Big Mistake

I wrote a play last year that I lot of my peers loved. They kept telling me that someone would want to pick it up and do it. I submitted it to all of the regular play submission opportunities. Nothing has happened so far. I just got a rejection from the conference I was hoping to get into and that I thought I had an in at. And we're pretty much at the end of the line for that stuff anyway.

I did myself a big favor. I didn't listen to my peers when they said that someone was going to do it. I wrote another play to distract myself from listening to any noise surrounding the play. Even though everything was a complement, I knew the expectations set were going to make me feel a certain way if nothing happened. And certainly it wasn't like "nothing happened." I just didn't get into any of the development programs this summer.

But this play got me a TV job and a manager. There was talk of a production, which I'm not sure is happening any more. But the theatre company I just joined might be a great place to do it with. If I had just set my eyes on waiting around for that one particular opportunity - or series of similar opportunities - to happen, I would be a pretty miserable guy today. 

People and Oprah say that God can dream an even bigger dream than you can for yourself.  I'd agree with that.

And I have another play that I finished in February specifically because I wanted to focus on other things. I got that play written in four months. And that play got me into the theatre company I'm working with now and we're doing a workshop in August. So I can't complain because there are a ton of things going on because I sat down and was productive. But if I was heart set on one particular thing, then right now I'd be disappointed. 

And those opportunities are prestigious and they mean something. But they don't pay a lot. And they're just one opportunity to be productive. All of the things I want to get out of those opportunities, I'm doing now in town. It's sometimes  hard to remember that. I'm making money. And wrote the play - that's the reward. People liked it. That's all that matters, actually.

I'm still going to apply to these things because they're things to apply to. And it's important to have my name out there, for sure. But they're not the only game in town.

It would have been a big mistake to only focus on one kind of result.

I am grateful for options.

I am grateful for friends.

I am grateful for writing dates.

I am grateful for good food.

I am grateful for my health.

I am grateful for my family.

I am grateful that I get to take a trip to Portland to visit my brother and his family next month.