Early on, I wrote a poem with the lines, 'sometimes a light surprises.
What it quickens, I can't deny.'
And oh, how many times, in how many ways, it seems to apply (rhyme not intended, but, there it is!) to what I am thinking, to what I am remembering, to an abandoned project that won't let me go. Such are the insights, reminders and opportunities that surprise me with their possibilities for the play I developed from a writing assignment in the late 'seventies. How guarded I am with the whole project, not letting myself get to work on the shelf bulging with notes and drafts of this project, not believing it would capture an audience, not seeing where and how to 'tweak it' as one local theater director suggested, not daring to ask yet another person to read it and possibly demur from commenting. Yet, time and again, an unexpected light will surprise.
This week it is in reading the end of a book I'd abandoned as insight-less, at least to me, and finding it actually insightful, that I have a crucial insight about one of the minor but necessary characters in my play. (REMEMBER is the name of it. Be looking for it on Broadway. There, I've set my sights...)
I won't share the clarity here (I demur), but the book is THE WOUNDED HEALER, and the insight, really the crux of the book, is where the author, Henri Nouen speaks of the characteristics of leadership. I can hardly wait to get back to the redrafting of the play from the perspective of this particular character, caring, believing, persistently hoping...revising in the light of this most recent surprise.
You writers know that the process can be daunting and lonely, no matter how exciting. I need to put this new-found energy into the work, rather than dissipate it by leaking out a little bit at a time (which is why I demur from further details.) But, ask me how it's going. It'll be on my mind and increasingly on my desk, lordwilling moving from my computer to the stage...SDG. Hold me accountable to this new surprise.
What it quickens, I can't deny.'
And oh, how many times, in how many ways, it seems to apply (rhyme not intended, but, there it is!) to what I am thinking, to what I am remembering, to an abandoned project that won't let me go. Such are the insights, reminders and opportunities that surprise me with their possibilities for the play I developed from a writing assignment in the late 'seventies. How guarded I am with the whole project, not letting myself get to work on the shelf bulging with notes and drafts of this project, not believing it would capture an audience, not seeing where and how to 'tweak it' as one local theater director suggested, not daring to ask yet another person to read it and possibly demur from commenting. Yet, time and again, an unexpected light will surprise.
This week it is in reading the end of a book I'd abandoned as insight-less, at least to me, and finding it actually insightful, that I have a crucial insight about one of the minor but necessary characters in my play. (REMEMBER is the name of it. Be looking for it on Broadway. There, I've set my sights...)
I won't share the clarity here (I demur), but the book is THE WOUNDED HEALER, and the insight, really the crux of the book, is where the author, Henri Nouen speaks of the characteristics of leadership. I can hardly wait to get back to the redrafting of the play from the perspective of this particular character, caring, believing, persistently hoping...revising in the light of this most recent surprise.
You writers know that the process can be daunting and lonely, no matter how exciting. I need to put this new-found energy into the work, rather than dissipate it by leaking out a little bit at a time (which is why I demur from further details.) But, ask me how it's going. It'll be on my mind and increasingly on my desk, lordwilling moving from my computer to the stage...SDG. Hold me accountable to this new surprise.
I will look for your play on Broadway Shirley. Why not Broadway! : )
ReplyDeleteThank you, Lynn. It's motivating to have some company along the writing journey. Your prompts toward the writing life are always appreciated!
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