Thanksgiving is a week from tomorrow. I’m heading down south for holiday and birthday (my sister’s 40th!!) celebrations on early Saturday morning. We’re also gearing up to move, we’re announcing the plays for 31 Plays in 31 Days, I’m also in the middle of a ton of research for my next project (reading for fun and reading for research are very different (research reading is slooooooow)), and a hundred other things. What I’m saying is that I will not be posting every day, I know this to be true. But since this is the season of remembering what we’re thankful for, I wanted to take a moment and be thankful…

This is going to be super cheese ball… You’ve been warned.

1. Mi familia. Both near and far, I have some super supportive people on my team. I’ve gone through a lot of changes this year, and I’ve needed help so that I could write more. Thank you for stepping up and giving me a hand.

2. Mi amigos. Again, you guys are all over, you’ve been there to read plays, or essays I need an extra pair of eyes on… Helping me with 31 Plays in 31 Days…. Seeing shows with me… And seeing my shows too! Some of you folks I’ve known for most of my life, some I’ve just met… Regardless, it means a lot to me and I am glad to have so many wonderful people in my life.

3. Writing. Cheesy, I know. But I am very thankful for writing, and that starting to write woke me up and reminded me that there’s more than watching tv. There’s a whole life out there waiting, and I’m glad I started partaking again.

4. The Bay! I really love living in the east bay. I love Oakland, I love San Francisco, and I love Berkeley (where we’re moving back to). I’m inspired by your people and your scenery daily.

I could go on and on and on all day. I enjoy my life immensely. I think I covered the big ones though. What are you thankful for?

So excited! Tonight is the night I’ll finally get to see the full production version of The Hundred Flowers Project. I saw a reading over the summer of it during Playwrights Foundation’s Bay Area Playwrights Festival, and I was blown away. I can’t wait to see it with all the tech support! And it’s gotten such amazing reviews…. Tonight is going to be so good!

That’s how long I have to get everything together for my MFA Application. Oy. I still need unofficial and official transcripts from my junior college down in San Diego (you have to request them in person!), thankfully I’m leaving next week to visit family so it’s not a big deal… I need to get my CSU application in, pay the fee, finish up my statement of purpose, and finally… Delivery all of it to SFSU! I’ll get it all done. I just hate having to wait.

In other news, last night’s scene night at Play Cafe was a lot of fun. I brought in a ten minute play that I wrote for The 31 Plays in 13 Days Project… Mostly to see if it was something worth submitting, and I found out that yes indeed it was. I got a lot of laughs, and there’s nothing better than that (unless of course you’re writing a drama).

Well, back to my studies… I’ve got a stack of books to get through. Enjoy the weekend!

I have a hard time with this. But, after the reading of My Sister’s Baby this past October, I haven’t done a ton with the script. I added a scene, deleted a scene and trimmed up some dialogue… But I just can’t bring myself to delve in and do the hard, nitty-gritty work that the script needs at this point. I have lost interest. This isn’t the first script I’ve lost interest in, I have a ton of ten minute plays that are sitting in a drawer, covered in notes, ready for me to save them. But I will say that this is the first full length play that I haven’t just worked on continuously until I was happy with it.

I am most bothered with the thought of losing this play forever, but I have to go with what my body is feeling. When I’m into a script, my mind whirls around it night and day… I hope that one day I’ll pick it up and fall in love again, but I am accepting the fact that that time isn’t right now.

Do you put scripts away? Do you ever bring them out again? I’d love to hear about other writer’s thoughts…

It is official… I am beginning a new full length play. Oh, I am so excited. I am in the middle of reading the first of three books that will be the bulk of my research for the play. Research! I know… This will be my first time writing a play that I’ll need to do research to write! Now I am realizing how much of a nerd I actually am… I am excited by research. Oh well, there are worse things.

The year is winding down… Looking back to 2011, I made this statement here on my blog:

“Looking to 2012 I have some goals (not resolutions). I want to complete another full length play and 4 more short or one act plays. I want to make it to 150 submissions, and I’d like 10 theatres or publishers to use my work. I would also like to read one play a week.”

I am close to part of my goal… I have reached 145 submissions for this year! And 8 theatres/organizations so far have used my work. I have a few more weeks, we’ll see if I make it! Although, after hearing advice from the lovely Megan Cohen I think I made my goal backwards. I have no control over how many places select me, but I do control how many submissions I make. Megan had a goal of receiving 100 rejection letters this year, and I really admire that. This year I’ve gotten 43 rejection letters (a lot of places just leave you hanging in the wind). I am definitely considering that as my goal for next year.

And I still have some big submissions on the horizon… I’m getting everything ready to apply for my MFA and there’s also Playwrights’ Center of San Francisco’s Sheherezade 13! 2013 here I come!

My ten minute Christmas play Oy Oy Oy Merry Christmas! is going up in New York! Queens to be exact. I got the email yesterday getting off an airplane…. Unity Stage Company selected it for it’s 2nd Annual Figgy Pudding Short Play Festival. Needless to say, I’m jazzed. The festival has four performances; Nov. 29th, 30th, and Dec. 1st at 8pm, and the final performance will be at 5pm on Dec. 2nd. All performances will be at Cafe Marlene in Queens, New York. If you’re in the area, I hope that you’ll check it out. I really love my short and quirky play, and I’m thrilled that someone selected it for their holiday program.

San Francisco Olympians Festival is now accepting proposals for their 2013 festival. This years theme is the Trojan War. The deadline is November 30th, 2012. They are looking for shorts (10-15 minutes), one acts (25-75 minutes), and full length plays (60 – 120 minutes). There is a list of subjects on their website. Playwrights should be local.

Email your proposal to Stuart. They’re announcing next years line up on 12/12/12.

Get on it!

I can’t wait for this weekend! I’m going to be visiting friends and family without my kids! I’ve had quite the month with them… Sickness, lice, and I’ve had three weekends with my husband away. All of this has lead to me falling behind a bit. I’ve been reading a ton of exciting plays, for The 31 Plays in 31 Days anthology and staged reading… Reading takes the least amount of brain capacity… After that it’s writing, and editing takes the most. And that’s what I need to be doing. After the developmental reading this past October, I had planned on having a fresh version by today. My children had other plans. But, now I have a whole weekend free of kids! MY SISTER’S BABY watch out, I’m going to cut you up. I’ve let some opps go by I was hoping to submit to, but as I heard this past weekend from the talented Megan Cohen, if you don’t get something it then it wasn’t meant to be. I’d like to beat myself up about it, but that serves little purpose. I have to look to the future and just get it done!

And now to make dinner, I’m making some lentil soup! The best part about the weather getting cold is soups and stews.

Have a good night!

For a very long time, the picture that I used to represent myself on the interwebs was one that my husband took. I loved it. It was arty, and different…. And apparently terrible at representing what I actually look like. Can’t have it all, can we? Luckily, my friend Rob Reeves is a photographer and helped me out. We did this earlier this month, and thought I would share them with you! If you like what you see, and want Rob to take pictures for you email him. He’s fun to work with, professional, and reasonably priced!

On an unrelated note… Happy Halloween! Go get sick on some candy.