Tuesday 15 November 2011

Beyond the Sofa...

It's not very often I venture out, unless I've run out of teabags or such other vital business. This weekend, however, saw me up at the hideous hour of 4:15am (Who would have thought such a time existed?) to wend my way to Glasgow for the Screenwriting, Networking and Pitching Workshop. I would like to say I jumped out of bed in a rush of refreshed energy, but that would be utter rubbish. I crawled, sobbing, like a poor broken zombie. Can't remember much of the train journey; I think I mostly dozed until Dundee o'clock.
The course itself, run by Phil Gladwin and Phil Shelley, was an intense, two day workshop which covered subjects such as story structure, generating ideas and a very novel exercise in character creation, through to marketing yourself and your work. It was full of interactive tasks which were both interesting and thought provoking, and covered so much practical information that can only come from years of experience working in the business. Of course, what course would be complete without a good chinwag in the bar afterward?
Guest speakers, Eric Coulter and Kate Croft, were fascinating and entertaining to listen to.
Unfortunately, I completely bombed at the pitching exercise and turned into a shaking, babbling physical wreck... Nevertheless, it was a truly excellent weekend and I had the pleasure of meeting a bunch of lovely and talented folk. Well worth dragging myself off the sofa for!

Wednesday 10 August 2011

Holiday Blues

It's been over a week since returning from the lovely, sunny isle of Mallorca. (Well, mostly sunny, as long as you don't count the several days of cloud and rain; but we don't talk about those.) For the first time ever, I actually have an all-over-not-quite-so-pale-and-insipid-bit-of-colour. Not entirely 'all-over', I must make haste to point out, it wasn't a nudist holiday or anything. (The unfortunate incident on the beach that morning was purely accidental, I swear.)

So, now it's back to the scribbly stuff in earnest. I've had some good things though, since I got back. Got paid the final cheques for a screenplay and a treatment, that I thought would involve a whole lot more rewriting than I expected, which was a jolly nice relief.
Also, at the weekend, I found out that I'm a finalist in the EotP International Film Festival script writing competition, which was a really nice surprise. I'm going to see if I can make the journey down to the festival this year. Although it's quite a hike, I'm sure it'll be worth it. Tis a jolly good festival, so go and have a look!

Until then, I'm working on a very exciting Dark Harvest project which will hopefully keep me out of trouble for a while or so.



Monday 13 June 2011

Liquid Lunch

There's a rather excellent and very funny online comedy show running at the moment. Written by the ever lovely and sickeningly talented Danny Stack, tis definitely worth catching up with! And if you don't - I shall take it upon myself to come round and slap you over the chops with a rather smelly wet fish. Yes - YOU! I know where you live!



You can also visit the main site over here.

Monday 6 June 2011

Did I Really Write That?

One of the nicest things about finishing a particular script, is not only does it fill me with a sense of achievement and warm glowiness, (and gives me the excuse to run down to the corner shop and go wild in the wine section,) but it's the wonderful fact that I can just totally forget about it. And I mean, totally and utterly forget about it. It means I don't have to wake up at 5am fretting and trying to convince myself that I shouldn't even think about even attempting to write anything at all due my absolute rubbishness in all things scribbly.

So it usually comes as a rather pleasant, and highly surprising event if it gets placed or wins, (if it's a competition) because I really, truly, have completely thrown it out of my concious memory. It can be such a delightful shock to find that I've actually produced something solid rather that stare vacantly into space as most people tend to think I do all day.

They are of course, correct.

Mostly.

Monday 30 May 2011

Onward

I sent off the first draft of the screenplay today - which of course means that I'll spend the next few weeks fretting about what the notes will say.
So, 'tis onto the next tasks which include writing up a second draft of a short film that's lurking around. Whether I get it done on time to put it in for what I plan to, is anyone's guess!
Also going to rewrite another little joint project, which so far is a lot of fun.
I've also have another treatment to write, so just waiting for the details of that job to come through. Busy, busy! Time to get a wiggle on I think!

Friday 20 May 2011

Sofa's and Scripts

Good progress on one of my current work projects. I finished the first draft of the novel adaptation I've been hired to do - ahead of deadline! I'll be able to re-write it and tweak it over the next week or so.

Today, I had planned to have a bit of a lie-in as a treat, however, one of the ever so thoughtful neighbours decided to rip out their windows at 7:30 am. Joy.

So, I think I'll spend the afternoon finishing up a spec script that really should have been finished ages ago...

Or I'll just lounge on the sofa watching tv... or shooting some zombies on the Xbox...

Wednesday 18 May 2011

First Signing!

Saturday saw me attending my first actual proper signing at Asylum Books and Games in Aberdeen.
The ever lovely Iain Lowson, creator of Dark Harvest: Legacy of Frankenstein and good friend, made the perilous journey up North on Friday, bringing probably the best gift EVER!
Up bright and early we turned up at Asylum Books and Games at 10am. It felt really odd being on the other side of the table and we sold and signed a good amount of books with a steady stream of folks coming to see us.
I did notice, however, that my signature kept changing throughout the day!
It was the first time I'd seen a hard copy of this gorgeous book and I got a strange but delightful tingle at seeing my short story in actual proper print!
For those of you not familiar with the setting, DH is set in a very believable and very dark alternative timeline where Victor Frankenstein has wangled his way to power and created the closed country of Promethea (what we would know as Romania). You can imagine our delight when a Romanian lad bought the book, full of enthusiasm for the book and it's setting!
The day, went by so quickly and I thoroughly enjoyed every minute.
Of course, being Saturday, the shop owner closed up early and invited us back to his flat for dinner and Doctor Who!
Definitely one of those most splendid days.

Iain will be traveling to the UK Games Expo in Bristol.

Saturday 5 March 2011

Marching on.

Blimey! March already! It'll be Christmas again before you know it.
It's been a busy few months. Lots of scribbly stuff and the eating of pizzas keeping me more or less out of trouble.
I had the good fortune to catch Geoff Holder on Wednesday, who was doing a promotion of his new book, 'The Guide to Mysterious Aberdeen'. A jolly nice chap full of interesting stories and info who also led a short tour of Old Aberdeen, which is where I used to live! It's shocking how much we don't know about our own back yards!
After that, it was a much needed trip to the pub followed by dinner at my favourite Tuscan restaurant. A most splendid break from scribbling!

Other quiveringly exciting news, is that Cubicle 7 are taking advanced orders for Dark Harvest: Legacy of Frankenstein - in fact, you can get your grubby little mitts on one right here!

Not only that, but we shall be shamelessly promoting it at Conpulsion in Edinburgh which takes place from March 25th - 27th! So, if you're in the area drop by and say hello. And if you're not in the area - then get your fuzzy little butts there by any means possible!

Saturday 1 January 2011

A Brand Spanking New Year

A whole new year ahead, filled with opportunities, problems, obstacles, challenges and rewards - all exciting and terrifying.
It's time to take this new year, grip it by it's big flappy ears and show it who's boss.
Whatever we have to face in the next 364 days... we will take it as it comes and if we don't like it we can always just cower behind the sofa and hope it goes away.
However we will have to deal with it and somehow we will reach it's end, ready to take on the next one.
A toast my friends... to whatever may be...