Otherwise

I am excited about the next reading of TSGW, especially because I feel that so much progress has been made since the last reading. Much of this progress is due to my dramaturg’s urgings. (Well, okay, I did have to do the hard work of scrapping old passages and writing new ones!) There is still so much work to be done before Tuesday, however, so I definitely need all time available on Monday to concentrate on whether the journeys are clear, ensure the stakes are high, and be honest with my characters.

One thing that has bothered me this past week is the reality of publicity and marketing needs. I often feel so pulled between my desire and need to write, and the infinite demands of publicity. Neither can be ignored; if my writing is abondoned, there won’t be a play, but likewise, if the publicity work is shrugged off, there won’t be any people to see the play. And I’m not the kind of artist who writes or acts in a vacuum. Although I truly love the process of playwriting and rehearsing a play, the work is for other people to participate in, engage with, and enjoy. So, I simply can’t slough off publicity work. I have to remind myself that when I toil with marketing, I am not abondoning my baby (my art), but rather building a playground in which my toddler will one day play with others. That does, of course, assume that I spend lots of time to nurture and feed my baby so that she, indeed, grows to be a toddler!