Farther Than Flagstaff

Yesterday was eventful - some good, some not so good. Like every day I suppose, but yesterday felt like it had too much caffeine in the morning.

One high point was writing 1,988 words toward the first draft of the novel. Another high point was realizing I need to rewrite most of the story because it's not following the Google map I printed. A new character has completely thrown the narrative off of its course - and I'm really excited about that! So I'll pound out the next 10,000 words, and see where I can make a course correction. Who knows, I may have to start from a different place altogether. I love how it takes nearly 40,000 words to know where the story begins. Love that!

Another high point was talking with my Canadian-writer-friend, Sterling Lynch. He says he refers to me as just one of his writer-friends, without qualifying me as an American. I'm quite certain he's fibbing. I can't imagine him not using the opportunity to feel just a wee bit superior. Le sigh. :)

Also, Sterling is the publisher of Social Media Set the Stage. We co-wrote the story of our social media collaboration that culminated in a production of two our plays. The scripts are included! (See the graphic to the right.)

In any event, we are embarking on a couple of new projects together. Well, one new project together, and he's agreed to be the principle reader for one of my new projects, "Farther Than Flagstaff".

I wrote awhile back that I want to capture my the experience of living through the first ten years of my son's life. What it felt like to live beyond the numbers in his medical records. My son endured a life of -- well, you'll see, he endured. This project has been whirling around in my head for a few years. Only recently did the structure fall into place: letters. Writing letters to a new friend who doesn't know the story. Someone with whom I can share the narrative without the numbers - stories like "Farther Than Flagstaff." I feel a bit overwhelmed, but still curious to see what comes about on the page.

And finally, much to my relief, the Phoenix Suns beat the Portland Trailblazers and are up two games to one in the first round of the playoffs. Go planet orange!

Photo of Flagstaff courtesy of L. Brumm Photography

Social Media Sets the Stage: From Ottawa to Phoenix

On February 11, 2010, Space 55 Theatre Ensemble, in Phoenix, Arizona, premiered an unlikely double feature: the U.S. premiere of "Tangelico" by Sterling Lynch and the world premiere of "A Cube With A View" by Mare Biddle. Barely a year before, the two playwrights had not yet known of each other’s existence. Thanks to social media, they met, shared their work, and became friends. Eventually, Mare introduced Tangelico to Space 55 and wrote A Cube With A View as a companion piece to it. As a result, Sterling and Mare’s unlikely double feature was born. This volume includes both plays and the playwrights’ reflections on social media and their international collaboration.

When you buy a book, please use the links below. It won’t affect the price you pay, and Sterling earns a commission!

If you want to order from Amazon.ca (Canada), please click on this link:

Social Media Set the Stage: Tangelico and a Cube with a View

If you want to order from Amazon.com (U.S.), please click on this link:

Social media set the stage: Tangelico and A Cube with a View

If you want to order from Amazon.co.uk (U.K.), please click on this link:

Social Media Set the Stage: Tangelico and a Cube with a View

Please spread the word. Social media got us this far. I’m sure it can take us even further.

Sticky Fingers

I have been fortunate to have written and produced plays over the last decade. The process is very different from writing a novel. Most notably, collaboration over solitude. For the most part I enjoy the collaborative effort of writing for the stage - writing groups, early readings, staged readings, workshops and then production. Lots of feedback and the thrill of watching actors pick up the material for the first time.

Over the last three years, in subtle ways, I started to suffer from sticky fingers. Too many finger prints on the work, and pretty soon it didn't look anything like what I intended to write in the first place. I was too eager to please and consequently abandoned my characters and their stories. I have purposely stayed away from participating in any writers' groups with this novel. I may, and I may not, eventually find myself sidling up next to one.

For now, it's so exciting to pound out those 500 words every day. Even more so when I reach 630 or 1,326 in any given day. Listening to My Girl is thrilling. She has so much to tell me, and who knows, maybe the first 30,000 words were necessary to get to the heart of the story. Maybe I only think I know what her story looks like. As Anne Lamott says, "follow the guy behind the chain link fence". I did in fact meet a guy who showed up out of the blue. I suppose it could even wind up being his story. The cool thing is that I just feel like I'm along for the ride with this first draft. Sticky or clean, so far the only finger prints are mine.

A Space to Call My Own

Busy morning.

Last friday I toured the Levine Machine Co. warehouse on the corner of 7th Street and Grant Street in the Phoenix warehouse district.

Mike Levine is a walking encyclopedia of Phoenix history. I mean way way way back. He's a fascinating man to talk with. Among his many interests and passions, Mike supports local arts and the development of local artists. The Levine website has some pictures of the warehouse at 605 E Grant Street (pictured here). There are incredible creative businesses housed on the larger west side of the warehouse.

The east side is smaller and where a performance artist, a digital artist, two painters and me have set up shop. He even planted two platforms for a stage in my space. It's really pretty amazing. I went down this morning to sign the lease and pick up my key. I feel so lucky to have come across this location.

Many thanks to Jim McPherson for working on several arts projects with me and keeping an eye open for space that might just meet my professional needs. Thanks so much, Jim.

It Was A Dark and Stormy Night - Ottawa to Phoenix: Part Three

The headline could have read: Tangelico and A Cube With A View take the world by storm! But Dave Charest had a different idea: “Let's call it, Mare may…or may…not make it through this interview!” he quipped during his interview with Sterling and me. We talked with him via Skype on Thursday, January 21st. Before we started taping I warned Dave that I might lose power during our conversation because Phoenix was in the middle of a violent storm. In fact two tornadoes touched down within the city limits. Crazy! Sterling and Dave had great fun with this notion. They assured me that in the event of any catastrophe, they would carry on without me even though I wouldn’t be able to defend myself – in my memory of course.

Sterling and I shared the story of how we came to work together by noting our early encounters on Twittter. Dave witnessed, what I refer to as “the sealing of our doom”. On no particular weekday morning, I posted the first two lines of Jumpin’ Jack Flash and within minutes, Sterling added the next two lines. Dave said, “I saw that and I thought, isn’t that cute?”

We talked with Dave about the amazing access Twitter, and all social media, affords artists and the opportunities for collaboration. Sterling remarked that maybe two, for sure five, years ago our production would have been categorically impossible. Because of social media, the historical production process is finally flattening and widening to include opportunities previously unreachable to artists all over the world.

We had a hilarious conversation. I give Dave a lot of credit - it's hard to wrangle Sterling and me. A bit like herding cats. Dave was a gracious and thoughtful host. Thanks so much, Dave! Give a listen on Fuzzbucket. Here are examples of the feedback I've heard already: "I learned a lot about Twitter. Now I get it." "It was fun hearing how you guys wrote the plays." "This is so cool! Is anyone else doing this?" You can follow the three of us on Twitter at: @DaveCharest, @MareBiddle, and @SterlingLynch.

For the record, Sterling is right about one thing: if we met at a cocktail party we would’ve had a big fight and never spoken again. It will be a hoot to meet in person for the first time at out premiere in Phoenix. Sterling will be in town for the closing performance on February 27th.

And finally, I'd like to say that in writing this post, and looking back over all of the ground we covered, I think my favorite part was when we talked about how brilliant I am. Nice.


Production photos courtesy of Michael Markowsky, Phoenix, AZ 2010