Saturday. Oh, how I love you Saturday

This weekend's a bit out of the ordinary, because I'm not seeing my daughter. She's gone away for the weekend with her mother.

Nice for them to get away, and in a funny way, it also sets things up nicer for her to go away with me for the week. Making that just a little bit more special.

I have to be honest, I've been fighting the 'holiday mode' since booking the holiday last weekend. I have to keep reminding myself that I do need to get up at 7am and go to work each morning.

Got out of work late. Had to take a call from an unhappy customer. The day had been really quiet, and rather pleasurable in fact, just that as normal, as the shift ended, everyone else seems to be too busy to be able to deal with this.

In between making sure I don't enter holiday mode too early, I need to continue with the editing of the NaNoWriMo story, get some cleaning done, make a start on the editing of the episode of Stephen Brown and write a review.

Not a lot going on then. Easy enough to balance out really.

Tomorrow evening the BBC are showing a live TV show at 7pm, in which they announce who the new Doctor Who is. One set of waiting will be over, and then another starts, as the Whovians count down to November 23rd, when the 50th Anniversary episode is aired. The regeneration to the new as yet un-named Doctor won't occur until the Christmas special.

There's plenty of speculation online about who the 12th Doctor will be. Will it be someone Ginger ? Will they be black, will they be female or male ? I'm not about to launch into some detailed analysis of who the next person to fly the Tardis will be. I have no idea. I have no preference.

In Moffat we trust.

Photo by ADRIAN ROGERS – © BBC.  
"I guess we just have to watch the box and find out."

Just another manic Monday

Hang on, haven't I used that title before ? Maybe. Maybe not. Don't care. It was Monday, and it was manic.

The weekend was very, very nice, despite being rather tired, I got to spend extra time with my daughter. Always a good thing.

Trying to sort out the bike that she wants for her birthday. She's found one that she really likes at shop near her. It's not a chain shop, but rather an independent that refurbishes and brings to life old bikes. Chloe's friend has one already and really loves it.

I still can't process the concept that my daughter will be 14. In a couple of years she'll be leaving school.

Finally finished the playing around with the Doorstops script that Steve needed. I wrote the thing about a year ago now, and he'd needed me to rework it a little. Wasn't happy with the terribly trifling little detail that it didn't contain a few things that were in the synopsis he'd written for the episode. Ooops. Still, it's a much better script now than it was.

Still no progress with rewriting / editing the NaNoWriMo novel, but I guess that's because I've been working so much last week that I've barely been home. Talking of which. Idiot ! I'd forgotten to submit my overtime form.

Off to visit the acclaimed bike shop tomorrow after work, and then off out with the guys from work to the pictures on Wednesday. Round Col(v)in and Derrek's Thursday... Friday ? Well, on Friday Steve's coming round with his hard drive so I can copy the files that I need in order to be able to edit the Stephen Brown story that I've volunteered to edit. Eeek. Why did I do that ?

These are the voyages....

Monday, Monday, Monday. 

Somehow all the optimism and hope for what the new working week would bring has evaporated. Something to do with the end of the weekend. 

I'm feeling lately that I am not getting enough sleep, and I feel this most keenly when it is time to get up in the morning. The time, of course, that I feel it the least is about nine or ten o'clock in the evening. The time I should be going to bed. 

I stayed a bit late at work this evening, which is the first time I've done that in a while. This was made possible because the person I normally catch a lift with hurt her ankle, so had to go and get that looked at. I made my own way into work, and being really rubbish at getting out of bed at a reasonable time, I ended up getting a taxi. Lazy bastard. 

I guess the day wasn't so bad. After all, I had a reasonable amount of time. I just felt 'meh'. Yeah, that really explained it. 

Still got done all the things that I wanted to get done. Some highs, some lows. No major disasters though. 

I was chatting to my friend Kat at lunch, and she was asking me about the novel I'd written for NaNoWriMo. She seemed to understand why, with it being that much content, that I avoided reading, and therefore editing / rewriting it. 

She read the first page or so, and kept laughing at the odd bit. She didn't seem entirely put off by the experience, and was somewhat distracted by getting a phone call regarding some drama or other. Sorry, that sounds utterly uncaring. It do care. It's just that she has some issues outside of work tied up with the ex-girlfriend of her current boyfriend, and all the things she keeps doing to contact Kat, and the trouble she's causing her. 

We (Kat and the two other colleagues that were present) got into a discussion about how 'girls are so much drama, so bitchy' and that 'boys are so much easier to get along with and will tell you if there's a problem'. I kind of felt that I was bucking the consensus on the table, in that (as mentioned before) I find it easier to have girl friends (that's girl friends, not girlfriends - important differentiator that space is). 

Funny old world, taking all sorts as it does. 

One day of work tomorrow, and then a day off. Hopefully the weather will be good, and I can spend it outside of the flat. 

With Chloe going home early on Sunday, I decided to make the best of it and go and see Star Trek - Into Darkness. (I know, as a life long Star Trek fan, you can't believe that I hadn't been to see it yet). Even though this would mean going alone, some times I just like to have the freedom to go where I please and do what I would like. I don't have to answer to anyone, or explain anything. I don't even need to have a conversation with another human being, beyond 'I'll have a ticket for Star Trek' and 'I'll have a small sweet popcorn and small coke, please'. 

Not that I'm normally fighting to spend time on my own. It's my go-to setting. Reverting to type. But just because I'm alone, that doesn't mean that I'm lonely. I wasn't lonely. I had a good time out. Really, really, really enjoyed the film. I thought that it was an amazing re-imagining of original story lines. It was a very action packed film. Pretty much nonstop. 

With it still being a sunny Sunday evening, I went for a bit of a walk around gunwharf, taking some pictures, walking around amongst the tourists. Looking like I don't belong. (which is something I aim for everywhere I go). I then got the train back to Cosham, but being so motivated by the pleasant sunshine, and the sudden burst of energy after sitting down for two hours, that I got off the train at Hilsea and walked home from there. 

... and they're off ! ... well almost.

It's now the start of NaNoWriMo 2011. This means that over the month of November, I will attempt to complete a 50,000 word novel. I entered into this literary race last year, but didn't get to the 50,000 word point because there were lots of other things going on at the time, but principally packing and moving.

One idea that comes to mind, is about taking a picture of something I see or experience in the course of the day, and make the writing that I do center or at least include the thing that I've seen. Clear ?

As crystal. Crystalised coal. An example would be that Saturday, when I went to pick up Chloe, there was a helicopter passing over Southsea. It was trying, I think to maintain a hover in a cross wind, and not really doing a good job of it.

Make sense ? Yah. Thought so.

Today's work was busy, but not as busy as I was expecting. So all good then ? No. I'd gotten up early in order to be able to pop into Tesco on the way to work to get some food for the Halloween buffet, and some decorations. I really don't get into the hyper Americanised theming of what is a pagan festival of the dead, (rather strange considering what a religiously insane country the USA is). My dressing up was limited to wearing all black. I had bought some face paint, but had not been able to get that on as I barely had time to sneeze all day. When I explained it earlier, I used  a different bodily function to sneeze.

So. NaNoWriMo. Yay. All starts tomorrow.

Resolutions seem to break like...

...china cups dropped onto my kitchen floor.

Not that I've done that you understand. Puft ! Like I'd have china cups !

I'm remonstrating myself about not blogging as much as I had wanted. I have taken my eye off the ball. It's not for lack of events to blog either, it's more a case of lack of time. Before I got home last night (to start a 4 day weekend) I hadn't actually turned on my lovely iMac since last weekend. Poor thing.

So what's been happening ? The kittens have well and truly settled. Very comfortable, and are loving their new cat tree. 

..thank you Daddy x

Dr who is back. And Stetsons are cool.

Progress is being made, sort of, with the show, but we've had some set backs. Gemma, who was going to play Starlight, has had to pull out as she realised she has family commitments the week of the show. The wonderfully talented Faye has let us know that because of increased workload (at work, I guess) she has had to drop the larger of the two parts that she had been cast.

We may well be able to get Nick's Mum to do one of the now vacant roles, it would be brilliant to have her involved in a show again. Fingers crossed. So pretty much looks like we are only one person short, instead of two. Monday's rehearsal involved us going over one of the call centre scenes, which are the complicated ones.  We did this easily enough, despite the lack of a Starlight, and with Helen getting herself distracted, becoming too carried away with the background antics of Polly. Even so, scene got blocked out and was working well. We'd actually planned to only do about 5 pages of the scene, but decided to do the whole scene in the end. The comedy is coming alive, the (hopefully) wonderful visual comedy that is laced throughout the show. Wednesday night we blocked out a scene set in the Manager's office, and again the comedic talents of Lin (Bone) and Faye came to the fore. Such a shame that she (Faye) won't be able to do Hermione, but I understand if she's at risk of being overwhelmed. Much better that she let us know now, than in about 8 weeks time. 18 Rehearsal sessions left until the show opens. Clock is ticking. Clock  IS ticking.

The blocking, on the whole is taking less time than we imagined, which is good because we will have to go back and do some of it again for the benefit of the characters that we will now have to recast. We also need to make sure that we can sort out the filmed pieces in the show, as if we can't get them to work, we really do have a problem.

Dr Who returns. Fantastic, thrilling, scary and funny episode. The Impossible Astronaut, at risk of running out of superlatives, it was a brilliantly sharp script. I've now watched the episode 6 times, and it sings every time. Really tight. Really well done. Again laden with phrases that will, I am sure to be copied by millions of fans up and down the country.

I've brought a sun hat. After shaving off all my hair again, and the recently gorgeous sunshine, I thought it would be a good idea to protect my poor noggin from the sun. I have become rather attached to my sun hat. I am sure that the prevailing opinion may be that I look like a prat, but I don't care. I like it, so I wear it. I am ready to pick Chloe up tomorrow, and have her laugh uncontrollably at me.

I wear a sunhat now

I have come to the conclusion that I am not going to be able to complete the script Laptop for Script Frenzy. Now I know that I sure as hell WONT achieve it with THAT attitude, but as I am only at page 25 I really would have to cane it completely to even stand a chance of getting it finished before the end of the competition. This is sad. I really had wanted to make sure that I did complete it, as I had failed so miserably to complete NanoWriMo in November last year, using the move as a reason/ excuse.

Grrrr. Frustrated with myself. Need to get a review done for Beacon, as I haven't done one since I moved. Need a great big boot and rather bendy legs, so as to kick myself up the arse don't I ? Yes. See. I knew I was right.

... and sunhats are cool....

What else has been going on ? Well, work has not been without its dramas this week. People can be funny things, and sometimes the hardest thing they find to do is to look into the mirror and accept what they see. Me, I'm always looking in the mirror, although you may not think so to look at my dress sense. It his heartening to realise that despite some difficult times, the world isn't against me. I work with some really great people, and I just wish I got more of a chance to get to know them in that context than the ones I am normally presented to them in. Hopefully the crowd from work will come along to the show, and will be able to let their hair down and have a really good night.

Royal Wedding. As someone who both dislikes the idea of royalty on political grounds, but has a deeply contradictory love of the royal family themselves - and all the things they do for the country I had decided that I wasn't going to be spending time on my extra day off to watch William & Kate's wedding. Somehow, my 'bah humbug' nature was overridden sufficiently for me to watch the spectacle and be very moved by everything that I saw. I really don't give a stuff about the ins and outs of their or anyone else's private lives. But to be a spectator on such a happy day reminds me of how much hope there is in the human spirit and in the love of another. I do wish them well for the future. Wishes I am sure they will not be short of.

It is at times like this, when pretty much half the country has gotten caught up in the fever and celebration and flag waving that we remember what it's like to be British. It is nice to see though, that because most of the flags are the ones provided by the Sun newspaper, and have a picture of the happy couple on them, thereby forcing Jo public to put the bloody flag up the right way. Otherwise I would be getting all anal about how some people don't realise that there is a right and a wrong way to hang a union flag.

T - 30

Script Frenzy

30 days and counting (down) to Script Frenzy. An email from the Offices of Letters & Light (or organisation that runs the madness) reminded me that 'the frenzy' is fast approaching and I don't have one iota of an idea that I can develop into a 100 page script.

Remembering how crap it felt last year, when I wrote Retro Rocket (and succeeded in the 100 pages written during April target. Yay !) and didn't really have a plan, and how that nearly ended in failure, I wanted to make sure that I avoided that this year. When I'd entered National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) I had also neglected to plan, and elected for an organic free form approach to the writing. I just sat at my desk, and let the ideas poor out. Good, bad or downright terrible.

Having not succeeded with NaNoWriMo and only managing something like 17,409 words (when I say something like, that's the exact figure) I don't want to repeat the failure.

Fail to plan. Plan to fail.

So what does this writer do when he doesn't have a plan (can I call myself a writer ? - someone check that one out and get back to me) ? Post-its. Yes post-its. Those non-recyclable yellow gems that turn any flat surface into a 'brain storming wall'. Now that it's my wall I can stick post-its up with gay abandon. (Heterosexual abandon just doesn't work so well). 

This works for me, may not work for others.. but you have to go with what works. I have progressed a little from the initial post-it driven 'floating of ideas' to the developing of one particular idea. I had considered using Frenzy (as it appears to be affectionately shortened) to write the first series of Retro Rocket. I have dismissed this as I have not revisited the idea since last April's Frenzy, so the 'pilot' script will, in itself need lots of editing. An attack of the big red pen (or in my case, the impatient pencil) is required. Also with Retro Rocket, I just haven't actually resolved those issues about show direction that had been the stumbling block. It was not answering those questions that I think made it hard to push on with the script originally. It didn't have a plan (return to previous point about planning).

I also discarded the 'man goes back in time to undo the mistakes that cost him his marriage - only to find out that he erases his daughter from existence' because, well, I just thought it was a crappy idea.

Likewise 'man on bus / train that isn't allowed to get off at his intended destination' is perhaps worthy of a short film (about 5 minutes) but I couldn't for the life of me see how I could get 100 pages out of that idea. It may be possible that the idea I have gone for ends up with elements of that. We'll have to wait and see.

Laptop (alternative titles being :- Feedback or Netbook) is the story of what changes occur in a man's life as a result of him buying a laptop (or netbook) off Ebay. The computer contains information that he is not aware of, and also has automatic sign-on enabled to internet chat sites. This draws or drags him into a world that he is initially intrigued about, but as he discovers more is increasingly scared as he gets more and more deeply involved in the things that were happening in the life of the laptop's previous owner.

What does the machine have on it that makes it so important to so many different groups (big business, criminals, government etc) ?

How did it come to be on Ebay in the first place, if it was so important ? (was the previous owner mugged ? Are they still alive ?)

So our hero, if that's the word is forced to try and convince these people that this was not his laptop before, and he has no way of finding out what's hidden on the hard-drive. He has a hard time convincing these people, a succession of organisations or individuals keep tracking him down to convince him to give them what they want. None of them believe him when he says that he's just brought the laptop on ebay. They believe him even less when it gets stolen.

He then has to try and find the laptop, as giving it to the people that want it so badly is the only way to get them out of his life.

This would be as boring as hell as a stage play, and is definitely suited to filming, even something that could be done on a low budget ,and with a bunch of amateur film-makers. (you see where I'm going here, don't you ?)

Let me know what you think, dear reader. Perhaps as I develop the idea, I post those onto the blog ? Hmmm. All this AS WELL AS , The Fatcat And The Grafter. 

This is good. I like to be busy. When I'm not busy I'm sitting at home watching shit someone else has written on TV.  

First (working) day of 2011

Back to reality today. A long old day, went in early to make some progress with the end of month admin that somehow, despite no matter how much I aim for otherwise, always ends up being a last minute affair.

It was the same with my homework when I was at school. 'Simon could do better, if only he applied himself'. Hmm. Thing is I've always had the ability to be fantastically well applied when the mood takes me,  but the sad story is that there are so many things that I didn't feel the desire to 'apply' myself to.

Maybe it's sulking, maybe it's laziness, I'd like to think otherwise. Okay maybe a bit of it was sulking.

The new (lack of) hair style has been well received, well at least at work. I am sure my Mother will proclaim that I look terrible, where as my daughter will probably hurt herself laughing so much. (She may even 'ROFL').

The week has barely started, and I am hoping that Helen will be coming up tomorrow night so that we can make some progress with 'The Fat Cat & The Grafter'. Not really liking the title so much now, I think that will have to change. I'm getting bored with it. I have had time to get bored with it, I think that's part of the problem. In the past, Helen and I have written the script in more of a crash of 'has to be done, shit the show is on in three months' kind of way. 'What On Earth Is Happening' wasn't complete when we started rehearsing, in fact I think the second act wasn't done until about two months before curtain up.

To be fair, it showed in the writing, there was too much dross and crap in the second act. We can do, and will do better at reigning in the meandering aimless, and equally plot less. There's something about the need for the looming deadline, the fear of failure, of letting other people, and yourself down. But it's funny how, no matter how hard we've tried, we just can't 'ease' ourselves into that, we can't 'plan' through that, and tell ourselves to spread the load a little. Like masochists for the stress. Strange how that 'fight or flight' mentality is the thing that forces the creativity. That's why I really like the burn of 'Script Frenzy', and 'Nanowrimo'.

Need to come up with a plan. Fail to plan, plan to fail, that will give me time to work on 'Red Herring'. Now all the chaos of the move has died down, I now feel the urge to at least finish the story.

NanoWriMo....Time to crack out the post-its

Write here, write now. Well, not now. In just under a week's time, NanoWriMo starts. The push yourself competition that pits you against your own self belief, and challenges you to write a 50,000 word novel in the month of November.

After getting a real kick out of Script Frenzy, (100 page script in the Month of April), and knowing that writing a book is something that I've always wanted to do, but never gotten around to doing, I've decided to have a real crack at it.

Scrub that, I'm not going to have 'a crack' at it. I'm going to do it. Despite the fact that I need to submit a story for Beacon, finish (with Helen) The Fat Cat & The Grafter, write a review for Beacon... and on top of that, oh, yes, I'm moving at the end of November !!! I've also signed up for a shed load of overtime in November, to make sure that I have enough money set aside for the first month in the new flat.

It's all do-able though. Isn't it ? Sure it is. Just requires some focus and dedication.

What I realised when I wrote Retro Rocket for Script Frenzy in April, was that I really didn't feel comfortable writing on the fly. I've read the book, No Plot No Problem, (by Chris Baty) - about launching into NaNoWriMo without so much as a plan or forethought, and just letting the story, characters and plot evolve at your fingertips.

When I'd thought about entering NaNoWriMo, I have thought about having a plan. Having characters, a plot mapped out. At this point, I've got nothing. Zip, nada, bubcuss.

It may turn out to be a great deal more interesting (or stressful, or both), than I had anticipated.......what this space... to see how it goes, and if I'm still sane at the end of the experience.