Big Shout Outs...

First off, I want to thank folks who came to the last couple of readings at the Bowery Poetry Club and Launchpad. I appreciate the support and the friendly faces in the audience. For anyone who couldn’t make it, there will be plenty of opportunities in the near future so stay tuned.

Secondly, I want to give a big shout out to Stacie T. from Twigs Salon (East 11th St.) for taming my wild frizzy mess with a fabu hair cut. My hair still looks AMAZING!!

Special thanks to New York Foundation for the Arts for the wonderful arts festival this month and to Peter Cobb and all the volunteers for making it happen. Check out this site for more upcoming events. (http://nyfabootcampfestival.wordpress.com/) I heard there will be more film and performance arts events in the near future, so stay tuned for that as well. We have some amazing creative artists so don’t miss out.

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It’s been an amazing month and it’s far from over. We are a little past the half way point and I’ve done a couple of readings to promote my book, A Scorched Page. (http://www.lulu.com/product/paperback/a-scorched-page/10798320?productTrackingContext=search_results/search_shelf/center/2)

Can I tell you how much I love doing these reading? Seriously, putting work out to a new audience is amazing. It revs me up and leaves me buzzing, a natural high from the experience. After Launchpad’s reading, I walked from Grand Army Plaza to my house, just to expend some of that energy. Otherwise, I would never get to sleep.

I’m still working on my novel. Last night I managed to write 558 more words. Mind you, my inner critic think it’s all crap. I was starting to get hard on myself for not writing more BUT…TA-TA-DAH Tony swoops in with a great little article about how a full time working writer wrote 225 words and isn’t it cool that I wrote more. How does he manage to do that? Good friends really know what we need when our spirits are flagging. I had taken a break of about 5 days from working on my novel…and that break was too long. In that time, I managed to ALMOST convince myself that I was never going to finish this story. But on Sunday, I couldn’t let my negative speak win, I sat down and wrote almost 1,000 words…I think it was 989 words. It felt like good honest work.

The thing is every time I sit down to write, I have no idea what’s going to come out. I look at the last sentence I wrote the day before and I try to keep following that thread. It’s intuitive. But when I am not in front of the work, this control freak part of my brain wants to know where the story is going. When I find that I can’t answer that question, I struggle with the legitimacy of the work. It’s crazy, I know. Despite the work that I have already accomplished, published, produced, I still have these self-doubts that impede my way. However, I’m finding it easier and easier to navigate my way around them without it completely stopping me.

What helps? Creative meetings with Tony and checking in with him throughout the day. He helps keep me focused on the task at hand and reminds me to be gentle with myself when I am being a hard task master.

Going to see other people’s creative work: I’ve managed to see some dance performances, some plays, some live music, some readings these past couple of weeks and seeing another artist in the midst of their creative process is inspiring. I don’t want to talk about pieces being good or bad because most of the time they are works-in-progress. They might still be working out the kinks. Last night, I managed to endure a 60 minute off-Broadway play. But I managed to glean from it some interesting aspects, the soundscape and video mediums were really exciting in the first ten minutes of the piece. The mixture of the new media was gorgeous. And then the characters started talking and the piece just grated on my nerves. My sister and I ran from the theater afterwards. If it weren’t for the two older audience members asleep in our aisle, I think we would have walked out in the first 20 minutes. Creative work is still work to be experienced. I would rather experience more work that excited me though. Hehehe. So I’m crossing my fingers that tonight’s music performance at Iridium Lounge will go better than last night. Here’s to hoping.

Last thing to help my self-doubt is to continue to write, work on the creative elements. Nothing shuts up my critic faster than sitting down and putting one word in front of the other. It doesn’t have to be good, or polished, or a masterpiece. Hell, sometimes it doesn’t even have to make sense. I’ll sort out sense in my editing process. Right now, I’m just trying to reach 300 pages of text. I think I’m 40 pages in. I hope to finish this first draft by the end of December.

All for now…
L~

All artwork, photos, and text © Copyright 2008-2010 Liliana Almendarez unless indicated otherwise. All Rights Reserved. Any downloading, copying or use of images on this website is strictly prohibited without express written consent by Liliana Almendarez.

Launchpad Reading on Sat. 11/13 @ 7pm

NEW YORK FOUNDATION FOR THE ARTS BOOT CAMP ARTS FESTIVAL

Artist Highlights: Liliana Almendarez, Wanda Phipps, Kate Kirtz, Ryan Murdock, and Stephanie Spangler

November 13, 2010 at 7pm
LaunchPad ( http://brooklynlaunchpad.org/ )
721 Franklin Ave.
Brooklyn, NY 11238, FREE!!!

A night of poetry reading, musical performances, and a film screening.  Reading by Liliana Almendarez, Wanda Phipps (accompanied by guitarist Stephen B. Antonakos), and Kate Kirtz.  Short film screening by Ryan Murdock.  Musical performance by Stephanie Spangler.

You can see the full schedule of events here (http://nyfabootcampfestival.wordpress.com/schedule/)

All artwork, photos, and text © Copyright 2008-2010 Liliana Almendarez unless indicated otherwise. All Rights Reserved. Any downloading, copying or use of images on this website is strictly prohibited without express written consent by Liliana Almendarez.

Rambling

I am distracted today. It’s a mild day and I’d rather be almost anywhere else. I’m sitting in a corporate office, navel-gazing. I just went for a quick walk outside and bought myself a decadent latte. Whatever hasn’t spilled onto my black trench is being slowly sipped, savored.

The writing has been going…on Monday night I added another 860 words to my novel. Word count keeps me moving forward. Last night, I couldn’t bear the quiet nor the blank page so I ran from it, curled myself on the couch and read Stephen King’s latest book, Full Dark, No Stars. It’s a collection of short stories. I don’t know what I think of it yet since I’m only half way through the first story. I’ll write more about it when I’ve read more.

Another sip of bitter coffee. I want to gripe and complain about someone but I’m a bit tired of doing that. I’m staring at my scuffed up black sneakers…it’s time for a pair of new shoes. My cat has gnawed the leather off the backs of the ones I’m wearing. Maybe not the best choice in footwear but I woke up very late this morning, 7:36 am. They were the closest to the front door and easiest to slip on. I hauled ass as quickly as my stubby legs could take me. I managed to be only five minutes late.

I despise being late. There is something in my hardwiring that makes sure I arrive promptly with time to spare. Even when I try to be late for an event, I still manage to be the first one to arrive. I’m wound up tight. Can’t help it. Something in the genetic make-up. My dad is the same way.

I’m looking at the calendar. We have 20 days left before the end of November. I’m thinking about Christmas shopping for my three young nieces. The oldest is in dire need of some art supplies. The two younger ones want every girlie toy they see on commercials. My folks are always hard to shop for…there are just so many watches I can buy my dad. Oh!! And his birthday is this month too. Yikes. I need to make an effort to come up with a decent gift. Sorry, I know this is a bit of a rambling blog but my brain seems to be mired in the minutia of the every day. I’d really like to get some small gifts for everyone before December arrives. I just know once the holiday is in full gear, I won’t want to bother. I don’t really like the shopping crush that happens. Bah-Humbug!

Anyway, that’s all she wrote today…I’m going back to staring out the window.

L~


All artwork, photos, and text © Copyright 2008-2010 Liliana Almendarez unless indicated otherwise. All Rights Reserved. Any downloading, copying or use of images on this website is strictly prohibited without express written consent by Liliana Almendarez.