Five winning stories will be selected by a panel of judges, and the winning entrants will each receive an Amazon Kindle 2 as well as Dragon NaturallySpeaking upgrades for three years.
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This problem is presented to challenge you. If Vehicle A, with a mass equaling 2200 lbs, enters an intersection going east at a speed of 35 mph, and Vehicle B, with mass equaling 3000 lbs traveling 25 mph turns directly into the path of Vehicle A, how much writing will the driver of Vehicle A be able to accomplish after the collision?
On November 6, 2003, I went out to the store for some unnecessary snacks. On my way back, just two blocks from home, bright headlights confronted me at the intersection of Montrose and Richmond, in Houston Texas. A mechanical snarling of brakes announced an impending collision. I remember flying up out of the seat and ending up draped over the steering wheel like a beach towel. All I could see were my hands. Once capable of typing 120 words per minute, they now resembled those of a fetus.
My new life calendar dates from the moment of that accident, which left me a quadriplegic. My immediate concerns had little to do with my profession as a playwright. Instead, achieving some sense of normalcy and independence occupied my days and nights. Four months into my therapy, my occupational therapist entered my hospital room and announced she was going to teach me to write, again. She carried a felt pen adapted to allow me to clumsily grasp it. Using a Big Chief tablet, I formed barely legible letters of the alphabet.
By April, 2007, I moved out of the hospital and into a handicap accessible apartment. My ambitions centered on gaining as much movement as possible through yoga, swimming, and weightlifting. The only writing I managed to do, at this time, consisted of brief journal entries and postcards.
In the fall of 2007, a call for submission of short plays caught my attention. I mentioned to a friend how much I would like to try and write another play for this contest. He purchased Dragon Naturally Speaking Standard 7 and presented this to me. Within a few hours I began writing fluidly again, completing my 11th play in my career and the first since my accident.
My play, Nearing Velocity, was chosen, along with four others. All received a staged reading at the Alley Theatre in March 2008, in celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Nearing Velocity is now in rehearsal and will premier at the second annual Frenetic Fringe Festival in Houston August 7th 2009.
Coming back into my own body is taking a long time. I look forward to the day when I stand up and walk on my own. In the meantime, the therapy continues and I continue writing, as before. My gratitude list on this healing journey is lengthy and includes doctors, therapists, family members, community and friends. The list would not be complete without mentioning Dragon Speak 7, for without this, I would not have returned so easily to my profession as a playwright.