Writing My Solo Show.

Okay, Okay. There have been lots of great stuff happening. I am skipping that list to go to the main event: I am actually working (under a deadline) on my musical AKA my one-woman show. After decades of talking about it, I am actively doing it. For real, for real.

My friend the acclaimed solo artist and teacher Arlene Malinowski, who also helped me form some of the early stories I had written, summed it up thusly: You just need to find someone to put their foot on your neck!

I found that person. I have a co-writer. This person has committed to helping me write and complete this show. And I found him through the help of good friends: Ira Antelis (who was the catalyst) brought us together, my friend Tom McDonald for getting the ball rolling and my friends Kay and Vern Nelson who hired Andrew Barrett for me. He’s a pro and he is smart. He’s a scholar and a working playwright. BAM!

We started out with a weekend of in-person interviews (which Ira made possible) and have moved to video working sessions (he lives in LA) At first, I stayed in my procrastination zone and it was killing me. I just didn’t know where to start. The truth is I did not start. I questioned myself:
Is it in me to actually DO this?

You’d think with all of the positive response that I have gotten that I would be confident but NOOOOO, after 36 years of talking about it and writing pieces here and there – the show has never been finished. It had become “that dream I keep talking about.” And frankly, I began to believe not that I would one day write and present this show – but that I would NEVER actually do it.

So what has changed?

Investment.
The fact that someone has put money down into this project. Perhaps I needed that accountability to get things done.

Collaboration.
Working with a co-writer is a new thing for me but when you have lucked out as I have with Andrew then the actual collaboration is a beautiful thing. It helps when you think your collaborator is brilliant. It helps when you think of him as a friend. And he is a straight shooter, who does not suffer fools gladly. It is still a challenge for me: “criticism, oh no!” and self-doubt (“I will never be able to do this”) and differing points of view, but when you KNOW that you are both aiming for the same goal (completion and brilliance) you cast aside the insecurities and go into “trust/work mode.”

Commitment to the work.
This ain’t gonna be easy and I accept that.
Nothing worth having ever comes easy. Period.

Timing.
It’s just time. Time to move on up. Go to the next level. Shit, just do something. I have been in the comfort zone for a long time. No demands, no real risk. Time to be grown and create something.

A deadline.

My one-woman show is going to be great. I don’t say that out of any feelings of grandeur, I say this because:
I trust my co-writer and respect his instincts.
I believe that I have something great to share with the world.
I can not put it off any longer ’cause Honey, I ain’t getting’ no younger.

Now, it’s time to get back to work.

I will post updates on the show as it evolves.

P.S. I have a new title: IT TAKES A GREAT BIG DIVA.