Preparation is 90% of Creation

I'm sewing a curtain for my daughter's room and it occurs to me that sewing is like painting is like writing.

Before I can actually sew the material in my sewing machine, I need to measure (twice, thrice!), cut it at just the right spot, and iron the hem so that it will be straight. Then I can sew.

Likewise, when I paint a wall or a flat, I have to measure, check for dents and fill them, put down drop cloths, tape the edges, then I can use a brush to cut in, then I can do the big roller painting.

As with writing: I never merely sit down at the computer and the words flow from my fingertips to the screen. Hah. That'll get you if not gibberish, then blather. I research, I figure out my characters - their wants and needs, their obstacles and strengths, their quirks - and I figure out my plot. And, once I've begun to picture it and can hear the characters in my head, then I begin writing.

Back to Writing

With all the administrative stuff I've had to do lately, and all the talking about sign-ups for the summer workshop, along with the rest of the stuff I have to do in my life, I haven't had much chance to sit down and actually write.

So when I finally get to a time when I can think about characters and what they should say, and do, I breathe a sigh of relief. Oh right, I actually enjoy writing! I enjoy listening to the characters in my head. I enjoy coming up with fun things for them to say. I enjoy fitting together different parts of the plot, even when it's difficult. ('But if A says X, then B has to give the mulligan to C to give to A first . . . ')

I'm working on my expanded version of Louisiana Jane right now. When that's done, I'll work on an expanded version of These Are the Voyages. Both these shows had to be kept to 50-55 minutes before, which meant that I couldn't develop some characters or parts of the plot as well as I would have wanted. Now that I can produce longer versions, I can develop those characters and put in the songs that Randy had written but would have made the show too long.

So what have I been adding?

I always liked the three professors in Louisiana Jane. They're experts in antiquities who can't agree on anything. Haley is a cheery chap. Lahr suspects everything of being a fake. Before we developed this through the song, "What Have We Here?" Now, I was able to add a scene in which they argue over the hors d'oeuvres. It was fun writing it. I'll also be adding the professors to later in the show. They're fun characters to play.

By the way, the three professors are named Bolger, Haley and Lahr. Anyone have any idea who they are named after? (Not that their characters resemble these people.)

Close to becoming a Luddite!

Wireless printing sounds so simple. I pictured Maggie working on my laptop in her room, and Aaron working on his laptop in his room or up in the living room, and they can both send their documents to the beautiful new Photosmart printer downstairs. Ha. I've set up lots of technology in the house, including other printers and wireless. They were all relatively simple. This was supposed to be simple. "Push the WPS button on your router and push this button on your Photosmart printer," the directions say. But no. Instead, I have spent hours troubleshooting, researching unhelpful Q&A sites on the web, inputting various codes. I did find out how to access my router - big problem there was the Norton firewall, as opposed to the IE firewall, and now the router recognizes the printer but that's still not enough. What happened to technology making life easier?

And that's what I was doing yesterday instead of writing.