The Next Big Thing

Thank you to Ellen Prewitt,  http://ellenprewitt.wordpress.com, for inviting me to be part of this Next Big Thing Blog Roll. Ellen is my friend and an inspiration for my writing. We both love to tell stories and to use words as a way to connect with other people. Ellen inspires people who do not have permanent addresses to feel altogether at home in a writing group she facilitates each week. I have had the good fortune of writing with the group and some of my best ideas have been born there. Ellen is committed to her muse and follows it from one path to another. She works comfortably with fiction, nonfiction and visual art. I appreciate her trust in the creative process and I am grateful that she has included me among the writers on this creative blog roll.

My Next Big Thing could be a memoir, maybe a collection of my sermons,  or perhaps a collection of new stories about my childhood. I have a new Christmas story for children that needs to be published and shared. I could choose to do something with my series of photographs: fruits and vegetables dressed up and  boldly expressing themselves. I am choosing what seems to be the most significant work and that is a play, a one-woman show, about my experience with family, food, fear and faith. I nearly starved to death before I realized I had the capacity to be loved and well fed. I want to complete this play and perform it as a way to continue my own healing process and to help others experience healing and wholeness.

1. What is the working title of your book (s)?

I am writing a play for a one woman performance. The working title is "Skin and Bones"

2. Where did the idea come from for the book?

The idea for my play came from my own experience with anorexia and bulimia. I stopped eating when I was sixteen years old. I was anorexic for two years and was bulimic for thirteen years. I could not love myself and I wanted to escape from the trap of being myself. I used not eating and binge eating as strategies to avoid feeling anything. My story involves healing and learning to love myself. It saddens me to know that many people struggle with self hate and with eating disorders. It is a shame-based and lonely way to live. I want to stage this story as performance art because I hope it will be a healing experience for audience members. And I expect it to be clarifying for me as I continue on my path toward wholeness.

3. What genre does your book come under?

This will be solo performance and I hope to perform in theater festivals and on stages around the country in small theater spaces. It is my hope that colleges and high schools will invite me to perform for students, faculty and for PTA meetings. I am a firm believer that when one person boldly speaks her truth, she allows the listeners to be liberated, inviting them to speak their own truth as well. Our eating habits are an intimate part of our lives. Family and friends are reluctant to intrude in our food choices and eating habits for fear of disrupting a delicate balance in the relationship. Food and shame can go hand in hand. When they are connected it is a recipe for  secrets, silence and denial. Story telling opens the door for healthy conversations to enter into our relationships and set everyone free to feel what they feel and ask for what they need. This play, "Skin and Bones," will be part memoir, part documentary, part therapy and part entertainment.

4. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in  a movie rendition?

My hope is that the performance will always be in person, face to face, a real performer and a real audience in the same room. The  obvious vulnerability of one human being on stage before others is part of the power of this performance. Following the curtain call and applause, a talk-back session can be as meaningful and memorable as the performance. Either Lily Tomlin, Eve Ensler, Ellen Degeneres or Meryl Streep could perform this piece and bring much public attention to the damage that comes from an eating disorder.

5. What is the one sentence synopsis of your book?

We are given life as a gift and we are fueled to enhance and share that gift by the food on our table and the people around it.

6. Is your book self published, published by an independent publisher, or represented by an agency?

I am a company member with a local theater company, Voices of the South, and our intent is to stage this new work in September, 2013, at TheatreSouth. I will do my best to promote future performances of "Skin and Bones" around the city and across the country. Voices of the South will promote the performance as one of its touring options. Hopefully, I'll have opportunities to perform for a wide variety of audiences.

The September debut of "Skin and Bones" will include an invitation to audience members to register for a Solo Performance Workshop Series at TheatreSouth. Led by writers, actors, dancers, set designers and directors, the workshops will engage participants in shaping their new solo performances. I value telling my stories and I value inspiring others to tell their stories too. The workshop series will involve six workshop sessions and then conclude with a weekend performance for family and friends. Each workshop participant will perform 10-15 minutes of their new piece.

7. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript? 

I began writing this play in the spring of 2010. Jerre Dye, a company member and previous artistic director with Voices of the South, helped me with editing and direction. The work has a strong beginning and I am currently committed to its completion. The first complete draft is yet to be written.

8. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

Eve Enslers' "The Good Body" comes to mind, a series of monologues spoken by women who have struggled with their appearance and their weight. This work is both hilarious and extremely painful.
Anna Quindlen's small book, Being Perfect, addresses some of the same issues I hope to raise in my new play. Joan Jacobs Brumberg has written two books, The Body Project: An Intimate History of American Girls and Fasting Girls: The History of Anorexia Nervosa. Both are excellent resources when it comes to thinking about women and our bodies. Geneen Roth's book, Women, Food and God: An Unexpected Path to Almost Everything is a compelling invitation to live freely in our female bodies.

9. Who or what inspired you to write this book?

David Prete, a writer and a director, joined me in writing my first play, "For Goodness Sake."  He then directed the performance and designed the set. On opening night, October 9, 2009, while the audience was applauding and I was catching my breath in the dressing room, David came to me and said, "We did a good thing! Listen to that? Can you feel it? We did a good thing!" We were both crying tears of deep joy and gratitude. I'll never forget that moment and I will always be working toward creating the next good thing.

My cousin, Nancy Kendall, also has lived with the challenge to overcome a life threatening eating disorder. She is my friend as well as my family. I admire her. She is an English teacher and a writer, a farmer and a horse trainer. I am writing this play for Nancy and for me. We have beaten the odds and allowed love to set us free.

My daughter, Jennifer Brewer, gave me reason to reconsider whether life is worth living. Her birth gave me a jolt that shook the complacency out of my bones.I saw her burst out of my body and I realized I would be her mother. She had no choice in that. I wanted her to be glad about the mother she had been given. I wanted her to be proud. That changed everything for me. I am writing this play in part because I want Jennifer to have one more reason to feel proud of me.

My beautiful partner, Anna Neal, values and supports my creative energy. Whether I am writing a new piece, proposing a new project, making new friends, developing new skills, preaching sermons, performing on stage, going to jail to listen to the stories of women who are locked inside, traveling to lead spiritual retreats, teaching classes or telling stories...Anna enjoys being my partner. Most of the time she volunteers her service and helps to make things happen well and on time. She loves me in a steadfast way. Her love is what I was starving for so many years ago. I am deeply in love with Anna and indebted to her. She makes it possible for me to do the Next Big Thing.

10. What else about your book might pique the reader's interest?

While eating disorder is a serious subject, the play will not be without humor. I look forward to making the audience laugh. It will be my delight to hear it.

Check out the next participants in this very interesting project:


http://www.writenowcoach.com/blog/

Rochelle Melander and I met in 2005, in Washington DC at the National Cathedral where we had the great privilege of writing for a week. We were invited to spend the week with other writers as we examined what it means to be a writer and a person of faith. At the end of each day, Rochelle and I walked together and we talked about our lives, our families, our work and our dreams. We have remained good friends and writing pals. Rochelle gives me strength when I need it and she asks for my strength when she needs it. We balance well in our friendship. I look forward to learning what her Next Big Thing will be.


www.evergreenyogamemphis.com/blog.php

Leah Nichols and I met in 2009, in a Solo Performance Workshop where both of us were developing new work. Leah is my yoga instructor as well as a writing pal. I am learning in my yoga class how to do my best and be glad even when my best is far from perfect. Leah does not mind telling the truth about her life. I am drawn to her honesty and her good humor. She has been a guest in my writing class at the jail and she connects with the women there, offering them creative inspiration and respect for the stories they have to share. When Leah and I are together, we are a powerful team.We can feel it! I look forward to reading about her Next Big Thing.