So...Writers Write....Right?

Well hello there!
I know...I know.... I've been maintaining radio silence for way too long..... 
Ever since my brilliant friend Dave Ebersole and I declared 2013 to be "The Year Of Manifesting" (i.e. Publishing!) things have been alternately moving at light speed and getting roadblocked. 
It's truly been feast or famine.

I spent the first part of the year rewriting and performing in "Bad Cupid Cabaret" and writing my play "A Long, Long Way from Home". I was fortunate to have a staged reading in March at the Shubin Theatre, here in Philadelphia, featuring some of the finest actors in the area.  It was well received and I got valuable feedback . 
Feast!
And then my whole creative machine shut down. 


Oh, I did the kind of writing/editing that pays the bills. You know, cleaning up web content and making it pretty, etc. But I was not writing. 
 
I. Was. Not. Writing.
Not a word.
No morning pages.
No journal entries.
No stories
No plays.
No songs.
No nothin'.
It was excruciating.

Famine.


I diverted my focus caring for small children, cooking wonderful meals for my fella, getting a part time gig at a cosmetics store, supporting my fella in his budding acting career, spending way too much time on Facebook.... but I was not writing. Not MY writing, anyway.
Oh, hell and damnation!
I was blocked. 
Now what?

"Let it Go" - The Art of Surrender

Years ago, my BFF and songwriting partner, Mick Loro and I wrote a song called "Let It Go". The song was about surrender. Not the kind of surrender that says "I give up"; but rather the kind of surrender that says "I'm just going to show up, be present and let my obstacles be removed. I'm going to get out of my own head and be there for someone else, for the work, for whatever my soul calls for me to do, and let the results take care of themselves." My favorite line from that song goes: "Come, dance with me... there is great strength in 'we'..."

I needed to forget about "how" things were going to manifest and just get to manifesting. As Oliver Stone says; "Ninety percent of writing is ass + chair."

I had forgotten that. So, about a month ago, I went back to the beginning. I was thinking about my childhood and families in general. Remembering my brother and I listening carefully for how many saints my mother called upon when chastising us, so we would know just how much trouble we were in, I thought to myself, "Wouldn't it be funny if those saints just started showing up?"  Et Voila! My play "13 Saints", was born. A couple of weeks later, a conversation with a friend spurred an outline for a hilarious children's book series and the feast has begun again.

The upshot of all this is that sometimes our Second Act needs a second act, or a third, fourth or however many are required. There are no quotas on do-overs when you are following your passion. Redirection and refocus is an intelligent part of the process.
Very often all it takes are some very simple (simple not easy) steps to get out of your own way, and avoid the famine altogether.

Like these:

 

Get grateful. Seriously. This step alone is life changing. List 5 things you are grateful for every day. Don't make a mental list. Write them down. I don't know exactly why it works, it just does.

Get consistent. If you're a writer, write, every day. Even if it's complete crap. It's a muscle. It atrophies with disuse. If you're a singer, sing; if you're a painter, paint; if you're a mommy, pour all your energy into creative parenting, if you're a bricklayer, lay some flippin' bricks! You don't get good at something by NOT doing it.


Meditate. That's right, I said meditate. You don't have to go out and study under Deepak Chopra or anything (although, if you have the means, it's not a bad idea). Just spend 15-30 minutes a day getting still.  Be still and listen. Stop texting and listen. Shut your mouth and listen. Stop tweeting and listen. Stop posting on Facebook and listen. Hang up the phone and listen. Be still, and listen. Let the relentless chatter of busy-ness flow out, so something real and inspiring can flow in. You'll be amazed. Promise.

Surrender. You don't have to be religious or spiritual. Just allow for the possibility that maybe, there's something out there bigger than yourself that wants you to succeed as much or more than you do. Just show up for the work and get out of your own way.


It's good to be back.
It's the Second Act of my Second Act.

Here. We. Go.