’ll see how it goes.

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