If you could get a vanity plate, you know, like on a car, what would it say?
These questions hold too much room in my brain. I believe it’s a human thing. You are driving around and you see a plate that says, I don’t know, ZOMB13, and you’re like okay, I understand what you are saying but why is that the thing that you want to identify you for the rest of your car’s life? Do you really care that much about zombies? Why do you care so much about zombies?
I think I would get ‘PLAYRITE.’
I am a professional playwright. I have been a professional playwright for over a decade (although it still feels unreal to knowledge that). My first paid production of a show I wrote was 13 years ago this September. I’ve had a few productions since and a smattering of workshops/readings. So I think the ‘PLAYRITE’ connotations are pretty clear in that respect.
[Brief aside, I acknowledge playwright is misspelled. It would have to be on the limited space of a license plate. However, playwright is often misspelled, more than just on license plates. Most commonly, people will think ‘playwrite,’ which makes logical sense as someone who identifies with this moniker WRITES PLAYS. Some people even add the ‘r,’ as “Oh, you are a playwriter?” But playwright? The ‘gh’ isn’t just silent it’s bonkers to people. I’ve often heard that it is spelled ‘playwright’ because plays aren’t written, they are wrought, which, however true, has always seemed pretentious to me. Personally, I think it’s probably a remnant of a bygone era. Wainwright. Wheelwright. Playwright. In old English, wright often meant a worker or maker. I am a maker of plays. Alright aside over. Back to the throughline.]
I am also a mom. A stay-at-home mom. To 3 boys. A 5th grader, a 2nd grader, and an almost 2 year old. I have been a stay-at-home mom, a SAHM if you will, for a little over a decade (It also feels unreal to acknowledge that). This identifier also plays into my license plate (get it? plays?) because half of my job is playing. Learning with my kids through play. And, though it may be an unpopular opinion at the moment, I do believe there is a right (‘gh’ again!) way to play (i.e. be kind, be curious, make space for others).
My kids like to guess the plate.
We see a lot of custom plates (especially this summer when we moved across the country). The spotter will cry out and point and we will all crane our necks to see if we can be the first one to figure it out. Some we get immediately (“BBQJEDI”); some we understand but we don’t really understand (“VANMOM” on an SUV, must be an inside joke); some we are still figuring out (“1FTF1”) when it seems like a word (palindrome?), but maybe it’s not a vanity plate after all).
I will probably never buy a vanity plate.
I’m a SAHM playwright! Who has money for custom license plates?! Not me.
However, I do have all of this creative energy. I need an outlet for it to go. Usually I start a billion ideas, some bloom into little projects that go nowhere and die on my hard drive. Some die on other platforms. I want to stop killing ideas. But I am a writer. And I keep writing. I. Can’t. Stop.
Enter Substack.
Will this Substack will be my vanity?
I’m hoping this project can keep me grounded as I strive to PLAYRITE.
I also hope in writing purposefully with a goal in mind, it will make my claims of being a writer more than vain repetitions. I once had a mentor who taught me that having constraints force us to be more creative. When the world is open it’s often more difficult to create than when you are stuck in a box and need a solution to get out. So here are my constraints:
I plan to post 2 times a week for a year (at least I’m trying to not allow myself to quit until then).
On Tuesdays I will share a free article with thoughts/musings/discussion about something involving vanity. This could be a quote, a story, a situation, a song and my response to it.
On Saturdays I will share a short story based on an actual vanity plate I have seen. I will create something fictional and entertaining about the character I imagine driving the car.
I am calling this the PLATE PROJECT.
(Get it? Vanity plates? Also it’s something I can add to my full plate and hopefully keep all of my plates in the air.)
If you’d like to subscribe to drive some miles in someone else’s shoes or just see how far I will make it towards my goal, I would greatly appreciate it. I will (figuratively) put your contribution in the vanity plate fund! One step closer to confusing drivers on the road everywhere and being a PLAYRITE! I hope it will be a fun ride.
Thank you for considering it. I would love to have you in my virtual backseat.
PLAYRITE. I LOVE IT!
What a fun Substack project, too.
13 years, Ariel! Incredible! Happy Playiversary.
P.S. Still laughing at these lines: "Do you really care that much about zombies? Why do you care so much about zombies?"