There is much stress in my life right now. It's affecting my ability to write. In response I've been catching up on a pile of little computer projects I've been putting off. I used to compare writing and programming. I see now how much easier it is to program. You know what goes in. You know what is suppossed to come out. All problems are solvable. Programming takes a pile of creativity and imagination, but it doesn't need my soul they way writing does.
Great set tonight. Good crowd. Good balance between excitement and nervousness. I had some good ad-libs about the new Mel Gibson movie. Did the power team bit and it killed. Even some not-very-worked-out jokes about Allen Ginsberg's HOWL got some good laughs.
So Spaulding Gray is dead. His death has effected me more than I thought. I'm having trouble sleeping and all attempts are writing go horribly ary. When I was young I used drive late at night looking for him. I didn't know it was he for which I searched, but finding him would have ended the journey. I lived less than an hour from where he grew up. Our paths only crossed once. It was Iowa City at a Q&A after one of his shorter monologues. I asked him about working on TRUE STORIES. He told a quick tale about sharing a room with John Goodman.
The real problem I'm having is wondering why all my heroes are insane. (Addiction counting as a mental illness.) What does this say about me?
After many years of being a family, my wife and I have adopted our daughter. The long story of how this situation came about I will not bore you with. The strange thing is I am unable to muster any feelings about this event. For so long I have consider her my daughter that the legality of it all changes nothing.
Great writing session this morning. I've been working on this story in my head and I finall managed to sit down and write it out. Much to my surprise it can out on paper just how I imagined it in my head. I've never been able to do this before. Also, I did really well at not letting little things slow me down. The first draft of this story is a nightmare gramattically. But instead of wasting time trying to get one sentence right, I let it go and got through the important ideas and scence and stuff. I'll fix the words and details in rewrites.
OK set. OK crowd. I got to see some old friends before the show. It's nice to talk to grownups once in a while. Also learned that Tom Smith is passing the torch at the Mock. Apparently he's having a career or something. Sure, go, be a success!