#6: The Showing
A series of eight blogs about my process of publishing every grain of sand.
Writing anything can feel isolating, but there’s always this glimmering hope that the words and sentiments and stories will land where they are supposed to and mean something to someone—the promise of connection. Writing a “blog” can feel supremely self-serving, but I’m sharing my thoughts into the void aiming to involve my loved ones in my very solitary act of writing a book, so they feel included. I’m imagining friends and friends-of-friends and maybe people that I’ve never even met reading these blogs and somehow using them to fuel their hesitant desires and take action on dreams they thought impossible. Ultimately, I have no idea how these words will land. Before I wrote this blog, I was just sitting on my chair, and after “publishing” it I’ll still be alone, craving connection, sitting here like Carrie Bradshaw: “I couldn’t help but wonder… are we the artists we’ve been waiting for?”
Feeling detached from the world in this time of quarantining and profound loneliness has driven many of us to dive deep inside ourselves in new ways and reach out into the unknown with surprising creativity. On one hand, making theatre, singing songs, drawing cartoons, shooting films, writing poetry, dancing in your socks in your living room can all feel frivolous and small compared to the Big Problems of our world on fire. But what if these small acts of expression are antidotes? We know that Art with a capital A heals, but can a haiku? Can songs connect us, stories bond us, and dances spin us toward one another? I believe so. A simple poem has the power to lift us from a lonely moment and remind us of the big picture, as Mary Oliver so potently suggests in “Wild Geese”:
“…Whoever you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination, calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting - over and over announcing your place in the family of things.”
As the final draft of my manuscript was being proofread, Kallie asked me how I was going to handle marketing the book during the pandemic. Gulp. I shy away from promoting myself. In fact, as a stage manager, I have trained myself to avoid sharing artistic impulses, unless I feel encouraged and safe. The idea of having a little party in person with friends to celebrate the birth of my first collection could be lovely, but posting pictures and videos and doing readings and encouraging people to purchase the book felt very, very uncomfortable. I surprised myself with how vulnerable I felt and how tangible my anxiety was. And yet, part of me was giddy with excitement to be facing an emotional blockage that I had been hiding from myself. When Kallie suggested cooking up a digital book launch or some kind of virtual reading, a big idea hit me. I love Exquisite Corpse pieces, where artists play epic games of “Telephone” and pass inspiration between one another… and there are so many insanely creative artist friends in my life who I would love to collaborate with… What if I offered my writings up to them to inspire pieces in their own mediums and then present them all together in a Showing to celebrate the book?
So, for the past month, I have been creating lots of little surprises with some super-talented friends of mine—actors, dancer-choreographers, songwriters, writers, a filmmaker, a visual artist, an excellent editor, and my amazing brother. It has been so joyful to watch these geniuses work and so fun to collaborate with them.
The Showing, a 20-minute hybrid art film based on five of my short works, will premiere to the world on YouTube and social media platforms on the day that the book becomes available to purchase online! On that day, we will be toasting to more than just a book launch, we will be celebrating collaborations between dear friends through several genres of artistic expression. I hope you enjoy it and that we can all pass inspiration around to one another!
Update: YOUTUBE LINK TO THE SHOWING!
The Showing Collaborators
Clockwise from top left: Michael Arden, Merle Dandridge, Maia Nkenge-Wilson, Gracy Obuchowicz, Adam Falkner, Crystal Monee Hall, Garen Scribner, Sarah G. Harris, Ben Diskant, Lindsey Heddleston Smith, Marcus Paul James, Samantha Soule
Inset: Christopher Grant, Lauren Yalango-Grant, and Justin Scribner
