My husband and I watch the 1990s television show Sports Night over and over again.
In one of the shows the lead characters Dan Rydell and Casey McCall are at an impasse, Dan thinks that Casey needs a plan of action. Casey says he has a plan — it’s Napoleon’s Battle Plan. “First we show up, then we see what happens,” Casey quips.
Dan, not believing Casey’s plan will work, takes matters into his own hands. Chaos ensues. At the end pantless for their broadcast sports show, Dan confesses that all the secrets are out, adding, “Look, it’s your plan.”
Casey says, “You showed up. Now we see what happens.” (For more quotes read this transcript.)
This has been a little like my writing plan. Which turns out is no plan at all. I actually have to show up.
My grandmother and I had a running joke. Way back in the late seventies, another television show stood out to us. One guest character on The Love Boat was asked how she managed to get grass stains on her clothes in the middle of the ocean – her glib reply, “I had broccoli for lunch.”
From my teens, I have often felt like a gangly, unpolished, ungraceful klutz – complete with the requisite grass stain.
But then I realized that God doesn’t have perfect children who always behave properly and always have a plan and always exude deep and abiding faith.
He has people who are just like me — plan-less and grass stained.
I want to show up here a bit more often. After all, as I learned at Writers’ Boot Camp 2014, I am the plan.
TotallyKris 