Waiting and Anticipating
Happy Spring! I am sometimes frustrated by the weather, sometimes technology, and sometimes both. For example, I did attempt to publish something similar to this a few minutes ago, and was sadly told by Microsoft Explorer that something awful had occurred, some fatal error or the like, and it was shutting down. HOW DARE YOU? I silently raged, shaking my fist invisibly. I just wrote something brilliant! Of course, that's not true--I wrote something mildly amusing and informative, at best--but I can dream, can't I? 'Damn you, technology!' I silently rant in my best Jon Stewart voice. (Sigh. I love Jon Stewart. I'm too tired to watch The Daily Show tonight, but I'm taping it for tomorrow night, when I'm more alert and can appreciate his humor better.)
Oddly enough, I was writing about waiting for someone, ANYONE, to accept one of my short plays for their competition. Odd b/c here I am, waiting again for the blog to finish, sending something else out that may or may not be successful (one would think self-publishing would be safe enough, but not where technology is involved!). Of course, I'm not going to reject myself; I'll leave that to the millions (okay, tens or ones) of people who read this and think, Eh, she's not so clever or Wow, she's got a lot to say and she does so in such a perceptive, thoughtful, and eclectic way! Or those in between who have their moments of amusement in between fits of boredom. In any case, this is as close as I've come to being published so far. That could change any moment, of course, if the Dragonfly Festival--wherefore art thou, Dragonfly?--decides to accept my 20 minute play entitled UNCHARTED TERRITORY (chances: slim to none, considering it was a fairly rough draft AND others have already been accepted), or if the One - on - One Festival likes my one-woman show, WORKIN' PROGRESS (I was supposed to have heard by now, so that's not the best sign, but they are running behind, the producer told me), or if the one to two minute festival in Rhode Island thinks COMPUTER GUY is worthy of a quick entrance.
Oh, yes; there is also the Lumina Festival, to which I submitted both CHAIR, a five minute monologue about an emotive woman projecting onto an inanimate object, and PEANUT BUTTER SANDWICHES, a 10 minute suicidal mother/outcast daughter relationship piece. I know, I'm nothing if not full of fun. ;-) And there are a couple other festivals sprinkled in as well. I figured, Send it all out and see what sticks. You can't win if you don't try. The early bird catches the worm...er...no, that cliche doesn't work. Anyway, you get my point.
I frequently fantasize, particularly before bed, about all of them choosing to produce my pieces, and my being able to boast about it on my favorite bulletin board and in the Emerson and Mount Holyoke Alumane Magazines (as I rarely have anything of interest to report; make that pretty much never). And then I could say to friends and family, Well, I may not be Suzan-Lori Parks, the Pulitzer-winning playwright whose brilliant play TOP DOG/ UNDER DOG I hope to see in Newton this weekend, and whom I trained at the Mount Holyoke radio station a hundred years ago, but I have some talent. I can call myself a writer. I've written AND I've been produced! Clearly, one shouldn't need external validation to feel good about one's writing, but clearly I do. Plus, it would be fun to see my work staged (or read), and I think it would be ample impetus to keep writing. In the meantime, I have this blog to turn to, and perhaps it will inspire me to continue my literary efforts. If not, I can honestly say, I've been published, and no one can disagree. I will not be dissuaded, even by Microsoft Explorer.
Full disclosure: I hope some festival says yes. Just submitting is not enough. I want external validation! External validation rocks!
I'll keep you posted.
Oddly enough, I was writing about waiting for someone, ANYONE, to accept one of my short plays for their competition. Odd b/c here I am, waiting again for the blog to finish, sending something else out that may or may not be successful (one would think self-publishing would be safe enough, but not where technology is involved!). Of course, I'm not going to reject myself; I'll leave that to the millions (okay, tens or ones) of people who read this and think, Eh, she's not so clever or Wow, she's got a lot to say and she does so in such a perceptive, thoughtful, and eclectic way! Or those in between who have their moments of amusement in between fits of boredom. In any case, this is as close as I've come to being published so far. That could change any moment, of course, if the Dragonfly Festival--wherefore art thou, Dragonfly?--decides to accept my 20 minute play entitled UNCHARTED TERRITORY (chances: slim to none, considering it was a fairly rough draft AND others have already been accepted), or if the One - on - One Festival likes my one-woman show, WORKIN' PROGRESS (I was supposed to have heard by now, so that's not the best sign, but they are running behind, the producer told me), or if the one to two minute festival in Rhode Island thinks COMPUTER GUY is worthy of a quick entrance.
Oh, yes; there is also the Lumina Festival, to which I submitted both CHAIR, a five minute monologue about an emotive woman projecting onto an inanimate object, and PEANUT BUTTER SANDWICHES, a 10 minute suicidal mother/outcast daughter relationship piece. I know, I'm nothing if not full of fun. ;-) And there are a couple other festivals sprinkled in as well. I figured, Send it all out and see what sticks. You can't win if you don't try. The early bird catches the worm...er...no, that cliche doesn't work. Anyway, you get my point.
I frequently fantasize, particularly before bed, about all of them choosing to produce my pieces, and my being able to boast about it on my favorite bulletin board and in the Emerson and Mount Holyoke Alumane Magazines (as I rarely have anything of interest to report; make that pretty much never). And then I could say to friends and family, Well, I may not be Suzan-Lori Parks, the Pulitzer-winning playwright whose brilliant play TOP DOG/ UNDER DOG I hope to see in Newton this weekend, and whom I trained at the Mount Holyoke radio station a hundred years ago, but I have some talent. I can call myself a writer. I've written AND I've been produced! Clearly, one shouldn't need external validation to feel good about one's writing, but clearly I do. Plus, it would be fun to see my work staged (or read), and I think it would be ample impetus to keep writing. In the meantime, I have this blog to turn to, and perhaps it will inspire me to continue my literary efforts. If not, I can honestly say, I've been published, and no one can disagree. I will not be dissuaded, even by Microsoft Explorer.
Full disclosure: I hope some festival says yes. Just submitting is not enough. I want external validation! External validation rocks!
I'll keep you posted.
posted by Sue B at 8:45 AM
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