Hey –
If you haven't seen, Wicked, you're missing out.
Long before I wrote a novel, or even had an idea for a book, I was a theater kid. A singing-at-church-trying-community-theater kid. I loved to perform. I loved singing.
I even started in a community theater version of The Wizard of Oz in high school. This was probably around the time that I was starting to focus more and more on writing, having never made it in theater beyond side roles, but I didn't realize it at the time.
Even then, in high school, I was in love with Wicked. I think this production was in 2009 and I saw Wicked in 2010, I think. I even tried to convince the director that I should be the under study for the Wicked Witch of the West.
Tried being the important word there. I did not succeed.
But that's okay. A year and a half later, in high school, I was part of a theatre class that ended the semester with a night of original monologues. My monologue was about my dream of making it to Broadway and getting to perform "Defying Gravity" live.
Dreams change, and that's okay. Hold onto the dreams and they'll still hold onto you.
I've haven't sung in public since 2016, for a variety of reasons, but mostly changes in my faith. My singing these days is limited to the car and occasionally the office, but seeing Wicked Part One last week spoke to a part of me that is still in the past.
I don't dream of performing live anymore, and that's okay. In fact, more often than not, I prefer to be left to my own devices, working quietly in private until I'm ready to show what I have. That's why I've been so dodgy about detailsa bout Project Whisper.
But even if my dream is not to perform anymore, seeing Wicked, a musical that means so much to me, ending with "Defying Gravity" and bawling my face off for at least half the movie.... I don't want to say it was healing, I don't think the performing goal I no longer have needs to be healed, but it was a woinderful acknowledgement to the Laura and even the Laura I am now.
I'm not a performer anymore, but Wicked is a story. A story that's had an impact on me since I was a teenager (I even read the book as a teenager, I do not recommend doing that).
And I think bottling up how much that musical means to me really describes what I want to do as an author, as a writer. As a society, we tend to stick our nose up at "entertainment" as being less than academia, and maybe it is, but entertainment is so much a part of our lives. You turn the TV on every day, you listen to audiobooks or podcasts, you go a sports game. Entertainment is such a big part of our lives and I hope with my books, I leave a little handprint on your heart.
Also, go see Wicked.
Even if you've never seen the musical, think of it as a prequel to The Wizard of Oz, and you'll get the gist of it.
I'll be off trying to finish this draft of Project Whisper by the end of the month (aka, Saturday) and singing "Defying Gravity" at the top of my lungs.
Laura
