I was excited by how much progress I made on my Pomatomus socks up in Woodstock last weekend. I actually thought “Cool, I might finish these this week!” Then I discovered the lunch hour walk. And the “long way home.” And if I do both of these in one day and I rack up 5.5 miles, then when I get home I am tired and have just enough energy to make some food and watch TV. And then my “other job,” the dramaturgy, came into play.

I freelance with a very nice playwright who is a dream to work with. We’ve got a great work vibe going on, and he really thinks about the comments I give him, then asks more questions about them. (This is rare, some people just nod and say “uh huh” when I give them criticism.) He’s asked me to develop a season with him of some new plays and a Shakespeare play. This means that not only do I get to work on new plays, I also get to adapt Shakespeare – it’s like all aspects of dramaturgy in one season and I’m very excited about it. Last night, Rick and I went to see one of this playwright’s plays in a little workshop production, and since I knew I was going to be talking to him at great length at some point this week, I also had to finish reading Timon of Athens, the Shakespeare play we’re considering. So, time away from the knitting to do that. Today I have to write down all my thoughts about last night’s play so that I can email them to him tonight. (No knitting at lunch today, obviously.)

I also got an email from the company where I am resident dramaturg, asking if I could work on a mainstage production this spring. I said sure, especially when they told me I’d get $500 out of the deal. They’ll probably rehearse during the day, so I will only be in rehearsal on weekends, including Easter. Dudes, I would give up Christmas if I got to spend the day being a dramaturg, so this is no problem. However, they need script consults sooner rather than later. And the playwright gave me one draft last week, and then made changes to it, so I’ve got a new draft. Two drafts to be read tonight, to see where the changes are, what I think of them, if more changes/clarifications need to be made. And then notes taken on them as well. So no knitting tonight.

And because I am a huge spazz and forgot my Moleskine at Rick’s this morning, I’m going to have to swing past there tomorrow evening after I usher at Second Stage with my friend Eugene. Because all the creative work must go in the Moleskine, dammit. This way I have records of everything I’ve said on a project so that if we need to make changes, we have documentation of what sparked them. So no knitting tomorrow afternoon, either.

Someday I will finish these socks. As well as I’m doing with the Run-a-go-go thing, that’s how piss-poor my showing in the Lime and Violet Sock Marathon is. Oh well, can’t win ‘em all. And if I’d give up Christmas for dramaturgy, I guess I’d also give up knitting. On a temporary basis, of course.

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