Hi folks
Just a reminder, if you’re doing things one day at a time and not writing ahead, that means the day I’m sending this message to you, Wednesday, 11/26, you’re going to be turning in your writing for Challenge 25 by noon Central Time.
(1 of 2)
Again, I’m sending you two prompts from the future again today, so you can work ahead for the holiday weekend if you wish.
This prompt is the one you would be writing Saturday 11/29 to be turned in on Sunday 11/30 by noon Central Time, but just fill out the Google form and tag it for prompt 29 and you can turn it early and I’ll credit it ahead.
And of course, you can always use the mini-play at the bottom of the email and blog post as an escape hatch for the day’s writing.
Always remember, if you miss one day, don’t beat yourself up, just write again the next day.
The initial numbers for yesterday’s submissions for challenge 24 are:
73 playwrights with material totaling 224 pages
(Or the equivalent of another two full-length plays)
28 down, 2 to go!
(And this prompt is one of those final two :)
We’ve nearly reached the end of November, folks.
Hang in there and keep on writing :)
Let’s get you that first writing prompt of the day…
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Challenge #29 - The Land of Cope and 3 Minutes WTF
Write Saturday, November 29th - or earlier if you like
Due: Sunday, November 30th, 12pm noon Central Time
(1pm Eastern Time, 11am Mountain Time, 10am Western Time for the US Time Zones)
Sitting in traffic or at a stop light, my brain will often play around with the words on the vehicles around me. There was a truck recently that had the brand name “Copeland” on it and my brain broke it in two and flipped it around:
“Ah yes, Copeland, the Land of Cope.”
Then I contemplated other words and names I could crack apart:
Maryland, the Land of Mary (which, depending on whether you’re Catholic or gay or both can mean something completely different)
Island, the Land of Is
Hollywood, the Wood (aka, forest) of Holly
Dollywood, the Wood of Dolly
And so on…
How would these kinds of made up places manifest on stage?
The other random item I’ll throw at you is something that was written in chalk on the running path a few weeks back.
The outdoor path passes underneath a major street at one point and it was in this shadowed passage that someone had written
3 minutes wtf
will change
your life
And under that they drew a heart, the peace sign, and the earth
Three minutes of “what the f*ck”
Hmmm…
Of course I always wonder what prompts people to write the things they do in the places that they choose to do so.
It occurs to me that this would be an interesting place to stage a marriage proposal
That’s certainly 3 minutes wtf
In general, a kiss, whether the first or the last or some other significant kissing milestone, the before during and after of a kiss could be an intriguing and life-changing three minutes.
The last time I saw my mother at the funeral home was brief, but certainly impactful. She was lying in a plain pine box with a simple muslin gown on her body, because she asked to be cremated. Before I stepped away so my brother could have a moment alone with her, I got out my phone to take a picture.
My brother asked, “Are you sure you want to do that?”
Honestly, it was a weird impulse. I’m not a person who takes a ton of pictures. But I figured, I can take the picture and it can just sit on my phone and I might never look at it. But if I don’t take the picture now, I’m not going to get another chance, and I might regret that. So I took the picture.
To lighten the mood I will end with the best three minutes of any day, and that is when I interact with a dog.
The neighbors on either side of me both have dogs. One is a puppy named Sage who thinks people are the most exciting things he’s ever seen, so that is one living creature who I know is always happy to see me.
The other neighbor has two older dogs, and one of them, Mila, took an awfully long time to get used to me, but now she will run right over to me whenever we happen to be in the backyard at the same time.
One of the playwrights in my writing group periodically hosts the group in her home, and her dog, Maple, just vibrates with joy whenever I approach their home and for the entirety of my visit. Apparently she doesn’t do that with everyone, and no one has a clear explanation for why this is, but for some reason I am just the sort of person Maple finds irresistible.
My trainer friend Tim has two enormous dogs, Peppa and Charlie, who I’ve mentioned before. Peppa is the younger, noisier, friendlier one - she just loves attention. Charlie is the older more reserved one, with more guard dog instincts. But they’ve both gotten so used to me now that when a contractor pulled up one day in a car very like my car, Tim reported that the dogs got very excited, and then were very confused when I was not the person who got out of the car.
Three minutes with a dog will turn my whole mood around, so it’s nice I have a regular ensemble of them in my life.
So, what three minute snippet of time could alter your characters’ lives?
Three minutes isn’t a long time. But a lot can happen.
It’s three pages.
What life-altering event can you fit in three pages?
Or, as ever, write whatever you like.
Just write. Something.
Just two days more to the end of our challenge marathon.
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If you’re not interested in this prompt, you can
try 2021’s challenge #29: The Best of Times, The Worst of Times, and The Future
Or try 2022’s challenge #29: Messages After You’re Gone
Or try 2023’s Challenge #29: Snapshots 5 (from Threshold Theater co-founder and Managing Director David Schlosser)
Or try 2024’s challenge #29: Aptronym
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 #29
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 29 :)
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 Saturday, November 29th - or earlier if you like
Again, this is: Due: Sunday, November 30th, 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 November 27th (however you recognize the holiday weekend) - 2025 edition
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
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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 on Sunday 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 one more day 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.
Two people out walking come upon some words and symbols on the path.
They stop and look at them, trying to decipher their meaning.
Then one of the pair gets down on one knee in front of the other, and produces a box with a ring in it.
Surprise!
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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