A Successful Weekend

With little or no distraction - except for good conversation (what John Probert doesn't know isn't worth knowing about...) and far too much alcohol - I wrote a script, plus several more pages on a work-in-progress story, and read a couple of novella submissions.

Of course, I also sampled the clean, crisp Monmouthshire air with a couple of brisk walks, one of which coincided with a game of chicken with a bull.

Well, I think it was a bull - it could've been a pretty butch-looking cow... Either way, I stuck to my side of the field and he/she stuck to it's, and never the twain shall meet.

Arriving home yesterday, there was a letter waiting for me regarding a job I applied for: unfortunately, due to the number of applications they will be re-advertising the job with a new closing date and I will be re-considered with this fresh batch of applicants.

Not sure what to make of this... though I will be very disappointed if I they decided not to give me an interview: if they had no intention of interviewing me, why keep my hanging on?

Anyway, just have to wait and see.

Cottaging...

... now, that got your attention, didn't it? ;-)

Off to Monmouth this weekend, nestled within a cottage with six other writers: Steve Lockley & Paul Lewis, Paul Meloy, John Probert, Simon Bestwick and Mike O'Driscoll.

Should be fun; didn't go to the last one, but the previous stay I caught up with my reading slush pile, not to mention drank a bit and ate a great Lewis curry.

This time around, just two novellas to read but a story which I hope to finish plus a script for the TAPS course, though hopefully I'll be able to get out and breathe in some Monmouthshire countryside air.

Oh, and drink a bit.

TTFN.

Time passes...

Can't think of anything else to sum up this post, except the obvious: time has passed...

The screenwriting course last weekend was very good, albeit tiring - hard to imagine, but sitting down for three days listening to what an expert has to say is not easy. Need to re-work my Dodderers idea into a coherent short script by 1st June. Knowing my knack of procastination, this is vaguely possible.

Meanwhile, the "2nd person" story is on stop, but next weekend a bunch of us are off to the wild's of Monmouth for three days of writing in a cottage - well, they'll be writing, I'll probably be finishing off the Pendragon reading pile.

Broadband at home is still playing up, though it is slightly better now; 'tis amazing how much not having a reliable internet connection is like having one's arm sawn off... quite sad, really.

Oh, and I've applied for a new job: a vacancy at the Welsh Books Council in Aberystwyth.

Probably off to see 28 Weeks Later this weekend, which looks good; in a similar vein, click on this link and watch quite possibly the best ever zombie flick - pity it's only a trailer.

I did see Spider-Man 3 on Monday, which was entertaining with a great cameo from the superb Bruce Campbell. I'm no Spidey-expert, nor comics in general for that matter, but on a purely filmic level, it was very good; Maguire and Dunst have made the roles their own, especially J K Simmons who was just born to play Jonah Jameson, and Sam Raimi directs like the fan-boy he is.

One more film I can recommend is Crash, which is just superb: an intelligent story about racism from all corners of society, and how it affects a group of individuals in LA during one day. I wish I could write something like that.

Anyway, until next time...

In the second person...

I've started writing a new story - I know, I need a lie down - but for some reason, I'm using the second person perspective this time. It's a strange way of writing: first and third POV's sound so natural, yet describing a character as "you" takes some getting used to.

Anyway, will continue with it for as long as I can; at the moment, I've backed myself into a corner, so could well remove the scene tonight if I can't find a way out...

Also, I've been accepted onto that screenwriting course mentioned earlier: starts tomorrow afternoon, and continues through Saturday and Sunday, so whilst you're all catching some rays on a glorious Bank Holiday weekend, I'm stuck in some stuffy room.

Still, the course is free and they'll pay my travelling expenses... to be honest with you, not sure how good the course is: the bumf states that it is for those people whom wish to become a freelance writer, and you are only eligible if you're unemployed, have children, or going back to work after starting a family. Neither of these apply to me, and the deadline was extended for applications, so something tells me that they were desperate for participants.

Fingers crossed I learn something - apparently, over the course, I get to turn a maximum 2-page treatment into a 10-min script: the treatment I wrote, a "horror" story about three kids who foil a mad professor's attempt to ransom the world, by turning all the old-age pensioners into blood-thirsty zombies could fit into half an hour ("Day of the Dodderers") and the final scripts are whittled down and eventually made...

In fact, a good friend of mind reckoned it would make a damn good episode of The Sarah Jane Adventures (which I haven't seen, but my inspiration - not just Romero's zombie flicks, but also those old Children's Film Foundation tales, without the flares or chopper bicycles!)

Will keep you posted...

Crivens... again!

Continuing on from my previous post about submitting a short script to ITV Wales, not sure if I told you but it wasn't actually accepted; I received some good feedback, though, which helped, but I put it to one-side and forgot all about it.

Anyway, out of the blue, I received an e-mail this morning stating that my name had been put forward for a free screenwriting course at ITV Wales next month, run by TAPS. They even pay travelling expenses (checking out the website, some of the courses this organisation run are quite expensive... so if it's free... I know, such a cheap bastard!)

Anyway, it's not confirmed that I have a place - they're sending me an application form to fill in - but will keep you posted.

In other news, the TalkTalk broadband saga continues - it was fixed by the time I came back from Toronto, but as of Tuesday it went off again. Hour on the 'phone Wednesday night and I was told it could take 5 working days to fix.

Moral of the story: if you're going to switch ISP, I don't recommend TalkTalk.

Crivens!

Amazingly, and after too many stop-starts in my writing (editing and publishing other people's doesn't half curtail your own creative output - the bastards! ;-) ) I started to write a short script last month for a scheme run by ITV Wales & Bridgend Youth Theatre called "It's My Shout!" (which is essentially something like The Children's Film Foundation).

I watched a couple of the films last year - typically of ITV Wales, they were shown at 11pm on a Friday night - and in the main they were okay, if nothing spectacular (though there was one particular short, which was a very funny take on bullying...)

Anyway, the guidelines specifically asked for films in the vein of comedy, drama or horror - things which the kids themselves would like - and so in a fit of inspiration, I wrote "Home": a tale set in a children's home which isn't quite what it seems...

Four drafts later, I delivered it this afternoon - the closing date is next Monday.

Whether I get anywhere is, well, debatable, but they're looking for seven scripts, of which six will go into production, so who knows? I don't.

Anyway, not much planned this weekend - couple of drinks tomorrow, and quite possibly Hot Fuzz on Sunday. Which would sound positively disgusting, if it weren't for the fact it's the title of Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright's latest film.

I doubt it's funnier than Boys in Blue, though. ;-)