I spent a good part of the weekend writing the review of Oklahoma! to submit by Sunday evening.
I remember now why I quit being a critic and what I hated about writing reviews.
I can write. And my reviews are actually pretty good. But I go through such turmoil writing them and I found myself doing exactly what I did for 12 years when writing this review. I agonized how to start it. I knew the first paragraph I wanted (because it explained why I was writing the review) but then I got to the review itself and went over and over and over the ways I wanted to start it. When I finally got the first review paragraph written, I took a break for several hours, working the puzzle, watching TV, having lunch, taking a nap.
This is what I did every time I wrote a review.
I finally had to return to my office because the review had to be finished. Once I got into the actual review, it went fairly easily. I had little problem and I was pleased with what I had written. What was nice was that when I submitted it to the newspapers and to the director of the show, the director didn't have any corrections to make, but a suggestion for how better to end the review. I disagreed with him and he saw my point and said OK. I think this is the first review I've ever sent him that didn't have at least a couple of corrections that needed to be made.
I enjoyed going to the show, but it didn't make me long to return to reviewing. It was definitely time for me to retire.
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