AUGUST: A Reflection

It's September and though I've been out of school for a long time, I still feel the end of summer/back to school blues. The weird thing is, I love fall. I've finally come to terms with the fact that it's officially my favorite season. For the longest time I held onto the hope of summer and it's whimsy, feeling this sort of heartbreak about acknowledging that it might no longer be my favorite. Maybe it's the fact that there's such a pressure to accomplish so much in the summer months. Maybe it's the constant berating myself when I don't spend enough time outside in the sun. Maybe it's because I puke if I'm in direct sunlight for more than 10 minutes--either way, it's fallen on my list of favorites.

September has a sullen air about it, an end of freedom for kids. The beaches close, giving us one less way to appreciate the earth in all its glory. But it also brings with it the promise of autumn, the crisp air that refreshes, the changing leaves that remind us of the beauty in each season. This entire past weekend was dreary and gray and chilly and I was living for it. I'm excited for fall, I always am. Always will be. 

But one thing I will do is reflect on the summer--namely, August. This whole summer was like a whirlwind for my family and friends. Massive changes, both good and bad. Beginnings, endings, uncertainty--it was stressful, to say the least. August meant I finally could hold a firm grip on things after the insanity that flew at me from June and July, but that also came with a mounting schedule and time divided. 

As you may have noticed, my #31playsin31days challenge fell a little short. I didn't keep up on them consecutively and I maxed out at day 10 (which was posted on day 30--whoops). However, I don't consider that a failure, and not because I often fall off writing challenges by day 3. As I mentioned, August was incredibly busy. I'm doing more volunteer work, helped my mom move, tried my best to keep up with friends as much as I could. These are all things I hope to do even more of--and better--in the upcoming months. Because of all that, I couldn't complete all 31 days of playwriting.

But I also learned something--writing a play a day is hard, man. After a while I just didn't want to write plays anymore. A few of those prompts, too, got my brain circulating ideas about short stories or poetry--just not another Godforsaken play! 

One thing I'll also pat myself on the back for: I WROTE 10 PLAYS. I haven't written that many plays in the better part of a decade. Were they my best work? Absolutely not. Were they fully fleshed out and articulate? Nah. But, it felt good to write for myself with some regularity again. And that's something I'd like to carry over into fall--and beyond. Maybe not a challenge with strict rules and timelines, but just reminders that it's ok, and even fun, to write for myself. Create like no one's watching. But do it on MY terms. Make it a form of self-care, NOT an imposition I have to fulfill that creates stress and anxiety. Write for me. Right for me. 

And that's what I hope you'll all do for this coming seasonal shift. Help others. Be there for those you love. Reach out and give a hand to someone in need. And then when all is said and done, do something that's right for you. 

xoxo,

Jamie

Day 9 - A Joke

“Prompt 1: Relatives going through a deceased loved one’s belongings find something shocking.”

A JOKE
 

CHARACTERS

DAVID.  30. Fairly affluent. Well-liked among his social circles and considered a golden child within his family, though arrogant in his personal relationships. 

JENNIFER. 28. Shy, even-tempered. Not the standout of the family, but treats others with kindness and respect. 

GEORGE.  35. Deceased. Cause of death not yet known. A black sheep of the family who spent most of his life isolated and quiet. 

SCENE I

The stage is set up with an upstairs space and a downstairs, with a narrow, winding staircase linking the two. The downstairs stage is dark, while the action of this scene takes place in the well-lit upstairs space. A dusty attic is bathed in warm daylight flowing in from a large window with broken blinds. DAVID and JENNIFER are in the process of boxing up the last few belongings of their recently deceased cousin GEORGE. They both look somber as they work. 

DAVID.   Looks like this is the last box of George’s stuff.

JENNIFER. He’d only been living here for a few years--how does one person amass so much stuff?

DAVID. Especially someone like George.

JENNIFER stops taping up the box and looks at DAVID.

JENNIFER. What do you mean by that?

DAVID.   Jennifer, let’s be real. George was our cousin but he wasn’t really… you know… the life of the party.

JENNIFER. George was nice enough of a guy.

DAVID. Oh yeah, for sure, but we’re not talking about niceness here. I mean his personality.

DAVID.  ...Or lack thereof. 

JENNIFER covers her mouth to hide her laughter. She gives DAVID a slight push.

JENNIFER.  That's so wrong! 

DAVID.  Maybe--but you know it's true. I mean, think about it, when is the last time you ever had a conversation with the guy? Like a real, honest to God conversation that you actually got something out of or even laughed at. Not even a deep belly laugh, just a slight giggle?

JENNIFER pauses to think.

DAVID.  Exactly.

DAVID stands up and lifts one of the boxes. He starts to make his way to the exit.

JENNIFER. I think he was just shy. 

JENNIFER also stands and carries a box as the two descend the staircase. 

DAVID.  Jen, you're shy, but I can still carry on a normal conversation with you. George was just blah. Weird at best. 

SCENE II

JENNIFER and DAVID walk down the staircase and arrive on the bottom stage, which GEORGE's bedroom. The room is also fairly well-lit but bare, containing only 1 twin-size bed, a closet, and a set of dresser drawers next to the bed. The bottom of the drawers should be slightly ajar. 

DAVID.  Don't you find it bizarre that we were left in charge of his belongings? We weren't even that close...

JENNIFER.  I guess we were closer than most people in our family... 

DAVID.  It's not like there's anything good in here, either. A bunch of boring history books and tax papers. Thanks for the gifts, Georgie. 

JENNIFER and DAVID set the boxes down on the floor. JENNIFER surveys the bedroom.

DAVID. My guess is us moving boxes around in here is probably the most action this bedroom has ever seen. 

JENNIFER.  Stop it, that's not funny. 

DAVID holds his arms wide out at his sides, examining the bare room.

DAVID.  So what do you think he really got up to, huh? 

JENNIFER.  Now what are you talking about?

DAVID walks back over to JENNIFER and gets close to her as he talks. 

DAVID.  Think about it. Guy barely talked to anyone, had no friends, held a boring desk job, was found dead of no discernible causes by the cable guy of all people--what could he have done in his spare time? Why did he feel the need to have a house, practically in the middle of nowhere, filled with next to nothing, he could have just as well lived in a one bedroom apartment with the amount of stuff he had. 

JENNIFER.  Maybe he just liked having space.

DAVID.  I think he had some secrets. I bet he was into weird shit. 

JENNIFER.  Stop it. 

DAVID.  Maybe this bedroom did see more action than I'm giving him credit for. 

JENNIFER.  Knock it off. 

DAVID.  Maybe... just maybe... David's body wasn't the only one ever found here...

JENNIFER.  WOULD YOU SHUT THE HELL UP?!

DAVID and JENNIFER stop and stare blankly at each other. DAVID begins to laugh, but JENNIFER is not amused. 

DAVID.  Calm down, cuz. I was just joking. 

JENNIFER begins to lose her cool as DAVID ignores her, instead directing his attention at the set of dresser drawers.

JENNIFER.  I don't care what you thought about George or his private life, but he's a member of our family who's gone now, the least you can do is show a little respect. 

DAVID walks past her and gets closer to the drawers.

JENNIFER.  But seeing as how you can't even show me that, I'm not sure what I was expecting...

DAVID points at the drawers as he speaks.

DAVID.  Did you open this drawer? 

JENNIFER.  No, why?

DAVID.  It was closed before we went upstairs. 

JENNIFER.  Well I didn't touch it, I haven't even been in this room for longer than a few seconds until just now. Are you sure you didn't touch it--

DAVID.  No. I swear to God, it was completely closed before.

JENNIFER.  This isn't funny, David. 

DAVID.  I'm not trying to be funny, not this time. 

JENNIFER slowly walks over to the drawers. She tries to peer into the open drawer. 

DAVID.  Is there anything in there? 

JENNIFER.  I can't tell...

JENNIFER looks back at DAVID before mustering up some courage. She closes her eyes and opens the drawer. She looks in and smiles, before slowly pulling out what's inside. At the sight of her producing a hand from the drawer, DAVID screams and faints. 

DAVID.  OH MY GOD!! 

JENNIFER smirks as she pulls out the rest of the object--a comedic puppet. She continues to dig into the drawer to pull out a stack of handwritten papers. 

JENNIFER.  Jokes? 

JENNIFER.  These are all jokes.

JENNIFER.  George was a... 

JENNIFER pauses to look at the puppet in her other hand. 

JENNIFER.  Prop comic???

JENNIFER laughs as she steps over DAVID's unconscious body, exiting the bedroom.

JENNIFER.  Good job, George. You finally made me laugh. 

JENNIFER turns off the lights as she leaves the room.

END.

---

Off the wagon, then back on the wagon, then off again. What will come next? Only time will tell... 

RABBIT, RABBIT

Happy first day of August! I don't know about you, but June and July whooped my ass & then some for tax, so I'm crossing all my appendages that August will bring with it a wave of positivity. So far it's started off on a pretty good note, which I'm hoping is an early sign of more good things to come. But one thing I've also learned is that the world is going to throw what it can at you—it's how you respond to it that matters. And moreover, if you have the opportunity to do something positive and take care of yourself along the way—do it. In honor of that I'm making sure I make the most out of these dog days of summer. I beat myself up a lot when I don't engage in personal creative endeavors, so to keep myself on my toes (or on my fingertips, which is more appropo), I'm going to force myself to get my creative juices flowing. 

Working in an art environment I'm incredibly luck to work alongside some very talented artists and see their processes and work on a daily basis. One thing I always envy is the ability to do something artistic every day—any time there's a daily drawing challenge I'm inspired by my friends' artistic endeavors and wish I could do something of that caliber. So for the month of August I'm taking a page from their artbooks and imposing a 31-day writing challenge upon myself. But which one? Well, the answer to that is a little tricky; I'm going to create my own.

I've been doing a lot of cleaning and (unsuccessful) decluttering and I've come across a lot of old plays I've both read and written during my time as a Drama Studies minor in college. I always enjoyed the art of playwriting but have not utilized it at all since I graduated college (almost ten years ago—yikes). I don't often think to write a play when I have an idea, so this challenge will work to dust off my playwriting muscles.

But a play a day for 31 days is pretty challenging, so I'm combining three different writing challenges I've found to help out. First  is 31 Plays in 31 Days—pretty self-explanatory. Next is a list of daily writing prompts courtesy of Writer's Write which I will use in conjunction with the prompts from the 31 Plays site. Last, and possibly the toughest, is 750 Words. I'll aim to have every play be (at least) 750 words. Every day. 

Will I make it? We'll see. Will every play be good? Absolutely not. But so much of writing is the process of writing—flaws and all. And the only way to get better is to just keep going. 

Wish me luck—and I'll be back soon with the first play of the month! 

- Jamie 

News 'n' Views - July 2018

Howdy, howdy! I've got some pretty big news to share but FIRST...

How's your summer going? Mine's been all right--ok that's me being slightly dishonest. It's been pretty stressful and very unsummer-like. Things have been on the stressful side in terms of family and personal stuff that's had my head in a tizzy. Then I went and caught a nasty cold--summer colds are possibly the grossest things to happen to the human body. It's also been rainy and damp all week and I've felt like I've been in a permanent mental fog. So that's been... fun?

BUT I SAID I HAVE GOOD NEWS AND HERE IT IS:

I'll be writing the all-new BETTY & VERONICA series out later this year from Archie Comics! I've had a blast writing Vixens and I'm excited to continue writing for the two iconic characters--this time taking the girls into more uncharted territory--senior year of high school!

The news of the series broke at the New York Times. I know. Kind of a BFD and I'm still kind of in shock about it! You can read the full article about the milestone Archie #700 relaunch here. I also did a follow-up interview with SyFy Wire that you can read here! 

Here's a look at some promotional art by the amazing Marguerite Sauvage:

So yeah... I'm pretty excited and I hope you all dig it! And speaking of Betty & Veronica... Betty & Veronica: Vixens Vol. 1 is available in bookstores everywhere now! It collects the first arc/5 issues of Vixens. It's super weird to actually see my name on something in bookstores--but very, very cool.  

And one more writerly update before I go and down myself in Mucinex--my newest Razorcake article is live! In it I discuss my attempts at managing my anxiety by digital means. One of which is my own personal therapy of writing these articles every other month. They really help put things in perspective for me and I'm always honored when people reach out to tell me that they can connect with them. I'm super thankful to Razorcake for letting me sharing my stories.

That's all I got now! Time to bid you all achoo! ;)

Jamie

A Total Eclipse of the Sun

Today's solar eclipse will likely mark another of my many failed attempts at witnessing astronomical phenomena. I mean, that's not unusual considering I live just outside one of the busiest cities in the world, where seeing more than a handful of stars in the sky is in itself an astronomical phenomenon. I guess that means I can blame my oft-crummy luck on the curvature of the earth, if I believed in that sort of stuff. Ok, I kind of do. I'm a bit of an astrological lurker, I read my horoscope weekly, I believe in fate, I try to read the energy of the universe that surrounds me, I do think that retrogrades effect a lot (though I also believe that it can sometimes have the reverse effect on me.)

That being said, I'm also a superstitious skeptic, I don't want to know the future, I don't mess around with tarot cards or Ouija boards both out of fear and out of rejection of their viability. I don't believe in curses or magic or hexes but I also don't fuck with them. But I truly would like to believe that the moon and the sun do hold some kind of power over us all, and that witnessing this historical event could impact me in some kind of moon goddess-y, inspirational and restorative way. 

I want to believe.

One thing is for certain, the impending eclipse has got my creative juices flowing. I'll be posting a quick short story I wrote today on here later (once I finish it). And the NASA live stream has been extremely rad to watch while I work--sometimes science is pretty damn cool! Here's hoping you make the most out of this eclipse, in whatever way works for you. 

Also, here's this, since it's been stuck in my head all day and now I want it to be stuck in yours: