New Year, New Post

Happy New Year everyone! Hope you all had good holidays. Watch Doctor Who? I'm a big fan of the show, but even I thought the last ten minutes were too sentimental and self-indulgent. Also, internally inconsistent: In the past the Doctor has never been able to control his regeneration so he can go visit all of his loved ones and stare at them before disappearing again in the Tardis, and I don't see why the Tenth Doctor should be any different. Plus, since when has the Doctor shot lightning bolts out of his body during regeneration powerful enough to destroy the interior of the Tardis? But then again, maybe it's not as tough as it used to be; the Titanic space ship was able to crash through it after all two Christmases ago.

So, anyway, I came to the library to work on Inter Vivos. Then I realised I had forgotten to put a file on my USB. Oh well, never mind, I can look at the proofs instead. Then the battery in my netbook goes. Nevermind, I'll move upstairs where there's a plug socket. Then I realise the notebook I need is in fact still sitting on my bedside table at home. So that is why I am now blogging instead of doing any actual work.

I'm currently working on the first chapter, which needs to be completely rewritten as I've cut that scene and decided that that information should be discovered by my narrator (and the reader) later on in chapter three.

I've been thinking a bit about growing up recently. The future is a really scary place. Well, OK, thinking about the future is really scary. It's full of Grown-Up things like buying houses, starting a family, that sort of thing. Not that I'm going to be buying houses, etc any time soon, but now that I'm approaching my thirties, I've been forced to think about what I might like to see happen before the beginning of my next decade. I mean, I don't want to be forty and think, shit, I'm homeless. And likewise, I think I'll regret it if I don't work hard now and try to be a paid, bone fide writer. Of course, it helps when you remember your notebook... But the point is, I don't want to have any regrets, noone should have regrets about things they wish they had done when they had the chance.

So that's my New Year's Resolution. To do things that mean I won't have regrets when I'm forty (in 2020 aargh!).

What about you guys out there? Any Resolutions you want to share?

The New Doctor

Looking at the new Doctor makes me think, wouldn't it be great if he had a male companion? I don't mean a gay relationship - I think they should stay clear of adding a "love interest" altogether - but two lads, two mates off exploring the galaxy. There was some of that with Donna as his companion, and I think, seeing as the new Doctor is quite young looking, having a bloke companion - maybe a recent graduate, that sort of age - would work really well. If you had someone like Donna again, it would look like the Doctor was travelling with his mum. A male companion would give it a new dimension. Then the show could introduce another couple of companions too, make it like it was in the olden days where the Doctor usually had two or three companions on the go at once.
Anyway, just a thought.

Potter-Who

OK, so my brain is a little unfocused at the moment. What I mean by ‘unfocused’ is actually ‘consumed by Doctor Who and Harry Potter’. I’m verging on obsession. It was the last episode of Doctor Who series 3 on Saturday, and I can’t wait until Christmas for my next Who instalment! And Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (which I think is a fancy name for Horcruxes) comes out in (at time of typing) 17 days, 8 hours and 7 minutes. I just can’t wait! I’ve decided now that I’m going to go down to Waterstone’s to collect my precious copy of the last Potter book, although I feel guilty as I’ve already pre-ordered it on Amazon and will have to cancel. I’m hoping it will be an Occasion, rather than a few tired shoppers with hyper-active five year old ‘wizards’. Hopefully I won’t embarrass myself by being the only over-twenty-*cough* person there.

So aside from Harry Potter and the ever sexy David Tennant infiltrating my brain, I have also been busy, theatre-wise. Still no news from TWP about the festival, so I’m starting to think I may have dreamt the whole thing. On Saturday I went to Leeds to watch Amanda’s Bollywood Jane and I really enjoyed it. True, the opening scene was very ‘Taste of Honey’, but I think as a whole it was very good, and looked superb. The West Yorkshire Playhouse is a lovely theatre, really spacious. I was very impressed by the two revolves on the stage as well (yes, it doesn’t take much!). It made me sad to think that Leicester right now doesn’t have a theatre of its own, and I am worried that the new one will be this big white elephant. I mean, I’d have rather they spent all that money on filling the inside with state of the art equipment and using the rest of the money for show budgets and hiring directors, etc, rather than making this big façade with glass walls and no backstage area. The Yorkshire Playhouse isn’t pretty on the outside, but it’s functional, and that’s what you want from a theatre. Anyway, perhaps I’ll be wrong and it’ll be the best theatre in the universe once it is finished. Somehow I doubt it though.

Am going to try to write something to submit to Transmission magazine over the next few days, as I’ve just remembered the deadline is next Monday. Oh well. Inter Vivos is still coming along, though I think I’m going to have to change some information as to what Inter Vivos is and how it works as I’ve realised that even in Sci-Fi, some things just don’t wash! But I’m still optimistic, still trying to get the first draft finished before I’m eighty.

That’s about it really. Sorry I’ve not been posting as often as I should – for some reason I’ve been a bit of a hermit recently.

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? ;-)

Scary Story

I am writing a scary story for Hallowe’en at the moment, and I’m finding it very tricky. Mainly, this is because of my tendency to repress any sinister thoughts I have, as I tend to have nightmares and ‘daymares’ for months afterwards if I don’t. Therefore I am finding it hard to imagine anything horrific to write about. It’s like I’m peeking through my fingers to see what’s inside my head. Stupid over-active imagination! For example, after watching a particularly scary episode of Doctor Who once, I actually ‘saw’ a creepy little boy in my hallway. Being afraid is one thing. Having your fears manifest themselves into visions is quite another. Perhaps I should seek medical help…