Blogging is like exercise. There's always a reason not to.
Anyway. Time to get back on the horse. Or the wagon. Or what have you.
An acting text I encountered once by one of those hardcore method-y gurus lectured that real actors practice their art every day, refining (say) their ability to imagine and engage fictional worlds with ever-greater commitment. Every day. Abandon your craft for even one day, he warned, and your craft will abandon you for five. That is, it'll take you time to get back into the swing of things. The tensions, habits, and cliches that you spent all that time shedding? They snap back into place and have to be removed all over again, like villains respawning constantly if you ever leave the area.
Thus I have some work to do, writing-wise, to get back to where I was.
Or not! Not every artist works the way that acting guy said. Some folk take breaks from clarinet, poetry-writing, sketching, or dancing and return to it without much trouble.
But, knowing myself, discipline is a good thing.
On the agenda for the next month or so, then:
- Make classes matter. It isn't every year, but many falls start with me in a low place, questioning the life choices and priorities that lead me to where I am. Nearly always, though, the act of being in front of students, projecting interest and enthusiasm, sparks in me a rejuvenation. I can't be tired and uncertain. I'm . . . waiting for that to click in. I believe it will.
- There's a lot of administrative ducks I need to corral into a line. Much of this getting-into-line will consist of me setting some goals and priorities for others I'm overseeing. That, in turn, means I have to be at least a micron more organized and on top of things than they are.
- I have to see how this co-editing gig actually works. So far I've avoided looking into it, but with the first week of school behind me, vacation's over.
- I should see about applying to be a page for the UMC General Conference next spring. Maybe.
- Rehearsals for the community theatre play I'm acting in are five nights a week, including tonight and tomorrow night. Dionysus celebrates no "Labor Day." So many of my theatre colleagues see doing a show as a kind of restoring, life-affirming experience. I have felt this in the past, I know. Certainly everyone in this production is lovely. It's hard, though, not to approach this as just more work that sucks up time and energy. I need a better mindset about that.
- I'll be applying for sabbatical--my first!--and possibly some funding.
- Maybe looking at the job market?
- Write something every day.
I'd love to get some Better Angels activity going here in Baton Rouge. Likely that will need to wait at least until after the show closes.
For October, I'm on a panel of three for a Library Media Literacy week activity. That article I published last year on deepfakes is getting me more attention... The thing is, I'll be on the panel with professors who actually know what they're talking about--a mass comm specialist and a computer scientist. I have some catching up to do to feel like I can contribute anything worthwhile. Ideally, I'll have toyed around with some deepfake stuff myself by then.
Finally, I need to do something more with my Church. Part of why I think the show I'm in isn't working like I thought it would is that I go to rehearsal expecting a Bible study. I mean, I expect work that opens the door for the Holy Spirit to speak, where I emerge closer and more committed to my church family. Although the Holy Spirit can certainly work through rehearsals, I think that sort of enlightenment is a lot to expect from a stumble-through of act 1. Apples and oranges. So: something more Church.
I've never been much of a list-maker. But we'll see how this list does in prompting me to get off my duff and out of myself.
More tomorrow,
JF
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