After months of writing a musical, one USC grad student decides to take a break

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Reporter Melissa Kaplan set out to finish writing a one-woman musical. She’s been documenting the process in a recurring series for ARN. Armed with prior knowledge as a performing musician and songwriter, Kaplan gave herself five months to finish the project. But, as she explains in this installment, her health might be getting in the way of the impending deadline. Check out the other stories in Melissa's ongoing series here.

I like to set high goals for myself. It feels great. I've never read any self help books about purpose-driven lives, but I imagine I could stir up enough purpose to write one based on the way I feel about my musical.

But it seems that the rest of me needs to catch up with my drive.

At least, that's what my body told me in mid-March, when my acting class had a short showcase of performance projects. I went up to do eight minutes of the musical I had kept practicing for months.

Some of my classmates had seen my first show at USC, and told me I had vastly improved since my first time performing it. The weekend acting classes had really been paying off.

"Cool," I thought, in between sneezes.

After the show, I was stuck in bed for about a week and a half with a weird illness that my doctors says is triggered by stress.

Between music and performance classes and working to support myself through said endeavors, it seems I didn't leave any time for regular meals or sleep.

At this point, my musical isn't nearly done, and I'm close to graduating. But I'm the one setting these goals, not my professors. If I think of myself as behind, my body starts to wish it were back in bed.

So the big lessons I've learned have nothing to do with nuances in my performing, the art of storytelling, or new ways to write good music. Here's what I'm taking with me after graduate school:

1. Treat your body well with good food, enough water, and at least seven hours of sleep.
2. Don't let your goals make you go Moby Dickcrazy.

I'll be back after a short nap.