Actually writing a play was a liberating experience for me. It is certainly NOT something that I would ordinarily do, and I'm not entirely sure if I intend to repeat the experience in the near future. But I can say that it was different, and very interesting. I actually did not find the form irritating-far from it. The way you could imply the emotion present in the scene through a simple indicator, or through common sense (angry lines naturally seem angry etc) was very liberating, freeing the story from the sometimes tedious "said character X angrily" lines that are a necessity in other writing forms. However, as I said, I'm not sure if I'll ever be over eager to repeat the experience, and I certainly am not inclined to write any of its "sister art forms" (T.V. scripts, drama plays etc).
If I were to give advice to a younger person, it would be, very simply "Keep going." That holds more relevance then many people might think at first glance-certainly no one is going to deny that growing up in today's world is very difficult. The opportunity cost of growing up successful is in fact, higher then its ever been. Given the choice between a video game and school work, most people would choose the video game-I've seen many a person fall into this trap, and I myself have done that on numerous occasions. The key is to just keep going, and keep your eyes on the goal-simple enough, right?
I think what allows a great literary work to remain is very simply word of mouth. How great a novel is becomes irrelevant if nobody ever hears anything about it. One particular series comes to mind in this regard is the Elric of Melnibone series-at the very least, I thought it was on par with some of the other so called great novels of our time (read: Harry Potter). And yet, very few people have heard about this series? If one were to ask oneself why that is, the answer would have to be "because word of mouth never happened in this instance." I also believe that a so called great novel must deal with prominent issues in the current community. For example, To Kill a Mockingbird dealt with slavery and racism, issues that always have and always will resonate with the general community. I believe that if one is able to write on such a powerful subject well, at the very least, that author will enjoy at least a temporary "time in the limelight" if you will.
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Although I would have rather written a short story I agree that it was an intresting experience. I honestly think I'd rather write a movie script instead of a play but your comment on expressing emotion in the play is very realistic and that was a nice tool to be able to use.
I can easily relate to your second answer. Today we have so many distractions that can easily help us put aside what we need to get done. It happens to me all the time and to often it creeps ito your mind during school which really puts you in bad shape.
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