Returning to Your Dream Career

Earlier this week, I submitted a play to an organization. Getting support to develop a play can be similar to applying for a job.

• The company wants to see evidence of your work (often sent as a writing sample).
• They ask where your work has been produced or workshopped. And a list of any awards you have received. So, similar to a resume.

If you apply through a contest, it's judged blindly, so you don't need to share this. They don't want to know who you are; they let the work stand for itself.

The thing I applied to cares about knowing who you are.

While I have a new play in progress, I haven’t had a play read aloud since 2015. Or a production since 2006.

My bio from a speaking engagement in 2007 is stronger than what I can say about my work now. (It uses my maiden name, Armstrong).

“Armstrong was recently a finalist for Theatre B.C.'s National playwriting contest.?Her play will be part of a workshop in Kamloops this April.

She has had readings at the Prairie Theatre Exchange’s Carol Shields Festival of New Work, Winnipeg Writer’s Festival and Theatre Projects Manitoba. Her play,?The Apple Seed Girl,?was produced by Sarasvati Productions as part of FemFest 2005.?She is also producing a play for the Winnipeg Fringe Festival this year.

The recipient of an Emerging Playwrights grant from the Manitoba Arts Council, Armstrong was also commissioned to write a play for Westwood Collegiate.”

When I saw that I needed to share my playwriting history for this application, I thought, “You're not going to get this. This isn’t your area of specialty anymore. You dropped this. Your work in this sector isn’t relevant.”

Except it is.

Yes, it’s dusty.

Yes, people don’t associate my name with playwriting.

Yes, I am beginning again.

But that doesn’t mean I’m not a playwright. It means playwriting hasn’t been my main focus for many years.

With this, I had two choices:

1. Continue not to make playwriting a priority. I could drop the dream out of embarrassment.
2. I could give it a go.

I gave it a go.

What allowed me to give it a go

Many people give up doing the work of their dreams. It’s hard. It takes effort. And the reward is far-off. It's not unlike starting an exercise or mindfulness program. It takes effort and consistency to get to feel/see the reward.

This wasn’t the first time my playwriting dream had returned to me. It has returned to me every few months for over 15 years. I have started several plays, thought about submitting work to be workshopped, and then dropped it.

Sometimes to focus on the business.

Most often because it meant being uncomfortable.

This time was different because of my community, strong practices, and I’ve been getting out there.

If you're thinking about how to return to an old career dream, you might find these things helpful.

1.?Community

The play I am working on started as a non-fiction piece a few years ago. I wrote it with the support of?Darrel McLeod?in?Sarah Selecky’s Story Intensive. In that class, the other students were excited about this story too. Darrel encouraged me to submit it for publication.

I took other writing classes, including one with?Alex Marzano-Lesnevich. I shared a part of this story in a group cohort in that class, and I got positive feedback again.

I have a writing group. We meet once a month for 1.5 hours. We each share a few pages of new writing and discuss it. I shared this story with my writing group about a year ago, and they also urged me to submit it to non-fiction contests. It has been in my head for a while.

About two months ago, I had an image from the story pop into my head, except it was on a stage, and I thought. “It’s a play!” I told my writer’s group about it, and they were so excited I felt supported.

When I told them I sent a draft off yesterday, they sent me these notes:

I also showed my husband the first draft and said, “Tell me if this is too embarrassing to submit.”

He said it was good. (You should know he is highly critical of my writing. Rarely does he not tear my stories apart). I love him for this. It meant a lot that he thought it was good. I could trust his taste.

    I know you can feel a strong urge to hole up and do things alone 
      until you have something good to show. Release that urge.         

Community, especially learning with the community, is an easier entry point. You get feedback, friendship, and the motivation to create again.

Also, on this application, they asked what recent training I had done, and I could reference all of the above classes and my writing group. I don’t have a recent production, but I have been studying and working on the craft.

For you: If you still need to converse with people who work or want to work in your target area, find those people. Take courses, start a group if you need to, get more people behind your dream as you support their growth too.

2. Strong Practices

My meditation, exercise, chanting, and movement practices are strong. They support and help me, especially when things get uncomfortable and hard.

I know there is an idea that meditation practices are there to soothe and relax you. That is fine at first. But meditation can help you understand yourself and improve your performance once they relieve you.

Athletes will use mindfulness techniques to focus on their goals and performance. Christian Straka, who studied UM with me, trains athletes to compete at their highest level through his?Mindsize program?using the same mindfulness techniques I teach.

When writing got hard, I used to let the project drop. But, now I have techniques that help me deal with the discomfort, self-doubt, distractions, performance anxiety, and stress when I write.

Instead of dropping the work, I work with resistance — befriending it and seeing it for what it is. Yesterday when doubt showed up, I could see where I felt that doubt and what thoughts it was bringing up for me. I didn’t judge them. I felt them, and then I kept going.?A strong practice can support big dreams.

I’ve also been doing a 20-minute dance every morning since January 16th. (I just led a workshop on it a day ago, and the participants were blown away by the impact it had). Seriously, try it. Here is a free video training that Arawana Hayashi made:

When you’re out of touch with your physical body, reaching that trusting intuitive space within us is harder. The dance has helped me trust myself and my body again. This changes the way I treat and carry myself.

It’s also artful. Every morning I move using my body’s intuition. I no longer say, “I live like an artist.” I say, “I am an artist.”

My morning routine that you never asked for

If you’re interested, my morning routine is that I wake up and set up my tea. I use this kettle:

I add loose tea and water to the kettle and leave it. Then I roll out a yoga mat in my dining room and set a timer for 20 minutes with an interval bell at the 10-minute mark. I start the dance. At 10 minutes, I take a breath to acknowledge the halfway mark, go to the kitchen to turn on the stove and then return to the mat to finish the dance. It takes 10 minutes for my tea to boil.

My husband is often in the next room, so no bother.

I then take the kettle and mug to the living room. My journal prompt right now is “I am already….”

I complete the end of the line. “I am already wise. I am already successful. I am already…” for a full page. By then, my tea is cool enough to drink.

I have another more rigorous practice in the evening, but I’ll leave that for another day.

For you: Ask yourself:?“What practices am I doing to support the life I want?”

3. Getting out there

The last thing that has helped and is new to me is that I am getting out there more. For years, I stopped going to see live theatre. I was reading new plays but not physically engaging in the local theatre scene.

Over the pandemic, I loved that many theatres and playwriting groups started to have live streams & readings. I attended these. But I was still removed. Starting just this year, I recommitted to attending live shows, ideally two a month. It does three things:

1. I get to support the local theatre scene
2. I get to be inspired by work and study the craft, especially how transitions work
3. I get to reconnect with theatre people

I’ve seen plays that bored me, some that inspired me, and some I wish I had written. It was during a contemporary dance show (that moved my daughter to tears) that I imagined the staging for a part of my play.

   Taking action to show up in the spaces you want to play sends a message 
         to the universe to create openings for you and your work.         

The place I submitted a play to was not a local place. That doesn’t matter. The energy of getting out there makes a difference. If you want to work in a sector, go play in that sector before they pay you.

I’m lucky because theatre is accessible if you have a tad of disposable income and transportation. Theatres want people to go there.

Only some sectors are like this.

If yours isn’t, you might need to take classes or go to conferences until you’re recognized in the sector. It might be finding out who is talking about your topic on Twitter and joining those conversations.

Dreams don’t die

The biggest career truth I know is that the thing you dream about never goes away.

The biggest career decision is to decide if you’re the kind of person who takes action on that or not. Will you?