Last month, I had the great privilege to meet Lee Stroy, a father of five who is my age and a walking medical miracle. In one week, Lee had three strokes and has now made it his mission to tell his story in an effort to educate others about stroke through his nonprofit Counterstroke. His story is one of the most inspiring I have ever been given the great gift to share with others. Read the piece I wrote about Lee for The Washington Post by clicking here and learn more about Lee on his website for Counterstroke.
Tag: writing
Wonder: Don’t stay the same
“Longevity means we have to evolve. We have to be able to change.” ~Wolfgang Puck
In a few weeks, my latest piece for The Washington Post is going to be published. It’s an interview with a young man my age who had three strokes within a week. over our hour-long conversation, I was in awe of his strength and courage.
His final statement to me, and the final line in the piece is something that I have not been able to shake. This young man still deals with legacy issues from his strokes. He’s unable to work, he is often tired, and he has memory issues. After almost two years, his doctors told him that he may never fully recover. He may never be exactly the way he was before the strokes. Rather than feel sorry for himself, he said, “That’s okay. I don’t want to be the way I was before. I want to be better.”
His willingness to change and be changed by his experience has brought him this far. I have no doubt that he is poised to go so much further. If the ability to evolve indeed leads to longevity, then this man has a long life ahead of him.
Wonder: The miracle of being where you are right now
“The miracle is that we are here, that no matter how undone we’ve been the night before, we wake up every morning and are still here. It is phenomenal just to be.” ~Anne Lamott, Stitches
Have you ever noticed the perspective that comes with sleep? We can feel agitated, angry, anxious, and upset, and the next morning we have the chance to try again. Getting back up after being knocked down isn’t easy. It doesn’t always feel good. There are times that we wonder why we even continue to try. And I’ve found that there is something powerful and empowering in the act of rising, head up, eyes ahead. I literally narrow my eyes, drop the tone of my voice, take a deep breath, and will myself to speak up and take action.
The chance to try again, every day, is a gift. And it is ours to use.
Wonder: Playwriting and fiction writing helps me write scripts for AI
All those years working in theater and as a writer are paying big dividends now in the most unexpected way. My writing, professional and personal, has always been something separate and apart from my career in business. Or at least it was until now.
Working on an artificial intelligence (AI) product, I spend part of my day writing branching dialogue. It’s reminiscent of a choose-your-own-adventure story. I have to plan for synonyms, syntax variation, and misunderstandings between user and machine. To top it all off, I also have to make the conversation flow between the user and the product human, empathic, and compassionate. I roll up my sleeves, put myself into the role of the user, and write what I hear in my mind. Then I read it back to myself to check for the natural flow of the conversation.
Seeing life and career come full-circle always reminds that there is a rhyme and a reason for everything. There are no coincidences. Synchronicity will find us when we dedicate our lives to doing what we love. It all connects.
Wonder: Writers, be kind to yourselves
“Thomas Mann was a prodigy of production. He wrote a page a day. He was one of the most prolific literary writers who ever lived.” ~ Annie Dillard, The Writing Life
I started reading Annie Dillard’s book The Writing Life by accident. I was reminded of it on Krista Tippett’s podcast On Being. She was interviewing Elizabeth Gilbert, who referred to the book as one of her forms of inspiration and guidance. I went to Amazon and hit “Buy with 1-click” by accident. It was a very happy accident because it gave me exactly the message I needed, the one I need just about 6 times a day: Christa, it’s all going to get done.
Emerson Page, the protagonist in my book, has taken a long time to tell me her story. We’re at about a year and a half into our adventure. She hides. She changes her mind. She only tells me her history in drips and drabs, because she is just learning all of it herself. Writing happens in a flood only once in a very great while. Even if you’re insanely talented or extremely lucky (or a combination of the two), writing is a lot like life. A page is a day, to be written and lived only one at a time. And that’s if you’re doing this full-time.
So now I’m closing in on making all my edits. I’m 80% of the way there. I’ll finish those out in the next couple of weeks. Then I’ll give it a read through in one sitting to correct grammar, spelling, and replace a word here or there. Then it’s on to writing query letters to contacts I’ve made over this nearly two-year journey and we’ll see what happens to me and Emerson. Maybe one agent out of 1,000 will send me back less than a form rejection note. Maybe a small press will show some interest. Maybe it’ll be deafening silence. As a writer, you’ve got to hope and work for the best and completely detach yourself from any idea of recognition or return.
I wrote Emerson’s story because I wanted to know it. I sat with her, and the many other characters surrounding her, for so many hours that I’ve lost count. She is never far from my mind, wherever I am, whoever I’m with, whatever I’m doing. She pops up, whispers something I can barely hear, and I follow her to listen, watch, learn, and get it all down. One word, one page, one day at a time.
Wonder: Narrative’s soul
“Specificity is the soul of narrative.” ~Judge John Hodgman
I’m using part of this long weekend to get back to writing. Emerson has been waiting for me for a few months while I traveled, moved, and got my life set up again in a new place. So today I dust off those cobwebs and look at her life and trials with new fresh eyes to begin the next and final round of edits.
As I take up the task of these edits, I’m reminded of what it means to literally create the soul of a character. Not a hollow shell with a name who faces challenges in a setting, but a living, breathing soul whom you root for, who conveys her emotions in a way that is visceral. You hurt when she hurts. You cry when she cries. You smile when she smiles. You win when she wins.
The only way to do that is to get specific, to place the reader right into her mind and her heart. That’s not an easy thing to do, but it’s always fun to do the impossible.
Wonder: Night at the Newseum – Virtual reality is real
Last week, I went to an event about mixed-, virtual-, and augmented-reality at DC’s Newseum. My dear friend, F.J., told me about it and being the technology fiends that we are, we went over there together with our friend, Anisha. We tried on some new gear to get a sense of what’s happening in this new and rapidly emerging field. I drove down the streets of Cuba, Anisha took a flight with the Blue Angels, and F.J. explored a shipwreck. The degrees of quality varied, but the fun of seeing the future was equally palpable in all of it. We then sat together to hear a talented panel of journalists and media makers talk about how these technologies are altering the very real world of human experience in a broad sense, and the field of journalism and storytelling more specifically.
An intense amount of capital is pouring into MR, AR, and VR. Competitors in hardware and software are firing on all cylinders. Storytellers are undergoing a massive mind shift and stretching their imaginations to the nth degree. The future of this technology isn’t even clear enough to be called hazy. We are all, admittedly, fumbling in the dark trying figure out how, if, when, where, and why to take this new avenue.
I’m thinking about how to use it for Project Rubeus. Prestigious outlets such as The New York Times and the Washington Post are experimenting with mobile, immersive stories. The fields of healthcare, education, media, nonprofit, and travel are bending this new channel to their will to literally take students, customers, and consumers to places they never even imagined they could go.
I am intensely excited about this possibility and opportunity, as a business woman, technology lover, and writer with a passion for learning, teaching, and sharing. At the Newseum that night, a portal to a new, strange, and wild world opened and I happily walked through, virtually and literally.
Wonder: My podcast interview on yoga, creativity, and business
I am so honored to have been interviewed for the podcast, RelatE, a project from The Relational Economy. I talk about creativity, the imagination, writing, art, business, theater, education, my education at Penn and Darden (especially the work I’m doing with Ed Freeman), my travels, service, family, yoga, and meditation. Listen, share, repeat! I’d love to hear your thoughts, ideas, and questions. My virtual door is always open to all of you, and I look forward to the conversation. Click here: http://therelationaleconomy.com/podcast/interview-with-creative-business-professional-christa-avampato/
Wonder: Latest draft of my novel, Where the Light Enters, is complete
After several months, I’ve finally finished the latest round of handwritten edits for my novel, Emerson Page – Where the Light Enters. Once I get them all transcribed, I’ll finally have a version that I can work on with an editor before beginning the journey of submitting it for possible publication.
Writing a book is a long and winding road, and I am so happy and grateful to be traveling this route. I remain very grateful to so many of you who always support my writing and creative projects. We may write a book one word at a time, but it takes a village of support to keep going.
I can’t wait to introduce you to Emerson and take you into her world. She has taught me so much already, and I’m sure the best is yet to come.
Wonder: I’m baaaaaack…
Hello all. It has been over a month since I’ve published to this blog and I want to tell you why I so abruptly took the longest break that I’ve taken in the 9 years since I’ve been writing it.
In March, I received a letter from a photography website threatening to sue me for using an image on a blog post four year ago. That’s right – a single picture, that I got from Pinterest, for a single post, 4 years ago, and I had attributed it to the artist. They never sent me a takedown notice. They just skipped right to suing me for thousands of dollars. By the grace of the universe, my friend, Amanda, connected me to a wonderful attorney who agreed to represent me, and it seems that the issue has evaporated. I haven’t heard a word from them since.
So, I’m back. This has been a wonderful time for me to creatively reflect on my writing and I’ve plowed a lot of time into a number of wildly creative projects including finishing a working draft of my novel, Where the Light Enters, getting one of my paper collages displayed in a gallery in D.C., continuing my writing for The Washington Post, planning a trip to Cuba (yes, CUBA!), and joining a film production company here in D.C. as an associate producer. All while keeping my day job at an education technology startup and being in the process of buying a condo here in D.C.
What I do want to make abundantly clear is that I’ve missed you. A lot. I miss the conversations back and forth. I miss hearing how you’re doing. I miss updating you on what I’m doing, seeing, and hearing. I’ve missed this outlet and I’m thrilled to be back. So here’s to you. Here’s to me. And I’m so glad we’re back together.
And to speak to the unfortunate photo incident of March 2016, all photos that you see on this site were either taken by me or for me. If you want to use any of them, you are absolutely free to do so. No questions asked. Just add a little attribution with my name and this website URL http://christaavampato.com. Let’s never be apart for that long again, okay? Okay.
Christa Avampato 