When Opportunity Knocks...

I write every day.

I write this blog.

I write my Facebook posts.

I occasionally even write new plays.

I wrote three pilots last year.

I wrote about four drafts of one.

Then I changed my idea for it.

This year I wrote another pilot.

I wrote about five drafts of that one.

It was pretty good.

But I wanted to do some rewrites on it.

I had a plan to do some rewrites before

Mercury went retrograde again

(in a few days)

I had been coming up with ideas for the rewrite

Over the past few weeks

I had my stories laid out

I had a decent idea of how the characters

Would be different

This time around.

Then I went away for four days.

Recharged my batteries.

Had some great revelations about life.

Took a dance class.

Saw old friends.

Saw former students.

Came back recharged.

Then I got an email on Tuesday

Letting me know that I had

Been nominated to submit for the

Fox Writers Initiative

And then I checked the website to see

When the application was due:

Friday.

Four days

If

I counted the day I was in.

I thought to myself

"I can get this done."

I've rewritten things quickly before.

But I want this to be good.

I don't want this to be a rush job.

Then I thought,

"Against all odds, this happened.

"I need to finish this script."

When the Universe speaks...

It speaks loudly.

It's an Opportunity

And who am I to be so 

arrogant to say that

I don't have enough time.

The Universe conspires...

Long story short: I got it done.  The Universe did me a solid and sent me an opportunity to get this script done.  I outlined on Tuesday and I wrote most of it on Wednesday and Thursday.  I had the very last part to finish on Friday.  I got everything signed and notarized.  I drove it over to Fox and handed it in by 5:30.

Why share this?  Do I really need to brag?  Did I really need to write this as a poem?

So many questions...

It's said that luck is opportunity meeting preparation.  I wasn't totally prepared with a final draft of the version of the story I wanted to tell.  But I had been working on it.  I had been stalling a bit as well.  And the Universe basically told me to get out of my head.  Sometimes we need that push. Sometimes we get in our own way.

Sometimes we don't trust ourselves and we don't appreciate what we have.  I'm learning that in a big way.  

My friend Susan said to me recently that we just need to own it.  We want to be humble and grateful.  But what we really need to be is entitled.  We deserve to stand front and center.  Having all the talent in the world is a real gift, but if you don't appreciate the gift and if you don't do everything to get it out there, then are you disrespecting the gift?

I wrote that script not just because I wanted to win something.  I wrote it because it was time for it to be written.  It was time for certain doors to be unlocked.  It lit a fire under my ass.

Do I want to be awarded the top prize for this Fox Writers Initiative?  You bet.  I want it more than anything.  But I want more than that is the attitude that comes with winning because you know you deserve it.  You know that you've done your best.  That's the prize.  And that way you're always winning.  

It's just that sometimes the prize is money.  Or a job.  Or an agent.  Or your own TV show.  And sometimes it's that you wrote a damn good script.  And the prize it on its way.