Adults (on paper) come clean about being lost...

Hey! Exciting new development in my creative life, guys!!!!...

I was recently interviewed about my experience applying to grad school, writing this blog and being a 30-something for a podcast called "Dirty 30 Something."



Here's a 3-minute YouTube Dirty30Something Podcast Teaser of what their show is like, just to give you a taste...So awesome!!!!

***Warning: This podcast is uncensored and appropriate for adult audiences only. (18+)***

If you're interested in listening to the episode(s) that I'm on, you'll hear...

• some of the inside scoop about the creation of this blog 
• some of the not-so-predictable residual lessons I learned while NOT getting accepted to grad school...again and again and again
• fun/embarrassing stories from my younger days

All in my own words...(hardly knew what was coming out of my mouth during the interview, but it was fun, fun, fun.)

Hope you guys enjoy it. If you do...leave your comments below! If you don't...weeellll, then just keep it to yourself. ;-)


My interview is in two parts. Click on the links below to listen...

Episode 8: Meet Virginia

Episode 9: Too Cool For School

Or...

Subscribe to the podcast on iTunes! Just open up your iTunes app on your phone or computer and search for "Dirty 30 Something." You'll see it.

Thanks to all of YOU for following along this journey with me.

Though grad school has not turned out to be my path, I truly believe (and have to keep reminding myself) that my creative path is unfolding just as it should.

Who knows what fantastic opportunity or challenge awaits us just around the corner!?

And if there's anything I can do to help you out with anything on your creative journey, please send me an email and let me know. (And for those of you applying for acting grad schools...Shhhhh! Now I'm available for PRIVATES...private coaching, that is.)

Wishing you creative growth on your own terms in your own time.

Loves,
Virginia

P.S. Special thanks to Nick and Marissa for having me on the Dirty30Something podcast!

***Unapologetic Plug Alert***

Do you love these two as much as I do? If so...

• Check out Nick's music and writing at NickDothee.com
• Check out Marissa's blog full of sly art, essays and poetry
• Talk back! Follow @Dirty30Something on Twitter
• Website: www.Dirty30Something.com

The CA Family Play #8: Trust

Our greatest collaborators are often our greatest friends.

This California Family Play is really happening!!!!

Matt Steiner, Stan Richardson and I had a meeting at MexiQ over some tacos and margaritas to discuss our experience of the research trip last month.

We all batted around our different perspectives and perceptions of our time there. That's what I LOVE about working with your friends, ya know? You can just feel free to be totally open and say whatever you feel...because you trust each other. There's a solid foundation of love and mutual respect.

Collaborative JOY!!!!!

I am so lucky to be working on this project with these guys and I can't wait to share it with YOU in the winter when we produce the actual PLAY.

I am terrified and exhilarated at the thought.

Thank you to all of my AMAZING family members were so welcoming, open and willing to participate by opening up their hearts and sharing their memories, thoughts and experiences with us.

Especially these guys...my brothers...Kevin, Steven and David (who is also the illustrator of this cartoon portrait.)

OHHHHH, I LOVE THEM SO MUCH!!!

Can't wait to introduce you all to my family. I will keep you posted as more developments happen with the play and as soon as performance details are solidified.

Fun, right?

Loves
V

"The way you help heal the world is you start with your own family." ― Mother Teresa

The CA Family Play #7: Enough...For Now

"Your creative endeavors can never be throughly mapped out ahead of time. You have to allow for the suddenly altered landscape, the change of plan, the accidental spark -- an you have to see it as a stroke of luck rather than a disturbance of your perfect scheme. Habitually creative people are, in E.B. White's phrase, "prepared to be lucky." - Twyla Tharp, The Creative Habit: Learn It And Use It For Life

Matt, Stan and I are waiting for our flight to board at SFO. The research trip portion of the yet-to-be-written-California-family-play is essentially complete.

As I write these words, thoughts are running through my mind of all of the dozens of people we did not talk to, all of the places we did not go, all of photographs that were not looked at and so on and so on.

Once you begin a project like this, you begin to realize the MASSIVE amount of source materials available to create from.

I cannot imagine being a biographer...studying someone's life and all the source materials surrounding them and trying to piece together anything resembling a "complete" picture of their life. It's just impossible. Impossible.

So...because creating a complete picture of the Wilcox family is something that cannot be done (and certainly not in a week...HA!), I will choose to believe that everything that Stan and Matt experienced was exactly enough...enough to get a sense, enough to spark an interest, enough to begin to make connections...

"What's next?" You ask.

1. Fly home to NY

2. Get back into swing of daily life again

3. Do NOT actively think about this week, just let it sink in.

4. Get together with Matt and Stan in a couple of weeks and have a post-trip-meeting to discuss our experiences (Probably over beers and BBQ beef brisket tacos at MexiQ)

5. Figure out the next step in the process to keep us rolling with this project (looking toward some kind of something workshoppy in the fall and some kind of something performance-ish in the winter)

I will keep you posted with the details as they become clear.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you....to all of my very brave and loving friends and family that have opened their hearts, memories, and homes to us on this journey so far.

Thank you to Matt and Stan for listening with curiosity, expressing empathy, putting up with my obsessive promptness, cracking jokes at all the appropriate (and inappropriate) moments, warm hugs and thoughtful conversations.

And thank you so much to all of YOU who have been following the blog this week and writing comments of encouragement. I promise to publish another post again in a couple of weeks to give you an update and let you know how our MexiQ meeting goes.

I think this project may turn out to be one of those things that I will look back on at the end of my life and think, "I'm really glad I did that when I had the chance." It's been a really meaningful process of for my family, sharing our stories with each other in the name of this creative endeavor.

As the Boston Marathon bombing reminds us, life is fragile and fleeting. Hug your loved-ones close today.

Oh! Gotta go. The plane is about to begin boarding.

XO!

Blessings,
Virginia

"This above all -- ask yourself in the stillest hour of your night: must I write? [or act, or paint, or dance, or compose, etc.] Delve into yourself for a deep answer. And if this should be affirmative, if you may meet this earnest question with a strong and simple "I must," then build your life according to this necessity;  your life even into its most indifferent and slightest hour must be a sign of this urge and a testimony to it." - Rainer Maria Rilke, Letters To A Young Poet