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Why I Write…. Or Not

It’s more likely why don’t I write these days…..

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. 

Published by Mezzoid Voice Studio

Christine Thomas-O'Meally, a mezzo soprano and voice teacher currently based in the Baltimore-DC area, has performed everything from the motets of J.S. Bach to the melodies of Irving Berlin to the minimalism of Philip Glass. As an opera singer and actress, she has appeared with companies such as Charm City Players, Spotlighters Theatre, Chicago Opera Theater, Opera Theater of Northern Virginia, Opera North, the Washington Savoyards, In Tandem Theatre, Windfall Theater, The Young Victorian Theater of Baltimore, and Skylight Opera Theatre. She created the role of The Woman in Red in Dominick Argento’s Dream of Valentino in its world premiere with the Washington Opera and Mary Pickersgill in O'er the Ramparts at its world premiere during the Bicentennial of Battle of Baltimore at the Community College of Baltimore County. Other roles include Mrs. Paroo in Music Man, Mother Abbess in Sound of Music, Dorabella in Cosi Fan Tutte, Marcellina in Le Nozze di Figaro, both Hansel and the Witch in Hansel & Gretel, and many roles in Gilbert & Sullivan operettas. Her performance as the Housekeeper in Man of La Mancha was honored with a WATCH award nomination. Ms. Thomas-O'Meally received an M.M. in vocal performance from the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore. She regularly attends master classes and workshops in both performance and vocal pedagogy, and is certified in all three Levels of Somatic Voicework™ The LoVetri Method. Her students have performed on national and international tours of Broadway productions, at prestigious conservatories, and in regional theater throughout the country.

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