Sunday morning began with two very pleasant surprises. First of all, the kids broke from their usual early morning routine of whining and dragging us downstairs and instead actually went downstairs, entertained each other for a while, and allowed their parents to sleep. This is rare and nearly made me want to weep with gratitude all by itself.
Secondly, while I was lazing in bed and enjoying the extravagance of restful quiet, I checked my email and found a rare bit of completely unexpected good news. It reminded me of that feeling you get when you actually pick a good card from the Community Chest in Monopoly.
For a bit of backstory, way back in the ancient past that was January, I started dabbling in screenwriting again. This is a form I’ve always loved and used to play around with a lot, but it had probably been about 15 years since I’d attempted it.
Before the world turned upside down. I wrote a little 10-page short and submitted it to a contest seeking stories related to climate change. I had an idea and used the contest as a motivator and a deadline. As usual with deadlines, I was cranking through revisions right up to about the literal last minute. In the end, I was proud of what I wrote, and just happy to have set a goal and hit it. It was my first shot at this kind of thing and I wasn’t expecting anything.
A couple weeks later, I got a nice email from a reviewer that had generally good things to say about the screenplay, and offered up some really good constructive criticism. The reviewer had apparently won some Emmys, and his advice was really good. I was glad to have gotten the response, proud to have had more good comments than bad, and that was that. I was onto some other writing.
And then COVID-19 happened, normal life screeched to a halt and everything changed. I started this blog, continued some tinkering with screenwriting, but mostly am focused on just muddling through each day.
Back to that lazy Sunday morning, I opened my email and saw a note from the group running the screenplay contest. I honestly thought it was over and done, but it turns out judging is still going on and my screenplay has made it to the final round.
Not to pat my own back, but I will admit that felt pretty good. No, I haven’t won anything nor do I expect to, but just making it to the final round on my first attempt feels mighty good. Given the state of the world these days, I imagine it’s important for all of us to grab onto good news anytime we can.
I figured I should put aside my usual self-deprecating tendency to say “aw, shucks, ’tweren’t nuthin” or “boy all the other submissions must really have sucked” and instead lean in and show a little pride in my work.
So that put a little extra spring in my step. It was a beautiful morning, and after a nice breakfast, I spent some time out in the backyard with the kids teaching them to play HORSE. Henry was really going for some Harlem Globetrotter level stuff there.
We were a little loose with the scoring, but had lots and lots of fun, even if I was the Washington Generals in this contest. That basketball hoop has been pure gold. I mean that figuratively, of course. Real gold would be a little ostentatious. We don’t want our suburban neighbors to think we’re putting on airs or anything.
The rest of the day was pretty low key. I shared a cigar over FaceTime with my father in law, and the kids enjoyed suckers and stuffies with Asta in the play house.
It was a good Sunday. Amazing what a little extra sleep and a little pride boost can do. It is indeed an honor just to be nominated.
