Ready for the Quest
NOTES // Chapter Two
00:36 // "You could be anywhere in the world right now..."
That, of course, is a reference to Jay-Z's H.O.V.A. intro.
1:38 // "Ready to reject mediocrity..."
More lines from The Absurdity of Writing Poetry, that one-person performance I did many years ago.
- "Reject mediocrity" - Saul Williams Coded Language
- "Light up the cave" - This is in a list of "reasons to write" that Margaret Atwood compiled in her book Negotiating with the Dead. Of all the non-instructional books about writing that I've read this is the one that feels most like my experience of things. She compiled the list from what other writers said and wrote. She passed it on to me and I'm passing it on to you. That's how art is supposed to work.
- "Live the life of your imagination" - There's an essay in the first book about Anne Bogart (produced for Actors Theatre of Louisville's 10th Annual Classics in Context Festival) in which Ellen Lauren said that Anne helps artists to "live the life of the imagination." That's beautiful. It's in the Available Light Theatre mission statement, too.
2:26 // "We need you to come alive..."
Do you know that old Howard Thurman quotation? It's one of my favorites.
Don’t ask what the world needs.
Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it.
Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.
5:21 // "What is Resistance...?"
Steven Pressfield wrote the book on Resistance – The War of Art. It's another one of those books that I'm always recommending or giving away. It's hard to imagine what I would be like it I hadn't read it. I've devoted my life to defeating Resistance and helping others do the same.
I will be quoting from The War of Art all over this chapter, so I'm not going to drop in a note every time it happens. You don't need that.
Pressfield has a few other great books that continue with this topic. He puts a new one out every few years. I particularly like Do The Work and The Artist’s Journey.
7:54 // "There is a secret..."
That is the incomparable Acacia Duncan, my wonderful wife, reading from a section near the beginning of The War of Art.
13:34 // "Look for books about writing books..."
My favorite writing book is Wild Mind by Natalie Goldberg. I regret that I didn’t mention it in the recording. Writing Down the Bones is her far more famous book, but Wild Mind is the one that I love. I was introduced to it in a creative writing class at Miami University.
13:44 // "Most of the titles you'll see are more like..."
Those writing books I mentioned:
- Write a Book in 2 Hours
- Write Your Book on the Side While You Have a Full Time Job
- Writing the Damn Book: How to Start, Write, and Publish a Non-Fiction Book for Creative People Who Have a Hard Time Finishing Things
14:18 // "How to stop cheating..."
15:49 // "When you hear that mean voice in your head..."
That is Lonelle Yoder as the Voice of Resistance. You'll be hearing from her a number of times throughout this audiobook.
16:09 // "I don't feel like it..."
That's Brant Jones, playing the role of, well – every single one of us – trying to negotiate with Resistance.
20:17 // "Suck it up! Put your head down..."
That's John Dranschak, my most long-tenured friend, playing the role of a hard-ass drill sergeant of the "F your feelings" type.
21:12 // "That is where Positive Psychology comes in..."
What is Positive Psychology? With apologies, I will refer to you, again, my own website: https://dontwa.it/pops.
21:10 // "I went through this process of study and certification..."
I studied Positive Psychology with The Flourishing Center of New York City. It was a 9-month online course. We met during the day with a group of students from 10 different countries, all over the world. The course started in 2019 and stretched into 2020, so it was a very interesting time to have classmates from all over the world. It was an incredible experience.
This is one of my instructors, Sid, who speaks I-don't-know-how-many languages.
The course was created by Emiliya Zhivotovskaya (who was also my instructor for my incredible coach training) who you can find at Emiliya dot com.
25:55 // 🎵 music
There are about 37 variations on this little transitional music, throughout the audiobook. I got the idea for it while hearing the battle-ending music cues in Sea of Stars, a 2023 game from Sabotage Studio, music by Eric W. Brown.
27:00 // "You're not where you want to be yet...
Yes. So far. You're going to hear a lot of that. I'll explain in detail in a future chapter.
Emiliya talked about "Wanting What You Want to Want," when you don't yet want to do something that you want to have done. In those cases, she suggests, ask yourself, "What would make me want this more?"
27:27 // "It's okay if this is too soon for you..."
"Too soon for you” and “on fire for the answers” are quotations from a poem, “The Information Man,” by Buddy Wakefield, on the 2009 CD “Live at the Typer Cannon Grand.”
27:43 // "A little bit of something is better than a whole lot of nothing."
I've heard this phrase about a million times from the pro wrestler Diamond Dallas Page while doing my DDPYoga.
DDP has attained near-sainthood by saving a number of beloved, aging wrestlers from addiction and infirmity. There's a movie about it, and I've also met those guys in person and seen them up close, before and after. Thank goodness for DDP.
He also saved me from my ailing back. During the years when AVLT was creating 8-10 shows a year, I was having a really good time, but I was paying utterly no attention to my physical being. I didn't really notice how it was taking a toll on me until the day I was bent over, drilling a screw into a set piece, and my back was suddenly in extraordinary pain.
If you ask me about it in person, I'll tell you the whole story. Suffice to say, Sean Lewis had to practically carry me home, and the next morning was my first visit to a chiropractor. That was the beginning of an ongoing odyssey to prevent my back from preventing me from doing my work. Anyway...
One of the very first steps on that path was starting DDPYoga. I'd read about the wonders it had done for people who'd been through much more harrowing physical strife than me, so I figured it was worth a try. I felt silly at first, but DDP is one heck of a cheerleader, and in no time I was devoted to the practice. And that interest in taking care of myself led to a whole lot of other good things.
That sentence, "A little bit of something is better than a whole lot of nothing," was the title of a 1973 Robert Parker release on Island Records. I don't know for sure that's where DDP got it, but it does seem like his era & style.
28:13 // "There are only three things…"
That’s Eleni Papaleonardos, Artistic Director of Available Light, reading the work of Kalle Lasn.
Lasn co-founded Adbusters magazine and is somewhat responsible for Occupy Wall Street. This quotation comes from his 1999 book, Culture Jam.
It's a book that rearranged some of my brain, especially since I was also reading Naomi Klein, Howard Zinn, Susan Faludi, and a lot of David Foster Wallace – all while listening to Gil Scott-Heron.
30:12 // "Laziness, impatience, and distraction..."
There’s Mark Snyder as Anne Bogart, reading from A Director Prepares (the chapter on Resistance.)
This one must have slipped out of print, it’s way too expensive and not widely available. Might I suggest a local library?
Mark, by the way, is one half of the incredible team behind Madonna's favorite podcast →
drexul
I can't believe I've waited this long to mention Anne Bogart!
Anne is the artist whose work has had the most influence on my work. She is also an extremely kind and thoughtful person, and so she's influenced much more than just my work.
I was very fortunate to be in the right places at the right times to end up seeing a whole of lot of SITI Co. performances (17 different productions, a total of 42 performances.) And I was also fortunate enough to get myself invited to watch them rehearse a number of times, as well. I took workshops with them, they visiting my undergrad, Anne sent me advice via email a few times – as I've said, I was very, very lucky.
It was Anne who gave me the kick in the ass that led me to found BlueForms Theatre Group and later Available Light Theatre.
There's not enough gratitude in the world for me thank Anne & the SITI Co. enough for their profound improvement of my life.
33:29 // "The hardest parts of writing are like..."
Ta-Nehisi Coates was born four days after me. I don't know what that has to do with anything, but I do love his writing. Between the World and Me is on the list, heck yes. That book will wake you up.
I also like how he talks about process, which I've heard him do in a bunch of interviews. The source of this quotation about "looking at the worst parts of yourself..." Man, I don’t remember where I heard that. I believe it was a magazine article with a YouTube video on the webpage – I can picture it. But I have been trying and trying and failing to find it. If you know, please let me know.
34:27 // "It shows up in front of me on my computer, automatically..."
I use OmniFocus to make this happen.
Coach Matt Slaybaugh