Photo credit: Hana El Zohiry on Unsplash

Halfway through the challenge. I’m creating a lot of new material. Just not quite certain what I’m going to do with all of it.

The answer, of course, is to be creative. Like that’s so easy.

Tonight, I had The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on in the background while I was brushing my teeth. Out of respect and solidarity for the writers who are on strike, they’re running older episodes. (I promise, this is going somewhere.)

Tonight’s episode included a performance by the Broadway cast of The Lion King. I haven’t seen the show, but I’d love to. Talk about creativity: I cannot imagine how the brains work that came up with those costumes and that choreography. Giraffes and gazelles, elephants and birds, the lioness and the lion, all moving and dancing and singing in ways that evoked the animals they portrayed far better than an explicit costume would have done. There’s an elegance about it that defies description. No wonder the show won numerous awards—including the Tony—for costume design.

When I see something like The Lion King, I’m awestruck and humbled. It’s easy to look at my little manuscript and think, “There’s nothing special here. Why bother?”

Except that one person’s “nothing special” is another’s treasure. There were people who loved State v. Claus and are excited about the sequel. (I know this, because they’ve told me.) Besides, unlike a live performance, a book can go anywhere. I love live theater, but once a show is over, it’s over. By contrast, a book can be read and reread, even if I just reread certain scenes or lines that captured me. My book is definitely not as fantastical as The Lion King, but with any luck, in its own way it may touch readers in the same way a Broadway show can captivate an audience.

P.S. If you want to see what I’m talking about, the official website for The Lion King offers this video that you can watch and share: