Wise words Meredith. I have said I feel as if I am writing the music out of it. As a poet, you are probably well aware of that tendency.

I'm working on this.

smile

For several years in college, I made my living as a technical writer/ editor/ ghost writer/ whatever. Once you're a technical writer, you're always a technical writer: I can spot a spelling mistake from 200 yards off, and sometimes I have to force myself to use less formal grammar.

It's a great skill to have, but it's not poetry. Editing is easy; poetry, much less so. Technically perfect writing is to creativity what coloring inside the lines is to great art.

About 100 posts ago in here, I made a typo and was devastated for the entire week.

I shouldinta sed that. Now every-1 will be looking 4 tipoze and Miss Spellings.

Meredith, I totally agree about the technical writing except I think in some ways it fuels my creativity. I wrote legislation and regulations for the government for a while then I wrote tons of grants and later I developed and ran a military contracting firm that required extensive proposal writing. There is nothing more bland than writing for government. You have do tons of research and fill up a lot of pages without commiting yourself or the government to a darned thing. But when i did a lot of it, the creative stuff was my outlet and I could hardly wait to get to it. I was prolific. Now I put it off.

Actually I may be whining about my sending off phobia on the wrong post since I just noticed this is titled non-fiction. My novel is fiction. I loved writing it and I guess even if I never get it sent off or published, I got more joy out of doing it than I could ever buy even if it became a best-seller.

That's the approach I use with my plays and musicals too. It is such a trip sitting in the audience with the people all around laughing and singing along and sniffling at the sad parts.

And when I attend the play, I get treated like a celibrity. People ask for my autograph on the programs and CD's and I feel like Julia Roberts or someody.

When I act, I get a little insane before each performance, but it kind of energized the role and that's a whole different trip, but...

Gee, makes me want to get busy an WRITE. Thanks to you and the other boomers for the encouragement.

smile

Smilin, tell us mroe about these plays you write! How divine to be in the audience when people are watching your creation. Do they introduce you as the writer? Tell us more!

Thank you for asking about my plays. I love doing them. I usually get commissioned mostly by towns or sometimes churches to write a musical to celebrate a centennial or something. I copywright the play and music and license them to use it. I enjoy the outdoor productions the most. There's just something special about being in a theater lit by stars and designed by God.

Mounting a brand new musical is very difficult and expensive. It's a very collaborative effort and it's always stressful wondering what you will turn out with. But when it's on stage, it's kind of like Christmas morning. All the worries and stresses are forgotten and there's a brand new light.

They do introduce me when I attend the productions. Usually they call me on stage and give me a big bouquet of roses in the spotlight.

During the performance, it seems like every had clapping is just for me and I feel like a huge star. Backstage I'm treated like royalty. The cast all want autographs and photos and eagerly ask if their portrayal is what I envisioned.

After the performance, the audience comes by for autographs and they usually sell a cast recording so I autograph those too.

It is such a trip. Everyone should do it.

smile

P.S. I'm being considered for writing a huge outdoor musical. It's very political and the producer's brother is a script writer, but the asked me to submit so.... Another problem is, they wanted to buy the entire play outright which I would never allow because of the songs, but I would love to write it and license it to them. It's a great story. So send any good thoughts you have my way.

[ December 22, 2003, 11:09 AM: Message edited by: smilinize ]