I Heart Ira Glass

Last night, Ira Glass performed at the local theater. It was packed. I had purchased my front row tickets a year ago. Before my book was published. Before I went to the symposium. Before I joined the board of ANA.

Before I did my One-Woman-Show at BTG which I would have cancelled if it hadn't been for my friend Mindy posting a link to “The Gap” by Ira Glass on the day I needed to hear it.

I wrote him a thank-you card, packed up a copy of the video and a copy of my book as thank you gifts, cut a shit-ton of lilacs and brought them to give them to him at the theater.

Here's what happened by the end of the night.

People I know were actually able to go up to him after the show and say hello and take a photo with him. And they have that moment captured forever.

My "moment" with him was when I walked right by him pre-show as he hung out outside the backstage door with a few techies. I had the flowers and a gift in hand, I walked up, recognized him, looked him in the eye and........

became completely aphasic.

I smiled, said hi, and walked past him and into the backstage door and placed them gingerly on a table in his open dressing room where his script lay scattered.

And then I exited the theater on the other side of the building.

Yep. Me. Lost for words. Sigh......

Just popping in to say hi!

http://www.everywhereist.com/70-things-i-learned-from-having-a-brain-tumor/

I didn't write the above blog, someone else did, but it was ALL true!  I've got some works in the hopper...stay tuned for an update soon!

Happy ANniversary!!

I'm celebrating my 4th ANniversary today.  Life is good.

To celebrate, I'm working on my first (and possibly my only) one-woman show being produced at my local community theater.  It's one of those things that was on my bucket list before my surgery, and has been on ever since.

I've had all kinds of excuses why I couldn't (or shouldn't) do it.  But I am, and I will, and I'll have three performances on February 20, 25 and March 1.

I almost cancelled it.  I woke up Saturday morning and thought, I'm just not going to do this.  It's stupid, It's not going to be perfect, and I don't want to embarrass myself in front of my friends and strangers. (Like that's ever stopped me before.)

Honestly, I was (am) scared.  But in the wise words of John Wayne, “Courage is being scared to death... and saddling up anyway.”

A friend posted Ira Glass' "The Gap" video on Saturday, I'm telling you, it showed up at the perfect time.  I was just about ready to cancel!  But thanks to Mindy and Ira Glass, here I go, and thanks for your continued support and encouragement this year.  It's been great, the book, the ANA board appointment, meeting lots of amazing people in person and on line all over the world...

I'm a lucky woman!




(text of the video)
“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”
― Ira Glass