Studies and Preparation

I've been a little quiet lately because: a) I got a cold. No one wants to hear the extent of that whining. b) I am getting ready for THIS: I'll be catching a train to Fort Worth next week to meet up with the Susan Gibson tour van so I can merch girl my little heart out across the Southeastern U.S. So excited! I've never been to that part of the country before, aside from a weekend in Atlanta in college, so I will be soaking in every bit of Southern culture I can. Plus my buddy from Georgia tells me I have to try the phenomenon that is boiled peanuts from a roadside stand. I like peanuts. I like boiled things. What's not to try? In the meantime I'm having fun at Red Leaf and with Folk Music Grad School. Dan gave me homework...my first reaction paper since college. He said he hoped I didn't mind and I said, "Dude, my degree was built on reaction papers to chapters in random books...it's cool." I enjoyed using proper citation of sources in my writing again (Dan didn't require that, of course, I just threw it in for good measure). We are reading "An Actor Prepares" by Constantin Stanislavski...I'm only on chapter 2 but so far it's discussing the ways in which an actor presents material to the audience, how he approaches his role, and how he turns what he does into real art instead of just mechanical motions. All of it applies to the performing songwriter, too...we have to re-live the little one-act plays of all our songs over and over again and truly live them every time. Otherwise, the audience gets gypped. And perhaps throws tomatoes. Which ties in nicely to my work with my stage performance teacher, Jess, who had me on a yoga mat inhaling and exhaling while singing with my knees pointing one way and my head the other. My assignment this week is to study two of my songs and play them for her with every emotion and intention examined and displayed. Very excited. ...And then comes the suSANG tour, which is kind of like the Folk Music Grad School Field Experience course. Or something. Many cans of Starbucks will be consumed. I have no time for a cold! Time for some Nyquil.

Butt. In the seat.

Dan and I are on book 2 of our joint Hemingway reading -- although Dan has smoked me by reading a couple of others. I will catch up one day, really. But anyway, we are now reading Islands in the Stream. (I know, queue ridiculous Kenny Rogers/Dolly Parton song here. I am kind of annoyed that they took that title. I think Ernest had it first). I’m only a quarter of the way through, but as Dan and I discussed at one of our sessions this week, there are already good lessons to be learned. Thomas Hudson is the main character; he lives one one of those idyllic islands that exist in, well...novels, and he is a painter. There’s a lot of Hemingway in Thomas Hudson, I think...which means a lot can be gleaned about the writing process and what it takes to be a professional writer. Lesson Number One? Show up. Every day. Sit down and paint (or in our case write). He lives on this gorgeous piece of paradise, and Hudson’s three sons are visiting him for their once-a-year time with dad. Perfect excuse to slack off with the workload, right? Wrong. He’s at it every morning regardless of weather/plans/interruptions/mood. That’s how you become good, and if you’re already good, it’s how you stay good and become better. Much like the Writer’s rooms...their chairs were comfy or hard or ugly or stylish, but those seats all had one thing in common: their butts were in them.