Ten minutes to write. Less time to read.

There’s something about external deadlines that gets me motivated. Maybe it’s because I was a freelance writer for twenty-five years and had to turn in copy on time to get paid. Perhaps it harkens further back to when I was in college and term papers had deadlines that affected grades.

Since I no longer freelance or write for professors, the hardest thing I do any given day is sit down and write.  There’s always something pulling me elsewhere.  But give me a deadline, and I’m there.

So . . . the local paper announced that The Box Factory for the Arts is sponsoring a ten-minute play writing competition with the deadline of June 30, 2014.  The winning six plays will be produced and performed the beginning of December. I’ve already started on my entry, and will just say it has to do with that old thought almost everyone has had:  “If I had my life to live over, what would I do differently?”