A Heads Up, Do or Die

Another Hindsight Story Night beckons

No, really, it’s purrrfectly safe to be heard…

A secret. Portland, Oregon is a notoriously easy lay. Metaphorically speaking, that is. What I mean is that audiences hereabouts are famous for giving standing ovations to everything. Last fall, Chelsea Cain attended the autopsy for a Covid victim in a hotel ballroom — and those attending actually gave the butchered cadaver a standing ovation!!

In theater-speak that means you can perform anything in Portland and not die.

That’s why so many world-wide concert tours and theater runs begin in Portland. Everyone wants to launch with a couple standing O’s; they need the reassurance. New Yorkers might be snobs, but Portland will love you for just showing up.

An old showbiz saying goes: “The three most useless things in the world are the Pope’s d—k, a nun’s c—t, and a good review in the Los Angles Times.” I’ll just let that sink in, okay. Then I’ll add: And a standing ovation at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall.

Thus, when you present your work at a Hindsight Story Night… there is no downside! If you get laughs, you earned them. If you get a shocked gasp, you earned it. But if you bomb, no one will not applaud. The Hindsight Taproom is the safest venue where you will ever risk reading. It’s your training wheels!

That said, tomorrow is our next event. Be there — 5829 SE Powell Blvd, Portland, OR 97206 — if you have work to road test. The show starts at 6:30 and runs until 9:30. We meet every second Monday. Last go-round Amber killed it, Randy killed it, as did many others. If you want to know whether or not a story or scene works, here’s the proving ground.

This is what it means to be a writer. Put in on the line, people.

P.S. Tomorrow we’ll also be revisiting the possibility of making this a podcast. A tech person has emerged to lead us to a worldwide listening. We shall discuss the idea and make a choice. Be there if you want a say in the matter.

As always the writers who didn’t get a chance last week — Andrew — will read first. Then it’s business as usual.

I hope you had a pleasant weekend. Now it’s back to nosing the grindstone.

This — believe it or don’t — is the only part of the writing life that does NOT suck.