Best of Luck With All Your Future Endeavors

I bumped into IQCrash in the Artful Writer chat room this Spring. We didn't know one another well, but we had crossed paths a few times before. We compared our outstanding procrastination skills. We chatted about our concern with the upcoming Nicholl Fellowship deadline. I decided to make a bet with him. Now, let me say here that I don't usually bet with strange men I meet on the internet, but it just seemed like the thing to do at the time. In the end, I won. I rushed my script to completion and sent it out.

I had struggled for nearly two years starting scripts that I never finished. The victory for me was jumping the hurdle and writing FADE OUT. It needed some work, but I was out of time. I had missed the Nicholl deadline last year and was terribly disappointed with myself. I decided to send it this year, because I needed to create some sense of accomplishment for myself.

Yesterday I received my "Regrettably, AFTER ALICE was not one of the 254 entries selected as a Quarterfinalist..." letter. It came as no surprise. Even as I read it I smiled a little, because I have no regrets.

A Venture

I pledged to submit to the Nicholl Fellowship screenwriting contest this year after not being prepared to enter by last year's deadline. I was already accepting defeat yet again this year and coming to terms with missing another deadline when I ran into IQCrash in the Artful Writer chat room last week. We started with a discussion that turned into a competition regarding our superior skills in the art of procrastination. Clearly, we needed motivation (among other things). He encouraged me to make the deadline. Ready or not - jump!

How could two first-rate procrastinators make a May 1st deadline? A bet, of course. How much wisdom there is in making bets with strangers you meet on the internet is a whole other story. For now, I have a bet to win! This isn't just any bet. This is a two tiered bet.

Will it work? Do you want to bet on it?

In the meantime, write on!