Writing Challenge #3 - Nazi Dildo Lady

Hi folks

Just a reminder, there’s 101 of you, and only 1 of me, so I appreciate your patience as we get this thing up and running in the early days.  

I’ll get to any questions as I quickly I can make my way through all the emails which, with 101 of you, are numerous - but that’s good, it means you’re writing, which is the whole point of this thing :)

In addition to my standard 8am to 5pm weekday day job, I have a second part time job some evenings and most weekends so… I’m still working out the juggling act with 44 more playwrights this year than last year.  We’ll get there :)

QUESTION ABOUT HOW TO SUBMIT WORK

There is a section of every email and blog post about 2/3rds of the way down that lists all the different ways you can submit your work each day by the 12 noon Central Time deadline.  Most folks are using some version of the emailing option - either replying to the original challenge email or sending an email labeled Challenge #(whatever it is) with the work attached as a doc or pdf, or just copy/pasted directly into the body of the email.  Part of the reason I send you all your own individual challenge email is so we don’t have to worrying about an accidental group Reply All situation :). Any of the other listed options (Google docs, blogs, links, etc.) are all fine as well.  Just make sure I have permission to access, and if I have problems getting in I’ll let you know.

CONFUSION ABOUT WHAT CHALLENGE TO DO WHAT DAY, ETC.

Since I’m trying to send things a day early to give you all more time to write, it can get confusing so here’s an easy way to figure out what to do.
Look at the calendar.
Whatever the number of the date is, that’s the number of the challenge you should be working on that day.
So if it’s November 3rd,
you’re writing challenge 3,
and turning it in no later than 12 noon Central Time on November 4th.
You can always work ahead and turn things in early but you don’t have to.
And if you’re ever lost in the flurry of different challenge emails you receive, just check the date on the calendar.
And if you have questions about what you’ve turned in and what you haven’t, you can always check in with me.
I’m tracking it all on a spreadsheet day by day - what gets turned in when and how many pages it is, so I can track general statistics about the overall output of the group, and who’s written all 30 days.

QUESTION ABOUT FORMAT

People were concerned about format.

Don’t worry about format.  As long as it’s legible and in English, we’re very flexible.

Just like voting, we don’t want format to get in the way of writing :)

We have a whole post about that :). It’s part of a list of handy tips about half way down every email and blog post.


VOTING

If you haven’t already voted, please do.
Vote early if you have the option.
And if it’s long lines on Election Day, Tuesday, November 5th or nothing, then we do have deadline amnesty for whenever you vote, be it that day or the days prior.
We don’t want writing to get in the way of voting, or vice versa.

If you’re looking for information on how and where to vote, your Secretary of State’s website is a good resource - Minnesota, here’s yours
If you want to work off some nervous energy, volunteer opportunities can be found here, among other places.

And if you’re looking for reasons to vote, I posted my top three, two of which are theater-related.

For My Goddaughter

1 Million People Are Dead Who Didn’t Need To Be

I’m A Queer Theater Artist


The first collections of electronic pages are already coming in.

So exciting to see you all so productive.

Hope you're having fun.

Let’s get you the next writing prompt…

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Challenge #3 - Nazi Dildo Lady

Due: Monday, November 4th, 12pm noon Central Time
(1pm Eastern Time, 11am Mountain Time, 10am Western Time for the US Time Zones)


Mostly, I use my phone to play music.  But I do still get random news alerts.

Some are more random than others.

Once, when I was checking my phone right before writing group started, to see if anyone was trying to call or text that they were on their way, a news alert popped up with the headline:

“A locally hated dyslexic hair stylist battles the Christian Right in a Texas town”

Which just sounds like a weird hybrid of the films “Steel Magnolias” and “Footloose”

The writing group attendees insist I write the headline down to use later.



Sometimes the news alerts have quotes as headlines, so it feels like the phone is trying to admonish me.  One day it was:

“Stop kink shaming people”

Another day it was:

“Love doesn’t have to be unconditional”

Both of these were also from TIME magazine, so I was wondering if perhaps the concept of time, or Father/Mother Time was trying to speak to me.



When looking through my random inspiration folder for writing challenges, I found a file labeled

“Nazi dildo lady”

(What the heck is that? I wondered)

I opened it to discover an old Huff Post headline news alert, saying

“The woman behind a Neo-Nazi network has been exposed - and her past work experience involves dildos”



What strange things have popped up on your phone?  
Any of them, or any of the above, inspire you to write something ridiculous?  Or deadly serious?

Totally up to you.  Go with that thread of inspiration, or write something completely different.

Just write.



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If you’re not interested in this prompt, you can

try 2021’s challenge #3: Start With A Title

Or try 2022’s challenge #3: Clown Family

Or try 2023’s challenge #2: Place Names for People

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 :)

Deadline Amnesty for Voting (and other handy challenge tips)

Don’t Stress About Writing A Full Play

Don’t Stress About Format

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 “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 #3

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 #3
(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.



Again, this is: Due: Monday, November 4th, 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 Monday 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 27 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.

[Stage direction - A hair stylist attends to the hair of a woman dressed in a Nazi uniform.]

[The woman has a box of dildos in her lap.]

STYLIST: Love doesn’t have to be unconditional

[Stage direction - The woman in the Nazi uniform holds her box of dildos aloft with pride.]

NAZI: Stop kink shaming people!

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.

(After you vote, of course :)