Sub Spree – Day 10

Arrgh!

I had my mind all set up! I was going to post off to all of these professional theatres today, leaving me Friday to send off the competition entries.

Picture the scene: I have all of my printed manuscripts, I manage to craft a personalised cover letter to each company, I place each submission into it’s beautifully printed envelope (ensuring that I had a self-addressed envelope for each)… I march them over to the post office at lunchtime…

Where the hell is my wallet?

Memory kicks in… There it is, on the dressing table, right next to my ID card. I reach for the ID card… My daughter calls me… I go to see what she wants… I answer her questions… I leave the house…

THE WALLET’S STILL ON THE DRESSING TABLE!

Damnitall!

I made up for it by pitching another batch of AmDram groups (I’m pitching them by county, if your interested… West Sussex got the call today – I’m starting near home to start).

10 emails gone… 2 ‘Oh I don’t know this address’ messages received.

Right up until this morning, I was wondering if it was worth pitching these folks… After all, I’ve been firing away for a while now and received nothing. Urinating into the wind struck a chord…

Until this morning:

"XXXX Theatre Group regularly produce new writing. We have a writers group and a number of the members have had works published. I will pass your details on to the committee. Please excuse the brevity of this reply only it's first night tonight and time is short. I'll let you know what the committee decide in early December.

Thank you for getting in touch."

At last, I touch base with another human! And even better, we’re talking about a group that’s producing plays – I mean, last night they were all stood in the wings with stage fright!

So, I now have to send off the pro theatre submissions tomorrow and leave the competition entries until Saturday.

Question from the Comments…

I mentioned this in a previous comments thread, but I think it needs mentioning here…

"I think the core concept of a submission spree is brilliant (and I really, really hope it hooks it for you Jay)- but my big concern with ORGANISED SS's like Stageplays' is that you end up creating competition!"

And I have to agree.

I would like to have taken part in a sub spree with others, just for the camaraderie. But I’m the first to admit that I’m a optimistic pessimist … I hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.

Sure, doing it with others might have encouraged me a bit… But a part of my brain would constantly have thought “by posting who you have submitted to, you’re just encouraging others to submit to them… Hence you’re just making the slush pile higher… Is that going to make it easier for me to get read?”

It’s a painful truth, but writing is a solo adventure. We can use forums and blogs to keep in contact with the aspiring writing community… But at the end of the day, if you want to move away from amateur writing status, you have to make the move and devote the effort yourself.

The more I continue this sub spree – the more I realise that I have made the right decision to go it alone.

I have proven to myself that I have the determination and commitment require… It has encouraged me to write more… It has given me inspiration for new plays… It has reminded me of WIPs that I really want to finish…

So for those of you that are out there with plays in hand that are considering submitting them… Just do it… You’ll prove something to yourself… Even if it’s to take a reality pill that I didn’t.