Monday, June 25, 2007

Back

Right, hello, hello! Sorry about the delay in blogging, but I’ve been on a self-imposed exile from work and the internet, and so have not had a chance to post until today. I’m finding it a bit difficult to type at the mo’, due to the fact that my guts feels like I’ve swallowed a helium balloon (damn you IBS!), but I will bravely carry on. :-)
So, I have been a hermit for a whole five days, venturing out only to rehearse (dance rehearsals recently), go to the bottle bank, and buy mobile phone credit.
What have I been doing with myself? Well, I wish I could say that I have finished Inter Vivos, and that it’s already doing the rounds with publishers, agents, etc. but the truth of the matter is that I managed to write about 1,500 words of that, plus some of my children’s novel, and not a lot else. I cleaned, I baked, I became addicted to MTV’s Cribs, I slept, I developed an unhealthy ant-killing obsession (they go pop if you crush them, hee hee!) but that’s about all. I am sorry that I didn’t get more done, but I don’t feel too guilty about it. I didn’t realise how sleep deprived I was until I unset my alarm on the first day of holiday and woke up at 2pm the next day.
Anyway, Inter Vivos is getting there, slowly but surely. I pretty much know what’s happening now, which is good. So now, as always, it’s just a case of writing it!
Still haven’t heard from TWP/Momentum about Hoodies. I already know that I’m not going to be chosen for a reading (my play has too many characters, and I’m not one of their golden favoured few), but some feedback would be appreciated. I already know what I want/need to change in terms of story and characters (namely the Naomi-Jase bits), but another critical eye is always appreciated. They have to let us know soon though, surely, I mean, the festival is in about 6-7 weeks time!

Monday, June 11, 2007

Scared...

Doctor Who on Saturday was extremely scary. So scary, in fact, that later that night, I trapped myself in a psychological prison, backed into the corner of my bedroom, phone in hand, scared that if I couldn’t see all of my room, if I turned my back for a minute, scary stone angels would come in and get me. The mind really does create its own prisons. I’m starting to think that perhaps there’s something wrong with me, I mean, I’m 26, I shouldn’t be getting so frightened by TV programmes that I can’t leave a corner of my bedroom for fear of being eaten by a monster. ‘Active imagination’ is one thing; this is just ridiculous.

I have a bit more written for Inter Vivos, though I’m still nowhere near my target word limit for my first draft (I have about 60,000 words to go!). It’s coming along though. I have a few nice character bits for Cyrus, and Nox isn’t as passive as I first thought she was. I’m still having problems moving my characters from one place to another, but I’m working through it, through gritted teeth a lot of the time. I really want to get this first draft finished now. Once it’s done, then I’m going to celebrate! Want to come? ;-)

Tuesday, June 05, 2007

Quickie

Just a quick update to say that my short story 'The Dame' has been uploaded to http://www.umbrellastories.com/, so you can read it there. I'm toying with the idea of writing my own detective 'noir' novel, only with my detective of ambiguous gender, made up of short stories that tell a different part of the same case, from different points of view.

I have realised that trying to write a full-length play for the Verity Bargate award from scratch in a month is a tad unrealistic. I am still writing my 'Lara' play (wrote another scene last night on the train) but I'm not going to bust a lung trying to finish it on time. I mean, I'll just be sending something sub-standard to them, and I want to portray myself in the best possible light. So I will continue to write it, and when it's finished, maybe I'll send it to the Soho Theatre anyway.

I also got some good feedback from my friend about the first half of my first draft of Inter Vivos, so that has inspired me to get working again. As always, time is fleeting, and so I write bits and pieces of it when it comes to me, in the hope that one day soon I'll be able to sit down with all these little bits and put them together in some order and create my first draft.

Right, gotta go as have lots to do!

Friday, June 01, 2007

Lara

The main protagonist of my 'fantasy' play is called Lara. I've chosen this name because it sounds a bit like 'la la' as in, a bit crazy. 'Lara' is actually a variant of 'Laura', which means 'Laurel', and apparently St Laura was thrown into a vat of molten lead by some angry Moors. So make of that what you will.

I have just written a plan outlining the scenes I want to write for this play. So far there are 10, and it doesn't end happily. But then, I don't think you can live happily in a fantasy world in the 21st century - a cyber world, fair enough, but not one where your imagination runs riot and goblins leap to your defense and your only friend is imaginery. I have a number of scenes sketched out in my head, and am scheduled to write a few of these in full over the weekend, seeing as I'm not working and have only a singing lesson to distract me (if you don't count Alex!).
I had my first migraine in six years yesterday, though it was a pretty mild one - only my top lip went numb and my hands were funny, but I didn't vom, so that was good. Got to sleep all afternoon, which was great. Then I watched 'Joy Luck Club', and because of the damaged state of my brain I was convinced I was chinese for about an hour before Alex came over to look after me. All better now though, you'll be glad to read, though I'm going to try to take it easy over the weekend too. Meeks gets back on Tuesday and we're all going out, so that gives me something to look forward to.

So, the above-mentioned play is going to be sent of for the Verity Bargate award, and I'm also working on two new stories for a couple of short story competitions. I wrote a chapter of Inter Vivos on Wednesday, so things are all go here. Wish I had more time to dedicate to writing, but that won't happen until at least my credit card and overdraft are paid off, so I'm looking at - five years maybe? So when I'm 31 things should really start cooking...