Celebrate!

Quote of the Day:  quotes from Word Play

The quality of a person's life is in direct proportion to their commitment to excellence, regardless of their chosen field of endeavor.  Vince Lombardi

Don't mourn what you aren't - celebrate what you are! Maren Fisher

Learn from the past, live for today, look for tomorrow. Take a nap this afternoon. Igor Stravinsky (LOVE this one.)

Favorite Photos Friday:

Look at all those high achieving 6th graders!

Got a closer view of my guys.

Smile!

Those two goofballs are celebrating their birthday today (about a month late) with a big birthday bash here with one chocolate cake, chips & dip, pizza, and a bunch of friends. I'm celebrating that the sun is shining and the park is a short walk where they can play ball! And, they got up early to pick up in the basement. "All we need is for you to vacuum, Mom." Gladly.

We're celebrating the end of a school year, and end of high school for Bobby, the end of routine, and the start of summer, new adventures, and the freedoms of fewer scheduled activities.

I'm even celebrating a recent rejection from a theatre company in Seattle. They said, "No thanks" to Coffee Shop Confessions, and I'm not sad. We have already had tons of success with it. Other coffee shops in the area are asking if we'll come perform there (our run is done, but who knows). You have to celebrate the No Thank Yous because that means you're putting your work out there. If you don't submit it and risk the rejection, you'll never hear the longed-for YES!

Go. Create. Inspire!

Journaling Prompt:  What are you celebrating today?

Connecting

Quote of the Day:  May our house always be too small to hold all our friends. Irish Blessing, found on The Tiny Buddha website. Check it out for many words of wisdom, excellent writing on thought-provoking topics. A dear person connected me to this newfound site.  This post is all about connections. Read on.

LAMAA stands for Lakes Area Memory Awareness Advocates. It's a group of health care professionals, caregivers, and concerned citizens whose goal is to connect people who are dealing with Alzheimer's Disease and dementia. We had a Forum last week. Click over to our LAMAA blog for highlights on Living Well with Alzheimer's. I played a bit of music for the opening, and after listening to Dr. Terry Barclay emphasize the need to keep people connected through the arts, felt empowered to continue on my path in the arts as a way of connecting people at all ages and stages.

I have neglected to link you to my latest article in Her Voice, a local publication to which I am a regular contributor, on foster families. I really enjoyed meeting these warm and welcoming people and writing their story. The Miles family in Staples, MN has taken in 22 foster kids over the years and adopted six of them. To read their story go to Her Voice online. My story starts on p. 32, and I encourage you to read more of the great articles in this magazine.

I introduced you to Charmaine Donovan during the A to Z blog challenge with her award-winning poem/book, Tumbled Dry. Here's the latest from her.

“Tumbled Dry” received the 2011 Northeastern Minnesota Book Award for Poetry last night in Duluth. Please let your readers know and if they are interested they can order my book through www.bookinitontheweb.com

Thanks for letting me be a guest blogger. Your readers are awesome and so are you!

Charmaine

You can learn more about Charmaine and her book success at Blue Cottage Agency. She was recently at a poetry conference where she had fun exchanging books with other poets.

Go. Create. Inspire!
and, stay connected.

Journaling Prompt:  What are some of the highlights in your life right now? Any fun summer plans?

Playwright Night to Remember

Quote of the Day:  Playwrights work in collaboration.  Their words to the director to the actors to the audience, and many people in between. - This is a paraphrase from Kathy Coudle-King, playwright and director, and my own sentiments.  That's what I love about theatre.  You're part of a creative team.

Mary Aalgaard with Kathy Coudle-King

Here we are celebrating after the readings during the She Speaks event in Grand Forks, ND, March 5, 2011.  They had some technical difficulties with the Skype attempt with Australia and Canada.  Some of it worked out fine, and it was cool to say "We're waiting on Toronto," but other times we had nothing or fuzz.  We're not quite to The Jetson's stage on that.  Also, I had technical difficulties with my dad's video camera.  Didn't push the right button, so no video.  However, I did receive the DVD of our table reading from two weeks ago. Thanks, Matt!

Michael Harvey, Wendy Swerdlow Pedersen, Mary, Nancy Swerdlow

These are the actors who read the cutting of Coffee Shop Confessions.  Mike read Sam. Wendy read Jewell. Nancy read Lolly, and Tori Remer read Micki, the teen girl, but like a teen girl, slipped off before we got a photo.

They did a fantastic job.  I laughed.  I cried.  I held my breath.  I felt my heart beating harder when Jewell walked on with the cell phone in her hand in a heated discussion with her husband.  It was a reading, not a production, but they did some wonderful acting with their eyes, expression, voices, character, and props - the cell phones.  They did get up and move during the mixed up cell phone bit.  Oh, they were wonderful.  Thank you fine actors for bringing my characters to life!!

They were also gracious in welcoming me to their stage, The Firehall Theatre in Grand Forks, ND.  The actors thanked me for sharing the script with them at the same time I was thanking them for lending their voices and talents to my words.

My first authors' panel (not the most flattering picture, but, eh, what can you do?).

We had a "talk-back" discussion with playwrights, audience, actors and directors afterwards.  It was a positive, enlightening experience.  All the readings were great.  Each quite different and unique.  I enjoyed seeing and hearing what the other playwrights had done.

My best writer-mama-pal, Roxane Salonen, drove up from Fargo to celebrate with me!

My Grand Forks writer friend and fan, Janet Speath, came to watch the readings.  Thanks for your support, Janet!  It was Janet who got me connected to this event.

My sister Nancy and her husband KC at the Bethany Church Dumpling Dinner.  They came to the show, but I missed getting their photo at the Firehall, so snapped them up here.  They were great supporters and full of comments and tips to make the show even better.

A tray of what we Midwesterners call "bars."

A sweet ending to a practically perfect weekend.  I have a few details to work out with my script if I want to use music.  It's tricky.  I'll need do my research, get permission, or better yet, find a composer and do original music.  Any takers out there?

Journaling Prompt:  What are the ingredients to a wonder weekend in your world?

"She Speaks" in Grand Forks

Quote of the Day:  I regard the theatre as the greatest of all art forms, the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be a human being. - Oscar Wilde

Here I sit at the coffee shop in downtown Brainered, MN, observing life, listening in, and participating.  A 10 page scene of my play Coffee Shop Confessions will be performed this Saturday in Grand Forks, ND.  The Brainerd Dispatch ran the article.  I'm now officially a playwright.  Here's the blurb:

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Baxter woman has play reading in N.D.

GRAND FORKS, N.D. — Mary Aalgaard, a writer living in Baxter, is one of the six women playwrights whose work will be read Saturday at the Fire Hall Theatre in Grand Forks, N.D.

The event “She Speaks — N.D.” is being jointly produced by the Greater Grand Forks Community Theatre and the International Center for Women Playwrights.

Aalgaard has been writing short plays with children and skits for various events for years. “Coffee Shop Confessions” is her first full-length play that will be read Saturday. She was inspired to write it because she spends much of her time hanging out in coffee shops. Aalgaard plans to have the full play performed at the Coco Moon in Brainerd later this spring.

The staged-readings are in celebration of International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month. Other writers whose work is included are Margaret Bail, Adonica Schultz Aune, Kathy Coudle-King, Charlotte Helgeson and Debbie Pfluhoeft-Hassett. Directors include Marie Strinden, Jared Fladeland, Carly Flaagan and Larissa Netterlund.
Tickets are $5 and go to the Women’s Fund of the Community Foundation of Grand Forks and East Grand Forks, as well as the International Center for Women Playwrights.
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Oh, yay, you'll need to tie a string to my foot because I'm soaring up in the clouds.  My best writer-mama-pal Roxane will be driving up from Fargo.  She's bringing the chocolate.  I have the wine.
Wine, chocolate, great friends, theatre, success = A VERY GREAT WEEKEND!

Go. Create. Inspire! And, have your own "up in the clouds" experience. 
(ooo, the view is quite remarkable from up here)

Journaling Prompt:  Describe an "up in the clouds" experience that you've had, or long to have.





















Read more: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/o/oscarwilde120291.html#ixzz1FY0fkKMm

Measuring Success

Quote of the Day:  The true artist declares himself by leaving out a lot.  The artist alone sees spirits.  But after he has told of their appearing to him, everybody sees them. Goethe

photo by Joey Halvorson

I have spent many hours in coffee shops talking, listening, eavesdropping, asking questions, visiting with the baristas, observing life.  The characters of my first play in three acts, Coffee Shop Confessions, were formed here.  Many of them are based on real people, but they are all fictional.  They have a past.  They have current concerns.  They have hopes and dreams, talents and conflicts.  These characters were conceived inside of me, talked to me, grew, and birthed from my head, the way Athena burst forth from the head of Zeus, fully armed and ready to lead her armies into battle.

I'll claim Athena as my muse today.  She is goddess of war, civilization, wisdom, strength, strategy, crafts, justice, and Greek Mythology.  Don't we need all those skills as we march onto the battlefield of our crafts?  We need the tools for success.  We need an army of supporters, a cloud of witnesses if you will, strategic planning, and a sense of justice in a satisfying ending.

I am measuring my success today.  I have a few finishing touches left in Act 3, then I'm ready to unveil my first full-length play.  I've scheduled a read-through with supportive and talented friends, and I've already gotten enthusiastic response from them.

Thank you!

Go. Create. Inspire!

Journaling Prompt:  Write about the success you feel right now in your craft and in your life.