I'm heading out the door shortly with my younger boy to:

1] Visit the San Antonio College's drama building to check the place out prior to his upcoming drama camp. I participated in a few camps and programs that took place on college campuses and would have appreciated a bit of familiarity about where I would be going.

2] Finding free wifi locations in the area of SAC because I'll be driving him there and back each day and it will make more sense for me to work in the vicinity of the college -- at least for some of the days.

3] Heading to the downtown branch of the San Antonio Library. We are looking for monologues for his rehearsal on the first day of camp. When I originally looked into "Free Monologue Adolescent Male," I came up with nearly nothing. I don't think he's ready to spit out even a quick minute of Shakespeare and everything else seems to be locked away in books or must be purchased per performace. New territory for me.

Even if I find a great one tonight, this brings me to a cool solution. I decided yesterday that I'd write him a 1-minute monologue myself.

I'd never done it before, so I wasn't sure where to start. That never being much of a problem for me -- at least in the sense of writers block -- I plunged in, figuring I could read the dos and don'ts later. I'd love to show what I came up with, but I'm adverse to showing first drafts of anything I do lest it be founds via a search and mistaken for my finished work. Not a great association.

Anyway, the first run was successful to a point, as much as can be expected of a first draft, maybe better. I showed it to my critique group and they offered great advice, though none of them has much (or any?) first-hand experience with screenplays or monologues. 

I'm looking forward to tweaking this in time for my boy to practice it for the camp audition. Doing so will also provide me a welcome break from my Wady/Appalachian story. I haven't lost steam or passion but a tiny bit of distance usually pays good dividends.