When I was a little girl, I wrote all the time. Usually stories about people escaping from occupied countries in Europe. Sometimes I wrote song parodies, sitcom parodies, and I really loved writing book reports, reading and analyzing things and expressing my response to them.
And then I discovered music and was able to give voice to things in a completely different way. But I still did some writing. I published a few articles in Classical Singer magazine, under a nom de plume, which was Melinda O’Meally. You see, I never thought I’d remarry, and I figured since Melinda was my cat’s middle name and O’Meally was my boyfriend’s name, no one would be the wiser. And then I remarried, and I took his name. (And that’s a whole ‘nother blog.)
My first entry in this blog was 4/22/2009, in which I talked about writing and singing, and called that entry Why I Sing. I wrote a lot the first few years – 31 times in 2009, 27 in 2010, 13 in 2011, 16 in 2012, and 20 in 2013. And then I moved…..
And in 2014 I wrote twice, 2015 8x, 2016 5x, and this is my 2nd entry of 2017. What the hell happened?
I don’t write, I rarely read (Real Simple, InStyle and The Costco Connection do not count).
A lot of the blame can be put on social media, especially in this political climate.
I am directing, I am teaching, I am performing, and I am creating (cabaret show a few weeks ago, to be reprised on November 17 at Germano’s, and a reprise of my show with Ryan Cappleman, also at Germano’s, on April 13, 2018). But something is missing. And that needs to change.
I still have another month and a half left of summer, and during that time, I think I’m going to have to force myself to write and to read.
I’ve never read many of the classics …. I forced myself to re-read Little Women when I was getting ready to direct it and it was a chore for the first 100 pages (then it flew). I’ve read some Bronté (Jane Eyre), but I’ve never read any Jane Austen.
There are many projects that I have yet to attack this summer, but one of them, as God is my witness, is that I’m going to become a reader again. And then, hopefully, a writer.
And in the meantime, I hope to start finding something to write about.