Taking Myself Seriously

The New Year has dawned and with it the onslaught of a myriad of promises to the unseen judges about what we’re going to do better this year that we failed at last year. This new beginning is further accentuated as it heralds the start of a new decade as well as a new year. Somehow the promises seem to need greater gravitas, not least because when you think about where you were when the Millennium dawned it emphasises just how quickly time is careering ever onwards.

It took me a while, hence why I’m writing this on the third not the first of January, but I’ve finally thought of a meaningful resolution for 2010. By meaningful I mean something that I haven’t had before and actually feel inspired to do something about. There’s no massive reveal here as it’s in the title of the blog…this year I’m going to take myself more seriously…specifically as a writer.

This was the way my thought process went…

I was reading a blog by a playwright and falling into my usual wistful “Wouldn’t it be lovely to be a recognised writer of theatre…” At this point, if it had been a film, there would have been a jarring abrupt end to the wistful underscoring soundtrack as I realised that in effect I am just that. I’ve written countless plays that have been performed all over the region and received gratifyingly positive responses. I am, in fact, a playwright I just don’t think of myself as one…whenever I get a commission for a new play or an accolade for my writing I respond by feeling lucky. I don’t respond as a writer who expects such things to happen. In fact I’ve been known to visibly quake at the audacity of claiming such a title.

The reason why I feel I need to take myself seriously now is simply that I want to do more. I have things to say and I enjoy putting them in a form that communicates and engages with people. I know that my work has elicited a real response from people and even more importantly enabled people to question or shift their perceptions of their world. I can’t build on this with luck as my only foundation. As a director and trainer I talk so much about the way mind sets influence lives and yet here I am doing exactly what I tell others holds them back. Well no more…from today I accept the title and all it entitles me to and in doing this I look forward to a wealth of opportunities in 2010 to do exactly what I love to do…