I'm mostly working on organization for the Precious Bane reading

I'm mostly working on organization for the Precious Bane reading, which is a secretarial/scheduling/proofreading/PR work of the kind I dread most, calling up demons of dyslexia I thought I'd mostly banished from my life.

This is so unpleasant that it makes other drudgery attractive by contrast. Yesterday I alternated it with particularly yukky household chores, like tending the compost bin and scrubbing the shower stall. Today, when lightning knocked out our cable I couldn't email or post, I finally got around to editing the notes I took at the Dramatists Guild's 1st National Conference in DC June 9-12th.

Here's the first installment:

The first session I went to, 4 pm Thursday, was the National Songwriter/ Bookwriter Exchange, run by Roland Tec. To actively participate a member had to pre-register and send in a bio and work samples, which were distributed to the others in the group. Those of us who hadn't got our act together in advance were permitted to be there as observers as long as there were some left-over handouts from people who had signed up but didn't show up. There were some major travel snafus this particular day, which might account for there being enough for room us, the handful of observers. It was very interesting to see the variety of people at work and looking for collaborators. There was an undergraduate fresh from working with a hip hop ensemble, and several veterans with decades of production credits. In the material they provided for the handouts they talked about their ideal collaborative conditions and the makeshift conditions under which they had managed to survive. People went around the room, putting their faces to the names in the handout and saying a few words about themselves. After the go-round, there was a period where people could mingle and make connections with potential collaborators whose handouts sounded compatible. This is a good event, as is the similar event NOMTI sponsors in Boston. I'm delighted with my present composer, but still eager to hear about other combos' projects and processes. I'd eagerly attend another. Good start!