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.

2012 Olympics

The London 2012 Olympic party at The Mall yesterday was fun. There are no other words to describe it - it was just plain good, old, fun. Really young kids rubbed shoulders (or knees) with really old people; everyone waved their flags at the appropriate moment and cheered for the Olympic legends and musical interludes. People smiled. Laughed. Jumped up and down with positive energy gleaned from the masses.

No matter how much of a verbal kicking this country is given (or gives itself), if we could just bottle 1% of the atmosphere on The Mall yesterday we would win Gold all round.  So please stop whingeing, everyone, about the cost, taxpayers' money, recession, the building site that is East London, the incapability of the Underground, the money that will be invested into everything athletic and nothing else, the fact that it's in London amongst all the Sassenachs, that some bunch of misinformed pillocks chose a totally inappropriate piece of artwork to showcase British art. On and on and on I could go.

Be proud to be British for a change - and stop taking it all so seriously! A few cock-ups here and there? Just have a laugh - after all, we Brits are known for our sense of humour - right?

And if it really bothers you that much?  Go write an award winning drama about it. ;)

The Rainy Festival and Sunny Party

Today I was at the very sunny London 2012 Party in The Mall. It was a great day all round - but more on that tomorrow. I'll let the main terrestrial channels batter your senses with Olympic Fever first.

So, Mac is back from Apple Hospital and I'm back from Edinburgh - my wallet's a lot lighter but the penchant I developed for food and alcohol on the run has balanced the lost/gained...errrr...balance. But what the hell, it was a laugh. Literally. 

My festival-going activities were mainly planned within the walls of the Pleasance Courtyard (in the rain) but then carried out at many of Auld Reekie's sprawling comedy venues (in the rain). I am very glad to have seen David O'Doherty just before he won the main award at the If.comedy Awards (previously known as The Perrier Awards) and very due a win he was.  Any thirty-two year old man who can sit in front of a full house singing about text messaging, picking at a two foot piece of plastic and still deserve applause, is well worth a trophy as far as I am concerned.

I saw a good selection of shows - from stand up through to audience participation - and never had it struck me so strongly, how much a backstory matters to a performer - comedic, ensemble or  otherwise. These were the guys that 'worked' - they had a sense of a solid background precedence/backstory, whichever. The ones that didn't - well, they just didn't.  

It's perhaps a strange observation from someone who has been a performer all her life, but background research and backstory formulation is just something I do automatically when prepping a role.  Nothing used to crush me more when I would ask my director, "So if she did xxx, would I be right in thinking she would need to have experienced xxx in order to get to that psychological state? Possibly around the age of xxxx?" to be met with a blank stare and a shrug. Not a stare and shrug in the vein of, "Go create your own character; do your own work..." but in the vein of, "Don't ask me - I'm the Director".  Hmmmph.

So, the moral of this post?  Get your backstory straight - in your mind, if nowhere else.  At least that way, you will know where the characters came from, in order for them to go somewhere. And you never know, some random actor-type-peep may even ask you for your input one day. If they can get past the shrugging Director.   ;)

Strumming My Fingers

I have uploaded my film for "assessing" before it (hopefully) goes live on the comp site.  I will let you know when it is there - you can't vote (booooo), but you can comment (only nice ones please).

Not one for resting on my laurels too long, I already have three more definite projects in the very near pipeline.  Extremely fun and exciting, all this "Kick Your World Up It's Own Ass" approach.  Liking it.

Anyway, I digress for a change.  

It's Friday, which means there is a requirement for a stupid video.  Seeing as Olympic fever will be choking us over the weekend (or the air quality in Bejing, whichever gets us first), I thought I wouldn't bother with another Olympic blooper reel - soooo last week, darling.  So, here's another really ridiculous one for you instead.  I wonder how much this cost the taxpayer?

Have a nice weekend.

Friday Shenanigans

Hello One and All.

A very busy week, mainly meetings and editing. Hell, I haven't even replied to many text messages this week, let alone hanging out at Facebook, and that's saying something.  Having stated that, a miniscule amount of my time has been spent working out how my World Domination Plans are coming along and then viewing this year's Virgin Media Shorts - I suggest you get on over there and vote for your favourite. There are some very strong contenders.

So, in what is becoming true tradition here are Tenacious Me, and to end a week full of marathon effort, here is a little silly to ease you into the Olympic Fever of 2008 which will be coming to a TV screen near you very soon. Before you know it, you won't be able to breathe without anticipation of Gold. Silver. Bronze. Lack of oxygen in Bejing. Whatever.  Just enjoy.

Never Rains but it Pours

I recently succumbed to the deadly tummy bug lurgy thingy which has been a total killer. It steam-rollered me during the early hours of Sunday morning and I have only just begun to function properly today.  I still ache from head to foot but that is down to the fact that around 1am on Monday I stumbled out of bed in a hallucinatory state, convinced I was going to be sick for the tenth time that hour, lurched towards the bathroom, missed the door handle and face planted into The Kid's door with a rather loud crash. At least that's what my Miss Marple braincell thinks happened but I can't verify the details - I just woke up in a heap wondering what all the noise had been, why I was kissing the door and indeed, how long I had been there. I managed to cut my shoulder, graze my arm and nearly break my nose, which is still a lovely blackened shade along with the pretty, dark "oops, my eyeliner really slipped" looking eyes. Not so much a sexy, smouldering look, as a bruised, smoked kipper effect. ;(

On an up note, last night I finally managed to complete the rough edit for my Swarovski/Tank Films comp entry No.1, so now I know exactly what footage I need to shoot in a couple of weeks' time to complete it.  I'm quite happy with it thus far so hope things will carry on in that vein.  I also got a lovely email the other day informing me of my successful ticket application for the VISA London 2012 Party in August.  Acts are to be announced but it promises to be on par with Live Aid (1985).  It's a bit of a double edged sword as it is happening the day I was meant to be returning from the Edinburgh Festival but I guess I'll just have to head home a bit earlier.  

So, me and 39,999 other peeps on The Mall will be "celebrating the hand-over of the Olympic flag from Bejing to London".  Anyone else going?  Be sure to wave.