1. 2 years ago 

   The write to act

   I am always complaining about writers block, writers amnesia, and a general creative inertia on my part However, I have noticed that lately I’ve been offering crit and feedback on the work of lots of my much more prolific friends. So maybe I’m not as stuck as I imagine I am.

   The thing is, as when I’m putting my own stuff out there, I tend to get The Fear. Whereas when I’m giving my opinion on other’s work, I feel  much more confident. How backwards is that?

   I guess it’s because opinion is such a transient thing. While people spend ages writing essays on why x is funny, and y makes x funnier, I’m not sure you can ever account fully for what makes you laugh and why. It’s a bit like trying to explain why you like the taste of chocolate, but not the taste of cashews - it’s a very personal thing.

   By rights, I’m more of a performer than a writer, and I think somehow that makes this whole game easier. At least when I’m working in front of people I can gauge their reactions and adjust to suit what they think of what I’m doing. For a writer, you need to make choices and stick to them, no matter what anyone else might think or say afterwards.

   However, I’ve recently started to put my written stuff out into the ether again. My prose has to stand on it’s own two feet, but there is comfort in knowing that my scripted stuff will be filtered through someone else’s perspective - even if it is just when I change it a bit to suit the audience.

   We dissect, discuss and deliberate creative work. The who, what, why and how can become oh so important. But I think in the moment where the artist meets the audience, there is little that can be done to influence the reaction. And even less to influence the end result. 2 people can see the same show, at the same time in the same venue and still not agree on how much they enjoyed, or even understood, what they saw. But that’s OK. That’s what art is. Be it avaunt guard performance, or a skilled stand up at work: every audience member will be affected in a different way. It’s like everyone lives in a sphere of experience, and each one that touches another goes off on it’s own direction.That’s where The Fear comes from, but also The Joy.

   And yes. I know how pretentious I sound. So what? I’m hoping my attitude to my writtern work will one day match my atititude to my performance work: you’ve just got to go do it - live the experience, and learn how to let go.

2. Notes

Hey. How's it going? Not much to tell. I spend more than a healthy amount of time on the internet, doing... not very much. I get periodically addicted to blogging sites. I'm about as geeky as one can be without knowing klingon (I figure I'm OK until 2218), so I tend to post stuff about movies, video games, random internet comedy... fun distractions for use during work!
Oh, and I write a bit., and act a little... but then who doesn't on the internet? ;) Mostly, I work in a museum dressed as a pirate or making paper masks.

Upfront - I don't quite 'get' tumblr fully. But hey, whatever, right?

Finally - I am fully prepped and ready for the impending zombocalyse. Just so you know.

www.twitter.com/janeym27

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