Last week I quit my job. I sat in a cubicle all day, with rarely a meeting to attend, or a window to gaze from. Not that I want to attend endless meetings, but when you hardly move all day, your mind messes with you and you start to believe that meetings equate fun and freedom! They don't. And so one day, I decided if I wasn't doing what I enjoyed then I was wasting my time. Somehow, I channeled some kind of inner, assertive, Oprah-like version of myself and quit my day job. And now here I am: a vision in my dog-breed-patterned pajama bottoms and Halloween socks, eating banana chocolate chip pancakes while listening to the sweet sounds of Silversun Pickups. If that vision doesn't inspire you to quit a job you dislike, then I just can't help you.
When you quit your job, you are supposed to have a plan. I don't have much of a plan, but I do know I want to write. Usually I'll write online articles, but about a month ago I came to the conclusion that it would be best if I wrote a short play. I made it an actual GOAL to write a play. A goal! It should be noted that typically when I make goals, the deadline arrives and I watch my goal sail down the river. This is troublesome, so I was skeptical, and upset, at ambitious me for having created such a lofty goal.
Having never written a play before, I got to work perusing the web for how to write a play. After many diversions to people.com and the omg section of Yahoo!, I managed to wrangle my mind into focus-mode. I found a local short play contest whose deadline was in 2 weeks. For the first week, all I did was brainstorm ideas. I read short plays, I tried to narrow down topic after topic after topic until one day, I had an idea. The following week I wrote. I wrote and wrote and wrote. I wasn't even sure of what I was writing, I just knew I had to let the words spill from my brain. Eventually I wound up with a 15-page play and brought it to my friend's house to have them read it aloud. This was embarrassing. The play was a mess. I went home and spent the entire weekend re-writing the play. When I was finished, I had something that actually made sense. I had written a play.
As somebody who severely lacks confidence, I decided that getting my play copyrighted might help me feel a greater sense of accomplishment. It kind of did. I eventually realized I craved other writers to acknowledge my writing. I didn't care if they thought it was awful (yes I did), I just needed feedback. A couple weeks after I entered my play into the festival I received my feedback: my play made it to the semi-finals round.
My head may have launched off my body at this point and taken a journey through outer-space. While my mind explored other galaxies, I received the best news of all: my play made it to the finals! This little play is going to be performed in September. Somehow, I got lucky. I still don't believe it. Frequently, I think somebody hacked into the festival email and sent everybody an email saying they made it. I'll probably think that up until it's actually performed. I cannot wait to see my play come to life. For all the confusion, bumps, and missteps I'm sure to encounter on this journey, stay tuned!
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