Rituals, rituals, rituals

I am currently enrolled in Lance Gharavi's capstone class, and as part of the curriculum we are reading Twyla Tharp's "The Creative Habit", a book which I highly recommend to everyone whether they are an artist or not (really we are all artists aren't we?). The book plays with the idea of "creation" and how to be creative. Is creativeness a gift that a select few are endowed with from birth ("a kiss from God") that some are blessed with and some are not or is it something that can be worked at and eventually achieved. For my sake, I greatly hope for the latter... People who know me know that I'm an extraordinarily hard worker.... obsessively so. When I'm working on a piece of writing, I tend to become a virtual recluse, barricading myself in my room and coming out only for some coffee (preferably a pumpkin spice latte :)))) It is my hope that eventually all this work will pay off and somehow I will turn into a writer with my own unique style. My goal is that when someone sees a play or movie of mine they come out thinking "Wow. You can really tell that was a "Madolyn" original"... and not in a bad way. Twyla's book advocates using a ritual to spark creativity. If you repeat this ritual regularly before you attempt to be creative it will link the two events in your memory and eventually the ritual will equal creativity (think Pavlov's dogs).

So here is my ritual... I hold you all accountable for keeping this ritual going. I am going to need help, especially when I hear Say Yes to the Dress calling out to me (How many times do I really need to watch this show? Come on. They buy the dress or they don't. It's hardly interesting... and yet...) Anyways here it is...

I start by going outside and reading some good literature. Writers that I admire, to really get some inspiration. Then I come inside, listen to some music on Eric's record player, whatever strikes my fancy, and just dive in with some quick writing, writing down whatever comes into my head. After that I do the whole barricade thing until I feel "done" with whatever I am working on for the day and try my best not to get distracted (i.e. not being connected to the internet). Hoping this will stick!

Now a certified blogger.

So I originally started this blog site as a means of posting my writing that I've been doing (plays, poems and such) but then realized after a playwriting class about copywriting that this was just asking for someone to steal my stuff. Then I neglected to write anything in it for the next few months because I never feel like I have anything interesting to say about myself... but then after compulsively reading a ton of blogs about people I knew in highschool, I decided to make my own.


So here it is....

Hey. I'm Madolyn. I am a pretty weird and socially awkward person unless you really get to know me. And even then I'm still those things, but you end up getting used to it. I'm one of those people who dreads going to parties and when I do get there I end up standing in the corner giving the thumbs up to people as they walk by and then thinking to myself "Thumbs up? Really Madolyn? Who does that?" Luckily, I have my boyfriend, Eric Smith, to tell me I'm cool and occasionally give me the thumbs up back. In that way, I'm pretty lucky. I also have two of our best friends who we spend most of our time with, Chelsea and Carl, who are weirdly like us too. We make a pretty good team, and have lately been planning how to survive the Zombie appocolypse (which we believe will be upon us soon). Carl will operate the gun, I will be the brains of the operation since I am reading the Zombie Survival Handbook, Chelsea will keep lookout and Eric... well... Eric will be the entertainment.

I am pretty big on writing. It is the one thing that I feel like I'm really good at. This is going to be a big summer for me because I am in the process of writing a piece that will go up at the Prism Theatre at ASU, which is what I've wanted ever since I first got to ASU. It is a dream come true, which means that I will be putting ridiculous amounts of pressure on myself to get it right. So if you call me and I'm not answering or you see me losing my hair, this is most likely the cause. And get this.... My show is going up... on Halloween. That's right. The holiday that I am way too obsessed with... things couldn't get much better. This is going to be my last semester at ASU, and I really want to write the best thing I ever have as my parting contribution to the theatre department.Wish me luck!

More to come soon!