Short Stories

I finished the second draft of the short story today. Yay! I also wrote out the descriptions for two illustrations that are going to be included with the story in the book! How exciting is that!!!!
I used to dabble a little in drawing and painting myself and that was what I had always seen myself as doing, unfortunately I was a little bit rubbish at it, so I didn't really get anywhere with that!
It feels a little odd really, knowing that someone else is going to do some pics for my story!
Each of the pieces that will be included in the RPG book will get two illustrations so I'm really looking forward to seeing the finished product!!! So I await with quivering anticipation to see what it's all going to look like!

Roadshows, Toilets and Warm Wine.

I had a great time at the BBC Writer's Room Road show with surprisingly few bothersome moments. I'm not going to mention the astonishment I felt at the obvious forward thinking of our local City Council with the introduction of uni-sex toilets in our train station at the very beginning of my epic journey. They were all shiny and modern and I'm not ashamed to admit I was getting all excited about the sparkly luxury of them until I realised I'd ended up in the Gents by accident. Last time that happened at least I had a decent excuse - it was dark and one wooden toilet block looks very much like all the others in the desert...

Moving swiftly on but with the recent memory of being unable to locate the correct gender facilities burning in my brain, I did manage to get on the right train, which was a considerable relief, as I had half expected to end up in Inverness rather than my destination of choice. Not that there's anything wrong with Inverness, far from it, just that it would have meant me travelling in the opposite direction than intended which would have resulted in a major travel fail.
Following on quickly after that dizzying triumph was the fact that I didn't fall asleep and miss Dundee station either (yes, I know many would regard this as a failing.) Just joking Dundee - I love you to bits!

I arrived in good time, with just over an hour to spare before the Road show began, so my plan was to find somewhere all nice, writery and intellectual where I could pose around, look cool and have some food. However after getting unexpectedly trapped in the Overgate Shopping Centre for about half an hour, I skulked into a Pizza Hut I discovered just around the corner from the Caird Hall and ordered my usual pepperoni with extra cheese. The waiter returned shortly after to apologised that the white wine I had ordered was non-chilled. I think I shocked him slightly by my unashamed defiance of convention and told him I didn't mind just get me the wine! NOW! (Actually I just smiled sweetly and he seemed happy in the knowledge that I was some uncultured wine-heathen probably too desperate to sue in the face of my need for some good old Dutch courage.) "But Magz, why didn't you just order a cheeky little Red?" I hear you cry. Well, I'm glad you asked as the answer is simple. I didn't want to run the risk of the dreaded red lips and having Auntie Beeb think I was some alchy writer wanna-be. One must try not to advertise these things for the sake of one's possible future career. When I have made my fame and fortune then I shall be more than happy to prance around with vino stained chops.

I was quite amazed and to find the Caird Hall roughly in the place I was expecting it to be - thanks to the wonders of Google Streetview. Before leaving the house, I had carefully studied my route from station to destination, however, for some reason loads of cars kept honking at me as I carefully and religiously followed the big white line down the centre of the road as per the onscreen instructions.

The Road show itself was very good and consisted of general advice on what the Writer's Room looks for in the scripts they receive, as well as what they are not looking for! The presentation was informative and friendly and had a good attendance with lots of serious looking writers which made me want to scamper away and hide. It also covered the 'Scotland Writes' competition, with a good amount of time for questions and answers to follow. At one point, one of the chaps from the Beeb (I do apologise for forgetting your name sir!) mentioned a similar event with RTD (Russell T Davis) and I only narrowly prevented my inner fan-girl from leaping around and doing embarrassing things. Twas a struggle though.

I arrived back at the station with about 20 minutes to spare before the next train was due, which turned out to be from Plymouth. Not that that has any relevance whatsoever, I just felt the need to add that delightful little detail for you, my dear reader. Yes - for you! So what else could I do but partake of a nice glass of wine, chilled this time you will be relieved to know, from the station bar while I waited? I decided to accept the offered receipt in the pretence that I was a grown up on a business trip and not just desperate for some booze.

All in all, the event was friendly and useful, even though it did send me rushing home to do a rapid re-write on my now meagre-seeming and feeble competition entry and apart from waiting for about 45 minutes for a bus home after I left the station, it was a jolly splendid little outing!