Where do I start? Yesterday was by far the most intense day of the workshop. I think…I think…the hardest part is behind us. I think. What was hard about it was that we had to hold so many voices in our heads at once. All of the tape we recorded in interviews now with the added layer of narration. Also, writing for radio is hard. I’ve had some practice so I wasn’t freaking out about that part as much as using Hindenburg, but still…when you know your story is getting aired at a community event, you don’t want to sound like your brain is one of those potato batteries. You also just want to do your subject and their story justice, complement their energy or whatever…it’s just a lot.

What overwhelmed me the most about yesterday was that I didn’t get to start the hardcore independent work of scripting and clipping my massive amount of tape until after dinner. All I wanted to do was hang out and/or watch the final episode of The Night Manager. (I’m just going to save it for when I get home.)

So last night I switched things up by locking myself up in my room instead of sitting at the communal work table. I gave myself an 11 pm deadline and started creating clips in Hindenburg based on a loose story structure I had in my head. Mr. WeInBeRg shared some great stuff with us to help us think about crafting a tale for radio. This article about The ‘e’ really helped me. I think my story kinda follows this arc.

By about 9:00 pm I had 2/3 of a script ready with transcripts of the clips I was planning to use. I was surprised at how easy it was for me to cut out tape. I had like three I knew when I was doing the interview I absolutely would use. The rest I wasn’t too attached to. MiStEr WeInBeRg and Ashleyanne reinforced our tape to narration ratio well and I knew most everything I recorded wouldn’t get used. My bigger problem was just the act of writing at night, something I’m not good at doing unless it’s straight out of my head like this.

But aha! That’s the mistake. What I was scripting for radio should be like this — straight out of my head. I even know this. But anytime it’s late and theres there’s pressure, or the work is semi-official somehow, I start sounding like a verbose moron, like the awful technical documents I write for work.

Dave Day started the Bombay Beach Arts & Culture Center to foster a culture of entrepreneurship BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAAAARGGHHH BAAARRFF 🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮🤮

I knew everything would sound like garbage so I wrote notes and placeholders between clips describing what I needed to write and left myself mean comments in Google Docs like, “This is terrible copy. Just terrible.” I feel that helps because it just releases the truth into the ether and we don’t have to keep shoving it down anymore.

I went to bed after that, after a longer than usual face routine because all the pressure of high expectations and challenging us to reach our potential that Mr. WeInBeRg put on us gave me a zit.

Then I woke up at 5 am this morning to flesh out my notes and finish the final chunk of my script. I had about a fifth left, just the closing. And it was all just so much easier. I started my morning off slow with six espressos and watching the sunset from the patio at Pirate’s Alley. A school bus barreled by and I checked the time. 6:30 am. Those poor sleepy kids. I thought about how interesting it would be to do a story like that. Hop on the bus all the way to Calipatria, which is like 40 miles away. Spend the day with a few of them at school, and then ride back exhausted. I actually saw the bus returning tonight. There’s a clear view of the street from the sliding door. It was 6 pm.

So I kind of started and ended my day with those kids without even realizing it. Except I worked for another hour and a half or so on tonight’s homework.

Today we split up into two groups, each with an instructor and did table reads and edits of the scripts we composed last night. We all read each script independently first. Then we went line by line and everybody explained their comments. It was a very generous and generative process because we all took it as seriously. It helped me zoom out of my story and see it in huge movable chunks, something that seemed impossible the night before because I was so fixed on single words sounding right.

My group took longer because we were just so committed to this process for everyone. I was getting a little antsy toward the end because I just wanted to get to my edits so I could finish early tonight. (I don’t know why I thought this was possible.) But then I settled down and by 4 pm I was back home at the dining table working on my script again. Once we made all of the changes and edits, we had to have a one-on-one with either Mr. WeInBeRg or Ashleyanne to do a second pass. I did mine around 7:30 pm, and then I took a break!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I finally washed my hair, which at lunch I noticed smelled like Top Ramen while Jenny was being picked up by a vanlife geezer from Appalachia at the Ski Inn.

So I finally washed my hair and put on a fresh pair of jammies, a delight I saved for once we crossed the halfway point. So if Bourdain’s ghost wants to visit me tonight, I smell good. He came here you know. To the Ski Inn. I had a veggie burger (again), something he would never do. But yeah, maybe my buns touched the same seat his did. 🍑

There’s a night train going by. I’m going to pretend I’m on it and go to bed now. Thanks to everyone who entered my giveaway. I’ll announce winners soon. And just, thanks for reading this nothingburger thing I’m doing, guys. It’s so fun. I’m so glad I’m doing this. ❤️