A life story -- yours?

I would be a working playwright if I could find someone to stage-manage a reading of my play for Spencer Community Theatre. Interested?

I'm taking blogging a step further and going into creative nonfiction. C.N. is somewhere between journalism and literature, adding the great literary elements of a story to a factual report.

This blog has been practice for creative nonfiction and I certainly don't have the greatest craft going yet, but I thank all of you readers for indulging me and discussing my points, once I get to them.

What I need: 25 pages of creative nonfiction, of higher quality than I've produced to date, to see if I can gain admittance to an MFA program. I don't even know if I'll go (it's mostly online with short trips out there), but I must know if I am good enough to get in.

What I love: all of you in Spencer, the Lakes and the surrounding area.

What I do not love: the thought of so many out of work right now, struggling.

What I wish to do: spend time with some of you who have lost your jobs or livelihood in what could be extensive and lengthy interviews, to truly capture your spark, what drives your life, and just anything else you want to share. Also, how your life has changed since becoming unemployed and what you see ahead.

What I'll do: be a joy to be around (though if the interview gets long, you might get sick of me) really listen to you, and string whatever thoughts you share with me into a compelling story.

What I won't do: be intrusive, use any identifying information you don't want me to use (though for now it will be read mostly by a committee 1,864.6 miles from Spencer) clean your toilet, or do anything illegal or immoral. Fattening? I might be persuaded to spring for a treat at the bakery or coffee house, but I'd rather see you in your natural habitat and understand your life.

I hope we can contribute to the understanding of what joblessness and the economy is doing to real people, real families, in this place, in this crystal of time.

I also interview artists, especially musicians, but I do also love actors, writers and visual artists. I have a background in music and infinitely more passion than talent when it comes to playing it myself. However, I have interviewed musicians from our own Alan Morphew to Naturally 7 to Iowa Lakes Jazz Camp's own Scott Hesse.

So if you create art, I'd be thrilled to interview you for this blog if I can also add the work to my portfolio for Seattle Pacific University's MFA program (which again is low-residency -- I'd go out there for several days out of the year; no one is moving out there).

It is my ambition that the stories posted on this blog will allow local readers to see some beautiful crystals of our community in more depth, realizing that there are many facets we never see because we get caught up in the drudgery, the discouragement, the struggle.

Will you tell me your story?

lakewriter51340@gmail.com