Writing Challenge #9 - Song Lyrics Quartet (Write Nov. 9th)

Hi folks

More words of encouragement for artists from Erica Elan

If you’re questioning the significance of making art right now…
Creating art right now is foundational because it gives voice and rhythm to the movement. Music and design have played central roles in global organizing.

Please keep making art because…
It becomes an archive: every painting, poem, mural, zine, song and photograph resists erasure.
Thank you for creating.

The day this is going out to you, 11/8 - after you’ve turned in your writing for Challenge #7 - you’ve all officially made it through your first week of writing for the the challenge!

The first seven days will be complete.

Update on yesterday, Challenge 6 statistics on the first pass look like this:

85 playwrights, turning in 266 pages (material totaling two full-length plays plus a short one-act play, not bad at all :)

Congrats to all who’ve been cranking out the pages and prioritizing your own writing a little bit (or a lot) each day for a whole week.  Well done.

And, as always, if you miss a day, don’t waste any time beating yourself up about it.

Just write again the next day.

On with week two!

Let’s get you that writing prompt…

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Challenge #9 - Song Lyrics Quartet

Write Sunday, November 9th - or earlier if you like
Due: Monday, November 10th, 12pm noon Central Time 
(1pm Eastern Time, 11am Mountain Time, 10am Western Time for the US Time Zones)


This one’s courtesy of Threshold Theater company member (and costume designer) Aella Rose-Hill.  They said with their list, “I'm also someone who's inspired a lot by music, whether it's for costume designing, illustrating, writing, etc... so I've included some song lyrics as well.”

The first lines are from the song “Tiny Love” by MIKA

"It's not a sunrise over canyons shaped like hearts
It isn't bursting into song in Central Park... 
It's a 'still-there-Monday-morning' kind of love" 

There’s also a colorful and deeply strange video to with the song.


The second lines are from the song “Armies of the Night” by Sparks

"It's a sleepy sort of night, the last thing that I want is sleep
It's a peaceful sort of night, the last thing that I want is peace" 

Here’s the whole track


The last of Aella’s lyrical offerings is from the song “Whole New World/Pretend World” by SOPHIE

"Promises might come true
Promises of a life uncontained
Seafoam blue" 

Here’s the whole track


And the title of that song reminded me of a song I’m quite fond of, “Whole New You” the title track of an album by Shawn Colvin.  The chorus ends with:

“Take all your tears and save them for a rainy night.
Make a wish on every star that’s fallin’.
Shake your head in wonder when it’s all
Too good to be true,
Like a whole new you.”

Here’s the whole track


See if the words of the lyrics, the music they’re part of, the videos or the general sound, strike a creative chord with you and spur you on some writing of your own.

Or ignore us and do your own thing.

Just write something.

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

try 2021’s challenge #9: The Bechdel Test

Or try 2022’s challenge #9: “Whose Meadow Is This?”

Or try 2023’s Challenge #9: Not My Blood

Or try 2024’s challenge #9: Site Specific Theater in Anaconda, Montana

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 #9

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 9 :) 
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 Sunday, November 9th - or earlier if you like
Again, this is: Due: Monday, November 10th, 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 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 21 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.

Morning light comes in the windows.

The cherries by the knife on the table look like they’re bleeding.

But two people lie side by side on the floor.  Not bleeding.

Just breathing contentedly, still half asleep.

Still there, Monday morning.

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)