Creatively Challenged

This year has been full of challenges. I have been trying to get work done through these challenges. And it hasn't been easy. These challenges have popped up every month, especially over the past two months. First, in February there was the Playwriting Challenge, where I had to write a play in a month. And in October there was the TV Pilot Writing Challenge and in November I added a TV Pilot Rewrite Challenge. You see, I have taken on these Challenges by choice.

Ha ha. See what I did there?

I know I won't get work done unless I set my own deadlines. And I find that peer pressure helps. The Playwrights Union, the group of LA-based playwrights that I participate in, has been doing their Playwriting Challenge for years in February. Since becoming a member, I have participated in three of their Challenges. You write a play in February, then the group reads what you've read in a marathon weekend of readings, and that sets you up for their play reading festival in May. The structure is designed so that playwrights can have a head start on plays they will submit in the fall to play development programs. The first year I brought in 52 pages I had written. I didn't know where it was headed, but once I heard it, I realized what the play was about and I finished a first draft in four days. The second year I participated, I brought in 119 pages of a complete, overwritten play. I heard what was wrong with it and then I did some great rewrites. That play has gotten some traction. This year, I had the good fortune of working on a play with a local theatre company in town and I wrote the first draft of the play in tandem with the Playwriting Challenge. I wrote a messy first draft. Four days later, I had that messy first draft read again for my play development group. Six weeks later, I had draft two. Six weeks after that I had a public reading of a new draft. Nine weeks after that I had a workshop that was a few drafts later. And a month later, I had a final reading of the new play with rehearsal and brilliant actors. But it all got started in February. I knew that the work I did on the play, probably ten drafts, would not have been possible if I had not been pushed and "challenged" constantly over an eight month period.

When I came out of that relentless process, I realized I hadn't written anything else that year. I realize that I strong draft of a play is a lot for a year. But I don't have regular employment right now, so I feel like my job is to constantly write. I hadn't written any pilots this year. I had a pilot I wrote four drafts of last year and early this year. But it wasn't finished. And I had an entirely new take on it. But I had no time to work on it while I was working on the play. My interest and desire were solely focused on the play. I kept trying to work on other stuff, but I just couldn't. But I was exhausted and so used to having the push from the theatre that I knew I needed another push to write a new TV pilot and to get this rewrite done.

So I volunteered to organize the TV Pilot Writing Challenge for the second year in a row. And that was great because it kept me on my toes. I figured if I needed the challenge, I was going to have to organize it myself. Fourteen of us started out. Nine of us continued. And five of us wrote full pilots in October. Then I knew I needed to work on the rewrite. What to do? I initiated the Pilot Rewrite Challenge for November. Three of us decided to do that. One writing team decided to drop out. Now it's just two of us. And it actually might just be me. But I'm on board to finish. I have twenty pages left of a rewrite. But it motivated me to get other work done.

This is the thing about working. When you're tired, sometimes you just need to push through and you'll get a second, third or fourth wind. I'm probably on my sixth or seventh at this point. Because while I was supposed to work on this pilot rewrite, I would get distracted. I started the redraft of the old pilot and I'm 46 pages into that. I have two more acts to write. I started a new play last month as well because of a different kind of challenge. I was feeling good about this play that I wrote and it seems to be a play that's both timely and has been well-received by people who have read it or seen the readings. Now that sets up an expectation for me. In order to distract myself from that expectation, I figured I needed to start something new.

Yes, I realize I was already writing two new TV projects. That should be distracting enough. But no. I had to start the new play I had been thinking about. Something about working on a new play felt necessary. I didn't matter if I was working on fourteen poems, a short story and a novel. It didn't matter if I was writing a handbook or a zillion blog posts. I had to replace the anxiety with another play. It's these little tricks I try and play on myself to make life livable.

So now I have to figure out a "challenge" for December. I want to have something polished to send out so I can look for new reps by the end of the year. So December will probably be about choosing the one pilot I can polish in two weeks.

That makes me think about 2016. Should that be my structure for the year? A year of Challenges? And maybe they can be different sorts of challenges, not just writing related. But I like the idea of having monthly achievements. A year of them, though? That's something to think about.

What would that look like?

January: TV Pilot Rewrite
February: Playwriting Challenge
March: One run a day Challenge
April: Play Rewrite Challenge
May:
June: Sober Challenge
July:
August:
September: Mediation Challenge
October: TV Pilot Challenge
November: TV Pilot Rewrite Challenge
December:

And it's important to leave things open to have room to move around. So May, July, August and December I have nothing scheduled yet.

I have to think of some new challenges for myself. I like the idea of having a structured year like that where I do one challenge a month. There's room for a screenplay challenge. There's room for a lot of things that can improve my mind, body and spirit. But with everything, it's good to put that energy out there and then forget about it. Focus and then forget.

I am grateful that I'm teaching in January.
I am grateful that I had such a productive week last week.
I am grateful that it's Thanksgiving on Thursday.
I am grateful for true friendship.
I am grateful that I know how to be grateful.