Travellin' Lu

Since my last post I have been to Wisbech in Cambridgeshire, which was quite nice, and also to London, all for work. I caught up on some Drabblecast, but barely did any writing myself. I feel so tired at the moment. Could do with a holiday, though this will only happen in the event of me winning the lottery (that I don't buy tickets for) before the end of September. Well, stranger things have happened.

I have been working mostly on my short story about Tabitha Grubb and Inter Vivos, though I'm finding it hard to stay organised as I'm writing both in the same notebook, and everything is a bit higguldy-pigguldy at the mo'.

What else have I been up to? Well, I saw Joseph for the first time ever whilst I was in London, and it was really, really good! (yes, I was surprised!). Lee Mead was excellent, he stayed in character the whole way through and didn't let the tongue in cheek nature of the show put off his portrayal of Joseph from naive peasant to mighty prince. The narrator (who was played by the understudy) was really brilliant, and the rest of the cast all just seemed like they were having the times of their lives, which made me as an audience member have a great time too. So many shows I see has a chorus who just look like they're going through the motions. So it was all good. I was sitting in the upper circle (row G) and you could still see the stage very clearly, so was value for money to boot!

I am off travelling around the country for work next week too, so apologises in advance for the lack in blog posts until I return. Maybe you can read over the archives or something to keep yourselves entertained in my absence? :-)

One Step at a Time...

So I'm now rewriting Inter Vivos. And yesterday I had a bit of a panic because after months of writing and writing and suddenly thinking 'yes, I've reached my goal', now with this rewrite I'm back at the beginning again. Yes, the scenes are all there, but now I have to write the blooming thing all over again! And that thought became a little too much to handle, seeing as the first draft took me almost two years to write! But then wonderful Alex came along and reminded me to just take it a step at a time, concentrate on reworking the first chapter, and then the second, and then the third, and so on, and take it all in bite sized chunks. So I'm now feeling calmer about the whole process.

I've also just rediscovered my favourite children's book, Twelve Dancing Princesses by Errol Le Cain (based on the Brothers Grimm's tale, of course). Is quite expensive on Amazon (as it's out of print now), but am very tempted to get it. Aren't the illustrations gorgeous (see picture above)?

On a personal note, I need to stop emailing people and posting comments on things without pausing to think. I've done the opposite a couple of times and then - whoosh! - it's too late and my cringeworthy comments are in someone's inbox, or on some forum or other for all the world to see! Think first, type later. (By the way, "whoosh" is the sound I imagine emails and other electronic communications would make if they actually made a sound).

Carnival Band

I had a new idea for a play recently, inspired by my journeys to rehearsals in Hinckley, passed the church where the town's marching band practices. The idea is to write about the xylophone section of a marching band who are rehearsing for the town's summer carnival. There's only 5 of them, as they are a smaller section within the marching band, and they're all misfits and having to have extra seperate rehearsals because they can't keep up with the rest of the group. Each scene is them getting a bit better, until it ends with them joining the carnival procession. I have a couple of characters in mind, but the main one is a 16 year old girl called Tara, who is 14 stone and wishes she were the carnival queen.

Don't know when I'll get around to writing it properly, but it's something I've been writing lines of dialogue for when I'm bored at work!

A New Direction

I've had a brainwave about Inter Vivos. I've thought of a new angle, so this means I don't need to finish draft 1b, and instead can just plough on with draft 2, as I need to rewrite the story. It means that I can still use first person narrative, to make the story more credible, and I can focus on exploring themes of identity, and reality, and sanity, and I'm going to tie in my research on female hysteria too. The story won't change, just the telling. This change has made me excited about the project again, which can only be a good thing!

Went to see Relocated by Anthony Neilson at the weekend. Scary, freaky stuff! Have never been so scared in a theatre in all my life.

Quick Link

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/06/bestselling_authors_or_branding_machines.html

Quite interesting piece about authors and branding.

More Time Needed!

I've become a bit lazy again, in terms of the writing, and so it's time to kick myself up the arse and get motivated. Because I'm doing this rewrite of the Inter Vivos novel (am terribly embarrassed by how bad the first two chapters are, after putting it away for a while and now re-reading it!), it means that I've had to put other writing projects on hold. So my Tabitha story is on pause at the moment (though it was a nice stop-gap project), and I'm itching to do a rewrite of my Hoodies play, and also a radio edit of both Hoodies and High Street Aphrodite. But no, I need to focus.

The day job is getting more involved, which has meant that I'm working more hours and feeling too exhausted when I get home to do anything other than read or watch TV. I still have my second job too, although I don't work that often any more, so it's not going too badly.

Morph had an idea ages ago for our Semper group to do another night like 'Semper Sumo', only this time independent of LadyFest. It would be great to put on another little showcase, but if Morph ends up putting on his own production in October/November, and what with Mekon deciding he doesn't write anymore, Dec generally being uncontactable, Robin in Scotland and Sabrina 'spawning' (hee hee), then it doesn't look like it'll be happening any time soon.

Though I guess it would just be a distraction anyway, and I need to focus on IV!

A Wednesday Self-Centred Rant...

It's my own fault really for agreeing to be in Jekyll and Hyde. I'm resenting the time it's draining from me already. My hair is getting skanky and I don't have time to wash it (eugh - too much detail!). I'm turning into a fifteen year old greaser all because I'm never at home. My flat is a tip. I have no food in the place, nor any clean cutlery. I won't have time to do a shop until Friday. So I'm annoyed right now. Wouldn't be feeling so peeved if I felt the rehearsals were worthwhile and the chorus was valued in the show. It's not. And all we get to do is sing this one song five times, and do choreographed head movements every two lines in a verse. And be there twice a week. Boring. Next!

I've been reading The Sandman graphic novels (I keep getting told off for calling them 'comics'), and have realised that I have a crush on Morpheus. Is this normal? Probably not!

Inter Vivos is all typed up and ready to go (to be made into a second draft). Need to print it out, but have forgotten my memory stick today so can't do it right now. My printer at home is out of ink, and I can only get a new cartridge from Dell, but they need you to actually physically take the parcel from the postie's hands, which means I can't order one as I'm never at home. Rah!

Hmm, am in a bit of a ranty mood today, and have only just noticed. Good job I don't have to talk to anyone right now, isn't it?!

Weekend

This weekend, I went to London and watched The City by Martin Crimp and Piranha Heights by Philip Ridley. Piranha Heights was definitely the better play. Disturbing and violent and very funny, it was extremely fast-paced and well acted. The City was alright, but, well, it wasn't easy to sit through. I mean, Crimp's dialogue is painfully awkward and unrealistic (stylistically this is what he's going for), scenes dragged for ages, and his women are terrible. Clearly, he doesn't write to get laid.
I also bought seven new books. This is after I told myself I wouldn't buy any more until a) I bought a new book shelf and/or b) I read the ones I've already got. Felt very decadent though to be buying them, and carried them nicely all around London so they wouldn't get creased, and they are now all sitting on a chair at my dining table. Not sure if I'll have enough money to eat with by the end of the month, but at least I have more books to add to my ever expanding collection!
Have been making great headway on my Dorcas Grubb sequel (can you have a sequel before you've even written the novel?). It's a short story about Tabitha, Dorcas's little sister, who in the Dorcas story is about 18 months old, whereas in this short, she is 15. It's all rather cool, and it's also allowing me to flesh out Dorcas's world more, which should help when I come to write the novel in November.
Inter Vivos has come to a little bit of a standstill, simply because I now have to type it all up before I begin draft 1b, and I haven't been near a computer recently. Hopefully though I'll have it all typed up by the end of the week.