Hi folks
Initial results from Challenge 8 submissions yesterday:
80 playwrights, serving up 308 pages
(again, two full-length plays’ worth, plus an additional one-act - you folks are relentless in the best possible way :)
Another milestone behind us - 10 days in - we’re a third of the way there!
Well done, everybody!
Hang in there and keep going.
As much as anything, we’re just trying to establish a new habit of writing, even if it’s just a little bit, every day.
If you miss a day, no worries.
Don’t beat yourself up.
Just write the next day.
Now let’s get you that writing prompt…
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Challenge #11 - Unfinished Thoughts
Write Tuesday, November 11th - or earlier if you like
Due: Wednesday, November 12th, 12pm noon Central Time
(1pm Eastern Time, 11am Mountain Time, 10am Western Time for the US Time Zones)
This one’s the conjuring of Threshold Theater managing director and co-founder David Schlosser, who sometimes likes nothing more than to leave you all a blank to fill in at the end of a sentence in order to get something started. Here’s a few:
It was 3am and the text read…
Life took us in different paths, you career, marriage and family and I…
(Now, when this one was originally sent to me, it didn’t have the word marriage in it. David’s original phrase was…
Life took us in different paths, you career, mirage and family and I…
Mirage is a word, so spellcheck won’t help you catch that one. However, what if, rather than career, marriage and family, it was instead actually career, mirage and family?)
The most pathetic words a human can say, start with…
My phone rang from the other room, I fumbled to turn off water, shampoo running in my eyes, I reached for the towel and…
See what one or more of those might stir up in your brain.
Or don’t. And go your own way.
Just write something.
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If you’re not interested in this prompt, you can
try 2021’s challenge #11: Punk Monkey, Film Noir and Ride The Pink Horse
Or try 2022’s challenge #11: Background Music
Or try 2023’s Challenge #11: Fake Tour Guide
Or try 2024’s challenge #11: SISU
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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How to submit your work for Challenge #11
We’re streamlining the process this year with a Google form,
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdy-wyjz-IITaNsOkXM1zVQu_yrt_o7E4Vp2eQnr-8VNnu49w/viewform?usp=header
but you still have multiple options for how you submit your playwriting output for the day.
After you enter the required fields of
email,
name,
challenge number (for today, that’d be 11 :)
and page count,
you can submit your writing in one of four ways:
Save your script as a PDF or Word Doc and upload that document to the Google form.
OR
Post
your script online (on your personal website, as a blog post, or as a
Google doc) and put a link to that online script in the Google form.
OR
Copy/paste your work from another source directly into the Google form
OR
Type directly into the Google form.
(Whichever option you choose, you can leave the other ones blank.)
Write Tuesday, November 11th - or earlier if you like
Again, this is: Due: Wednesday, November 12th, 12pm noon Central Time
(1pm Eastern Time, 11am Mountain Time, 10am Western Time for the US Time Zones)
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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 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 27th (however you recognize the holiday weekend) - 2025 edition
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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 til 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 19 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 makes sense to you.
It just needs to be something.
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And that something can be:
Lights up.
Claire is quizzing Beth.
CLAIRE: The most pathetic words a human can say, start with…
BETH: Why do you always come to me when you want something that sounds pathetic?
CLAIRE: OK, how about, It was 3am and the text read…
BETH: I wouldn’t know, I’m asleep at 3am and my phone is OFF.
[Something shimmers nearby them]
BETH: Oh great, the mirage is back.
CLAIRE: Sure does look tempting, though.
BETH: Beats reality, huh?
They stare at it, a little too long.
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.
Matthew A. Everett
Literary Director
Threshold Theater
(he/him/his)
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