Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Farewell 2008 - Hello 2009


And so here we are - I can now gaze back at 2008 in its totality and raise a glass to what has quietly turned out to be a refreshingly marvellous year.  It's not been an easy-peasy 12 months at Tenacious Towers, that's for sure, but then where would the fun and sense of achievement have been if it had all been too effortless?

I am glad to say I have made more friends and contacts this year than I have lost, and lost more kilos than I have gained, so that's got to be a good thing; I have created more and written more this year than I ever have, including of course my experimental short film, "three" and my NaNoWriMo effort, "Taking the Fast Lane", which looking back on the experience really is recommended for anyone with a dose of writer's block, creative collapse or even penetrating procrastination. Not that I was actually suffering from any of the aforementioned afflictions mind you - I just felt like a challenging change. Last but not least, I have of course, been selected as Writer/Director for Screen East's DigiBytes scheme and start my script development in the first week of January 2009. I am really excited about the whole project and can't wait to get into the swing of it all; I know it's going to be really hard work but I can't wait! I am living, breathing and sleeping my short, "Practice is Perfect" and I keep having comedy moment panicky dreams about it. Here are a few recent horrors:

1) Staring at the shooting script, forgetting everything I have ever learnt about filmmaking / writing / performance, 
2) Not being able to find the set (!), 
3) Walking onto set and just shrugging and grinning at everyone as they await my instruction, 
4) Realising the actors are in the wrong costumes waaaaay into the shoot, 
5) Having agreed the lighting design for the Digital shoot, finding out, as we wrapped, we had been shooting on 35mm and no-one had bothered to tell me...

Oh, I could go on, but I won't as I am [nervously] laughing too much about the difference in size of a Film camera to a Digital camera.

I have approximately a three month period of development and only then do the successful five (out of seven) projects get chosen to go into pre-production and onto shooting.  You'll not be catching my ass near any laurels having a rest until I know what's what, that's for sure - it's so not over 'til the fat lady sings.  Or Screen East/UKFC say yes. Whichever comes first.  

And on that note, my dearest near and far friends, family, colleagues and e-stalkers, I have work to be getting on with. 

I wish you an ebullient Hogmanay and bid you an effervescent 2009.  

Onwards as always.

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Wishing you a Merry Christmas!


A complete whirlwind of a week, so far, I tell you.  I've already been assigned my script editor for DigiBytes and I've been all go in order to hit the ground running come early January 2009, so as far as I am concerned, it's truly time to sign off now for some serious festivities here at Tenacious Towers.  

I wish an extremely Merry Christmas / Happy Hanukkah to all fellow bloggers, general readers, friends, family, colleagues, accidental googlers, the person from Bolivia who checks this blog habitually, anonymous lurkers and cyber stalkers.  I hope you all have a happy, safe time & here's to a brilliant 2009 for all!

I leave you with a Christmas video: you don't have to be a geek to appreciate it, but if you are, you'll get even more of the gags.  Until we meet again on the other side of the mince pies. 




Monday, December 22, 2008

Oh, yes...DigiBytes 2009

The Screen East Lady...she say: YES!!!!

That's right, peeps, following my interview last week, I have just heard my short, "Practice is Perfect"  has been selected for development for Screen East's DigiBytes 2009 scheme.

As you can imagine I am totally stoked so I'm now off to open a large bottle of champagne, eat chocolate, read more film books and then stare at my Christmas tree - all with a very big grin on my face.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Take a Breath

Crikey, you never know the minute, do you?

You can always suppose if I haven't rifled around my bloggage for a few days/weeks that I am either a) extremely busy; ii) on holiday; 3) can't be bothered.  In this instance, a) applies, as I really don't believe anyone is ever going to stop for Christmas this year.  It's all just go, go, go here at Tenacious Towers.

So yesterday was D-Day - or rather - SE Day (Screen East).  The journey to Norwich was, as usual, full of twisted surprise, warped timekeeping and strange occurrences.  I'm not going to run through the day in it's entirety, but please understand I only just made my connecting train to Norwich after running for 15 minutes at full tilt across central London thanks to 'an incident' involving a corpse and a tube train in the Aldgate region.  I presume it was a corpse after the incident and it wasn't just someone chucking random cadavers onto the underground lines in the rush hour for a giggle? If they were, they'd better never do it when I am trying to get somewhere again, I tell you.

Anyway, just take it from me, the day got far more weird from then on. At one point I was even wished good luck for my interview by a Priest...I still have no idea how he knew I was going for an interview but I guess The Big Guy must have given him A Big Nod or something.  

The interview itself wasn't what I had really expected but it was good all the same.  I have no idea how I did to be honest: although I seemed to answer the questions they asked, I probably babbled and wavered a great deal once my creative brain jumped ahead of my speech capacity and capabilities.  I have found recently that I need to have a pen and paper to hand at all times, due to the fact the visuals in my brain race ahead of the words.  I find it easier to (roughly) draw what I envisage, and then once it's sketched out, I can process what I am trying to achieve/see and put it into words.  But of course you can't really do that in an interview - not even one of my millisecond sketches - so I hope I didn't babble too much.  I hate babble and babble hates me.   Apparently we should know this side of Christmas, so come Christmas Day, it'll either be a big, plump turkey for me or a weeny, chicken drumstick.  I am, of course, still hoping for the turkey - and all the trimmings.

So, I did eventually get home last night - extremely late as the corpse on the line had obviously been causing a multitude of issues all day and created a knock on effect.  By that I mean delays to travel, not more corpses on the line...well, at least not as far as I know.

Today, whilst refraining from propping my eyes open with matchsticks, I met up with that mad scallywag, Dan Turner, who informed me he was very hung over, thus making me feel a million times better about having had 'minus hours' sleep' this week so far.  T'was a pleasure to share lunch with him whilst our chat veered from film-making to cameras, alien impregnation through to lifts (elevators to the US Tenacious readership).  Pretty normal film fodder really.  LOL.

So, tomorrow beckons and I am off to see the big chap in the red and white get-up.  I am going to state my total innocence over anything naughty this year and beg he bring me a whisper of a commission and/or a funding agreement for Crimbo.  I don't even require it to be wrapped up - in an envelope or over the phone would be fine...

Onwards.  
 

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Cor Blimey, Mate - Time Flies and All That

Hello all

Just popping my head above the parapet for a nanosecond to check all is well in the Land.  

I have been terribly busy all week, what with one thing and another, and now it's very nearly the end of the week and I am already heading towards organising myself for next week which is also jam packed full of meetings here, there and everywhere!  Phew - and all this so close to Christmas too - it doesn't feel as though anybody is winding down for the festivities in a rush, that's for sure!  

I will also be going to see Santa next week as I need to squeeze in a trip to his grotto before Christmas - I have been a very good girl and I would like to tell him what I need this year.  Oh, ok, I thought The Kid would like to pull Santa's beard off, alright?

I may not get the chance to babble on too much for a few days,  so you could be pretty safe from Tenacious Tripe for maybe a week yet. I will return with a vengeance of course, and besides, I'll need to update you all on my Screen East interview.

I am reliably informed we have only 14 sleeps left until Christmas so  I trust you have all completed and wrapped your presents by now? Good. Thought so.  My tree's over here...no, I said here...don't go leaving my presents under James Moran's tree by accident - he's got far too many baubles as well as commissions. ;)

Until next week - probably, but not definitely.

x

Sunday, December 07, 2008

The Tenacious Yuletide Greeting.

I received this on email today, so please accept this as The Tenacious Towers Yuletide card. This is as good as it gets.  Mwah. x



*I would love to be able to credit this but I can't make out who it's by. Sorry!*

Thursday, December 04, 2008

Full of Attitude, Man

Hello all you little menaces and minxes out there.

I have been battering my way through the copy of the paperwork I submitted for Screen East, and combing through everything so "I know me better than they do".  That may sound bizarre and may even seem as though I made up the content of my application (I didn't!), but there are always certain self-marketing tools and turns of phrase one should utilize for every application: forget what you've written (and how you've phrased it) and you may flounder even though it's the truth. Moral of this tale?  Know your work and know your words.  That goes for your screenplays / plays / television format outlines / novels / poems / lyrics...whatever you write.  Know the b*stard inside out and that way you'll always stay on top!

Earlier on I read Danny Stack's latest excellent post from his Professional Screenwriter Series - this one is entitled Attitude -  'Or Learning to Love Rejection'.  Rejection is a shit, quite frankly, and no matter what walk of life you are from, it is never an easy one to deal with.  A few friends of mine (who have perfectly normal jobs) cannot and would never be able to fathom why I do what I do, or indeed understand how I even get myself out of bed every morning when I've just had another long week of rejections.  Well - I just do.  As we all do. "Pick yourself up, dust yourself off and start all over again".  I perhaps have a more varied experience of rejection than most, having spent many years trudging the not-very-glimmering streets of London attending castings for film, theatre, TV, commercials and voiceovers, but none the less, I kept on keeping on.

As an actor you have to be pretty tough - actually - extremely tough. Rejection is a daily pitfall and the effect has to be water off a duck's back, but somewhere along the line, if things aren't flying, you do start to ask yourself where you may be going wrong - and the worst answer is...you're probably not actually going wrong, you are just "not right". In very general terms, negative feedback from castings will be along the lines of 'just not the right look/feel'  and that is very frustrating to deal with because short of a "Face/Off" manoeuvre, you're fecked.  The truth is, the commerce behind the media business requires a swift return on its money without a doubt, and so taking a risky step into the unknown generally isn't an option and hence why we see the same faces again and again on both the small and large screen.  That and the fact they are sometimes the result of a packaging agency deal.

TV Commercial castings, for example, are like picking lottery numbers and they're all about 'look'. Generally requiring no warmth or even courtesy from those holding the casting, you are herded in and out like a dummy: in the door, state your name, agent, height, weight, vital stats, turn left profile, turn right profile, show hands back, show hands front, smile teeth showing, smile no teeth showing, no smile, dialogue (if any), pull a face (if required), goodbye. Next.

Now, don't get me wrong, I have been to quite a lot of castings where I have actually been spoken to like a human being too - in fact, I have even felt valued!  These were just as important as the other castings, as far as I am concerned, but were usually held by extremely influential and well known Directors, Casting Directors and/or Producers - in fact the higher up the food chain, the nicer they became.  These were more like meetings than fly by the seat of your pants castings but involved a vast amount of script to be learnt beforehand (usually at 9pm the night before), for me to appear relaxed, groomed, amiable, professional, knowledgeable, interested in the project, but not appear to know too much, under very little pressure, but still having that slight edge.  And this is before the screen test.  Not too many boxes to tick then, but all in a day's work.

So why am I waffling on about all this, I hear you beg?  Ah, yes - attitude and rejection.  Well, for one, rejection is not only a fact of life, it is a daily fact of 'life in the mee-ja', but your attitude to that rejection is entirely different.  This is something you have to work on for your own sake and also for those around you.  Without a coping mechanism of sorts (everyone is different, so there isn't a magic 'one') you're going to burn up, down, out and more than likely take everyone who ever mattered, with you.

There have been quite a few times I have considered chucking the whole shebang in - acting, presenting, voicework, writing, directing and whatever else I squeeze into a mundane week - in fact I have jacked it all in before, in order to live in the 'real world'.  The result - I found myself in a far worse place than dealing with weeks of rejections.  Yeah, hell I had more money in my pocket, snazzy motor, top wardrobe, but you know what?  I wasn't ever truly happy.  I came to realise that being a do or die person, I couldn't be half of one and half the other. My true heart lay in the film/TV industry and I decided for once and for all I was going to hit the ground running with a plan of sorts - one that took me back to my roots and my original [childhood] ambition of working as a writer & director.  That was eight years ago now and although it hasn't been anything like an easy ride, and I've taken a few strange excursions along the way, it's been damn enjoyable - even the rejections have been different this time round!  And the only thing I ever changed was my attitude towards rejection.

My tip to you, dear reader?  Work on your own ability to deal with the crap stuff, because as sure as anything, you will be rejected at some point in the future - I'm sorry, but it's a fact.  If you have been very lucky (I hate that word!) and had a great run of the good stuff, then, fantastic!  If you have been seemingly unlucky (I also hate that word!) and had a run of the crap stuff - that's also fantastic, believe me!  Whichever 'luck bracket' you think you are currently in, you have lessons to learn and a future to live, so, just file all the 'current good/bad' away under 'E' for experience and wherever you find yourself in the days to come, you can refer back to it and learn - because learning shapes attitude.

Onwards!  

Monday, December 01, 2008

Do These (Digital) Shorts Suit Me?

Well, hello, me ol' Oracle mate.  You were indeed right.  I should have listened to your premonitions and not allowed myself to wallow all weekend.

I just heard a couple of hours ago I have been shortlisted for Screen East's DigiBytes 2009. Yippeee-freakin-dooppee!!!!  I have a meeting with the Screen East/UKFC peeps in two weeks' time with regard to one of my submissions, "Practice is Perfect" and as you can imagine I am extremely excited.  This short screenplay is one very close to my heart, but I'm not going to blab on about all that just now...in the meantime, here is the poster I submitted with my application which will give you a bit of its 'flavour'.


Now, what with my waffle all about Red in my previous post, I just could be one step closer to painting my very own picture with its digital essence.   Sweetie, dahlink, mwah, MWAH! x

Wallander's Red One

Last night I was very excited to sit down and watch "Wallander" on BBC1 - a three-part series written by Henning Mankell,  Richard Cottan and Richard McBrien - based on Henning Mankell's own novels about Swedish police inspector, Kurt Wallander. 

My main excitement was Kenneth Branagh, as I just *love* his performances, with a passion.  In my opinion the man can do no wrong, and when he and Emma Thompson parted ways, I was genuinely upset as she is also one of my big faves.  In my teenage mind they had been the perfect couple: quoting Shakespeare as the fridge light switched on and marking up their home-written and dual-directed screenplays like a couple of possessed banshees. 

But I am not here to write about the performances, the writing or even the adaptation.  No.  My other main reason for being so excited about "Wallander" was the Red One.  Yup, that's right.  The. Red. One. 

"Wallander" is the first British TV programme to use the aforementioned camera and as if that plus Kenneth Branagh wasn't enough, I also adore the work of cinematographer, Anthony Dod Mantle, so I was simply beside myself.  I have been eagerly waiting to see the beauty of the Red One broadcast on a TV screen for ages and there it finally was last night, in all it's glory.  

The effect, in my humble opinion, was breathtaking.  The clarity was so amazing it was like watching HD plus plus plus and although there are downsides to using it - mainly the cumbersome size and slight loss of whites to yellows - the clarity and depth of field far outweighs the colour pitfalls.  Besides, who has ever been able to chuck a full on Panaflex over their shoulder?

Potdoll used the Red for her most recent short and when I saw her early assemble I was blown away by the quality of this non-film camera - it really does rock, as does her film, of course!  To me, the Red One looks and feels like 35mm but it's a lot 'cleaner' - and by that I don't necessarily mean the loss of the grain - it's the liveliness...or something...it's just nice, ok?

Anyway, I have to go now as I have Christmas presents to wrap and very sore neck to nurse.  Now there's a long story.

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Words & Pictures

Further to the crushing news of not getting through to the next round of Red Planet (hang on, I didn't enter, did I?), um, I meant not winning the short film competition with "three" - my interpretation of the myth of the Three Graces: radiance, joy and abundance - I thought I might post the film up here for your relish.  



If you are a real glutton for punishment, however, then get on over to The Tenacious Twin site, D-Generation, where you can read my synopsis, extract and Part One, Chapter One of "Taking the Fast Lane", my NaNoWriMo attempt.  And if you go over there, please note the Adult Content waiver...thanking you.


And the Loser is...

Me.

Isn't that funny?  Big capital "W" one day, and then a big capital "L" the next.  Ain't that just life though?  

You may remember a billion years ago I wrote, produced, directed, shot and edited a very short film called "three" for the Swarovski/Three Graces Competition run by Tank Films.  Well, it's taken them this long to judge the rounds so far and as a result - I didn't win.  Boo.  Hiss.

Never mind, the guy who won was, in my view, always my main competition, so at least one of the pieces of cack didn't whip my ass.  I'm sorry to state that, as I don't really like making sweeping statements concerning other people's work, but there really was some sh*t in there.

Although I have just emailed those closely involved with the film, I also wanted to say a big thanks for all the support and cheery words I have had along the way from all my Tenacious Visitors.

Oh, and a shout out to those who got through to the next stage of Red Planet - a very well done to you all.

As I always like to state...onwards.

x

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

Sunday, November 23, 2008

Procrastinating my NaNoWriMo off...


Along with all the fantastic pep talks sent through from NaNoWriMo HQ (
as previously mentioned), there are also a great deal of dedicated ways to procrastinate - including an entire Procrastination Station where you can choose what to faff around with on a particular day.  

I must say I steeled myself against looking at any of these escapes whilst battling my way through the novel but now I'm done...I've really been enjoying myself.  Here's one, for  example, and knowing me as you do peeps, you'll already have guessed I had this lined up in my brain:

If your novel was a  movie, what song would play during the credits?

EASY!

Opening Credits  - "Je t'aime moi non plus'" - Serge Gainsbourg & Jane Birkin


Closing Credits  "Fairytale of New York"  - The Pogues/ Kirsty MacCall 


And then of course, the ultimate in procrastination - the book cover!


I must credit the delightfully talented Natalie Paquette for the beautiful photograph I have used in the book cover design. Now and again, I drop by Natalie's online gallery - FetishFaerie - since I stumbled upon her on deviantART a while ago. Her photos create stories of their own without the need for any words, and they always have such a rich, luxuriant "visual feel".  Stunning - and thanks again, Natalie!

Anyway, this is all so much fun: and then the re-writing starts...arf.  Must remind myself to update my word count again after the 25th November otherwise I wouldn't be deemed as having officially finished... and that would be a tad annoying, n'est pas?

Chapter One will be projecting itself onto the walls of Tenacious Towers pretty soon, as I thought it might be quite nice for the villagers to see the written word rather than just the usual three mile tangle of fairy lights that entwine the turrets every Christmas...

Until then - onwards.

x

Saturday, November 22, 2008

NaNoWriMOverAndOut-o

Hi peeps

Well, that's me all done and dusted in my quest for total self-annihilation.  And you'll note from my swanky updated badge to the right - I'm apparently now 'A Winner'.

My final word count (pre-editing/faffing/adding/deleting) has come in at just over 52,314 which is fine by me.  I actually found it really difficult winding up the story as I have struck up quite a relationship with these characters over the last 20 days.  I'll miss them and their ridiculous lives, but there's always room for a sequel or two, of course...

Right from Day 1 of NaNoWriMo I knew I really needed to nail the whole novel by the end of Week 3 or Day 21, so I am very glad to have achieved that slightly earlier than even I had originally anticipated.   I always knew I had a ridiculously busy end of month coming up - and in no uncertain terms, the mayhem starts very soon.  After clearing a load of odds and ends next week, I have a short screenplay and CBeebies submission to complete, and then before I know it,  it'll be Christmas. 

And so, back to finishing NaNoWriMo: to celebrate I am going to bed early without any storylines running around my head all night like a waking dream (or nightmare).  Tomorrow I am going to create my book cover for a laugh and then attend to hugely boring things like washing, ironing and removing the six inches of dust that has accumulated since I have been stuck to my "Taking the Fast Lane" keyboard.

Just like to say "Keep Going!" to my NaNoWriMo buds Laura, Stevyn and Elinor and a big 'Thanks' to all those who have left encouraging messages and really lovely comments.  If I feel brave enough next week, I will paste up Chapter One for your delectation.  Perhaps.

x

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Please leave a Message...

Hello all

*Your normal Tenacious service will resume sooner than anticipated*

I'm over 45,000 words now for NaNoWriMo, which means I am bang on schedule to finish this Friday.  Fickee-yupping-doooo.  Adios 'til then. 

xxx

*tap tap tap tap tap*

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Where does time go?

Hello from the other side.  The other side of 25,000 words that is.

It's been a strange week for me - 
  1. I've had The Kid with a blood filled mouth and bleeding nose after falling on the floor and impaling his lower lip with three top teeth, his upper gum with two lower teeth and bashing his nose all at the same time (and yes, I panicked. A lot.); 
  2. I've said "Ta-ra 'til the New Year" to my Mummy dearest, who's off to play the campest Evil Queen Snow White will ever have come across in Pantoland;   
  3. I've cleared up little pools of sick, after The Cat ate one of The Kid's errant grapes (I think) ; 
  4. I've cleared up so many leaves from the Tenacious Towers' grounds I am beginning to think they breed on the floor of the vast orchard; 
  5. I've been shocked at how much Anton du Beke is gradually morphing into Brucie;  
  6. I've been avidly watching our graciously returned Sky 1 (that didn't take too long did it Virgin..?) in the vain hope that something else other than 'Ross Kemp on Everything' will be on.
But just for a laugh, I've also partaken in that old game "half fall/half slide down the stairs" whilst rushing to grab The Kid's teddy for cuddles.

On the up side, I didn't fall completely as I had grabbed onto the bannister; on the down side, I grabbed with the arm that had previously been privy to a dislocated shoulder so writing has been interesting.  I also crushed two toes on one of the spindley thingies. Ouch. Obviously, my utter silence as I limped down the stairs spoke louder than any words, as The Kid said "Uh-oh" and pulled out the chenille throw which is reserved for cold winter nights, illness and /or injury cuddles.  In amongst all this madness and mayhem, I have of course be slotting in keyboard hammering flashes, where I sit talking to myself like a demented mad woman, and create NaNoWriMo stylee.

Having now passed 36,000 words, I am onto the fourth (and final) part of "Taking the Fast Lane", which seems incredible - not the novel, but just the feat!  It's been a fascinating journey to sit down with nothing and create something.  Obviously still being at least 14,000 words off, I am hoping it won't be too rough a ride.  The whole NaNoWriMo experience so far has been brilliant  and has been made even better by the Pep Talk emails we receive. So far we've had wise words from Philip Pullman, Jonathan Stroud, Katherine Paterson, Meg Cabot and many from NaNoWriMo founder, Chris Baty at HQ.  If you are interested in reading any of the pep talks they are available online here.

I was also able to breathe a sigh of relief on Friday when a fairly hefty envelope from Screen East plopped in the letter box advising me (one envelope, four separate letters inside) that each of my screenplays had been received and logged.  I had started to panic a bit as four Royal Mail bags full of post had been found abandoned in a field in my area - and of course I had convinced myself my screenplays were in there...the acknowledgement letters weren't due until Friday, but I had nonetheless convinced myself my creations were being sifted by CID for prints.  Or something.

Anyway, if I get short listed for an interview then I should know early December.  If I am successful after the interview, it'll be a great Christmas, I tell you.  

Right, before cracking on with a few more pages of the novel, I'm off to see who out of the "Celebrity" jungle inmates, has had the most surgery.  Hmmm. Let me think....

I am loving the Red London Bus - it must have been dumped there after the closing ceremony in Beijing.

Onwards.


Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Twenty-Five Thousand Words and Counting

So, I'm writing this darn novel for NaNoWriMo right?  And I'm thinking to myself - you know what, it doesn't matter what you end up with - in fact, although it would be pretty cool to hit the 50k word target,  that really doesn't matter either, not in the grand scheme of things.  I heard here and there that a few people thought this NaNoWriMo idea was really very stupid and it didn't mean a thing as the point is "just to write - edit later" (if you want), but one thing it has allowed me to prove to myself is given a deadline, I can write to it.

Somewhere in my brain, there is a tiny cluster of cells that disagree heavily at the fact this is a waste of time.  These cells have driven me round the bend, making me type faster and faster, and weaving themselves in and out of characters and experiences like a demented spider, the more I move on in the story.

I no longer own this story, as it now owns me and I am firmly stuck in the world with HotCeleb magazine and all the people who feature in it.  Especially Jardin Moist (that's just to make Stevyn laugh again ;)

The mind is a crazy thing (well, mine is).  I was really worried I would run out of steam the further I moved on in the story, but the damn thing is writing as if I had planned it.  Great stuff, but most unnerving as I don't know where it's all coming from.  MacBook is possessed.

Well, regardless who's possessing what and when, I have just tipped the scales over the half way mark.  Wow, can't believe I've got to write all that again, word count wise!  

So here's to the 25k word benchmark!  Not too bad a feat thus far.  I doubt very much I'll be keeping up this pace for the other 25k, but you never do know.  Perhaps I'l just finish it in time to hear good news from Screen East. Here's hoping. 

x

Friday, November 07, 2008

Short films, Short books and a Short Fuse.

Hello again lovelies.

Actually I don't have a short fuse today - as per my post title - but thought it sounded more interesting. Tsk.

Just another quick dip in and out for me just now as a lot of today has been spent running through piles of leaves in the park, pushing swings with all my might and then trying to get the odd word typed here and there.   Time is very precious at the moment and I have to run my days like a Sandhurst text book operation, squeezing in all the usual stuff as well as keeping on top of my obsessive word count for NaNoWriMo.  As of last night "Taking the Fast Lane" was sitting at 12,680 words, so it's moving on.

First up, a couple more job opportunities:
  1. Assistant Script Editor, BBC Drama Series & Serials, London : 6 month fixed term contract/Attachment (Maternity cover)
  2. Script Editor , BBC Drama Series & Serials, London: 1 x 12 month fixed term contract/attachment and 1 x 6 month fixed term contract/Attachment (Mat Cover)
Well, back to NaNoWriMo.  It *seems* to be going ok, apart from the fact I keep panicking myself by thinking I'm running out of plot/words/fingers.  I have now completed "Part One" (of four) of the book and am wading my way into "Part Two".  When I had two minutes spare yesterday (a bit like now), I very bravely filled in the 'synopsis' and 'excerpt sections' of the  'Novel Info' page on the NaNoWriMo site, so if you want to read what kind of trash a totally unplanned novel reads like (no editing has taken place), then please feel free to check it out here. [Please note: it contains bad language, bad imagery & more than likely very bad writing].  

Urgh. I'm probably really going to regret that, aren't I?  [There's still time to remove the link... No!  Be brave, Tenacious You...it'll be ok - they're all lovely your bloggie-buds...]

Other than that, not a lot has been happening apart from the usual day to day writerly drift.  

I am still waiting to see what happens with my film, "three" - the closing date was the end of August and no decision has been made yet (the second round has also now closed...)!  So that really has been the longest wait on earth.  Never mind, next Monday is the closing date for Screen East's DigiBytes and Digital Nation , and seeing as they have a strict timetable to adhere to, all final decisions after interviews etc (hopefully) should be revealed just before Christmas.

Have a good weekend all.  Not sure what I'm  up to...ha ha ha. Onwards.

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Life Mirrors Art in NaNoWriMo?

Remember, remember the 5th of November!  Oooooh, hello all!

I've been having loads of fun writing my novel for NaNoWriMo and am now totally obsessed with word counts.  The little word count widget I have on the blog sidebar doesn't seem to be working very well for me - it seems a little erratic - so I'll have to keep a note of my word counts as I go.

As I have already bemoaned, my weekend attempt was pretty crud. Having not actually started writing until the 2nd anyway, I did manage to get my fingers going and the word count has become as follows:

03/11/08: 4032
04/11/08: 8049

Obviously I am still going today, but I have just cranked over 9k so now I am fully committed and have to keep going! In addition to all that heart-stopping news I also now have a title - "Taking the Fast Lane".

I was quite interested to work out how many words per minute I am writing at the moment as this whole process is so totally different to screenwriting.  Bearing in mind I am 'making it up as I go along': I had no outline, no characters, no plot - in fact I had nothing until I sat down to start writing on Sunday - my average 'creation speed'* is 500 words an hour or 8.33 words per minute. However, this obviously varies greatly, as I know I managed to write 500 words in 15 minutes yesterday. It amazes me how hard it can be to think up many different ways to depict bad language, smut and loose morals without sounding repetitive. ;) Ho hum.

I must admit, I have never actually checked to see how many words made up any of my screenplays, so I set about looking at them as a little bit of procrastination and an excuse to spend ten minutes away from the ridiculously crass life my novel characters are leading. Needless to say,  I was quite shocked when I picked a random short and realised it was only made up of 2,245 words. How very funny.

Anyway, I really should get off and dedicate a  couple of hours to 'real' life now, before I re-embark on more 'Novel Hammering' (it's a new game, don'tcha know?) again this evening.  All I can say is I am so glad my life isn't as complicated and/or sordid as my 'Novel Lot".  *shudder*  

Sometimes my brain scares me with it's contents, you know.

;0)

Onwards.


*please note this is "raw creation speed" - not typing speed.  If it was typing speed I would indeed be looking for another vocation in life.