Day Seventeen – A Busy Day for Writers!

Even though I have exhausted my to – do list, I did find a couple of new things to write. One is for this blog, but it is a topic not related to the residency, so I will save it for when I return to Connecticut. One of the writers, Ambrose, asked us all to contribute a paragraph to his project entitled, “Beauty in the Mundane.” His plan is to take our responses and weave them together into a coherent narrative. I wrote about how much I enjoy seeing the robins in my yard. I also pulled out a list of writing prompts (I have a bunch) and discovered an unfished piece in response to one of the prompts. I thought the piece has potential as a short film, so I started to write it.

In the morning, the writers gathered with Beulah, the co-owner/director of the residency to prepare for the writers’ presentations, which is our culminating event. It was clear that the writers’ presentations were to be work that was completed at the residency–not something you wrote at home and decided to share. I chose a ten-minute play, entitled “The Great Tidy,” which is about a woman cleaning up her recently deceased mom’s belongings, only to be rudely interrupted by a pair of organization influencers who despise each other. Best of all, Tilly, Maddie, and Sommer all agreed to read parts the day of the presentation. I am excited to share the play, and I am really looking forward to hearing the work of all of the other writers.

Speaking of those other writers, we had another writer’s circle and got to read and discuss the work presented by four more of our authors. Mostly, we are novelists, with some poets and scriptwriters (I believe I am the only playwright). Overall, we have a splendid variety of styles and approaches. I learn a lot from reading the other residents work, and I will miss these circles.

And in the evening, we had an open mic, which included the participation of most of the writers. There were ten of us that read–some prose, some poetry, all of it quality. And even though I have been heavily focused on scriptwriting, I decided to share my own poetry. Sapir, one of the writers, took this video of me reading my poem, “Relics.” Thanks to the limitations of word press, you have to click on the link below the photo of me. Hopefully, the link will work:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1i-LWq3Hp_TIBIaOhUDps1T3kqvUGsl2z/view?usp=sharing

My poems seemed to go over well. And as I mentioned, there were ten of us, so below are some photos of a few of the other participants. It was a really fun experience. Since the writer’s showcase will not feature any of the work from the open mic, we get share all of our newest work with each other. That will be a splendid day.