First things first- my trip to NYC was one of those rare experiences that actually lived up to every possible expectation. My daughter and I had a fantastic time at Hamilton (we missed the famous speech to Pence by one day, if you were wondering) and we did, indeed, get our backstage tour, which was AMAZING. Chris, our helpful tour guide, is a dresser for the show. He took us onto the stage, showed us a bunch of the costumes, including Jefferson’s purple coat, and patiently told my daughter about how crazy it gets back there during outfit changes.
Most of the cast was hurrying off to grab dinner before the evening show but I did manage to get pictures of my daughter with the actors who play King George, Samuel Seabury, and Hamilton himself! For the Saturday matinee that was Rory O’Malley, Thayne Jasperson, and Michael Luwoye. The entire cast was phenomenal, truly amazing, and we were so honored to meet any of them, however briefly. As everyone had promised me, Hamilton is one of those things that you think, “Well it just can’t live up to the hype,” but it does. It really does.
We left the theater walking on air. My daughter who is almost six, kept squealing, “That was amazing! That actually happened!” as we wandered aimlessly around the city, unable to concentrate for long enough to figure out where we were going. I hope she remembers it fondly for the rest of her life.
It struck me as funny, too, that I can now say that my foray into writing has been a success. No, I don’t have an agent yet, nor am I published, but through my writing class I met the friend who generously hooked us up with the backstage tour of Hamilton, so this hobby is paying off already!
We also hit up a number of NYC sights during our visit for an all around great experience. Thank you, New York, for an unforgettable weekend.
In writing news, I’m starting to creep up towards the progress line on my NaNoWriMo word count goal, but I’m still under par. Not giving up yet, though, even as Thanksgiving travel looms.
My current book(s) explores themes about othering, discrimination, government overreach, and gender politics, in case you couldn’t guess from the descriptions I’ve provided on this site. So… current events are all rather relevant. This is no surprise, of course. Writers can’t help but be influenced by the world around us. I’ll admit I didn’t think that life would mirror my manuscript quite so painfully in some ways, but I’m doing my best to find inspiration in the current political climate, to shape the things that worry me into fodder for my writing.
Lemonade out of lemons, if you will, although it feels a bit more like making really gross tea out of dirty dishwater at the moment. (The topics in the book, not the actual writing, which I hope manages to be better than dishwater tea.)
Here’s hoping I can shape some stressful world events into a story with a hopeful ending. Or maybe my trilogy will end in tragedy. I guess we will all just have to wait and see.