Throughout the year, we’ve we’re been following a few brave listeners who told us about their creative New Year’s Resolutions for 2014 — including a lawyer turned painter and a rock star hoping to write a musical.
Julie Bayley, from the Bronx, was a stand-up comic years ago, but gave it up for a steady job — a successful career in advertising. But she missed it, and she resolved to write a new set of material and get back on stage in 2014. She started strong, writing every day and even recording some of her work. But Bayley had major surgery this year, and when she got out of the hospital, she had trouble getting back into the groove. It wasn’t just her health. “Quite frankly, this summer has not been a great summer for our country — with Ferguson and ISIL,” she tells Kurt Andersen. “The older I get, I’m finding things laughable, but not necessarily funny.”
It may not happen this year, but Bayley isn’t giving up. “There’s still that voice inside of me that says, ‘No, there’s still something there, you’ve just got to find it,’” she says. “And I don’t know yet how to do that, but I know that I’m not going to stop trying.”
→ Got advice for Julie? Leave a comment for her below.