{"id":1005,"date":"2020-11-22T09:47:57","date_gmt":"2020-11-22T14:47:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lisaallen-agostini.com\/?p=1005"},"modified":"2020-11-22T10:25:35","modified_gmt":"2020-11-22T15:25:35","slug":"el-shaddai-the-all-sufficient-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lisaallen-agostini.com\/?p=1005","title":{"rendered":"El Shaddai: the All-Sufficient God"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When COVID-19 hit Trinidad and Tobago and we first went into lockdown<\/a>, I had just completed the first FemCom stage show of the year, our International Women’s Day show Givin’ Trouble<\/em>, at the historic Little Carib Theatre. Within a month my comedy partner, Louris, and I were aware that there would likely be no more stage shows for 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With no shows to emcee or perform in, I was scared. I’m a self-employed writer, editor and teacher. My husband, a mason, could not work during the lockdown. What would happen if the pandemic closed off all our sources of income?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was also furious and frustrated. FemCom was supposed to blow up this year. We had planned to go to LA for training at the Groundlings Theatre and do a road-trip movie while performing in comedy clubs in Atlanta, where my elder daughter lives. We had scheduled four comedy workshops. We had a multi-show partnership with the Little Carib Theatre. Our IWD show had a good audience and excellent feedback. We were on a roll. COVID-19 changed everything.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I fell into a depression. For weeks all I could do was watch Endeavour<\/em> and Lewis<\/em> on repeat. I cried out to God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The response was immediate and life-saving. He sent me food and money through extremely generous friends and family. My friends shored me up emotionally. My husband was a rock. I began reading and studying the Bible and praying more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My gratitude and my prayer led to a resolution that I would get up and work. I continued writing and submitted a few manuscripts, poems and a short story to publishers and journals. I sought an agent. Inspired by the banter between Louris and myself, I thought of a way to maintain the FemCom brand presence during the pandemic. The result was The Givin’ Trouble Show,<\/em> a Facebook Live online chat between Lyrix and Just Lisa, twice a week, for 20 minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God sent work. I got editing jobs, writing jobs, teaching jobs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US edition of my YA novel Home Home<\/em> came out in May. I took part in the Brooklyn Caribbean Lit Fest<\/a> and the T&T Literature Conference<\/a> as an author and a panelist. The NGC Bocas Lit Fest<\/a> commissioned me to write and read a short story on the 1970 February Revolution and its consequence; “Meeting Beverly Jones”<\/a> was broadcast in an event on day two of the festival. I was interviewed in the Bocas Lit Fest Bios and Bookmarks<\/a> series. I had readings and interviews on TV. I did a reading for ALTA and another for NALIS. I judged the semi-final and final rounds of the First Citizens National Poetry Slam, which was broadcast on national TV. Joanne C. Hillhouse<\/a> interviewed me and three other YA writers for her blog. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marina Salandy-Brown, festival founder and director, commissioned FemCom to create video fillers for the three-day 2020 NGC Bocas Lit Fest.<\/a> We made thirteen comic short films in a month and a half. Bocas also commissioned me to write and present a series of educational videos on creative writing, the Write Away! Caribbean Young Adult Literature Project.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the last eight months I’ve begun two novels, one a dystopian sci-fi project about post-COVID Trinidad, and the other about an unwed teen mom in ancient Israel (yeah, that unwed teen mom). I’ve continued working on a film adaptation of Monique Roffey’s novel The White Woman on the Green Bicycle.<\/a><\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The poem and short story I wrote were accepted for publication. The story was published as “Cam and the Maskless” in About Place Journal<\/a><\/em> (Vol VI Issue No. II: Works of Resistance, Resilience).<\/em> Its editors have nominated it for a Pushcart Prize.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the manuscripts I submitted was bought by Myriad Editions<\/a> of the UK and will be published in May 2021 as The Bread the Devil Knead.<\/a><\/em> Another has been accepted by the independent publisher 1000 Volt Press<\/a> (which is run by by ex-husband and his wife, author Victoria Raschke<\/a>, in Tennessee).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ve begun work co-editing a collection of essays and artwork with some amazing co-editors, also for 1000 Volt Press. I started free poetry workshops for young poets with the assistance of one of the poets who competed in the slam, Ronaldo Mohammed. I’m writing a proposal for a food foraging project with an NGO. I’ve been commissioned to ghostwrite a memoir.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Jamaican thespian E Wayne McDonald cast me as the character Florie Barton a staged reading of Steve Carter’s play Eden<\/a>; it will premiere on November 29, 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not all that work was paid or will be paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

God also sent abundance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I got church hampers and government hampers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I got a TT Government COVID-19 creative industries relief grant. I won a CATAPULT Stay Home Artist Residency<\/a> for the film script. FemCom also won a CATAPULT Caribbean Artist Showcase grant<\/a> to stage an extraordinary edition of The Givin’ Trouble Show<\/a> between stand-up comedians on their pandemic pivot, co-hosted by Dr Suzanne Burke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I didn’t get an agent, though for the first time one actually read and like the manuscript I submitted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What I’ve come to realise is this: As an artist, I rely on God entirely. He sees my need. He knows my situation. He works through me. He supplies. Bless His name: El Shaddai, the All-Sufficient God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Postscript: While I was editing this post, FemCom was invited to stage limited-audience outdoor shows at a new venue. El Shaddai, take win.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When COVID-19 hit Trinidad and Tobago and we first went into lockdown, I had just completed the first FemCom stage show of the year, our International Women’s Day show Givin’ Trouble, at the historic Little Carib Theatre. Within a month my comedy partner, Louris, and I were aware that there would likely be no more […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-column"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lisaallen-agostini.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lisaallen-agostini.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lisaallen-agostini.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lisaallen-agostini.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lisaallen-agostini.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1005"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/lisaallen-agostini.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1005\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1009,"href":"https:\/\/lisaallen-agostini.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1005\/revisions\/1009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lisaallen-agostini.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lisaallen-agostini.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lisaallen-agostini.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}