by Tami Kamin Meyer | Mar 3, 2022 | Blog, Write Now Columbus Essay Archives
March Madness
by Tami Kamin Meyer, Editor
I would be remiss if I didn’t begin this message with a note of love and deep concern for the people of Ukraine, Europe, and frankly, the world. Just when it started to feel like the most burdensome aspects of COVID19 might finally be lessening, even just a bit, our world has been rocked by a virus of hatred, violence and greed.
Both Nita and I hope for a peaceful, speedy resolution not only to the horrific situation in Ukraine, but to all conflicts worldwide. Yes, a lofty goal for one short month, but who would have thought we’d be where we are now just one month ago?
A few words about WORD
And now…an exciting announcement to hopefully lighten the mood. In a recent essay, I shared my excitement at being named the Producer of WORD – Live Literature & True Tales, at the Nest Theatre in Columbus, Ohio. WORD seeks and supports local stories, and has been a recurring show at the Nest since 2107.
WORD will unfold quarterly in 2022, with the first night of storytelling set for March 24 at 7 pm. WORD is a community-wide event that provides an opportunity to connect with one another through true stories from diverse voices throughout Central Ohio.
The theme of the March 24 event is SPRING FORWARD.
If you are interested in sharing a true story relating in some way to the theme (which is purposely vague for personal interpretation), please reach out to me immediately at Wordnesttheatre@gmail.com. When I say immediately, I do mean that! We are under a tight deadline for garnering interest and securing storytellers, so if you have any interest, please email me there. I will respond with an FAQ detailing info like length of stories, the perk you receive as our Thank You for participating in the show and more.
Our goal is to have our slate of storytellers set by mid-March, so time is of the essence. Please share this message with anyone who might be interested in participating. We are seeking a diverse group of storytellers, and appreciate the assistance in spreading the word about WORD.
If you would like to be support Central Ohio storytellers by attending the March 24 WORD event, tickets are $10 and are available www.nesttheatre.com. The Nest is located at 2643 N. High Street, with free parking available in the back lot and nearby streets.
My involvement with the Nest is separate from my contributions to this newsletter, and I appreciate Nita’s support in allowing me to mix my passions together. Like a Reese’s Cup, but without the calories or carbs.
I close with a prayer that when the time comes to pen the April essay for this space, our world has regained some semblance of peace, tolerance, and joy.
~ Tami
(c)Tami Kamin Meyer, 2022, all rights reserved
by Tami Kamin Meyer | Jan 6, 2022 | Blog, Write Now Columbus Essay Archives
WORD is the Word
Guest post by Tami Kamin Meyer
As I type this, I (Tami) am beginning my second week of Omicron. At least I think it’s Omicron. Despite “enjoying” a myriad of symptoms for at least a week, the results of my pharmaceutically-administered COVID test read “negative.”
Hmmm….
Despite the uncertainty of the test, something “positive” did happen to me in December, something writing-related. I’m extremely proud to share it, so I appreciate this venue for spreading the news.
A bit of background
I have been involved with The Nest, an improv comedy theatre in Columbus for nearly three years. My wonderful, longtime boyfriend and I used to attend shows there, and we created many fond memories. It was his Christmas gift in December 2018 of the first level of improv comedy classes at The Nest that led me to me to become a part of that incredible community. It has since become a huge part of me, too.
Unfortunately, just two weeks after I began my first class, in May 2019, I found my dear Brad dead in the shower of our Manhattan hotel room. We had traveled to NYC to celebrate our sixth anniversary of meeting (and dating, because ours was that rare ‘Love at First Sight’ story that began the moment we met).
Despite the unspeakable shock I was in following Brad’s untimely death, I returned to my improv class its next meeting. It was incredibly difficult to open the same entrance door to the Nest that Brad and I had walked through multiple times to see improv shows, but I persevered. I had to. Brad would have wanted me to.
Heads turned when I walked into the theater turned classroom. Everyone knew what had happened in my life just a week before. Our teacher, who happened to be someone from the local improv scene Brad and I adored, embraced me deeply. I cried. He cried. Others came up and touched my shoulders in a show of support. It was a deeply touching moment forever etched in my heart.
Fast forward to December 2021, and the exciting news I received from The Nest.
One of the longest running shows at The Nest is actually not improv-based. It is WORD Live Literature & True Tales. As a writer, WORD is one of my favorite performances at The Nest because it focuses on real stories. Storytellers are invited to share a true story with audience members based on the show’s theme. I myself have presented at WORD three times, so I know it both as a presenter and attendee.
And, in 2022, I will be producing its quarterly incarnations! Just as exciting is the woman chosen to host the show is my closest “Nesty,” as we improvisers at the theatre are lovingly referred to. Brad would have been so happy for me and proud of me, so this means just that much more to me.
In the February issue of WNC, I’ll reveal the theme of WORD’s March show. Storytellers will be invited to volunteer to present at the event. Hopefully, so many folks will volunteer that Jodie and I will have to narrow down the number of storytellers chosen to perform (storytellers will know well in advance if they are being asked to participate).
If you have any questions about WORD, or The Nest, or writing, or even Omicron, please feel free to email me at writenowcolumbus@gmail.com. I’ll be happy to hear from you!
In the meantime, here’s to a sparkly, exciting, productive, joyful and HEALTHY y2K22.
by Theresa Garee | May 25, 2018 | Blog
I like for people to think I’m a punctuation and grammar whiz kid. I am not. I use cheat sheets like this. I also hire editors or ask friends to read my work. The spell and grammar check functions in Word are lovely, but they don’t catch everything.
by Theresa Garee | Sep 1, 2011 | Blog
“If you want to write and can’t figure out how to do it, try this: Pick an amount of time to sit at your desk every day. Start with twenty minutes, say, and work up as quickly as possible to as much time as you can spare. Do you really want to write? Sit for two hours a day.” ~ Ann Patchett
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That whooping and hollering you heard Sunday, August 28th? It was me. It was my 50th birthday, but that’s not what I was celebrating.
As I mentioned in a previous newsletter, I’ve been suffering from the dread “two documents with the same name” disease. For several months, I had unknowingly been alternately editing two documents in two different software programs thinking they were the same. Since that newsletter essay, I discovered a third document with the same name. One was an RTF file I had saved to email to a friend, another was a Word document, and a third was in Open Office. All three documents were titled, “Memorial 11.3.” All three had various chapters recently edited. All three were different.
Last weekend a few other writing friends and I rented a space where we could write without family, friend, Facebook or other f-word interruptions. The facility was none of our homes. We shut off our phones. And, we did not have Wi-Fi. This was crucial. These conditions forced me to stare at those expletive deleted documents for 12 hours on Saturday and 12 hours on Sunday until I figured it out. That was the celebrating you heard. I FIGURED IT OUT!!! I went through all three documents chapter by chapter using Word’s document compare function (don’t even get me started on how much I miss WordPerfect) and cobbled together a new, clean document, “Memorial 11.4,” containing the correct bits and pieces from all prior versions.
I’m telling you this tale because this problem seemed insurmountable. I was ready to give up. I had sort of given up in August when I went on sabbatical to celebrate my birthday for the entire month, but I knew I’d get back to it. And I did! So I wanted to share my success.
I bet I’m not the only one who’s overcome a seemingly impossible writing problem. I’d love to hear your biggest battle and how you worked it through.
by Theresa Garee | Jun 3, 2011 | Blog
“Writing a book is like washing an elephant. There’s no good place to begin or end and it’s hard to keep track of what you’ve already covered.” – Unknown
I’ve used Word Perfect since 1987, but the world seems to have left me behind. When I bought a new computer last year, I had it loaded with Microsoft Word. I began to learn it and then a friend told me about Open Office. I downloaded that and began to use it as well. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize I was alternating between the two programs. They were both unfamiliar in similar ways and I accidentally saved two different versions of the memoir about my father with the same name, one in each program. Not realizing my error, I continued working in both documents, at times one, at times another, for about nine months before I realized my error. Luckily, those were some of the least productive writing months I’d had in years and so I didn’t make many changes. The Word compare function tells me there are ONLY 1,724 differences between the two documents. Still.
Like many problems, this one shouldn’t have happened. I’m rather compulsive about recording changes. I number the documents sequentially the same way we did when I was an attorney: Version 1. Version 1.1. Version 1.2, etc. Then I update a document called “Version List” in which I, allegedly, track the changes I’ve made. Notwithstanding all my tracking, I now have two documents which need to be combined. Did I mention that these are 82,000 word documents? That’s approximately 260 double spaced pages. Sigh.
I’m still stewing about the most efficient way to solve this problem and, in the process, wasting valuable time. Bottom line, we all make mistakes. It’s time for me to accept reality, compare each document with the version before it, and start cutting and pasting to make a brand new document. Can I see this as an opportunity? Can I wind up with a version better than any of the versions before? The only way to know is to do the work. I’ll let you know how it turns out.
Have you ever blundered in your writing process and lived to tell about it? I’d love to hear how you handled it.
