A Little Piece of magic

One of the most frustrating things about being a mother--and an artist--is when the art MUST wait because the babies need you NOW...but the art beckons NOW. That's where the idea for the play came from in the first place. I was juggling everything in my life one day, and talking with one of my girlfriends about it, the fabulous Keni-chan, and we both stopped in the middle of the conversation and had a big ol' belly laugh.

Nina:
If anyone saw a transcript of this conversation...

Keni-chan:
Jordan! Get down! I know, chile they would think we crazy...

Nina:
Jahi! No son, okay... that's fine. I know right. Absolutely nuts.

Keni-chan:
There is a play in that somewhere...

Nina:
Hmmm...

Today, I was on a walk with my kids, beautiful day. Sun shining, light breeze, people on their steps, porches and stoops, chipmunks running across our path. (They always delight me, we didn't have those in New Orleans, and the mutant squirrels in Cleveland, which are all the size of a small dog, give me more than a moment of pause...)

And it hits me...The missing scene.

Well, one of them, I think. I don't think that there are more than two and they are short. We have a little more time in the Fringe Presentation of the show than we did in the Big [Box] Series at CPT, because I was presenting on a double bill with another artist. Well there are a couple of things I want to explore a little more in the writing so that show feels complete. Things that are only addressed in a sentence at best, because I just ran out of time to sufficiently explore those subjects when they arose in the revisions process.

But here I am on this walk, and it hits me and I think I have the answer and it flutters away just as quickly as it came, like a beautiful butterfly, that you thought you saw, and you know you saw it, it was like a little piece of personal magic. And then its gone.

And my silly self found the time to "Tweet" my frustration that I lost the idea. I could have written myself a cryptic note on the "notes" function on the dumb "phone" that would have sparked something about the little piece of magic I thought I saw.

So what's the most frustrating part of this scenario is I know better. This is not my first show, how many young writers have I mentored and said, hey, keep a little notebook with you, or a recorder so you don't lose ideas? I feel like Charlie Brown "aaarrrrggghhh!"

But I also know that it will come back. Or something better. Because that is a part of the process as well. Its like when you're potty training the third child, and they do not behave like the other two AT ALL. There are certain things you know to expect. But it doesn't make you want to deal with the crap any more than you did the first time. But, admittedly, when you know its coming, it is more bearable.

So process I will, I think it's coming back to me... (smile)