Hi folks
Since I don’t have a good answer to the question “What the hell just happened?” I’ll try answering a simpler question related to the November playwriting challenge.
There’s been some confusion, as there is every year, about when the challenges should be written and when they’re due.
The subject line of the email tells you when it’s due.
The due date and time are also listed just before the text of the day’s challenge itself, normally about a third of the way down the email and blog post.
The due date and time are also listed at the end of the section about how to submit your work, which is part of every challenge email about two thirds of the way down the email and blog post.
Again, if you ever get turned around, look at the date on the calendar:
It’s November 16th -
I should be writing Challenge #16,
which is due by noon Central Time on November 17th.
I’m sending you the emails a day ahead of schedule, to give you the opportunity to have more time to write. I apologize that this also seems to cause confusion as the overlapping challenge messages pile up the further we get into the month.
To see if it helps, I’m going to start adding, as I did today, a suggestion for when to write the challenge, not just when it’s due. This will be in the same three places in the email (including the subject line) and the same three places in the blog post on the challenge blog, as the deadline currently lives.
This is not to be prescriptive, telling you “you must write this day and only this day” - I’m sending it to you early, so feel free to write early. But I’m also not recommending that you wait until the morning of the day it’s due to start writing, unless that’s your thing :)
So let’s get you that writing prompt (which is one of my favorites, and needed more today perhaps than it was in previous years on the 6th and 7th and 8th of November)…
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Challenge #7 - Treat Yourself
Write Nov. 7th
Due: Friday, November 8th, 12pm noon Central Time
(1pm Eastern Time, 11am Mountain Time, 10am Western Time for the US Time Zones)
Because it’s my favorite, I’m offering up this challenge again, our end of the first week tradition - authored by Aaron Sawyer from Red Theater in Chicago back in November 2015 (my first writing challenge as a participant):
“Write something that only you understand and that probably only you enjoy.
If you're not giggling to yourself or blushing you're doing it wrong.
Listen to your Id.
Be naughty!
Be coded.
Be fun.
Comment on your work as you do it.
Break and forget any and every rule except that writing can be FUN.
F-U-N!
Crack yourself up.
Fall in love with yourself again.
Masturbatory writing can unleash some wonderful creative energies.
Treat yourself.”
I got a very unexpected full-length play out of responding to this prompt. I wrote part of a scene that first day of the prompt, and then a couple of days later I thought, “Hey, I think I know what happens next on that scene I wrote the other day.”
And I just kept writing, scenes in and out of order with the same set of characters for about two weeks until I ran out of gas. And I looked up and I had over 120 pages, so I thought, “Well, I’m not sure exactly what this is yet, but I’ve got all the raw material for a two act play. Wow.”
When developing this play in the following months after the challenge that year was over, a writer friend said to me that for quite a while as I was writing an early draft of the script and bringing it to our writing group, they thought, because of the play, that I was actually involved in a secret relationship with [celebrity name redacted] in real life. This is still, on a number of levels, one of the nicest compliments about my writing which I ever received.
The script also remains one of the plays I have the most fun working on. I’m also constantly surprised by the number of other people who enjoy it - because when I began writing it, I was only doing it for myself.
And none of it would have happened if I’d restrained myself in responding to this first prompt.
What would you write if no one was looking or expecting you to take writing “seriously”?
I hope you’re always having fun with these writing challenges. But for this one, really have fun with it, whatever that means to you.
Read over Aaron’s words again, and go for it.
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If you’re not interested in this prompt, you can try 2021’s challenge #7
(in this case, however, it’s just a slightly different version of the same post - this is my tradition, giving you all this prompt at the one week mark to encourage you to not forget to have fun):
Treat Yourself
If you really want some variety, you can peruse the full list of options from
Challenge List 2021
Challenge List 2022
Challenge List 2023
Or, you know, just ignore the prompts altogether and write whatever you want - as long as you’re writing and turning it in by the deadline, that’s all that matters for the challenge :)
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And because we call can get in our own way so easily, here’s some words of reassurance on the basics of this month:
Friendly Reminders - Answers To Common Questions:
(Follow the links to read me expounding on these items :)
Don’t Stress About Writing A Full Play
Don’t Stress About FormatDon’t Stress About Sticking To The Writing Prompt
No. Really. I Mean It. Don’t Stress About Sticking To The Writing Prompt
Don’t Stress About Finishing An Idea (You Can Add Later)
Don’t Stress About “Succeeding” or “Failing”
Don’t Stress About What You’re Turning In Each Day
Don’t Stress About November 28th (however you recognize the holiday weekend)
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How to submit your work for Challenge #7
You have options. They are:
Save your script as a PDF or Word Doc and send as an attachment to an email sent to ThresholdWritingChallenge@gmail.com
OR
Copy and paste your script in the body of an email and send it to ThresholdWritingChallenge@gmail.com
OR
Post your script online (as a Google doc, or in a blog post, on your own personal website, etc.) - email a link to this script to ThresholdWritingChallenge@gmail.com
(If you’re going to Google doc route, just make sure to have the document public, or give permissions to our email address to open it)
When emailing us, make the subject line of your email - Challenge #7
(That just helps us sort through the email more quickly)
(Or, you know, just reply to this email if you want :)
OR
Post the link for the online document option noted above in the comments section below on this very blog post for today's challenge on our writing challenge blog
Write Nov. 7th
Again, this is: Due: Friday, November 8th, 12pm noon Central Time
(1pm Eastern Time, 11am Mountain Time, 10am Western Time for the US Time Zones)
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And, just to reassure you, no, we are not going to be sticklers about you following these directions down to the minutest detail - the important thing is that you write, and then that you share it with us, so we can keep track of who’s writing every day.
We will be VERY understanding about technical difficulties and how they can screw up making the deadline on the first few days. No need to fret about anything except the writing (and hopefully that’s not something causing you to fret too much either :)
Also, no, there is no penalty for finishing and submitting early - but it also isn’t a race, so give yourself all the time up til 12 noon Central Time on Friday to write if you need it. When you’re done, you’re done.
Again, remember, it doesn’t need to be great, it doesn’t even need to be responding to this prompt (the prompt is just there so you’re not staring at a blank screen to start with no idea what to write about :)
Doesn't even need to be complete - you could have the beginning or the middle or the end of an idea, maybe two out of three but not all, that's still fine. This is all about getting things started, you can write more later.
You have 23 more days to build on whatever you come up with today, if you want.
Just get anything on the page, even if won't make sense to anyone else, as long as it make sense to you.
It just needs to be something.
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And that something can be:
Lights up.
Someone you have a crush on turns out to be crushing on you, too.
Lights down.
The End
That’s always your escape hatch, every day.
That’s your base line.
Build on it.
Have fun.
Don’t stress.
Make an impulsive decision and run with it.
Breathe.
You’ve got the day.
Just write.
And take good care of yourselves, and each other.