I created a role in one of Stephen Schwartz’ first musicals. It was in college. It was never performed again, as far as I know.*

*Despite my stellar performance.

I have a friend who is not email/text savvy, which is to say, she thinks they’re the same thing, which is to say she just sent me 14 texts in a row.* Each one is 4-6 lines long and has a photo attachment. She wants me to email all these photos to other people. I patiently explained to her how to do it. She sent me more photos. This has nothing whatsoever to do with theatre or writing. I’m just venting.

*Not hyperbole, honest.

This is not a soccer reference. As you may recall,* I was at one point getting daily visits from someone(s) in Brazil. Then they stopped cold. Today I got my first visitor from South Africa. They read one of my posts about Brazil. I realize this is of interest to nobody other than myself, but I thought I’d mention it, anyway, in case.

*And good for you if you did. I can’t even recall where I put my keys.

Nobody, I hope, next time I’m writing in my favorite coffee place. I was stuck* there for 3 1/2 hours yesterday. It meant ordering a spinach cheese empanada as a dinner which added another $4 to my burgeoning ** tab, but anything for my art.

*Poor word choice. “Happily ensconced” would be a more accurate description.

**Excellent choice of words, alas

As you may remember,* I direct an improv comedy troupe. One of our very favorite things** is improvised musical shows for kids. These begin with an audience suggestion, frequently dogs, cats or dinosaurs. Yesterday’s was “construction sites.” This came from a 7-year-old, who said it was actually her little brother’s idea. It was an excellent suggestion, because there are many words that rhyme with ‘foundation.’

*I know you don’t. Humor me.

**No, honestly

I played opposite Ken Jennings (the original Toby in Sweeney Todd) in a production of Desert Song at the Halfpenny Playhouse in Kearny, NJ. The stage was the size of a coffee table. Nonetheless, Nathan Lane started out there, too. They both went on to create roles on Broadway. I did not.

I have decided not to bring along my laptop when we go to Connecticut for my son’s wedding.* This will mean 4 days without writing. Give me strength.

I’m talking about the trip, not the ceremony, you silly. Even I would not be so callous. Besides, it would be tough to hold a laptop for 30 minutes while I stand under the chuppah.

I had such an odd exchange on Twitter over the last couple of days, I had to share it.** Someone tweeted about how important it was to retweet other people, and I said, as jovially as I could, I also liked it when someone favorited one of my tweets. Then he said ‘favorites’ were ‘self-indulgent,’ and also I was rude for not addressing him by his first name (hey, when you only get 140 characters, are you really going to use up 11 of them on ‘Christopher?’).

Then a second person jumped in and agreed with him about ‘favorites,’ and said I should also say ‘Hi.’ At this point I tweeted off into the sunset.

*If you don’t tweet this might not mean anything to you. Then again, it might not mean anything to you if you do.

**I’d tweet it, but it’s way too long.

When last you read me* I was suffering mightily trying to make two year’s worth of plot fit into one. I am semi-pleased that I have managed to work in the most significant points. Now I must work on the less significant points, without which the novel will be about 1400 words long.

*which would actually be right now if this is your first time on my blog, but I digress**

**As usual

I am taking a break from #Pitmad. What, you might ask* is #Pitmad? It’s a 12-hour Twitter competition during which you may tweet a pitch for a manuscript and an agent or editor may, on the basis of 140 characters, request a more few pages. The odds are monumentally against this happening, but it’s only 140 characters once an hour, so at least it’s not too time consuming.

*or you might not, but humor me