We're Not Perfect

Quote of the Day:  Perfect is a word used to describe something that doesn't exist. I used this line for the character Lolly in my play, Coffee Shop Confessions, when she is counseling one of the other women.

Welcome to my home. Pull up a chair. I'll pour you a cup, and we'll have a chat.

The title for one of my next plays is Kitchen Table Confessions. First "Kitchen Table" confession. I have clutter. I don't keep a neat and tidy house. I have boxes from our move, a few years ago, that I have never opened. Someone dropped off  SIX boxes of music two years ago that had belonged to her grandmother, now deceased, who was a piano teacher. I open them, look inside, feel overwhelmed, and shove them back in the corner behind the piano.

Why am I confessing all this?  We're having a graduation party for my son in less than two weeks. I'm trying really hard NOT to be one of those crazy nuts women who have to repaint the whole house, redo the bathroom, and tear apart every closet. I don't have the time nor the energy to do all that!

Yesterday, the boys and I set out to clean the garage. Okay, "Garage" confessions from the mouth of one of my babes, "Mom gets cranky when she works." (Thanks, Charlie) We had all the stuff dragged out onto the the driveway. Then, the thunder boomed. I yelled said, "Quick! bring back in the things that we don't want to get wet." Got that done, and the rain stopped. So, we're sweeping and stacking and sorting, and I look at Bobby and turn it over to him. He said, "When I clean, I usually throw stuff away." Well, the garbage can was emptied that morning, so I said, "Good. Here you go." A few minutes later, Bobby disappeared and a water bomb hit Charlie. I scolded suggested that they have their water fight after the work was done. After I snapped at someone for playing with the toys in the garage, I decided it was time for me to go inside and make lunch.

The boys did a fantastic job. Later, I chatted with my neighbor through the window and said, "It really is ridiculous that we drive ourselves crazy trying to make our homes perfect. It's like we're pretending that we don't have clutter or that we don't really live here."  Everyone has stuff. We all struggle to manage it. And, really, don't you feel most at home when you can drop in on a friend on a regular day, bits of their lives strewn about, and the coffee or tea is on? You can kick the shoes out of the doorway, push the paper piles over, and people are relaxed and resting after a full day, and you have a minute to just talk.

Stop trying so hard to pretend to be perfect. Instead, invite people into the daily, the real, the authentic you who is flawed, yet interesting.

Go. Create. Inspire!

Journaling Prompt:  Give me your "Kitchen Table" or "Garage" confessions.

Celebrate!

Quote of the Day:  quotes from Word Play

The quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.  Vince Lombardi

Don't mourn what you aren't - celebrate what you are! Maren Fisher

Learn from the past, live for today, look for tomorrow. Take a nap this afternoon. Igor Stravinsky (LOVE this one.)

Favorite Photos Friday:

Look at all those high achieving 6th graders!

Got a closer view of my guys.

Smile!

Those two goofballs are celebrating their birthday today (about a month late) with a big birthday bash here with one chocolate cake, chips & dip, pizza, and a bunch of friends. I'm celebrating that the sun is shining and the park is a short walk where they can play ball! And, they got up early to pick up in the basement. "All we need is for you to vacuum, Mom." Gladly.

We're celebrating the end of a school year, and end of high school for Bobby, the end of routine, and the start of summer, new adventures, and the freedoms of fewer scheduled activities.

I'm even celebrating a recent rejection from a theatre company in Seattle. They said, "No thanks" to Coffee Shop Confessions, and I'm not sad. We have already had tons of success with it. Other coffee shops in the area are asking if we'll come perform there (our run is done, but who knows). You have to celebrate the No Thank Yous because that means you're putting your work out there. If you don't submit it and risk the rejection, you'll never hear the longed-for YES!

Go. Create. Inspire!

Journaling Prompt:  What are you celebrating today?

Connecting

Quote of the Day:  May our house always be too small to hold all our friends. Irish Blessing, found on The Tiny Buddha website. Check it out for many words of wisdom, excellent writing on thought-provoking topics. A dear person connected me to this newfound site.  This post is all about connections. Read on.

LAMAA stands for Lakes Area Memory Awareness Advocates. It's a group of health care professionals, caregivers, and concerned citizens whose goal is to connect people who are dealing with Alzheimer's Disease and dementia. We had a Forum last week. Click over to our LAMAA blog for highlights on Living Well with Alzheimer's. I played a bit of music for the opening, and after listening to Dr. Terry Barclay emphasize the need to keep people connected through the arts, felt empowered to continue on my path in the arts as a way of connecting people at all ages and stages.

I have neglected to link you to my latest article in Her Voice, a local publication to which I am a regular contributor, on foster families. I really enjoyed meeting these warm and welcoming people and writing their story. The Miles family in Staples, MN has taken in 22 foster kids over the years and adopted six of them. To read their story go to Her Voice online. My story starts on p. 32, and I encourage you to read more of the great articles in this magazine.

I introduced you to Charmaine Donovan during the A to Z blog challenge with her award-winning poem/book, Tumbled Dry. Here's the latest from her.

“Tumbled Dry” received the 2011 Northeastern Minnesota Book Award for Poetry last night in Duluth. Please let your readers know and if they are interested they can order my book through www.bookinitontheweb.com

Thanks for letting me be a guest blogger. Your readers are awesome and so are you!

Charmaine

You can learn more about Charmaine and her book success at Blue Cottage Agency. She was recently at a poetry conference where she had fun exchanging books with other poets.

Go. Create. Inspire!
and, stay connected.

Journaling Prompt:  What are some of the highlights in your life right now? Any fun summer plans?

2012 Graduates Honored at Lord of Life

Quote of the Day:  from Quote of the Day Archives

If you can give your son or daughter only one gift, let it be enthusiasm.-- Bruce Barton

Don't limit a child to your own learning, for he or she was born in another time.-- Rabbinical Saying

It's easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.-- Frederick Douglass

Good parents give their children roots and wings. Roots to know where home is, wings to fly away and exercise what's been taught them. -- Jonas Salk

From little pumpkin

to

Graduate

in 18 fast years.

High School grads were honored this past Sunday at Lord of Life church. They shared memories, gave them blankets, and blessed them as they go on the next road of life's journey.

I didn't cry. I am amazed at my grown son and how willing he is to spread his wings and venture out into the world. He knows he needs to carve his own path and is doing so with enthusiasm. That's nothing to cry about. I feel blessed.

Thank you, God, for my strong and daring son. May he always have the courage to...

Go. Create. Inspire!

Amen.

Journaling Prompt:  Are you feeling brave enough to journey down a new road? I hope so.

Review of Pirates of the Curry Bean

Quote of the Day:  You don't need to teach children how to play. You need to learn from them. That one comes from me.

Annie, my neighbor and piano student, was in a school production of Pirates of the Curry Bean. The script called for a few principal characters, which they double cast, and various other roles that could be adjusted for the amount of kids involved. That's my kind of script. Any kid who wants to participate deserves a role. They had little ones dressed in adorable mice and monkey costumes running in and out. They had a few soloists.

Pink Beard made an appearance.

The kids enjoyed their parts.

Some had really great lines.

The set was colorful and interesting, but not too complicated or distracting.

Some kids could really let themselves go and got into their parts.

Others held back. It was a first big production for many of them.

After the show, the actors came out to great their fans, and sign autographs.

You're on your way to greatness.

Thanks, Annie, for inviting me to your show. Thanks Tony Schmidt and the many mothers and fathers of St. Francis Catholic School who worked hard to make it happen.

Go. Create. Inspire!

Journaling Prompt:  Write about a school production that you were in, helped with, or enjoyed watching.

Piece of the Puzzle

Quote of the Day:  poetry by Shel Silverstein

Put Something in

Draw a crazy picture,
Write a nutty poem,
Sing a mumble-gumble song,
Whistle through your comb.
Do a loony-goony dance
'Cross the kitchen floor,
Put something silly in the world
That ain't been there before.

I've been way up north to Thief River Falls and back, over the river and through the road construction, to interact with brilliant middle schoolers at a Young Authors Conference.

I said that I'd need a room where we could move around a little, interact, and do some writing, too.  They gave me the music room. How perfect was that!

I sent a message to a friend: We might not technically be doing music, but we will have rhythm.

The rhythm of life comes out in our writing and art.

When they walked in, I gave them the journaling prompt: Write down your names. What describes who you are?

I'm sure I pushed them out of their comfort zone. I asked them to share their lists and other writing with the group. Many did. Some couldn't do it, but I did walk a little closer and ask them what they wrote about so they felt like they were sharing just with me. I had them get up and make a "Homework Machine" by making an action and a sound and interacting. It was to loosen them up a little and allow them to be silly and have fun.

Then, I handed out puzzle pieces and read another poem by Shel Silverstein called Picture Puzzle Piece.

Some kids described the puzzle piece. Others started stories. I encouraged dialogue. One girl wrote two poems about her puzzle piece. Middle School kids are brilliant. They're open and ready to create. Some have started to get self-conscious and close up already. I hope they fight through that. It's one of the reasons grown-ups think they're too old to learn something new. You're never too old. What you need is to leave your ego at the door, enter, and be ready to embrace your creativity with youthful enthusiasm.

Young people inspire me.

I hope they know that they are a unique piece in the puzzle of life.

Go. Create. Inspire!

Journaling Prompt:  Choose a puzzle piece and let its story take you away. Draw, write, sing, create from its possibilities, and yours.

Review of Amen Corner at the Guthrie

Quote of the Day:  Penumbra Theatre creates professsional productions that are artistically excellent, thought provoking, relevant, and illuminate the human condition through the prism of the African American experience. Mission statement of the Penumbra Theatre. Their production of Amen Corner is playing at The Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis through June 17. (Click over to the Guthrie for excellent photos and a video clip.)

The mood of Amen Corner was established the moment we took our seats at the Wurtele Thrust Stage. We can see into the church, and the housing unit below. Someone is lying on the street. People walk by. Kids run, giggle and play. A man is pick-pocketing someone. Then, a cop appears. We feel like we're in a rough neighborhood. This is a glimpse of life in a city, in a place where everyone is doing what they can to survive. Some people turn to crime, to alcohol, and others to extreme religion.

The Amen Corner seems to be the place where people congregate to share their joys and sorrows. Sister Margaret leads in song, in preaching, and in distancing herself from her pain. But, her past resurfaces in the form of her alcoholic husband, the jazz musician who once blew the sweetest notes.

I really wanted this show to be redemptive, to be uplifting, and fill me with hope. What it does is show us that we waste a good deal of time running from our pain and coping. That in the end, what matters is relationships and being there for each other. We need to show up, be present, and be honest about what life has dealt.

The actors played realistic roles in hard times. I felt their need to bring out the music of their lives, often sorrowful, to be able to live and connect. We all have a purpose, and we all have pain. Amen Corner is a fine example of the Penumbra Theatre's mission statement.

Go. Create. Inspire!

Journaling Prompt:  Write about your pain and how you're coping.

Review of Are You Now or Have You Ever Been at the Guthrie

Quote of the Day:  Powerful people want two choices, the right one and the wrong one. Writers challenge another viewpoint, not just one or the other. This makes them the enemy. Paraphrase of a line in Are You Now or Have You Ever Been by Carlyle Brown.

Harlem Rennaisance poet Langston Hughes was put on trial during the McCarthy era communist witch hunts. His work was brought under scrutiny, his character examined, and his loyalties questioned. All because of his words.

If you're a writer, you might be next.

I felt a little chill when he said those lines. Why writers? What do we do? Ah, it's the power of the written word. People fear what we can put into print, what we might bring to light, how we challenge the powerful and their need for their one right way to be accepted. Writers don't see things in black and white. We are the what if sayers. We are the question askers. A writer has a natural curiosity of life. (line from the play)

This is a play about poetry. You get lost if you get literal. Carlyle Brown, playwright

The stage was divided into two parts to accent the two parts of the play. In the first half, the action takes place, audience left. We see Langston Hughes languishing over his words. The floor is strewn with discarded pages. He's in his pajamas and scratching his head. He paces. He types. He talks to us. The audience is a character in the play the way readers are the unseen audience to isolated writers. We see you and feel your presence even as we write in solitude.

Gavin Lawrence played Langston Hughes with the passion and rhythm of a poet and jazz musician. He recited a poem about jazz that stirred my musician's soul. I even swayed a little and felt like applauding when he was done, the way we applaud in a musical after the singing. Regretfully, I held back. During the discussion with the playwright and historian/actor after the play, I asked if some audiences applauded after the recitation of the poems. They said, Yes, some did.

Sometimes, we saw his words on a screen as he typed them. Sometimes, they got bigger and bolder, especially as the tension grew. Sometimes, there was silence.

The second half of the play moved to our right. I felt like the senate interrogation committee was trying to silence Langston Hughes. They pulled words and phrases out of his poetry and demanded explanations and yes or no answers. Hughes kept saying, No work can be fully understood if taken out of context.

Can you imagine being put on trial for your work, your art, a line of your poetry, or a sentence in a book?  I kept thinking, asking a writer to explain a choice of a word is like asking a painter to explain the choice of color in her painting. Why? Because it felt right at the moment. It worked. I was inspired. A senate committee had no time for such answers.

Carlyle Brown said of the poet, He is the conduit, not the creator.

We don't choose the words. The words choose us. Langston Hughes was chosen to defend his words, poetry, and his very life.

Photo from Carlyle Brown website

This play gave me even stronger convictions of how important we are as writers and artists of all kinds. What we do makes a difference.

Go. Create. Inspire!

Journaling Prompt:  Have you ever felt fear about exposing your art, or even creating it?

Are You Now or Have You Ever Been is playing at The Guthrie through May 20.

Laura Radniecki's Photo Class

Quote of the Day:  You don't take a photograph, you make it. ~ Ansel Adams

Beauty can be seen in all things, seeing and composing the beauty is what separates the snapshot from the photograph. ~ Matt Hardy

For Favorite Photo Friday, I have here a photographer sharing her craft. Six of us assembled at her place last Sunday for an intense lesson on the inner workings of our cameras and how to take the best pictures.

Laura Radniecki is fired up about her art. She loves to teach and help people take better pictures and capture their own stories with photographs. She suggested the upgrade lens verses our kit lens, and an affordable editing program.

Thanks, Laura. I had a great time and now I'm fired up to take better pictures.

Go. Create. Inspire!

Journaling Prompt:  What do you like to teach?

Review of The Diary of Anne Frank at Park Square Theatre in St. Paul

Quote of the Day:  Grown-ups have lived their lives and made their wars. We kids didn't start these wars or make these messes. We deserve a chance to live our lives.This is a paraphrase from Anne's line in The Diary of Anne Frank at the Park Square Theatre in St. Paul. I attended this performance as a chaperone with about 200 eighth graders from Forestview Middle School. It was stunning. The cast of characters were exactly how I have pictured them through my readings, imagings, and visit to the Annex.

Five school buses filled with active 8th graders headed to the big city.

My busmates.

Overall, good travel companions.

Although, they got a little excited driving through the tunnels.

The brave bus driver.

We're not in lakes country anymore.

We missed our rest stop on the way down, so this was a welcome sign as we ran into the theatre!

This was my first time at the Park Square Theatre. Probably the first for most of the 8th graders.

The only professional theatre experience for many.

After a mad dash to the restrooms and a speech on proper theatre etiquette, the students found their way to their assigned seats and settled in, wiggles, giggles and all. I sat amongst them, down front, theatre left. The stage was set as if it were left in disarray. The music played low, that haunting strain of violins in a minor key. The house darkened, and the children quieted.

Otto Frank enters slowly, from the lower staircase, the one hidden by a bookshelf, but never fully concealed. Miep is with him, new life in her belly, while they survey lives too soon ended. Otto picks up pieces of their existence, lovingly strokes a glove, glances at empty rooms, overturned chairs, and turns to leave. Miep holds out a box, "There's papers in here, letters. Don't you want to read them?" No, says Anne's father, shaking his head, lifting a hand, waving away the pain. "Anne's diary," says Miep as she holds it out to the lone survivor of the Annex. The story unfolds as a memory.

You will feel uncomfortable watching this play. The set is designed to create the feeling of confined quarters. It doesn't come all the way to the end of the stage. It has distinct boundaries. Screens on the walls emphasize that even when you're in a room, you're not alone. You never have space that is all your own. You have to share everything. You must walk in stocking feet during the day. You may not run water or use the WC. (Did they have to hold it all day, waiting much longer than the two and a half hour bus ride we took from Brainerd?) You can't do this. You can't do that, and you will not step foot outside until the war is over. They couldn't imagine it lasting much longer. I mean, it was horrible, what was happening. The allies must be stronger. And, yet, they spent two years in hiding, waiting in fear, worrying about every sound and depending on their brave friends on the outside to bring them food and news and hope. The actors, director, and crew brought all that to reality for us, who watched with uncomfortable wiggles and coughs, and sometimes nervous tappings.

I attended a production of The Diary of Anne Frank when I was in the 8th grade. I felt sad and mad, and a strong connection to Anne Frank. I wanted to play her onstage. I started giving my diaries (journals) names, and I wrote from her inspiration. I believe her spirit lives on through every young person who ever dreamed of being a writer.

I remember watching my teacher come apart, wiping her eyes over and over after the performance ended. Although, I cried then, I wept now. I connected with the torturous grief of Anne's father as he caressed the pages of Anne's diary. Did he spend the rest of his life wondering What if we'd left sooner? Gone to America? Done it differently? A father, who wanted to protect his family, but couldn't keep the evil away.

A presenter at a children's literature conference once told me that when she was a child she found the Holocaust unjust and horrible. As a parent, she finds it unacceptable. I agree. It was all I could do not to fall apart, sitting amongst those uncomfortable 8th graders. One girl walked out next to me and said, "I hate crying. It was like being at a funeral." Indeed, a memorial to all the lost lives and what they would have been, if only...

Then, we were free to go, back on the bus, back up north, to track practice, baseball, video games and carefree living, on this gorgeous sunny day.

Today, we learned that a legend in children's literature passed away. Maurice Sendak colored our world with his Wild imagination. Born in 1928 and raised in Brooklyn, Sendak said he remembered the tears shed by his Jewish-Polish immigrant parents as they'd get news of atrocities and the deaths of relatives and friends. "My childhood was about thinking about the kids over there (in Europe). My burden is living for those who didn't," he told the AP. from The Huffington Post, May 8, 2012.

Go. Create. Inspire!

Journaling Prompt:  Write about a class fieldtrip, as a student, or as an adult.

Reflections on A to Z Challenge 2012

Quote of the Day:  Alphabalance by Shel Silverstein
Balancing my ABCs
Takes from noon to half past three.
I don't have time to grab a T
Or even stop to take a P.

to

Loved it! I'll do it again next year. My favorite part of it was taking pictures of letters. I had most of the letter pictures before the challenge. I stuck with the same Quote of the Day which helped explain my theme. I had lists of words for the day and posted a few ahead of time. Knowing that events happen throughout the month that I would want to write about, especially reviews, I didn't work too far ahead. Overall, the writing and planning went well. Reading all those great blogs, though. Impossible. I discovered so many wonderful new blogs. I'll be spending the next month rediscovering them as I catch up.

Thank you for reading my posts. Some people, like my sisters and a few close friends, read every day and said they liked knowing I had a new post every day. That's what keeps the momentum alive. Thanks to new followers and all the fabulous comments. What a wild and wonderful ride I had in April. I'd like to use my A to Z photos and make a calendar from the 2012 challenge.

Go. Create. Inspire!

Journaling Prompt:  What could you do with an A to Z prompt, in life and in art?

Robert Robinson & Tim Frantzich Create Heaven on a Saturday Night

Quote of the Day:  We all have a job to do here. We can make a choice and work together to build a golden city. paraphrase from Robert Robinson from his concert in the Brainerd lakes area...Heaven on a Saturday Night, May 5, 2012.

It was a moment of Transformation.

Robert Robinson, Timothy Frantzich, David Ballman

I sat up front, just feet away from the most powerful, soulful, gospel voice on the planet. The piano was an arm's length from me. I could see the subtle tick of facial expression as well as the wide open exaltation. Brother Timothy, Robert Robinson, David Ballman, and pianist David Billingsly created Heaven on a Saturday Night. There in the old, stone church in North Brainerd, I felt a transformation. This was not the kind of concert that we rural Minnesotans of northern European descent are used to. Uhn-ah, no, ma'am. No one was sitting straight and still with hands in their laps. These folks rocked the house. Their music, encouraged by our response, brought everyone to a higher plane. We were on our feet. We were clappin' and wigglin' our hips and tappin' more than toes and huggin' our neighbor. At one point, Robert challenged us to be a gospel choir. He said, "Let's raise it one step higher and make you a Black Gospel Choir."  He said that he'd never heard of people just stopping once they get into a song. You finally get'em going, and then they're done? No. You gotta keep singing.

Okay, I might look a little drunk here as I'm singin' & clappin' & movin'. It's not alcohol, folks. I'm intoxicated by the music, the moment, and the energy.

We were rockin' the house, way up here in Brainerd, Minnesota, at the United Church of Christ. The performers encouraged us to sing along, to move something in response. (Who could sit still?)

David Billingsly at the piano.

I watched in awe as David accompanied Robert Robinson. He'd often have his eyes glued to the singer. Robert sings from a deep well inside of him. I can imagine it's never the same song twice. David is vigilant, ready with his talented fingers to bring the song along, to give us waterfalls of transformation, to lift up Robert in places, and then have his moments to shine. It was a joy to watch him perform.

He seemed so comfortable there. Sometimes he'd lean forward, scrunch up one eye, listen intently to Robert, then take it away.

Fingers on the piano.

A touch of magic.

David said that tonight, at our concert, Robert went places he'd never heard him go before. He had his transformation. Brother Timothy said that when all three voices hit a chord in a song, he felt the transformation. I'm telling you, folks, you aren't living if you don't attend live performances. There is no substitute, and the feeling stays with you forever. It lifts you up. It transforms you beyond time and circumstance, and it gives you the energy to "build a golden city."

Go. Create. Inspire!

Journaling Prompt:  What inspires you to build a golden city?

Thank you, Joey Halvorson, for taking so many wonderful pictures and capturing the moment. She has more on her facebook page, and I told her she could subtitle the album, The Body Language of Music. mmm. hmmm.

Spring Piano Recital

Quote of the Day:  Where words leave off music begins. from the cover of a new journal I bought called Rhapsody. It's a gorgeous Black Rock Journal, all black cover with silver letters and musical notations. It was screaming my name when I walked into the book store. The pages are smooth, and my pen glides across like notes in a bluesy piece when you know what it's saying even when you can't hear the words.

Favorite Photo Friday:

The 2012 Spring Recital.

They're both cute and talented!

We had a lovely afternoon of music at Edgewood Vista last Sunday. I thanked the students for their hard work and bravery to get up and perform. I thanked the parents for providing them with a chance to make music.

Here is an excellent article that busts the Myths of Learning to Play the Piano. It is particularly good for any adult who has been longing to play, but has hang-ups about what it takes.

May you have many musical moments this spring!

Go. Create. Inspire!

Journaling Prompt:  Do you have someone to thank for giving you the gift of music, either in lessons, or sharing their song?

Comparisons be Damned

Today is the Insecure Writer's Support Group hosted by the incredible Alex J. Cavanaugh.

Quote of the Day:  Do what you feel in your heart to be right, for you'll be criticized anyway. You'll be damned if you do and damned if you don't.--Eleanor Roosevelt

Don't compromise yourself. You are all you've got.--Janis Joplin

Don't listen to those who say, "It's not done that way." Maybe it's not, but maybe you will. Don't listen to those who say, "You're taking too big a chance." Michelangelo would have painted the Sistine floor, and it would surely be rubbed out by today. Most importantly, don't listen when the little voice of fear inside of you rears its ugly head and says, "They're all smarter than you out there. They're more talented, they're taller, blonder, prettier, luckier and have connections…" I firmly believe that if you follow a path that interests you, not to the exclusion of love, sensitivity, and cooperation with others, but with the strength of conviction that you can move others by your own efforts, and do not make success or failure the criteria by which you live, the chances are you'll be a person worthy of your own respect.--Neil Simon  Find more wonderful quotes like these and Quote Lady.

April has been a wild and wonderful month, possibly the best month of my life. We had five sold out performances of Coffee Shop Confessions. Add that to the two in March, and we had a great run and raised $400 for the Mid-Minnesota Women's Center. I viewed and reviewd plays at the Guthrie and The Children's Theatre Company, and I've been quoted and promoted by these theaters. Not to mention, completing the epic A to Z Challenge. I was on top of the world. I thought I'd stay there forever.

I started to tumble down the hill. Dang. Here's what happened. I sent my script off to a theatre in Seattle that produces plays by women with strong female characters. I figured, my place fits the bill, but I was scared. In fact, I waited until the last minute to push send. Deadline was May 1. I sent it the eve of May 1. Okay. Good for me. Then, my publicist sent me the link to this amazing place in Minneapolis called The Playwright's Center. I spent some time reading about all the awards, productions, connections, and accomplishments of the playwrights who have been in their program, and I thought, Who am I to send a play out to a company in Seattle. They're going to laugh at me, some no name, nobody, never heard of show from small town Minnesota.

Good grief. I've been reading and rereading those quotes up above. I'm giving me a talking to about all the things I did here in my community, the relationships I've formed, the START of something good. I'd go soak in the tub, but my water heater seems to have died during the day. We all had hot showers this morning, but I washed dishes with cold water tonight.

Here's a boot full of flowers. I'm just trying to change the subject.

You know, the designer of this arrangement is showing us that you can do something any way you want. A boot can be a vase, or art, or footwear. It's all on how you look at it.

Go. Create. Inspire!

Journaling Prompt:  Why do we artist go through extreme highs and lows? Where are you right now? Top of the mountain, or down in the valley?