Permission Granted
For the longest time, I wanted to be a playwright. When I was a teenager, I’d read all the plays that we had at our local library.
It took me a while to realize that I wanted to be playwright more than I wanted to write plays.
It was crazy. I wanted to be a writer, but I didn’t write.
Part of the reason I didn’t write plays was that I didn’t know how to. I didn’t know where to start.
And on some level, I was waiting for permission. I wanted to go to school for playwriting. Then someone would “validate” my skills and I could write. I would get a paper that would say I was a playwright.
But that didn’t happen.
After I got married and we had kids, I decided to get some training by taking writing classes. But instead of taking playwriting classes, I took fiction writing classes.
I told myself that I needed to develop my narrative skills.
I went down that rabbit hole for six or seven years.
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After that, I took classes in screenwriting and TV writing. Another few years went by. Until I realized that this round about journey started because I wanted to be a playwright.
I decided to look for a playwriting class.
When the student is ready, the teacher will appear. I saw a notice about a playwriting class at The Pearl Company. And the top three plays written in the class would get performed.
That was all the incentive I needed. It was my permission to write.
I wrote my first play and it was one of the one’s selected to be performed.
After I wrote it, I noticed that there were opportunities for playwriting all around me.
They had been there before, but I didn’t notice them. Or I didn’t feel worthy enough to go for them.
We often hold ourselves back. Because we’re looking for some form of permission or validation from someone else.
It’s another form of Resistance. Waiting for permission.
Stop it.
You want to go out and create something?
Permission granted!
