Sunday, October 30, 2022

Don’t Stress About “Succeeding” or “Failing”


We had a writer withdraw from the challenge three weeks in last year, with only a week left, which always surprises me.  Their email said, in part:

“I can't keep up trying to write a full length play with a daily prompt. Guess I am out!”

And I’m not going to argue with someone who doesn’t feel like they want to do the challenge anymore.  It’s up to them.

But as one of my teachers used to say, “I don’t think you understood the assignment.”

I kept saying variations on a theme last year to reassure the writers that there’s basically no wrong way to do the challenge but maybe here’s another way of saying it:

Don’t make this harder on yourself than it is.

Don’t make this any more complicated than it is.

All you have to do is write,

something,

each day of the month,

and then submit it by 12 noon Central Time the next day.

That’s it.

What you’re writing can be completely unconnected from what you wrote the day before.

What you’re writing can be completely divorced from the writing prompt for the day.

You don’t have to write a full script.  

You don’t have to incorporate the challenge.

All you have to do is write.

(Doesn’t even need to be good writing.  That’s what rewrites are for.)

And if you just aren’t feeling it on a particularly day, and the inspiration well has run dry for a moment, or time just isn’t on your side and you can’t get something written - you have an escape hatch, a tiny little script at the end of each post and email I put out - or, as some have amusingly done, you can create a mini-play of your own to fulfill the same purpose.

And then just turn around and write something the next day.

Now, if that person who withdrew really couldn’t find the time to do any of that in a day, that’s fine.  Life intervenes, I get it.

But we’re not trying to break anyone here.  

The November playwriting challenge isn’t a series of trick questions.

We’re just trying to encourage you to prioritize your writing, just a little, every day, for a month.

That’s it.

There isn’t a way to fail at this.

If you don’t write one day, that’s OK.  Just write the next day.

No judgment.

Go easy on yourself.  Have fun!

 

 

No comments:

Post a Comment

2023 November Playwriting Challenge Final Numbers

 Hi folks I guess it shouldn’t surprise me that it’s taken me over a week to tidy things up on the November playwriting challenge this year ...