Just tell me when

I like schedules. I not so obsessive-compulsive that I can't work without a schedule, but if I am given a date and time, I take that to be firm unless told otherwise. I make other plans based on the given date and time, which is why it is frustrating when that date and time turns out to have been tentative at best.

I also tend to relate specificity with rigidity. If you tell me something is going to happen in August I'm less surprised if it happens in July or September than if you said it would happen on August 15.

This is a particular problem when submitting plays. Some theatres don't say when they'll respond. I'm actually okay with that because I don't have any expectations. Some theatres say they'll respond within three-months. I'm not surprised if three-months turns to five. In any case, I'm always happen when I hear back. Even if it's a rejection I know that at least I can mark that inquiry as closed.

Festivals, however, are when I can get frustrated. Unlike an open call for scripts, a festival is usually a scheduled event. Assuming it is a legitimate festival that is actually going to happen you know that the scripts need to be chosen before the festival date. At least there is an end in sight. but with timelines come expectations.

Because there is an end date some festivals also state dates for other milestones, such as notifying the winners. If that date passes I assume I am out of the running. However, theatre peoples don't necessarily work like project managers I have on occasion been surprised by a festival I had written off that notified me late. (Maybe someone else pulled their script. Maybe they were just late. It's hard to tell.)

Because the notification dates may not be as firm as implied the best way to know that if you are definitely out of the running is to look for a formal announcement of winners. If the winners have been announced and you're not on the list, you know you're out. (Actually, one time that's how I found out I was in. I had already checked the web site before my director got around to notifying me.)

This brings me to my present frustration.

I submitted to a festival to which I thought I had a good chance based on the theme and other restrictions. The web site said that winners will be announced publicly by the middle of August. As a result, I thought that the winning playwrights might be notified before then (early August), and perhaps they were. But now it is the 19th, and I'm getting impatient.

The definition of "mid month" is admittedly variable. Perhaps it means the middle third (10th-20th). Perhaps it means the middle two weeks. Perhaps it means the 15th plus or minus a certain number of days. Regardless, they are still potentially "on time." But I know how these things work. As the middle of the month becomes the end of the month there is even less certainty about when an announcement is made (other than before the festival, which is still a few months from now).

Honestly, I'm more annoyed than usually because I've been holding off on travel plans in case I end up being in this festival. Thinking I would know (either way) by now gave me a reasonable amount of time to plan. As days pass I think that I should just make my plans, but my fear is that I'd get the "good news" the day after booking my trip.

I should be more patient. But I just want to know!