Ain’t no crystal ball
Ok. So the headline of this post is a quote from one of my favorite TV shows ever. The West Wing. Specifically, it is from the episode ‘NSF Thurmont’ from Season 6 which I happened to watch again just the other day.
In it, there is a whole lot of political stuff going on (no kidding, right?), and the amazing John Spencer (as Leo) is talking to the equally amazing Martin Sheen (as the President). Actually, he is yelling at the President.
I didn’t know people could do that, did you?
But that’s beside the point.
The point is Leo wants the President to bomb some people, and the President doesn’t want to do it–because nobody can tell him what happens next. “He doesn’t like chaos,” Leo says.
And I realize that some of my procrastinating about submitting my script is because I don’t know what happens next. I mean, often not much happens. Except a rejection letter. And I know how to deal with that. But there’s always the possibility it could be accepted. And that leads to an awful lot of questions and decisions and problems.
Chaos.
What if it’s the wrong place? What if the production turns about badly, when there was something around the corner that would have been the right place if only I had waited? What if… well, actually, all the other ‘what ifs’ stem from that one, so there’s no real need to go into the fears about casting, about contracts, about directors, etc.
But here’s the thing.
If I don’t submit, it ends right there.
It’s important to be able to live with the uncertainty that comes with the possibility of something better, instead of clinging to the security of knowing all about the nothing that’s going to happen if you don’t put your work out there.
We don’t always know how it ends.
A lot could go wrong.
A lot could go right, too.
And, by the way…the President in The West Wing? He didn’t bomb anybody, and he managed to pull off a major peace accord.
The lesson, I guess, is you step into the unknown and do the best you can.
There could be bombs. There could be peace in our time.
