“The best moments in our lives are not the passive, receptive, relaxing times… The best moments usually occur if a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile.” ~ Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi The best writing occurs in flow states, I believe. It is as if you go away somewhere, and then …
“Imagination is the beginning of creation. You imagine what you desire, you will what you imagine, and, at last, you create what you will.” — George Bernard Shaw, playwright and cat lady
“What has been my prettiest contribution to the culture?” asked Kurt Vonnegut in his autobiography Palm Sunday. He answered: His master’s thesis in anthropology for the University of Chicago, “which was rejected because it was so simple and looked like too much fun.” The elegant simplicity and playfulness of Vonnegut’s idea is exactly its enduring appeal. The idea is so …
In this time of death and grieving, I enjoyed this poem by Naomi Shihab Nye: For the first time, on the road north of Tampico,I felt the life sliding out of me,a drum in the desert, harder and harder to hear.I was seven, I lay in the carwatching palm trees swirl a sickening pattern past the glass.My stomach was a …
My latest audio play, adapted from a commissioned work that coronavirus kept from the live stage, is The Law of Attraction. It’s a comedy about the world of self-help, its gurus, and how close we can get to delusion when we think the Universe is there to serve our personal needs. It’s produced by The New Conservatory Theater Center, directed …
Vivien Leigh on acting: “One is just an interpreter of what the playwright thinks, and therefore the greater the playwright, the more satisfying it is to act in the plays.” Well, I should HOPE so, Vivien.
Hurricane season 2020 is, like much of 2020, extremely destructive. Enjoy this poem by Gregory Orr: Trauma (Storm) Hunkered down, nerve-numb, in the carnal hut, the cave of self, while outside a storm rages. Huddled there, rubbing together white sticks of your own ribs, praying for sparks in that dark where tinder is heart, where tender is not.
I really appreciate this post over at The Write Practice, which takes a bold approach to writer’s block: It doesn’t exist. Writer’s Block: there’s no such thing. We say that we have this thing called “writer’s block” and it’s the reason why we’ll never achieve our dreams. As if it’s a contracted disease. But it doesn’t exist. What we are …
How does one choose a story to dramatize? Two acclaimed screenwriters give their views: “A story worth telling is one that feels new even if it’s not new. You gotta remember, there are a lot of stories out there, and what is the urgency to tell this particular story? I think it’s not going to come out of plot; it’s …
“Bystanders,” my first audio play, dropped Monday, September 14, and is receiving rave reviews from listeners. Here’s a sampling: “Great all around – poignant play, the direction, acting and in-the-room presence sound design. Well done all!” ~ D.H. via email “Just listened with goosebumps to this excellent production—wonderful work by all! Gripping story, wonderful acting and keen direction, terrific sound …