Julie R. Neidlinger: Lone Prairie Blog

Misconception #4: Written as it is.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 0 comments link this post

::Start here.::

You must remember, above all things, that I'm aware of the audience.

I don't show the audience the grubby gears and mechanics of the backstage area, hidden behind the backdrops. I might provide you with an act or two (or three) of drama and melancholy, but that's still in front of the set.

So you don't really know.

You can't really say I'm not afraid. You can't really say I've got it made. You can't really say much, except a discussion on the play I'm letting you see.

There is a reader who has, gradually, become kind of like an encouraging mentor. I recently let this reader know, every so briefly, that I was afraid I wouldn't have what it takes to finish the flying lessons.

"I have the utmost confidence in you," was the reply.

And so I jumped back on stage and started up again, with another joke.

It's this idea -- that you see the whole production -- that leads to all the other misconceptions about fear and talent and self-deprecation.

Look, do you really want to read a daily blog from some Sad Sack? No. I know that. I don't want to read "poor me" every day, either. So I write as I write because there are people in the audience.

This journal entry/blog post, for example, details a moment that wasn't funny at the time. It was, in fact, during a period of stress and fear and self-doubt over not having a place to live. I could certainly written some melodramatic Victorian prose about my plight, but geez -- who wants to read that?

And more importantly, who wants to write that?Dwell in the dirt too long, and all you do is get dirty.

I'm part of the audience. I need to be able to laugh and not always chronicle the mess backstage. I write for my own benefit as much as yours.