Attack of My Clone

My 'festive period' bank statement just dropped through the door with a thud, and when I opened it I was absolutely furious to find out that whilst I personally had been quite sensible over Christmas, some little a**wipe had weighed up the clever/dumb balance, and been on a spending spree with my card details.  Urgh.  I hate things like that.  

Luckily I am one of those people who checks their statements with a fine tooth comb and my bank have been very helpful so far.  It's a really horrible invasive feeling though, especially when doubt creeps in as you realise you are filing a fraud claim..."I really can't remember spending those amounts at that place on that date at that time, but I will of course check all my records...". Just in case. 

So peeps, I suggest you take a long hard look at all your post-Christmas statements upon their arrival.  With finances being the way they are at the moment, I am sure I'm not the only one with odd spurious purchase stuck on here and there.

On a brighter and more work-like note, over the weekend, me & Red Pen completed our editing of 'Taking the Fast Lane" and made a few more changes to "Practice", which is all good news.  I spent the best part of a beautiful, sunny Saturday morning taking lots of possible exterior location photos in addition to searching for a view that has become extremely elusive - but I think I have spotted it. I think. I am now happy I may have found my exterior location and although I'm a long way away from all that, at least I can visualise how the scene may, or may not, work.  Up until this point, the exterior scenes have always been a mixture of real and 'make-believe' places in my nonce, so it's nice to be able to look at the words on the page and apply them to the actual location.

I'm off to a screening of shorts tonight, which I am really looking forward to.  I'm a total mixture of excitement, interest and nerves due to my general interest in other people's work and the fact that one of the shorts was directed by the beautifully brilliant Potdoll.  I was lucky to see lots of early footage of this fab film, and so I can't wait to see the full finished product - but I feel so nervous on her behalf!  Eeeeek - as she herself would say!

Right - lots to do , places to go, people to see.

Onwards.

Week End

What a week it's been - I have totally neglected my little blog-baby this week, haven't I?  I really haven't stopped though - hell, I couldn't even make it to the SWF launch thingy (notes as written up by Sir Arnopp of Pokery) on Tuesday night, as, even that early in the week I didn't know my toosh from my whatsit.  But all this busy, busy, busy hasn't had a good effect on my well-being though, as I've been fighting a nasty case of popping-ears-sniffy-nose-gritty-eyed-golf-ball-in-throat-iritis. Yuk.

Well, I am now at re-draft number 4 of the first draft of my digital short, "Practice" and have managed to squidge in a light, first pass edit of my novel, "Taking the Fast Lane". Red Pen and I have been having a ball all week, so we have. I love the moments we share. Just so - inky.

I am going to make up a mood board for "Practice" tomorrow as I want to start conveying my vision graphically as well as literally - I am also likely to stick it up on the wall above my desk so every time I walk into/out of the room, I will see it and know whether it is 'right' or not. I also have an ever-evolving plot for a new feature rattling around my head - which is actually annoying me a bit at the moment as it keeps getting in the way, and therefore notes of which will more than likely be jotted down over the weekend to clear some brain space.

I have hardly even visited the Tenacious Towers' Entertainment Suite this week - all I managed to squeeze in was "Unforgiven" (ITV, Monday, 21:00) the new three parter written by Sally Wainwright (and I'm totally hooked), last night's ep of "Hustle" (BBC1, 21:00) (I am just loving the new team dynamic), and the "Doctors" episode on Wednesday afternoon (BBC1, 13:45), penned by the very talented Mr Campbell - and IMHO, an excellent job he made of it, too.  

And so, on to next week. It's going to be very, very busy from the outset with quite a few meetings, screenings and talks to attend, in addition to the many more rewrites (probably) and gazillions of emails and telephone calls in relation to the many more rewrites (likely). In fact, between now and April is pretty busy.

It's a strange thing, but even though I feel as though I have been squeezed through a mangle backwards these last seven days, I am still very happy/excited about the way it's all going. Probably just as well.

Onwards.

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.

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.

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.

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.