Nicole Dieker Finley (Page 2)

Nicole Dieker Finley

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I rewrote the song...

It was actually very easy, once it came down to understanding what was wrong with it. Also, I talked to Larry about whether it would be better to have the play play as written, with Melisande realizing that her mother had been lying about the whole "hair isn'

"oh, I get it, it's the failure mode of humanism"

The thing about writer's block is that it's a signal that something you've written is wrong. Or, maybe, that the writing you've done already hasn't effectively set you up for the writing you need to do next. Or, maybe maybe,

How I am adapting E. Nesbit's "Melisande"

Now that I have written about what happens when adaptation goes wrong, I might as well start writing about how to get it right. Which means it is finally time to tell you about MELISANDE. I am turning E. Nesbit's short story "Melisande: or, Long and Short

Why Tim Minchin's MATILDA makes Miss Trunchbull the hero

I am going to write more about the process through which I am adapting E. Nesbit's short story "Melisande: or, Long and Short Division" into a musical, but before we get to that – well, first, I have to continue adapting it, and second, I want to

Starting conditions

It seems as if one should not begin by announcing a project, in the sense that whenever a person announces that they are doing something they are proactively pressuring themselves to do whatever it is that they said they were going to do, and in many cases this pressure actively

WHAT IT IS and WHAT TO DO NEXT

WHAT IT IS and WHAT TO DO NEXT, Volume 4: None of the Monitors Are Asleep

I am writing this, at half past seven, in the breakfast nook that used to be a mudroom. I spent a day, when winter was at its darkest, clearing out the junk that had been allowed to accumulate when we had no specific purpose for this space. Cardboard boxes; glass

WHAT IT IS and WHAT TO DO NEXT

WHAT IT IS and WHAT TO DO NEXT, Volume 3: D4, C4

I am writing this not precisely after dawn—it is the eve of the summer solstice, and although I woke with the sun I also went back to sleep—but early enough that the clock has not yet marked seven. This mantel clock has handled a weekly winding for well

WHAT IT IS and WHAT TO DO NEXT

WHAT IT IS and WHAT TO DO NEXT, Volume 2: Is It What It Is?

I am writing this shortly after dawn, in our garden. There are succulents to my right and cucumbers to my left and a pot of lemon balm not quite close enough for me to reach out and pluck one of its leaves. There are two tomato plants and three pepper

WHAT IT IS and WHAT TO DO NEXT

WHAT IT IS and WHAT TO DO NEXT, Volume 1: Down the Rabbit Hole

I am writing this shortly after dawn, in May 2022, while sitting in a rocking chair that used to belong to Larry’s grandfather. Books, alphabetical by author, are spine-smoothed in shelves to my immediate left; more immediately, at my left elbow, a rougher spine has worked its way out