Just a Drop in the Box

Happy Friday, everyone! I certainly hope your day is off to a better start than mine! I had planned to spend many hours happily and productively writing today, but so far it hasn’t panned out that way.

I have deadlines coming up for several projects. The biggest project is a series of plays I’m writing for a new company. They have found what I think is a great niche market—progressive Christian churches (with a grace-centered theology and more liberal views than fundamentalist churches.) There is certainly no shortage of material for the latter group. For instance, Vacation Bible School curriculum has been a real challenge over the years. One company we used for a while has catchy music, cool games and crafts. But we stopped using their stuff when the Bible skits included the plagues of Egypt, and the Crucifixion. Try explaining THAT to preschoolers!  Several parents told us their kids had nightmares, which is just what you love to hear about VBS.

Anyway, this new company wants me to write three short skits, one longer play and an Easter production—all completed by March 10th. As it is I will be hard-pressed to finish everything on time. But I have been battling technology all morning, and not one word has been written. The editor put all of my files and folders in something called Dropbox. I tried to open the template I need to write the scripts. First, I couldn’t figure out how to open it. Next, I couldn’t figure out how to save it somewhere else. Finally, once I thought I’d saved it, I had erased everything (and my good friend Dropbox informed me that “no previous version of this file is available”). Poof! Gone! Now what?

I am 99% sure that my children use Dropbox, and I should probably have asked them before making this techno-mess. And the editor seems like a very nice guy, and said I should get in touch if I had any questions, but I just don’t think he was envisioning the 30+ stupid questions I have. I guess question #1 would be: why can’t I just write everything and email it to you? Once upon a time that seemed like the modern, tech savvy way to work. Now, it sounds as antiquated as if I was asking if I could write my stuff on parchment with a quill pen, and send it by carrier pigeon. It’s ironic that my scribblings are for “progressive” houses of worship, as “regressive” as I am when it comes to much of the 21st century world.

Oh well, time to suck it up and get on with it. I do take comfort in the fact that the core message I will share is timeless: God is a God of infinite love and mercy and grace, for everyone. And maybe if I just work on communicating that today and give Dropbox a rest until I can talk to the experts, the day won’t be wasted after all.