Several years ago, a dear friend of mine held an intimate dinner for her 50th birthday party. She didn’t invite me. The exclusion hurt a great deal. We’d spoken daily for the past two if not three years, we’d guided each other through major personal crises, and enjoyed a cup of tea or a meal together at least once a week. We were close friends, I thought; it never occurred to me I wouldn’t be included. When I asked her why, she bumbled through several excuses and then finally said, “Well, you know. You have that big personality.”
inspiration
Quote of the Week for April 16
“I can, therefore I am.” — Simone Weil
Why Good Things Happen to Good People
Good things are happening to good people, and it’s all because they’ve WORKED VERY HARD. To start with, several of my fellow storytellers from The Moth got a terrific and well-deserved write-up in Wednesday’s NY Times. The article featured the multi-talented Ophira Eisenberg — host of next week’s Moth Mainstage in Boston where I’ll be performing — and Adam Wade, a native of New Hampshire, my current home. In addition to hosting his own show in NYC, he’s won at least 18 Moth StorySLAMS. He won another StorySLAM earlier this week, so the count’s probably an unbelievable 19. [Read more…] about Why Good Things Happen to Good People
Battling Resistance
Last week, I didn’t post a blog. I could say this happened because I traveled to NYC for several meetings and needed to pour all my energy into preparation, but I’d be lying. In truth, the real culprit was not my travel schedule, but Resistance. I was just scared to post something and used the trip as my rationalization. The consequence: since I didn’t post a blog last week, writing a blog this week has been that much harder. [Read more…] about Battling Resistance
Inspiration for the Journey
Doing my taxes this week, I sat surrounded by a sea of expense receipts, all glaring reminders that far more cash went out in 2011 than came in. I’ll be honest — sometimes in those moments, it’s hard not to ask myself, “Exactly why am I an artist?” and I romanticize about my days as a consultant when income was plentiful. I wonder briefly why I stopped doing that work and then I remember: Oh, yeah. I was miserable.