Home at last (but full on all the wandering)

I am back in LA from abroad. I expected sun. And though it is a dreary gray in Los Angeles, I am glad to be home.

A summary of my trip would go like this: I stuffed myself with theatre, art, food and friends. But of course that’s not the whole story. All this wandering is full of fun but it is also steeped with work. I am filling the creative bank. I connecting with fellow creative souls. I am diving deep into history for my work in progress book.

I left Copenhagen and went to Bolton, UK to the city archives and to the Imperial War Museum in London on the trail of my WWI solider. It is fascinating to do research of this kind. In Bolton, I looked at the daily paper from the day the Archduke was shot to the day that Pvt. Matthews joined up in Kitchner’s Army. At the Imperial War Museum, in an attempt to get info on the Loyal North Lancashire 9th Battalion, I got the letters home and the memoir of a guy in the Lancashire Fusiliers. And even though he joined the war after the Somme, I felt so privileged to be able to read his letters and papers, so I poured over every word to honor him. It was helpful in the end, in terms of giving me good little bits of color that I can use in my book.

Whenever I go to London, I see a lot of plays. One of the highlights this time was THE SECOND WOMAN at the Young Vic. Ruth Wilson played the same seven minute scene for 24 hours with 100 different men. Most of whom weren’t actors. My friend Nora and I stood in the queue for nearly 6 hours until we got in and then we watched the show on repeat from 4:30 am until 10:30 am. It was incredible. It was a tour de force. It is something I will be thinking about for a long time. Those kind of incredible art games that play with story and meaning and human interaction. The gradations of intent, love, cruelty were all there in different volumes. It was thrilling. I was exhausted and had trouble pulling myself away. But a jet lagged gal has to sleep.

Another play that I really loved was OPERATION MINCEMEAT. Probably because of the gorgeous WWI song in it. But also because it was fresh and fun and you should go see it. Another must see, if you get the chance, is GUYS AND DOLLS at the Bridge, go see it and get yourself a pit ticket. It’s pure joy. I am so proud of my pal Lily, who was the Assistant Director on it.

I love London so much. And ten days was too short. I can’t wait to go back.

Then I Eurostar-ed it to Amsterdam to meet up with my parents, who were finally on the way to do their big Norway trip that got kiboshed in 2020. My mom was meeting up with her childhood best friend. They’ve been besties for like 70+ years and watching them talk with each other and catch up was a really beautiful thing to watch. I am so grateful for the sister friends in my life.

I’d never been to Amsterdam. I’m lucky enough to have a pal who lives on a houseboat there and he picked me up in his little boat and rode me around on the canals. What I loved about Amsterdam was the quiet in the center of the city due to the lack of cars. I could feel my whole body relaxing into the silence.

I ended in Paris. There were three exhibits that I wanted to see and I hit them all in a day, which was exhausting but also amazing. If you can catch them, get to Paris and do it. They were the Sarah Bernhardt exhibit at the Petit Palais, Manet/Degas at Musee d’Orsay and The Hair exhibit (all about hair) at Musee des Arts Decoratifs. I found my doppelgänger there in a painting. This lady. I mean, seriously. To me it was like looking in the mirror. And, let’s face it, I could totally rock that hair and that décolletage.

My food adventures continued. I am loving the Michelin guide app. So if you’re headed anywhere over there, may I suggest OSMA in Prestwich (Near Bolton, outside of Manchester) Noci in London (in Islington) and Les Canailles Pigalle in Paris.

But now I’m home. As soon as I landed I went to see pal Rufus Wainwright play a show supporting his new album Folkocracy. You should get it. And then it was straight to Palm Desert to give a lecture on world building the MFA students there. I deconstructed how I built/birthed the unique worlds for TIN STAR and SHIFTING EARTH. And as I talked about worlds, I felt lucky to have just dusted my boots off visiting a bit of ours. Everything is inspiring.

Despite all that fabulousness, let’s keep it real! I also recently got a grant rejection, a short story rejection and am in limbo on something else. Art life is so much a clutching of things close with joy, and a despair at how things are just totally falling apart. I try to remember that it is all a process. Do you feel like that, too?

Now I’m going back into the writing cave. I’m halfway through a revision on my newest creator owned graphic novel. Stay tuned for that.

Hope you are creating something great in your cave. I hope that you saw something when you left your house that inspired you.

Cecil x

Reminder that if you want to get TIN STAR or other little things that I’d have at a table at a comic con, or you know, just want to buy me a coffee, I’ve got a virtual shop over at Ko-fi.