Seth Godin talks about the importance of “shipping”. Shipping is basically putting your “stuff” out there. It is about doing the thing that you want to do and getting it out into the world. If you are a playwright, shipping is sending out your play to producers or theatres to see if they want to…
For almost four months I was trying to get started on my next playwriting project. It wasn’t that I didn’t have any ideas. The trouble was finding an idea that I would feel passionate enough about to overcome my inertia. What was the idea that would keep me away from the TV for hours on…
Okay, full disclosure. I don’t really know how to be a good parent. When my children were growing up and people would ask me why my kids were so well behaved, I would usually say “I’m lucky”. Or point to Deb, because she is an awesome mother! My kids are now 26, 23, and 20.…
I have a bad habit of taking long breaks between writing projects. I finish one project and it takes me months to gear up and start working on the next one. Why? It’s not from lack of ideas. I’ve got more ideas than time to write them all. It seems to be more from a…
It’s the night before I do a clown turn at the Red Nose Cabaret. I’ve been fretting about it for the last couple of days. Will I be funny? Will I be focused? Will I be open to failure? Clowning is like riding a unicycle. You have to flirt with losing your balance and falling…
I’m a terrible procrastinator. Which means that I’m a really good one. Anyone who knows me, knows that I put things off. Especially writing projects. Since January, I’ve been meaning to write the next draft of my play Out to the Folks, do a quick update and polish of The Lost Years because we’re thinking…
It was the first day of classes in Grade Four and Mrs. Korb asked John Hazel and me to stand up. She wanted us to be “buddies” with the new kid, George Snider. I turned and looked over to the red-faced kid with the bowl hair cut and big teeth. To be fair, he looked…
Today is a milestone birthday. Only birthdays ending in zeros or fives seem to be milestones when your age is in the double digits. But when you get to the triple digits, every birthday is a milestone again, like the first ten years of your life. I still have a ways to go before I…
Just do it. Such simple advice, yet so easy to ignore. I’ve only written 5 blog posts in almost two years. It’s not because of a lack of things to write about. Like most writers, I have tons of ideas. But getting the ideas onto the page (or screen) is the challenge. It’s frustrating because…
Last Friday, I stayed after work an extra 45 minutes. I was chatting with my friend, Mike, and the conversation was on a roll. It was one of those conversations that are usually fuelled by alcohol, although this one was not. We talked about life, friends, family, mortality and things we wanted to do “one…
peter gruner 