Last Friday, I completed and submitted my first-ever play to an open call for a children’s play anthology. Woot woot! It’s a short play, only 15 minutes, but it’s a tall accomplishment. Trying something new, putting myself out there for possible rejection, getting everything written and polished and done on time—this called for a celebration!

Now, what would be the absolutely perfect “deadline delight” to gift myself with upon submitting a play? Why, a trip to Broadway, of course!

This deadline coincided beautifully with the final weekend that Sara Bareilles and Gavin Creel were performing in Waitress, and Gavin Creel has been a favorite actor/singer of mine ever since I saw him in the charming movie Eloise at Christmastime. I’ve hadn’t seen him onstage before, so this was the perfect opportunity to cross one actor off my Broadway Bucket List. Also, a chance to see Waitress with the woman who wrote the music and lyrics (Sara Bareilles) seemed too good a chance to pass up as well.

So, Friday night, after submitting my play well ahead of the 3 am deadline (11:59 Pacific), I trekked out to NYC. It was brutally cold outside, my desired train got cancelled BOTH on the ride into and out of the city, but the pains were well worth it. Waitress was intimate, heartfelt, sincere, and funny (seriously, if you want some good laughs, go see this show). 

All in all, it was a beautiful Broadway experience, and Gavin Creel was every bit as charming and charismatic as I hoped he would be. Onstage. I didn’t get a chance to meet him at the stage door because a mob was there for Sara Bareilles (who was equally fantastic, as was the rest of the cast). I wasn’t in the mood to fight the mob and cold, so I’ll have to try and meet him at some other show he does.

Now, I’m addicted to the concept of a “deadline delight,” some event or treat you gift yourself with upon completion of a deadline. Awesome concept, right? This gives you something to look forward to amid the pressure of your work life, gives you a little celebration for having succeeded in whatever deadline you achieved, and adds a little sparkle to your life. Even if you’re good at gifting yourself things, do you really appreciate it in the moment if you don’t single it out and make an event out of it? I don’t always.

My next project, which I began this week, is another play for another anthology submission, to be published by the same company as this current one, Youth Plays. It’s for high schoolers this time, in the horror genre. Coming off writing a play for second graders about a fairy who loses her wings and goes on a quest to find them, this is quite a different project! But that’s what makes it fun.

What deadlines do you all have coming up? What are some “delights” you might gift yourself with when you make it past that looming target?