August Writing Challenge: 31 Plays in 31 Days

Lately I haven’t focused enough attention on my creative writing. I have dedicated much of my time towards building up my writing career, creating blog posts on content marketing and social media, and (of course) towards my own summer reading club.

But when it comes to writing fiction and plays, I have been far from disciplined.

Fortunately a happy accident happened: I came across the 31 Plays 31 Days website.

What is the 31 Plays in 31 Days Challenge?

I could write a summary explaining this August writing challenge, but let’s keep it simple with the bare bones of it:

Who: You (of course!)

What: Write a play of any length and submit it each day (Submitting the plays is optional and available to help writers keep on track)

When: The entire month of August

Where: Wherever you like to write

Why: Because you like writing challenges and/or need the pressure to start writing again

Why I’m Taking on the Challenge (and You Should Too!)

Reason #1

For years, I have struggled writing my novel. For some time, it was because I needed to deeply explore my characters (and myself as a writer) in order to define the exact direction I wanted to take the story. Then it was because I was still getting my grasp on plot structure.

But now I have all the tools in place. I’m simply not writing the words.

If I’m honest with myself, I can’t blame time. I’m simply daunted by the fact that novel writing includes writing descriptions of people, places, things and actions. This often bogs my writing process down because I want to jump right to the dialogue of the scene. I get so caught up in needing to slow down and describe so-and-so or such-a-place that my creative inspiration quickly drains from me.

This writing challenge presents a solution to my problem. I can write each scene as a play so I can get the dialogue and action down on paper. When the month is over, I can go back and restructure the dialogue into novel form and insert the needed descriptions with purpose.

Reason #2

For the past year, I have submitted my full-length play to multiple festivals, production calls, contests, reading series and residency opportunities.

When an opportunity to submit a ten-minute or one-act play came up, I simply skipped over it because I didn’t have time to create something to submit.

By accepting this August writing challenge, I can write many shorter plays that I keep putting off writing. With a bigger play portfolio, I’ll be able to submit my work to more theatre opportunities.

So, What Does That Mean For This Blog?

Just as I do for my version of NaNoWriMo, I’ll document my weekly progress throughout August on my blog.

Every week, I’ll let you know what types of plays I’ve written as well as share my successes and challenges.

But enough blogging. Time to get writing!

Will you join me on the 31 Plays in 31 Days challenge? Let me know in the comments section below!