Time

Time is a truly strange thing. There's never enough of it. You can feel it ticking by. Your perception of it just keeps shifting with each minute. When I think of time, (after I think of DeLoreans and Police Boxes), I think of just how much I don't have. I think of to do lists and projects and promises and books I want to read and catching up on Breaking Bad.

On ordinary days, most of my time is spent at my day job, teaching people how to use technology. Sometimes this is fun and rewarding. Sometimes it's drudgery. Usually it shifts hour by hour. That's most of my day. I can plan to have an hour lunch and two 15-minute breaks each day. So, I break those bits of "break" into nuggets of catching up with the #newplay Howlround conversation or the 2am theatre conversation and then catch up on Facebook friends, maybe play a silly game on an electronic device, and then time to write-- no, wait, time to get back to work. And I forgot to go to the bathroom! Well, just hold it for 2 hours and you'll get another break…

When I get home, there's family and home and all that amazingly great stuff that makes up "life" outside of work. But that also can get in the way of work. And I'm just so tired all the time, right? Who can write when they're exhausted?

But now, I'm doing the 31 Plays, 31 Days thing (I just typed up and submitted plays 9-13), and somehow I'm finding time. I'm staying up way past my bedtime and forcing myself to write. Get a page out. Two or three. It feels necessary. What's strange to me is that before this month of writing a play every day started up, I would've told you that there's absolutely no time in my schedule, no time whatsoever. But I'm finding it. Now, how do I find balance? How do I find structure? There are still many, many things I have to get done, not including finishing a play I've been working on since before my son was born and was supposed to be finished for a deadline (He turns 1 in less than a month). I haven't been able to adjust time. I'm hoping that this newfound ability to wring out some minutes here and there for daily writing stays put. Maybe that's what this is about for me:

1. Write daily. (Something, anything)
2. Doesn't matter if it's good.

Maybe I've been making my writing too precious. I've devoted "writing days" to getting work done instead of it being a habit that takes place throughout my days. Now, I just have to get my to do list in line… Find the priorities and then let everything else fall into place after that.

Oh, I've also started using my day job knowledge to help out some friends. Being certified in Final Cut Pro, I offered to help a great guy from my time at The University of Iowa, Mr. Greg Machlin, playwright, screenwriter, and now executive producer on multiple web series. I edited episode 3 of the show WRNG in Studio City (you can watch the trailer a little farther down. I'm also doing another editing project for him as well. It's just more time to sift through and make sure that I follow through on all my promises and responsibilities. Husband/father first. Playwright close second. Friend. Artist. Employee… And now it's almost midnight. Seriously, it's bedtime. Watch the trailer, have a laugh, and talk soon.