Hi folks
First, I am, like every other day, cheerleading for you all to be writing and happy and healthy. But we interrupt the daily encouragement section of this blog to also encourage you to do something else, just for the next two days…
This wasn’t a factor during last year’s challenge but since it is this year, for two days I’m going to make an exception:
If you have not already done so, either today (if your state, like Minnesota, allows it) or tomorrow…
Please, please, please, PLEASE vote in the midterm elections.
There will be amnesty on the 12 noon Central Time deadline just for today 11/7 and tomorrow 11/8 if you vote first and then write.
If voting has caused you to miss the 12 noon deadline, for two days and two days only, that will be fine.
(Also, if you happened to vote early November 1 through 6 and that’s why you missed the deadline that day - I will also be persuaded, just let me know.)
For the cadre of writers located in Minnesota, if you are not registered, we have same day registration (for now, anyway). You can vote on the same day you register if that is today or tomorrow.
The Minnesota Secretary of State website (currently run by someone who genuinely wants every eligible citizen to be able to vote, and as easily as possible) is full of all the information you need about voting - including a sample ballot tool with includes the names and offices of everyone running and links to their campaign websites (if they have one) so you can learn more about them.
Secretary of State is on the Minnesota ballot this year, and let’s just say that the challenger doesn’t think we need all this early voting, and would like to see more voter ID, thank you very much. They also appear to not be entirely convinced about the results of the last presidential election. Needless to say, I did not vote for this person.
On another blog, I lay out some of the reasons I voted for who I voted for in Minnesota, if you’re curious.
But regardless of how you vote, the important thing is that we all do so.
Democracy only works if we participate.
Otherwise, you’re just letting someone else decide who gets to make all the policy decisions that impact your life and the life of those you love.
My goddaughter, who cannot yet vote, guides the way I think about all of my voting decision.
So again, deadline amnesty for two days only….
Vote first,
Write later.
Please vote.
I thank you.
And now, the day’s challenge…
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Challenge #8 - Chance Encounters
Due: Wednesday, November 9th, 12pm noon Central Time
(1pm Eastern Time, 11am Mountain Time, 10am Western Time for the US Time Zones)
When I’m out running on the weekends first thing in the morning before I have to go to work at my second day job (wow, whole lot to unpack there, forgive the preface)…
I often pass by complete strangers and wonder, “What the heck is their life like? What’s their story?”
I’ve started to recognize this one older woman who is always out walking around the time I run. One morning when it was still dark (winter descending, the nights lengthening, the days shortening, the sun rising later and later), from a distance she was slowly approaching. I didn’t know it was her at first. There was just a human shape with reflective stripes on it, and a light in the center of its chest. It might have been a robot, which was an interesting thought passing through my mind.
One morning it was two young military guys, with fully loaded packs strapped to their backs, one of them encouraging the other, all smiles, and taking the time to wave and say good morning as they passed.
People out rowing.
The college track team out running, with one runner separated from the pack, going at their own pace, bringing up the rear a few blocks further back.
Couples out running.
An unhoused couple sleeping under a blanket in a field.
Friends out running.
People fishing in the Mississippi River.
A family out biking.
An unhoused person sleeping on a park bench, or in a jungle gym in the park.
A dog leading a runner or the other way around.
And then there’s the people every day who are serving you - coffee, meals, retail shopping, mass transit drivers, parking ramp attendants, ticket takers, ushers, information desk clerks.
There’s the housekeeping, maintenance and security staff of the places you work.
Do you see them? Do you ever talk to them? Do you wonder about them?
If you don’t normally think about them, do that today.
When my second job re-opened and started hiring some of us back after the first year of the pandemic, I chatted with one of the security guards because even when the building was closed, they still needed someone to patrol it and keep it secure, just like they needed a skeleton crew to continue to maintain the facilities to keep them running, and housekeepers to keep it clean. What was it like wandering the building in the middle of the day when it was almost completely deserted like that? Among other things, the security guard started bringing in his guitar and playing it, to fill the building with music, pass the time and break the silence.
He had left the summer of 2019 as part of a program to teach English to students in France. Because he’s fluent in French. He came back a little early in the spring of 2020 because, of course, everything was shutting down all over the world because of the pandemic and he wanted to be closer to his parents. And after his two week quarantine period had passed, he applied for his old job in security and returned to a very different job than the one he left. He was happy to see the hiring begin again, and people returning to the building, and he was even looking forward to the crowds that would come when we opened back up to the public, since he’d had a chance to miss them.
And that’s just part of someone’s actual story. You can feel free to just let your mind wander and make something up.
Think about the people you don’t normally think about, the people you don’t ordinarily see (or at least, the people I normally don’t - you may be better than I am about recognizing everyone else’s humanity at all times than I am. I am, like so many of my scripts, a work in progress.)
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If you’re not interested in this prompt, you can try 2021’s challenge #8:
Series and Cycles
(and no, you don't have to write a whole series or cycle in a day - it's just idea to get you started on something bigger with a few pages - all series and cycles begin somewhere, after all)
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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Friendly Reminders - Answers To Common Questions:
(Follow the links to read me expounding on these items :)
Don’t Forget To Vote: Tuesday, November 8th (or If You Can, By All Means Vote Early)
Don’t Stress About Writing A Full Play
Don’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 Thanksgiving
Don’t Stress About “Succeeding” or “Failing”
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How to submit your work for Challenge #8
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 #8
(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 above in the comments
section on this very blog post for this very challenge on the writing
challenge blog below
Again, this is: Due: Wednesday, November 9th, 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.
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 till 12 noon Central Time on Wednesday 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 22 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.
The security guard does their rounds of an unnaturally empty building in the middle of the day.
They decide to get out their guitar.
They begin to play
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 don't forget to vote :)
Matthew A. Everett
Literary Director
Threshold Theater
(he/him/his)
Coming Up:
Threshold Theater’s New Play Reading Series
A reading of “Leviathan” by Bethany Dickens Assaf
Saturday, November 19, 2022 - 7pm
The Black Hart of Saint Paul - 1415 University Avenue West in St. Paul
Our video recording of our third live play reading in the New Play Reading series, Sam Walsh's "The Visible," is up on our YouTube channel (available to stream through the end of November) -
Support Threshold Theater on Give to the Max Day, November 17th
(Or feel free to give early, any time between November 1st through 16th)
Here's the link: https://www.givemn.org/story/Kssucf
"Write. Find a way to keep alive and write. There is nothing else to say."
- James Baldwin
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