No thanks for mosquitos.

One good thing I did today was make some succulent ribs.  Another good thing was wash and trim my hair, and do two loads of laundry and dishes.  I have to remind myself of some good things I did so that I don't get discouraged about what is not going so well.

 I'm struggling to find order and significant story in my play for my key characters.  It has been such a journey to uncover tidbits of truth and fashion them into a chain of events and then mortar them together with fiction.  Then I must break the mold and put the vertebrae back together with a slightly different spine, but some bits no longer fit, so I must invent new bits, but then that makes the whole spine shift, and I find I must rebuild again and again, even slightly, until I can find a puzzle that fits every piece and still speaks as a whole.

I never knew playwriting had such a form.  I thought that the hard part was just coming up with things to write.  No.  The hard part is finding the right form where nothing is superfluous and all flows to purpose.  The stuff that gushes from me is right, but it is usually unshaped and thus it takes many hours of switching things around, and that is what I find so challenging.

Saturday I turn in my "first draft" to my friend and artistic director Morris.  I give it to him on Saturday because that is the day I decided 3 months ago would be the deadline and now it is fast approaching.  I'm scared.  I'm excited.  After Saturday, I will not write for 15 days (on my play that is.) Instead I will read up on articles for a week at the Gutenberg Institute in Eugene on Biblical and world economics.  Yes, I'm weird.  Once again my "vacation" is spent in study.  Wish I had had that hunger when I was in university!!

Dave will have two weeks of quiet and loneliness and freedom up here in Rosebud.  I'm sure he'll get some good writing done on his play.

My boys are full of endeavor as ever and now they have Oregon coast and cousins to look forward to.

Just like with my day I have to list the positives to balance the negatives.  So, I thank God for a cooler summer day with bright flowers, but not for the mosquitos.