in medias res

A sweet thing, perspective - a chance to see your enemies so small.
- Stanislaw Jerzy Lec

The past two months have been quite the whirlwind.

As many of you already know, I resigned my position as writer and editor at Elements magazine back at the end of October. After three fantastic years working there, I felt it was time to move on, specifically to focus all my efforts on my own writing, launching VM, finishing graduate school, and pursuing my acting. I'm happy to report that since then, I have been doing just that.

We've diligently been working on getting everything ready for VM's launch, I'm resuming my graduate studies in the spring, I've been taking acting classes for the past two months and performing in a theatre production, and I've been continuing my freelance writing. I've also picked up another project - co-authoring a medical nutrition book with an autobiographical focus. I finished the chapter outline and synopsis this past weekend. Now a book such as this presents a few challenges. The first is that it's about medical nutrition, and while I have experience with all the NAVEL Expo articles I've written, I am delving into a pretty complex field not my own. Second, it's autobiographical in part, and the life story we're following is not my own, meaning that I have to figure out how to write in someone else's voice, telling his story, while also keeping my own voice and style as a writer. A fine line to walk, indeed.

And in the midst of all this craziness, my website and blog are being redesigned, by the talented guys at digitalsoul designs. When all is finalized, two shall become one, and I will be a blog and a website closer to becoming greater than Neil Gaiman.

Now if I could only be wittier...

a christmas carol

I write plays because dialogue is the most respectable way of contradicting myself.
- Tom Stoppard

For the past several months I have been working with St. George Productions on a staged, classic radio rendition of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, part of the company's Dickens Festival. Last month we did two performances in eastern Long Island at the Smithtown Historical Society, and just this past weekend we performed at Georgian Court University in Lakewood, NJ...only this time we did 18 shows, give or take a couple.

It was an absolute blast. We arrived Friday night and got situated in our home for the weekend - George Jay Gould and family's country estate mansion (their second residence), built in 1896. Beautifully preserved by the Sisters of Mercy, who inherited the estate after George Gould's death, it was like stepping back in time for a few nights. And for someone who has covered some of Long Island's historic estates and coordinated fashion shoots in several others, it was a real pleasure for me to see a remnant of the Gilded Age preserved so wonderfully. Plus, we got to stay in it, and I don't think I'll be saying that anytime soon about the Phipps mansion at Old Westbury Gardens. Not that I wouldn't want to, just that it might be illegal.

Here are some pictures from the weekend -

impromptu book corner

Never let inexperience get in the way of ambition.
- Terry Josephson

I think it's safe to say that I watch more movies then read books, but it's not because I'm a slacker, it's just that I'm passionate about both, and when you spend so much time writing (or staring at a computer screen attempting to write), it's sometimes much easier to kick back and watch a movie then engross yourself in more words on a page.

But with everything that's going on, since the last Fablehaven book I read, I have managed to finish two others -

Good to Great, by Jim Collins

This book is a must, especially considering the economic times and what we're seeing happen to businesses, specifically the big ones, right now. The subtitle is telling: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...and Others Don't. It's essentially a book about business, but as with so many things that are timeless, it's really a piece of research literature that speaks about life and what separates mediocrity from excellence.

In answer to his bestseller before this one, Built to Last, Jim Collins and his research team embarked on a five-year mission to figure out what it takes for a so-so company to become amazing. For comparison purposes, they created a set of rigorous criteria, and after combing through an unbelievable amount of companies, they came up with only eleven that fit the Good to Great model. The resulting findings delineated in the book are just fantastic. From leadership to discipline to attitude, through studies, interviews, and anecdotes, Collins finds that what it takes to become excellent isn't all that difficult, but it's the rigor with which these components were applied that launched these eleven companies to greatness. And surprise, surprise, what companies continue to do -like lavishly waste money on bonuses and private jets, bringing in big celebrity CEOs to reinvigorate the company, making a lot of noise about new initiatives and launches, diversifying too much without becoming excellent at anything - is the exact opposite of what needs to be done. It's all about consistently pushing the flywheel, letting results speak for themselves, and maintaining a certain level of humility through it all.

The book is a must. Every time you hear about these businesses that are asking for money, falling behind, giving excuse after excuse for shortcomings and mismanagement, you will think of Good to Great. I even want to know what Collins thinks about everything going on right now, especially considering that in the book he makes the crucial point that at no time can a company stop applying all the components of the Good to Great method. Do that, and the fall from greatness will be quick and the demise swift...unless you can get billions of dollars to help cling from the edge a little while longer.

The Four Agreements, by Don Miguel Ruiz

Okay, so this one didn't exactly come out yesterday, but to whoever picks it up for the first time, it's a breath of fresh air. Considering that the book's subtitle is A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom, A Toltec Wisdom Book, you might get the impression it's one of "those" books, the kind that you have to roll your eyes when you see someone reading, but it's completely not. Based on the knowledge and teachings of his Toltec ancestors, Don Miguel Ruiz presents the reader with four agreements to help live a better, more productive, fuller life. And it's nothing that we haven't heard before, necessarily, or that we shouldn't realize as true the moment we hear it verbalized. But in this book, so unbelievably simple in language and small in size (I read it in a few train rides to the city), it's all laid out so clearly. It leaves you thinking...of course it reads so easily because the lessons really are that simple. Try to apply the lessons, however, and that's when the complexities arise. The solution? Simplify, simplify, simplify your life. Don't hold on to grudges, to guilt, to regret, to anger. Give yourself more credit. Realize the potential you have to make everything okay. Live life today.

Ready for the agreements? Real simple:

1) Be impeccable with your word.
2) Don't take anything personally.
3) Don't make assumptions.
4) Always do your best.

So now that you know them, why read the book, right? Just trust me on this one. And when you're done reading it, you'll want to hold onto it, for when you need to be reminded again.

writer in need of a shove

I went for years not finishing anything. Because, of course, when you finish something you can be judged...I had poems which were re-written so many times I suspect it was just a way of avoiding sending them out.
- Erica Jong

This past weekend I finished a short story centered around a plot that came to me several months ago while watching a segment on the History Channel. Originally, I had envisioned it as the basis for a novel, but since it's been, well...several months and still nothing written on it, I thought I'd try out the idea in a short story. And since I haven't submitted something to the writing group in quite some time, and considering that I'm in the middle of a lull with my novel, this weekend seemed like the ideal time to sit down and write it. I even (knowing my own bad habits) alerted the group ahead of time of this soon-to-be submitted story, just to give me that extra push to get it done.

And so I got it done and submitted it early Sunday morning. The critique later that evening was to be expected of a first draft written with little time for editing. It was definitely constructive and pointed out some excellent instances of how an author can get caught up in a story to the point where he or she forgets to let the reader in on all the facts and details important to the plot. It opened up my eyes a little bit more, and while it wasn't a hit, I was relieved to be getting critique at all because it meant I was writing again. Let's keep it up.

Now back to that novel...

back in class

Writing is the hardest way of earning a living, with the possible exception of wrestling alligators.
- Olin Miller

Last night I was invited to speak at a Writers Round-Up panel discussion for a graduate journalism class at my alma mater, New York Institute of Technology. I remember attending such panels when I was an undergraduate (already more than three years now), which were then, as they are now, organized by the faculty adviser of the campus newspaper, John Hanc. So when he asked me a few months ago if I would be one of the guest speakers, a representative of NYIT alumni who have gone on to somewhat lucrative writing careers, I was quite honored.

Speaking about my career thus far as a writer was kind of strange, even more than how it felt to write a bio about myself to give out to the students. There was a lot of, I did that? I do that? I'm planning to do that, too? I actually ran the bio past a few people to make sure that I hadn't made anything up in my sleep. Not that I'm exactly touting Pulitzer Prizes left and right or Oscar nominations on the horizon, but still, even the small things sometimes make you ask, really? Especially when you're sitting at your computer and writing about yourself at 2 AM in your pajamas, with a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios, reminding yourself to re-tape the top right corner of the LOTR poster that's been in your room since forever...Yes, it can be hard to acknowledge your own accomplishments when you're with you every day.

But getting back to the main point, in speaking about what I did in college, what I've been up to since then, and what I'm working on right now, some life truths and words of advice that came up were ringing pretty hard in my own head. I spoke about taking chances, and doing what it is you love when it comes to writing, and working hard, writing often, acknowledging when you just don't have an answer, promising to always look for one, not being afraid of the blank page, expecting crap some of the time, attaining not-crap other times, and always striving for brilliance. Saying it out loud was a very loud reminder to follow my own advice.

Yes, I'm launching my own online magazine. Yes, it's kind of scary. Yes, there's a lot I'm still trying to figure out. Yes, money hasn't yet started to grow on that money tree out back. Yes, there's also the book and the graduate school and the acting and the tennis.

And yes, I'm passionate about all of it.

So now it's just a matter of getting over the fear of that blank page.

actorfest '08

Observe, don't imitate.
- John M. Ford

Today was Backstage's ActorFest NY at the Hammerstein Ballroom. It's a one-day event, a conference of sorts, where actors, singers, dancers, and performing artists, meet with acting teachers, headshot photographers, casting directors, agents, and a multitude of other industry professionals. In addition to meeting with exhibitors, there are a number of workshops and panel discussions you're given the option to attend.

Since I already have headshots and an acting studio (also one of the featured exhibitors), I was there more to learn about agents and casting directors. Probably the highlight of the day - I got to meet Jonathan Strauss, casting director for Law and Order: SVU. And I was not at all dorky about it, or even awkward, which is more than I can say for some others who were at the panel discussion and approached him afterward. Once again, the theory that no question is stupid was busted. Based on what I heard asked during the workshop, that statement couldn't be any further from the truth.

Second only to the casting director Q&A was the cool black Actorfest bag I got out of the whole deal. That's a reusable keeper.

I'm glad I went. It reaffirmed certain things I already knew about the industry and alerted me to some new ones. The casting directors we heard speak also emphasized the importance of - obviously - honing your craft, whether you're in a production at the moment or not. So classes, private teaching, individual work - they can tell when you get up there to audition whether you've done your homework or not. Right now I'm taking Master Classes at PTS, which builds on the work I was doing in the on-camera classes. A couple of months of this, more work on my monologues, and getting into the habit of submitting myself for auditions, and then I'll be ready to start submitting to agents and casting directors.

Yeah, luck plays a part in all of it, but it's just the start.

After all, luck favors the prepared, right?

me again...

Motivation is when your dreams put on work clothes.
- Benjamin Franklin

Check me out at this month's past NAVEL Expo, brought to you by Alex Lubarsky and the Health Media Group...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwuktPlIOaM

And me with no audio...

http://www.skheadshots.com