Let's Write Stuff in October - A New Writing Challenge

I've been itching to be creative lately. Several of my friends have been posting about the upcoming Inktober: an initiative that challenges artists to create an ink drawing every day during the month of October, and post it to social media. It sounds tremendously fun, and the list of prompts is pretty cool. The only problem is... I don't draw. At all.

So instead, I'm starting my own initiative, that's geared towards writing. Think of it as sort of a cross between Inktober and NaNoWriMo. And with that in mind, it gives me great pleasure to present to you... LeWriStOct: Let's Write Stuff in October.

The rules are simple. For every day in October, there will be a new writing prompt. Some will be single words, others will be word groups, others will be sentences, pictures, etc. Your job is to write something inspired by that prompt. It can be a short story, a script, a poem, an essay... Whatever you like and are comfortable with. It can be as short or as long as you like. Once it's written, you're encouraged to post the results on Facebook, Twitter, or other social media, or otherwise share it with the world in whatever form you choose. If you're uncomfortable with sharing publicly (which I totally understand), you don't have to, but I'm hoping that seeing other people's results will help us all to stay motivated.

If you can't do it every day, for whatever reason... That's fine too. Just do what you can. If you decide you only want to do certain prompts and not others, go for it. I won't be hurt. If you fall way behind, don't get discouraged. Feel free to skip ahead. The purpose of this exercise isn't that you HAVE to write. It's that you GET to write. And it's not meant to limit you, but rather to open you up, creatively, by whatever means work for you.

This also isn't meant to step on the toes of NaNoWriMo, or burn you out on sprints in October before you get to the marathon in November. It's just a different approach to creativity that I wanted to try. And you're all welcome to join me.

I'll post the list of prompts on Saturday, September 30th, and then starting October 1st, I'll be posting whatever I write each day, for all to see. And you're all welcome to join me. The more people we can get involved, the more fun we'll all have.

So... Who wants to write stuff in October with me?

An Important Life Lesson

One of my longstanding Christmas baking traditions is Chocolate Fudge Cranberry Brownies. If you've never had them, that may seem a little weird, but they're actually really amazing. They're always a big hit, which is why I keep making them year after year. In fact, for a couple of years, I used to send chocolate fudge cranberry brownies, along with other assorted baked goods, to my various relatives around the country for Christmas.

Then a couple of years ago, I stopped doing it. Was feeling kind of apathetic towards the holidays in general, plus I didn't really have the time or money to ship half a dozen packages around the country.
For the most part, nobody seemed to notice or care that I'd stopped--except my sister. She called me last year around Christmas to ask me if I was going to send her some of my famous brownies that year, and told me how much she loved them and looked forward to them.

Even if I didn't have the time or money to send half a dozen packages of baked goods at Christmas, I certainly was able to send one, especially since it was to my sister. So I told her I would. And then... I didn't. I meant to. Bought an extra package of cranberries just for her brownies. But I ended up with a lot of work to do, plus I was directing a show, and before I knew it, it was January, and I still hadn't sent the brownies.

Needless to say, I felt pretty bad about it. So I figured that to make up for not sending my sister brownies at Christmas, I would send her some on her birthday instead.

Today would have been my sister's birthday. She died just a few weeks ago. So the life lesson, which I'm taking to heart and passing on to all of you, is this: Don't wait. Whatever you're planning on doing in your life, do it now. Take the action you're afraid to, do the thing you would rather put off until tomorrow or next week. Tell your friends and family you love them, and moreover, SHOW them. Right now. Because you never know when it might be too late.

Creativity on My Own Terms

Ladies and Gentlemen, it gives me great pleasure to announce that I will NOT be attempting NaNoWriMo this year. I have attempted it any number of times in years past, and I never get very far. Which in turn inspires me the next year to summon up all my grit and determination and say, "THIS year I'm really gonna do it!" And then I end up not.

So this year, I'm trying a different tack. I'm forgoing the whole thing, not as an act of defeat, but as an act of triumph. I'm not going to attempt to push myself towards an arbitrary deadline, only to feel perpetually overwhelmed and guilty when life prevents me from reaching it. I'm not going to value word count over content, or type a bunch of random nonsense that I know I'll end up cutting later, just to meet today's goal. I'm not going to force myself to keep working on a story that I've lost my passion for. And I'm not going to let a looming deadline and the pressure to put words on a page cause me to lose my passion for a story.

For the record, this is not meant as any kind of slight or offense against my friends who DO do NaNoWriMo. I know there are a whole bunch of you, and I have immense respect for you and what you do. I wish you the best of luck. But now I realize that it's not for me.

Instead, I'm going to keep doing what I've been doing all year. I'm going to work on my own projects in my own time. I'm going to work on what makes me happy, with people who inspire me and help remind me why I'm passionate about what I do. I've done pretty well this year in terms of creative projects. So far, I have...

-Written five short plays
-Shot two short films
-Produced an evening of radio plays
-Acted in several shows and done tech for one
-Taken a trip to the UK. This wasn't a creative endeavor, per se, but it was really cool and a lot of fun, and I felt like bragging about it.

And I've still got several more projects planned before the year is over. So let's do this! Who's with me?

10 Things Successful and/or Creative People Do

You want to be successful, don't you? And creative? You may be stuck in a dead-end job filing TPS reports from your cubicle, but secretly, you've always preferred the creative lifestyle. Art and stuff. That's totally your jam. You look around at other people, doing art and stuff, and getting paid way more than you. And their bosses don't get on their case about the TPS reports, because their bosses are too busy doing art and stuff too, and getting famous in the process. So what does it take to be successful and/or creative? What are these people's lives like? Well, you're in luck. For your edification, I've compiled a list of 10 things that all (or most, or some) successful and/or creative people do.

1. Laundry. I guarantee you, those successful and/or creative people are doing laundry. Depending on how many clothes they own, or how particular they are about cleanliness, they might do so anywhere from every couple of days to every couple of weeks. Bill Gates does laundry. Mick Jagger does all kinds of laundry. Well, no, actually, they probably both hire people to do their laundry for them, because they're ridiculously wealthy. But regardless, their laundry is still getting done. Do you do laundry? Well, then, you totally have something in common with Bill Gates and Mick Jagger, or whatever successful and/or creative person you admire most.

2. Eat ice cream. Successful people love ice cream. So do creative people. And, as a bonus, famous people love ice cream, too, and so do geniuses. Unless they're lactose intolerant. But even then, they probably like cake or something. Or pizza. Almost everybody likes pizza. And if they don't, they're probably not worth emulating anyway. What's the point of being a famous and successful creative genius if you can't have pizza, ice cream, and cake?

3. Binge watch Game of Thrones. OK, to be honest, the only famous creative/successful person that I KNOW watches Game of Thrones is Enver Gjokaj, because he told me so once on Twitter. And really, I guess he's not THAT famous, but he was on Agent Carter (as Sousa, the guy with the crutch), so he's famous-ish, and I think he's pretty awesome. And I don't know if he binge-watches it, or just watches an episode at a time, or what. But, I mean, it's Game of Thrones. You can't tell me that there aren't a bunch of creative and/or successful people watching it. Maybe they're all watching it together. Like, Joss Whedon, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and Yo-Yo Ma, all sitting around the TV, eating Cheetos and arguing over whose HBO GO password they're supposed to be using. Heck, I bet even George R.R. Martin binge-watches Game of Thrones. It's probably what he's doing instead of writing the rest of the books.

4. Drink themselves into oblivion. Hemingway created an absinthe-champagne cocktail called Death in the Afternoon, and would sometimes drink five of them in a day. Hunter S. Thompson not only did drugs beyond your wildest imagination, he also drank copious amounts of Wild Turkey. Poet Dylan Thomas reportedly drank 18 whiskeys a couple of nights before he died. And Andre the Giant could drink all of the above before breakfast and still have room for a case of beer. All of these people were highly successful, and highly creative. Of course, I'm not advocating drinking yourself into an early grave, in the least bit. But you wanted to know what successful and/or creative people do, and... well, that's what a lot of them do. Sorry about that.

5. Procrastinate and not finish what they start. Orson Welles spent the better part of 30 years shooting footage for a film version of Don Quixote, which never saw the light of day. My favorite author, Douglas Adams, had a writing process that was so staggeringly slow and full of lunch breaks that it's a wonder he ever got anything finished at all. He died before he could finish writing The Salmon of Doubt, which I will never forgive him for, because I really want to know how it ends. Jane Austen left two different novels uncompleted at her death, and Schubert had a full six years to finish his famous Unfinished Symphony. This is a great comfort to me in general, and particularly now. To be honest, I chose the number 10 for this list rather arbitrarily, because it sounded good. When I decided to write it, I could really only think of maybe two. I was going to flesh it out to get the full 10, but after writing #3, I kind of want to go binge-watch some Game of Thrones instead. So I'm going to let the list stand at five, content in the knowledge that this is exactly what successful and/or creative people do all the time. I feel better already.

Chocolate Fudge Cranberry Brownies

A few years ago, I stumbled, quite by accident, upon a discovery that would change my life forever: Chocolate Fudge Cranberry Brownies. They started out as a foolhardy experiment in the kitchen, but have since evolved into a holiday tradition. I don't know why, but something about them just works. The texture, the consistency, the balance between tart and sweet... No matter where I take them, they're always a crowd pleaser. And now, here they are, for your baking pleasure:

1 Cup of Butter

4 oz. Unsweetened Baking Chocolate

2 Cups Sugar

4 Eggs

2 Tsps. Vanilla

1 Tsp. Almond Extract

1 ½ Cups Flour

½ Cup Chocolate Chips

1 ½ Cups Fresh, Whole Cranberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Rinse and drain cranberries. Set aside.

In a medium saucepan, melt butter and chocolate together (I find that if you melt the butter a little bit first before adding the chocolate to the pan, it provides a bit of insulation and prevents the chocolate from burning without the need for a double boiler). Stir frequently. When mixture is melted and smooth, remove from heat and add sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each. Add vanilla and almond extract (a little almond extract goes a long way, but I find that it livens up a lot of baked goods and gives them that little something extra). Add flour and stir until thoroughly combined.

Make sure that the mixture has cooled to around a lukewarm temperature, then add chocolate chips (otherwise, they’ll just melt in the batter). Stir in cranberries.

Pour into a 13x9 pan, and bake for 30 minutes. Cool, cut, and enjoy.

NOTE: These brownies are great fresh out of the oven, but I find that they’re even better a day later. That way, they’ve had a chance to steep in the moisture of the cranberries, making them fudgier. At least, I think that's what's going on. It could be brownie gnomes, who sneak into the kitchen in the middle of the night and sprinkle magic fudge dust on them. I don't pretend to understand it. I just know that they're really, really good.

Cancer and Alzheimer's - A Long Overdue Post

Just a warning: I'm about to get a lot more serious and more personal than I generally do. And also use some bad language. Bear with me, though.This is important. I've been meaning to say these things literally for years, but have never quite had the guts to do so. But I just saw the C-SPAN video of Seth Rogen addressing the Senate hearing on Alzheimer's research, and I realized that I have to tell my story too. Because, as Mr. Rogen said, we can't just whisper the conversation anymore. We need to shout it.

There's a popular catchphrase that's been circulating around the Internet for awhile now. I've seen posters and graphics of it, as well as people just expressing it in general conversation: "Fuck Cancer." It's a sentiment I can certainly get behind. Cancer is a terrible, awful disease that causes terrible pain and has claimed more than one person that I love. So fuck cancer.

But at the same time, sometimes it seems like the conversation is ALL about cancer. I see memes about raising cancer awareness, or in memory of people who have died of cancer. I see charity drives to raise money for cancer, and I see cancer research... That's all extremely important. But I almost never see anything about Alzheimer's. It's very rare that there's a real conversation about Alzheimer's and what it means. So I would just like to go on record as saying: Fuck Alzheimer's.

And I believe I'm qualified to say that, as I've witnessed both firsthand.

When I was 11 years old, my 15 year old brother Matthew died of cancer. It's not something I like to talk about, mainly because no one ever knows what to say. Including me. But even though I don't talk about it, that ordeal has defined who I am probably more than any other event in my life.

The last 8 weeks of Matthew's life were spent in the Intensive Care Unit at UCLA hospital. He was in pain a lot of the time. He couldn't breathe without a respirator. On several occasions, he couldn't even move, because they gave him some sort of drug that completely paralyzed him. He had a dialysis machine, IVs, chemotherapy, a new surgery just about every week, and more doctors than I care to remember. For years after he died, my biggest fear was that I'd go the same way. Not that I'd die young, but that, when I did die, it would be at the hands of a terrible disease that destroyed my body bit by bit and kept me in pain. I was terrified that I would die that way someday, and I prayed with all my heart that I could go any other way but that.

Then, about four years ago, my dad was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. And very, very quickly, I changed my mind. If somehow, I were to be given a choice, between cancer and Alzheimer's, I would choose cancer, every time.

Even though Matthew was physically a wreck, in pain, and hooked up to machines... he was still Matthew. He couldn't talk, because of the respirator, so he would write. And boy, did he write. My mother still fondly recalls what one of the nurses said to her: "Most people just write a few words to communicate what they want. Matthew writes PARAGRAPHS!" That was Matthew in a nutshell. He even gave me one or two written brotherly lectures. No matter what the cancer did to him, no matter what it took from him, it couldn't take away who he was.

But Alzheimer's can.

At first, my dad was able to make light of it. It became a running joke with him and my mother. He'd turn to her in the middle of a conversation and say, "Honey, what do I have again?" And she'd say, "Alzheimer's." It was funnier in context.

Or there was the time that the three of us all sat down to plan out his last wishes, while he was still cogent enough to express them. We had a long list of questions from his insurance company about what kind of care he wanted, how he wanted to be remembered, and all kinds of other things. And somehow, every question led to a silly and ridiculous answer, until all three of us were practically head over heels, laughing at this questionnaire about my father's eventual death. It may seem crass, but that's just what my family is like. It's the kind of person my dad was.

He's not like that anymore, though. He can barely express himself now. A lot of the time, he hardly knows what's going on, and doesn't understand it when you tell him. It used to be that he just couldn't think of the words for certain things. Now he can hardly think of any words. He'll have something to say, and it's obviously important to him, but no matter how hard he tries, he can't get it across. And no matter how hard I try, I can't understand it. I nod and agree if I can, but there's no real communication going on. And it eats me up inside that I can't talk to my father.

I mean, I can still talk to him sometimes. Some moments are better than others--it fluctuates from moment to moment, not from day to day--and while even at the good times, he still can't really think of the right words, he can at least make himself understood, and understand what I'm saying to him. But we can't really talk like we used to. He can't tell the stories that he used to, or even remember that they happened when I remind him. I'll talk about some of my fondest memories from childhood, and he'll look at me blankly.

Whenever someone says to me, "Tell your dad I said Hi," I know that I can't actually do it, because he'll have no idea who they are. He won't know them by name, he won't know them no matter how much detail I describe them in... If I say, "It's someone you used to work with," there's a chance he won't even remember working there. He might remember them if he sees them, but then, he might not. And even if he recognizes their face, it's likely as not he won't actually remember who they are, or the role they played in his life.

Every day, he has a harder time of things. Every day, he remembers a little less, fails a little more. I know the day is coming when he'll look at me and not know who I am. It's already starting down that direction. Sometimes he'll look straight at my mom and tell her all about what "that woman" did an hour ago, completely oblivious to the fact that "that woman" is her. And I know it's only going to get worse from here. For the moment, he can still dress himself and feed himself, albeit with the occasional reminder not to put a knife in his mouth. But that'll be gone too, sooner or later. Probably sooner. The doctors all say it's happening faster than it should be. What will it be like a year from now? Will he have any idea what's going on around him?

Deep down, I know he's still the same person he was. Underneath it all, there's still an inkling of the great, caring guy with an unabashedly quirky sense of humor. Even without knowing the words to use, he can still crack a joke once in awhile--the kind that only my dad can make. He's my dad, and he always will be, and I love him. But the memories we shared, we can't share anymore. It's like they've been erased, along with so much of what made him who he was. And even though I know he's still the same person, it's hard sometimes not to look at him and see a stranger.

So yeah, fuck cancer. No 15 year old should have to go through that, and no 11 year old should have to watch it. But even more, fuck Alzheimer's. You're not just taking my father from me. You're taking away the man he was, one piece at a time.

How Not to Be a Horrible Person to the Opposite Sex

Through the magic of spam, my e-mail address somehow ended up in the hands of someone who sells secrets for seducing women. In reading the subject lines of these e-mails, I can't help but wonder... What kind of horrible person would actually buy crap like that? They say things like:

"Learn the secret to hacking women's brains! These few words will make any woman want you instantly! Learn the scientific secret to controlling women's minds!"

The implication being that women are video games to which you can find cheat codes, or computers that you can learn to program to do whatever you want. That they're all exactly the same, and what works on one will work on all of them the same way. The further implication being that women are not people. That they don't have thoughts or feelings or free will. They're just playthings, good for a night of fun. Instead of popping a new game into the console when you're bored, just "play" a woman instead tonight, then toss her back in the pile when you're done.

The worst one of all, though, was this: "This is the seduction video that women don't want you to see!" Think about that for a second. According to the company selling this product, women don't want you doing this to them. They're not only telling you this, they're actually using it as a selling point for their service. She's not choosing to be with you. You're forcing her to. "Use these techniques to sleep with any woman... whether she wants to or not!"

Of course, I don't believe for a second that these "cheat codes for controlling women's minds" actually work, because, well... women aren't computers or video games. They're human beings. And each one is different. They like different things, they want different things, and they respond to different things.

And that's what makes women--or just people in general, for that matter--worth pursuing or spending time with at all: the fact that they're all different. And interesting. No matter who it is you're talking to, chances are they have something interesting they can share with you. Maybe they have a lot they can share. Maybe even a lifetime. Or maybe not. Maybe they just know a cool joke about eels, or something like that. The point is, if you go around approaching people with a pre-determined formula for interaction, whether it works or not, you'll never get to find out what they might have had to offer.

What's more, you too are a unique and interesting person with something to offer. But if everything you say and do is mapped out by this "proven technique" you found online, then, even if somehow it DOES work, they don't like YOU, they like a series of steps that you followed. What's sexy about that?

So, in conclusion, so-called "seduction secrets" are atrocious, and dehumanizing to both men and women, but mostly to women. Approaching a woman that way assumes that literally the only thing worth finding out about her is what she looks like naked. And if you take this approach, most likely the only thing you WILL find out about her is what her drink feels like when it's thrown in your face. So let's all try to avoid that, and respect one another as human beings. Thanks!