Stinking cold has arrived - bleurghhhhh

Had hoped to write another chapter of my year-end review yesterday, but the predicted stinking cold has arrived. Nose running like a tap, sinuses stuffed full of bleurgh, struggling to kept my head up. Spent yesterday in bed marking university assignments. Got to go in today, need to progress these. So the next part of my review will have to wait. Sorry, bleurgh trumps blog. Onwards!

2009: my year in review [part 2]

So, what have I been doing in 2009? Half the working week is spent as a part-time lecturer in creative writing at Edinburgh Napier University. Helping invent a new MA degree from scratch has been stressful and rewarding [often at the same time] - then the students arrived and things really got interesting. Suspect I learn as much from them as they do from me, but that's teaching for you.

My mum was a teacher [mostly within primary schools] and it was an avenue I could have taken after finishing high school. I've always had the gift of the gab, so talking to a room full of strangers doesn't give me the horrors. But I saw first-hand how hard teachers work, the long nights and weekends spent marking or preparing. Wanting to find my own path in life, I chose journalism instead.

Fast forward to 2009 and I'm a teacher, albeit part-time and at university. I applied for and took the job because it would give me financial freedom from hackwork. When I wasn't teaching, I could concentrate on purely speculative writing. Of course, there's never quite enough money to offer total financial freedom, but part-time teaching has taken the pressure off most months so far.

A project left over from 2008 swallowed most of my non-teaching time January-June this year. The TV drama team-writing workshop at the Lighthouse Arts Centre in Brighton was a challenging, sometimes mind-boggling experience. The script I wrote never got near what I wanted, but it was the journey that mattered, not the destination. I always learn more from mistakes, so I learned plenty.

Two other leftovers snuck into this year. The paperback edition of THRILL-POWER OVERLOAD, my mighty tome detailing the secret history of iconic British comic 2000AD, came out in February. [I was already making royalties from the hardcover, so this one's all gravy.] And a fourth edition of THE COMPLETE INSPECTOR MORSE emerged, though I still haven't seen a copy of it yet.

Some things I did during 2009 can't be talked about, due to confidentiality clauses. I read several fistfuls of scripts for Scottish Screen. Helped brainstorm an exciting mixed media project for BBC Learning, BBC Online and BBC Radio Drama. Storylined an animation project that could open manydoors, if it gets funded. Did my shameless media whore thing on Newsnight Scotland and radio.

I also had some visible successes. THE WOMAN WHO SCREAMED BUTTERFLIES was a finalist in the Page International Screenwriting Awards, in the short film section I won two years ago with DANNY'S TOYS. Ironically, TWWSB lost to a script by a Screen Academy Scotland student - which is where I first wrote DANNY'S TOYS. TWWSB picqued interest from a few people, something might come of it.

A much rewritten version of my WWII homefront continuing drama pilot script FAMILIES AT WAR was a finalist in the Red Planet Prize. That earned an audience with Hustle creator Tony Jordan and an invitation to submit ideas to his production company. Haven't made as much use of this yet, due to committments elsewhere, but am now grasping this opportunity with both hands.

There's more to say, but I've got a stinking cold coming and things that need doing, so it'll have to wait for part 3. Tomorrow I'll ruminate on my biggest writing success of 2009. Onwards!

Antidote to The X Factor: it's the X Husband!

2009: my year in review [part 1]

Seems a bit early in the annum for a review of my writing year, but I feel the need for a bit of throat-clearing, so here goes. I didn't write a novel during 2008 and the same thing happened again this year - could this be a trend? I'm starting to think so. Isn't always easy to identify a sea change in your writing while it's still happening, unless the new direction is a result of conscious choice.

In part my move away from prose stems from abortive projects in 2008. I spent way too much time on a putative novel for one publisher and got royally dicked around. Waiting three months for feedback, then got some half-hearted comments. Another week spent rethinking and reworking the lengthy proposal - only to be left waiting another three months for a response.

By that point I'd had a gutsful and walked. I don't mind being given blunt feedback, in fact I kind of prefer it [must be my Antipodean background]. But weak-arse nothings or radio silence don't do much for me. For example, I spent much of 2008 developing the first in a proposed series of novels based on one of Britain's most popular TV dramas. That also came to naught.

As a consequence, I've walked away from prose for now. I did write a Judge Dredd talking book for Big Finish this year. Enjoyed myself once I finally grasped the nettle and actually sat down to write it, but can't honeslty say I'm itching to get back to pulse-pounding right now. So my 20th [or 21st, depending on which ones you count] novel remains unwritten.

Besides the Dredd talking book [Stranger Than Truth, out now], I also had a Doctor Who audio drama released on download and CD this year. But Enemy of the Daleks was really a 2008 project, so that's old news. Come to think of it, I've been moving further away from the tie-in market. No more Big Finish on the horizon, no tie-in novels in the offing - and that's fine by me.

Back in 2005 I started a screenwriting MA because I was sick of doing so much tie-in work. Hackwork may bring in the bacon, but it's not that satisfying creatively. I chose to challenge myself, learn some new skills and make a concerted effort to get a winklepicker-clad foot in the door of TV drama. If that meant abandoning the world of tie-in books and audios, so be it.

That change of direction came to fruition in 2009, in more ways than one. I'm a lot poorer financially poorer for my choice, but much happier with my writing. Even scripting comic book adventures for The Phantom - one of my bread and butter jobs as a freelance scribe - has taken a back seat this year. I've only written a two-parter, although I've a synopsis to flesh out.

So, what have I been doing instead? Come back for part 2 tomorrow. Got a two-page pitch that needs my attention. Onwards!

NZ: The Italian Job homage, Kiwi-style

NZ: Siouxsie, Banshees & Robert Smith - live!

Waaaaay back in the dim mists of time, I was lucky enough to Siouxsie and the Banshees play live - with Robert Smith of The Cure as guitarist. He joined Siouxsie, Steve Severin and Budgie for a spell in the early 1980s [the Banshees went through guitarists like Spinal Tap gets through drummers], and toured New Zealand with them. Talk about your Goth icon overload. Set eyeliner to swoon.

The band played Auckland on Valentine's Day in 1983. The gig was at Mainstreet, a black hole of a place at the top of Queen St. February in Auckland is pretty much the height of summer, and even after dark humidity can be nasty. Don't know how Mainstreet was licensed to hold, but it felt like there were double the legal number. Even the walls were sweating. Set eyeliner to racoon.

I remember watching most of the concert from a mezzanine, standing on a chair to see. By rights I shouldn't have been there - it was Monday [a school night], and I was 16 [underage in a licensed venue]. But one of my brothers got me in, and got me home again afterwards. Next day was the school swimming championships at Jellicoe Pools. That was a long day in hell. [Set eyeliner to doom.]

If you're wondering about the photos, they are from that concert but I didn't take them. The photographer was Jonathan Ganley and all the images are his copyright, so please don't swipe them without permission. You can see more of Jonathan's amazing pictures at his blog point that thing. The Siouxsie and the Banshees [with Robert Smith] pictures can be found here.

More than quarter of a century later [yikes!], I now live near Edinburgh in Scotland. Thanks to the joys of twitter, I spotted Steve Severin linking to Jonathan's photographs yesterday. Following a link to Severin's website, I discovered he now lives in Edinburgh. On the other side of the planet, Jonathan's going to my nephew's second birthday party this weekend [happy b-day, Rex!]. It's a small world, folks, smaller than you think. Onwards!

NZ: The Goodnight Kiwi

Back before New Zealand had 24 hour television, this short animation was screened to signal the end of broadcasting for the day. If you were still awake when the Goodnight Kiwi went upstairs to the satellite dish for a kip, this was TVNZ telling it was time for bed. Bless.

NZ: where real men play the Stylophone

Saddened to hear Kiwi music legend and cartoonist Chris Knox suffered a stroke. In honour of him, here's a Radio With Pictures clip from 1983 of Knox [on Stylophone!] performing 'All of My Hollowness To You' live with the Tall Dwarfs.