Tag Archives: playwriting 28 plays later

Here we go again!

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So is it already a year since I last embarked on writing a play every day for a month BUT also ran every day too? I can be pretty extreme at times it has to be said, and have always loved a challenge, but am I about to do a crazy thing like that again? Surely there’s no time for that. I have two full length plays to concentrate on ( One coming up at The Space arts centre end of May https://twitter.com/clock_flowers plug plug) that need fresh drafts. I have other work on and other paid work to write for…. and responsibilities and kids and let’s face it the flat hasn’t has a good clean in like…well cough cough..a while. There are no good reasons to be doing this apart from this fact. I felt like in amongst the chaos that is life, this small 28 day challenge kept my mind and mental well being on the straight and narrow path of purpose. That, and a feeling of achievement and completion that you often don’t feel as a self employed artist. Hell yes I’m doing it again. List of reasons why:

  1. It was a good habit to get into. Even when you didn’t feel like writing you know you have to. There’s a deadline. There’s not time to think too much. You have to write, whether its crap or well vaguely alright.
  2. ‘There’s no time’. I did some of them in my notes on my Phone, uploaded them at home and then didn’t feel tied to one spot. So that was a few lines of dialogue on the tube, bus, lunch time etc. They’re short plays. Not three acts.
  3. A lot of them were rubbish, but that’s not the point, some of them had and have real potential. So many competitions now ask for short plays, and there you have them marked in your ’28 plays’. With a bit of refining, some are good to go.
  4. It keeps me sane. Writing can be a lonely old business. Through social media channels and other writer friends, I felt connected to a bigger thing, a writer’s community where a collective movement was keeping us buoyed up together. So what you waiting for? Still time just about to sign up and who knows this time next year one of them may be the best thing you’ve ever written! More info here : http://www.theliteralchallenge.com/28-plays-later-entryh   

See you on the other side. Oh and there’s few on here from last year.!

More info here : http://www.theliteralchallenge.com/28-plays-later-entryh 

28 plays 28 runs. Day one. ‘Out in the field’

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So I’ve  embarked on a crazy plan.

I like a challenge.  So rather than one, I’ve set myself two. Greedy? Stupid? Massive avoidance technique of sorting my life out? Probably yes to all of the above but still, it seems like an opportunity to learn and strengthen two different muscles.

I’m signed up to ‘28 plays later’ where you sign up with lots of other people and commit to writing a play every day. You get the prompt at 10pm every night and then have 36 hours to send the play in. Not content with one challenge and with no work (yet) till next month I have also decided to do a double challenge,and that’s to run too! It’s an experiment to see if I feel more inspired, confident, or come up with new ideas.

There’s probably some huge insecurity in me if I bothered to mine deep enough, about how I’ll never be good enough for anything or anyone, asking myself why I put myself through these personal quests, but I ‘d rather run and write it out for now and enjoy the act of ‘Doing’ rather than over thinking too much.  I think that’s the point. I can be very determined when I want to be ( maybe not enough to make enough money in the conventional sense whatever that is, or buy a house) but once I set my mind on something, that’s it; I’m engaged and committed and you don’t want to see me at midnight when I’m trying to finish something off.

There’s actually a third challenge in this that I hadn’t thought of and that is giving myself permission to do this. The demon part of me (even though I do bring in a small but useful income to our family life) is shouting ‘When are you going to get a proper job, when are you going to grow up, and when will you set yourself  the challenge of trying to  actually appear like someone who has finally ‘made something of themselves’ but again, what is the point of that?  That voice has been ringing in my ears for years now so I might as well just carry on.

So here is challenge no 1.  My Short play ‘Out in the field’ And underneath, my run. 4.38 miles in 43.31 mins.

Out in the field

See you tomorrow !