The Verbal Hootenanny Returns

Sometimes life happens.

I love writing.

All types of writing. I get a kick out of short stories, novels (yes I've actually written one when I was younger and never pushed to have it published), screenplays, blogs- heck, I even enjoy writing tweets and facebook status updates.

There is just something about the act of creating coupled with the diligent sound of fingers flying rapidly and purposefully across a MacBook keyboard... A sound of progress, of successfully expressing myself and saying what needs to be said.

So when I look back through NVH and discover my last post was almost a year ago, I feel I've let myself and others down.

Don't get me wrong... I haven't stopped writing. Or acting. I've been keeping myself very busy with projects (webseries, tv shows, short films, feature ideas) and so on. As a matter of fact, 2013 was a breakthrough year for me on the writing front: I was both an actor and writer in a very successful live sketch comedy show. After years of trying to understand the sketch comedy beast, I finally conquered a personal white whale and had a number of my sketches included- both of which were as well-received as I could have hoped them to be.

There's nothing like the sound of people intentionally laughing at something you've written.

2013 also saw me take on a few projects that did not go over as well as planned.

In the early part of the year I was invited by a good friend of mine to join him as a writer on a developing online news site. While this style of writing was never really on my radar, I was offered the opportunity to cover the world of Entertainment (read: film reviews and Hollywood news).  Since this fit so comfortably in my wheelhouse, I said "what the heck" and went with the flow.  For a while, this "job" offered both creative release and the promise of professional advancement.  After 4 months, however, doubt began to creep in about the site's ability to actually advance me in any way, shape or form. Over the next 2 months, most of the staff was gone- fed up by the board's failure to follow through on their word.  I followed soon after.  While you may be thinking "sounds to me like it was all about the money for you, Nate" you would be wrong. The issue became about trust. When a group shows little interest in keeping up their end of a bargain, I no longer feel comfortable in sharing my work with them. It is as simple as that.

I also had the privilege of being a part of an online podcast in 2013. Radio has always been a love of mine. When I was 12, I used to use a karaoke machine someone had bought me for Christmas to record my own radio shows. In college, I worked for the LSU radio station (91.1 fm KLSU)- starting as but a lowly news reporter and eventually earning my own on-air talk show.  While this podcast had the makings of something big... it taught me a valuable lesson: people, no matter how close you may be to them, will never change. And those who don't recognize their character flaws are, like history, doomed to continue to repeat their patterns.  Sadly, after 10 good months, this podcast that I had grown to love and care about was brought to a mutually agreed-upon close.

As you can see, life does indeed happen- and that, dear listeners, explains my absence from Nate's Verbal Hootenanny.

But fear not, much like the fabled Stella, I too will get my groove back.

NVH has returned for 2014 and promises to bring resurrect this fiery ol' ho-down of ramblings to your screen.

So sit back and let the Hootenanny begin!