It’s about that time…
We didn’t lose power for too terribly long with the wind storm that came through Thursday night. Last winter we had an absolutely terrible one and our block was without power for three days. It was miserable. Kind of scary how much we take technology for granted, isn’t it? I have a feeling that global climate change will turn Seattle into the next “Windy City.” The wind has been outrageous the last few years.
Will and I went to Julia Sweeney’s one-woman show, “Letting Go of God,” last night as part of our anniversary celebration. It was a really fantastic show - touching and funny at the same time. Julia is an amazing actress - one of the best at timing and emotion that I’ve ever seen, I must say. You wouldn’t think of her that way if your only taste of her talents comes from her many comedy gigs. She is very funny, but wow - many times throughout the show her words and delivery gave me chills and moved me to tears. The show was beautifully written and beautifully performed. It was also a strange and exhilarating experience to be in a theater packed with people who mostly must have been atheists. Sure, there were undoubtedly some who were not, but judging by the way the audience laughed at the same jokes it was clear that atheists were at least in the majority. I’ve never been to any kind of meeting of atheists or a similar event, so knowing that I was not the despised minority in a large, full room for once filled me with warmth. And the rest of the crowd seemed to feel the same way - everybody was smiling at each other and strangers were chatting as if they were old friends. A very nice sense of community.
Anyhow, if you get a chance to see “Letting Go of God,” please do. It’s beautifully affirming for atheists but also treats religion with respect and sympathy - I think that any reasonably secure religious person would thoroughly enjoy it just for the excellent writing and acting. And Julia Sweeney is so cute. She is in her mid-forties and is already greying, and has opted not to dye her hair to cover it up. I thought she was just gorgeous with her cute steel-grey pixie cut. I wanted to hug her.
So it’s about time for me to try submitting a story for publication. We’ll see how it goes. I made another edit to The Conductor and I think I might have cleared up all the major issues readers had with understanding the story. I posted it on LH for critiquing and am looking forward to hearing whether I was successful in making my story clearer. If I pulled it off, I’ll be handing it over to Will for a final read-through and then I’ll be poring over Duotrope to figure out my best bet for submissions. This is a super exciting time!!
Next weekend I’ll be in Oregon with my friends for a model horse show. It will be nice to go play for a while. I’ve been pushing myself very hard to get through my commission backlog this winter, while I’ve got some down time from photography obligations, but in the process I’ve absolutely destroyed my right hand. I flared up my radial neuritis so badly I’ve been strapped into my splints and chowing down Naproxen 24/7. :( Need a break!!
