Thank you, Robin. Every chapter offers us gifts. Sometimes it takes a while to fully recognize and receive them. I'm grateful to you for sharing your experiences.
Beautiful, Robin. So much to reflect on in your post (and again, we seem to share so much more than a name). I was also an actor through college and beyond. I didn't recognize my calling as a writer (although I have always written and had already published a suspense novel) until, playing in a community theatre production of Noel Coward's "Hay Fever", I realized that there was so much more power in crafting the story than in reinterpreting it. No matter how much I loved Coward and his rapier wit, I couldn't help but feel that, playing Myra Arundel I was an imposter, living someone else's creation.
I love how you've reframed this story as you've gained new insights and interpretations of the dynamics of that interaction with the actress you admired. I try to live by the words I often share with others in workshops, and journaling and storytelling programs, "Change your story, change your life."
Thank you for reminding us of how we can evolve and change in ways that allow us to see more of the story and, in the process, to forgive ourselves.
So uplifting. Thank you, Robin. For me, living my life to the fullest demands that I spin straw into gold, an endless process of transmutation in which old negative beliefs and injuries are plundered for whatever small treasure they may hold. I see no other way.
Thank you for sharing this. I think everyone in a creative endeavor has been “called out” at one time or another. What defines us is not the thing that happened or the calling out — but what happens next.
Thank you for sharing this vulnerable story. I acted in Middle School and High School and wanted to study acting in NYC. I never made it that far. I think I was afraid of "not being good enough", even though I got much praise from my teachers so I settled for something safe. I sometimes regret "what could have been" but I think I would have been eaten alive in the professional acting world. I believe writing is my true calling but I remember being discouraged whenever I would enter a writing contest in my younger years and my work not getting "chosen" or acknowledged.
Thanks for reading and sharing your own experiences, Doreen. The fear of not being good enough so often comes with the territory of daring to create. Developing resilience and a thick skin takes time. And of course, those things are important if we're to grow at our craft. How wonderful that you're called to write. What are you working on these days? Are you going to weave your stories into a memoir? I'd love to know.
Yes, the resilience part is hard, in the past if I hit a bump in the road it would set me back for months or years. I've been writing since I was kid but for the last ten years I have been working on a memoir. I'm currently revising a 5th draft after developmental edits. I started Substack as a fun way to write other stories besides the memoir and connecting with other writers and creative folks.
There have so many famous people in my life I wanted to be like them, including the global famous players of football(soccer) Diego Maradona, or Actor Sylvester Stallone. It was a kind of childhood dreams.
Children are natural dreamers. It's great that you can connect with that part of yourself. Many adults forget. Thanks for sharing, Raed.
🙏
Thank you, Robin. Every chapter offers us gifts. Sometimes it takes a while to fully recognize and receive them. I'm grateful to you for sharing your experiences.
Beautiful, Robin. So much to reflect on in your post (and again, we seem to share so much more than a name). I was also an actor through college and beyond. I didn't recognize my calling as a writer (although I have always written and had already published a suspense novel) until, playing in a community theatre production of Noel Coward's "Hay Fever", I realized that there was so much more power in crafting the story than in reinterpreting it. No matter how much I loved Coward and his rapier wit, I couldn't help but feel that, playing Myra Arundel I was an imposter, living someone else's creation.
I love how you've reframed this story as you've gained new insights and interpretations of the dynamics of that interaction with the actress you admired. I try to live by the words I often share with others in workshops, and journaling and storytelling programs, "Change your story, change your life."
Thank you for reminding us of how we can evolve and change in ways that allow us to see more of the story and, in the process, to forgive ourselves.
So uplifting. Thank you, Robin. For me, living my life to the fullest demands that I spin straw into gold, an endless process of transmutation in which old negative beliefs and injuries are plundered for whatever small treasure they may hold. I see no other way.
I love how you view and embrace this process. Alchemy. Thank you, Hugh.
Thank you for sharing this. I think everyone in a creative endeavor has been “called out” at one time or another. What defines us is not the thing that happened or the calling out — but what happens next.
Thank you, David.
Thank you for sharing this vulnerable story. I acted in Middle School and High School and wanted to study acting in NYC. I never made it that far. I think I was afraid of "not being good enough", even though I got much praise from my teachers so I settled for something safe. I sometimes regret "what could have been" but I think I would have been eaten alive in the professional acting world. I believe writing is my true calling but I remember being discouraged whenever I would enter a writing contest in my younger years and my work not getting "chosen" or acknowledged.
Thanks for reading and sharing your own experiences, Doreen. The fear of not being good enough so often comes with the territory of daring to create. Developing resilience and a thick skin takes time. And of course, those things are important if we're to grow at our craft. How wonderful that you're called to write. What are you working on these days? Are you going to weave your stories into a memoir? I'd love to know.
Yes, the resilience part is hard, in the past if I hit a bump in the road it would set me back for months or years. I've been writing since I was kid but for the last ten years I have been working on a memoir. I'm currently revising a 5th draft after developmental edits. I started Substack as a fun way to write other stories besides the memoir and connecting with other writers and creative folks.
There have so many famous people in my life I wanted to be like them, including the global famous players of football(soccer) Diego Maradona, or Actor Sylvester Stallone. It was a kind of childhood dreams.