Lessons in Letting Go

Today is my birthday but celebrating is the furthest thing from my mind. Today is also Ganesha's birthday (the elephant-headed god in the Hindu faith). He is the great remover of obstacles and so if I am wishing for anything today it is for Ganesha's assistance.

Everything right now seems to be telling me to let go. I did see the man I am infatuated with yesterday in the biggest red truck you have ever seen and though that was thrilling for a few moments, once again, we did not connect. A lot of that is my fault because I could've stayed but left. I am at a complete loss as to what to do and have decided it is not my place to do anything anyway. He knows how to find me so if he wants to, he will. And if he's reading this, he may take that as an invitation:)

I'm also learning that even though I work very hard to write great articles for the paper, once I hand them over to the editor, they go through changes beyond my control. Today, for example, a screamingly loud misspelled headline topped my front page piece. It wasn't even my headline but the public doesn't know that so it makes me look like I can't spell. When you're working on the inside of a publication it's easy to see how something like that can happen but it still isn't much comfort. This too is something I have to let go. In the scheme of things, it matters not at all.

There are things we can do to improve our process and the good news is, they've just offered me a full time position and invited me to participate in the production and editorial process. It's a great learning opportunity and I may be able to help catch these types of errors before they turn up on the newsstand.

In other news, the bleak reports my brother has been sending back from Tennessee have been getting better. They found the missing money (in a box, in a storage room, in the assisted living place), the insurance stuff is handled, my father is now in a special skilled nursing rehab unit where he is receiving excellent care and physical therapy. He's weak but determined to get well.

We all do our best and if things aren't always perfect, then so be it. This is why God gave us a sense of humor.

As far as writing is concerned, I'm doing a lot of it on a regular basis - news stories and historical pieces for magazines - but nothing screenplay oriented. I miss being part of the story team behind the movies because it's all about life on a larger-than-life canvas and much of it interpretive and deeply emotional.

A local theatre group has asked me to do a screenwriting workshop for them. I have the idea to do a "real time" round table workshop where we brainstorm and collectively write a script over a long weekend. I threw this idea out and they loved it. So when I catch my breath from moving, stepping up to full time at the paper and things settle down in Tennessee, this will be one of my next projects.

One writerly piece of advice I CAN offer is every medium has its own style and structure which defines the writing in many ways. So whatever medium you are writing in, be sure and follow the rules that apply to it - at least until you get a handle on it. Then you can throw the rules out, to a certain extent, and be creative within known boundaries.

Happy birthday to me.