Wildacres Day 12

Wildacres Day 12

Thursday, July 11, 2013, was yet another wonderful day. In the morning I had the workshop class with Jessica Handler, and we reviewed two more pieces. The conversation was frank, open and extremely productive. Again, I learned the importance of the balance between scenes where there is action and narration. There also needs to be a balance between the personal and the general.

After lunch I went into town to get an internet signal at the Little Switzerland café and upload the last few blog posts. When I returned, I took a nice hike with Victoria, a writer from the hills of North Georgia who now lives in Atlanta. Although very different in almost every apparent way, we discovered many things in common.

After dinner, there was a wild theme party. People were encouraged to wear costumes, although most of us newbies had nothing. I wore my cowboy hat and a red rubber nose. Several of the regulars put on a show that was amazingly good. Janna did a parody of Tammy Wynette singing, “Stand By Your Man(uscript)” that was hilarious. Melissa, who is in my workshop class and is obviously pregnant, dressed up as Snow White. She entered carrying a sign that read “The dwarves have some explaining to do” with an arrow pointing to her baby bump. That brought down the house. Four men who are all excellent singers wore 1960’s style black suits and white shirts and did a medley of Beatles songs, beginning—appropriately enough—with “Rain.” They also did “Paperback Writer” and “A Hard Day’s Night.” They inserted lines to refer to Wildacres, and they sang very well. One of the guys did a Paul McCartney imitation, and when he shook is mop-top wig, all the girls screamed. It was hilarious. The party went on until after midnight.

The magic of Wildacres is that all the writers are given opportunities to express their creativity in new and different ways, including skits, songs, jokes and dancing—as well as writing, which everyone here takes very seriously.

Will and I spent some time sitting on the porch and watching the clouds over the mountains. It was beautiful.