Ah, the ignorance of it!
BBC radio 4 on a weekday evening has a review programme that can be very interesting though I dislike the main presenter, Mark Lawson. One of the reasons I dislike him is his contempt for Science Fiction in any form, so whenever there is a review or feature which has an SF element you can guarantee there'll be some snide comments floating about. And ignorance.
On a little filler feature this evening the most recent episode of Dr Who was mentioned, with its title "Planet of the Ood". A very good episode as it happens, but I digress. Mr Lawson demonstrated his ignorance by saying that it had introduced a new monster; which it didn't, since the Ood appeared in an earlier episode. But there was no reason to even mention it since the feature was about episode titles, and not the subject matter, he was trying to be clever and put it down with "monster" and demonstrated his ignorance instead.
So. Here I am back in Reading having been home for the weekend.
I had such plans for my Scriptfrenzy writing. It's a straight through train from Reading to Manchester during the week and I wanted to take a seat and work on my script for three hours. Unfortunately something got in my way: well, I got in my way. Well, my stomach to be precise. The train seats were too close together and my laptop isn't a little one. I was annoyed at myself, and then doubly annoyed because I hadn't brought a notepad with me. Tsk.
I have a family and it seems a bit wrong to hide in a room writing when they haven't seen me all week, so I didn't write while I was there. But the journey back was better, somewhat. I missed one connection (a train had failed at the platform we were supposed to arrive on) so I ended up on the wrong trains. But one part of the journey I managed to get a seat where the gap was bigger and had a good hour and a half of writing, and knocked out another 8-9 pages which was pretty good going.
As I have mentioned my script is inspired by the 10CC album "The Original Soundtrack" mainly the track "One Night in Paris", but other tracks where I can fit them in. One of which is called "Blackmail" and the protagonist has met the blackmailer. In fact this part of the plot is going to work very similarly to the way it does in the song (click for lyrics).
I've still got a way to go on the script, I'm on 38 pages, so 62 to go. That might seem like a lot but quantity isn't really an issue, it's just another deadline. I have 4 nights this week, 3 next week and 2 train journeys, that's 9 writing sessions so a minimum of 7 per day. But if I aim for 10 per session I'll wrap it up by the end of the weekend, and even if the train journeys turn into nothing I should still be able to complete it by the deadline.
Well that's enough the sums I suppose, I better actually do some writing.
What's on the turntable? "The Caves of Altamira" by Steely Dan from "The Royal Scam"
Showing posts with label 10cc. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 10cc. Show all posts
Monday, April 21, 2008
Monday, April 07, 2008
Down in the dumps
It's okay to feel down in the dumps for a little while, as long as it doesn't go on too long.
The Saturday trip to Liverpool went off without a hitch: Daughter got her Jujitsu Black Belt 11th Tab (roughly equivalent to "First Dan and a bit" for a junior), and the Boy is now a Black Belt.
We were so close to Aintree that we could hear the announcements and race commentary. However we arrived and left early enough that we weren't affected by the traffic. Still, sitting (or even "sitting still") in a car for 6 hours is not very exciting.
My relocation to Reading is turning into a bit of a nightmare. The agency just informed me that they have to account for my employment for the entire previous year. What? I've had two contract jobs but the rest of the time I've been writing and editing stuff for other people, usually taking only a few days each.
I had nothing like this on the previous jobs, they didn't even ask.
And what's really sweet, the agency guy says "oh, it's alright if you don't remember the names of the people you worked for ... " as in line/project managers " ... I'll just call the HR departments and ask."
Oh you will? You'll phone individuals living at home who had me edit their book and ask for their HR department? Real world, living, not.
And, you know, I'm not a stupid person, but the forms that I'm required to fill in for the job and also the flat rental. I'd like to scream.
So while sitting in the car in Liverpool I chose a flat to live in in Reading and paid over a deposit, sight unseen. Not that I had Internet access in the car, that was just from a note I made. Not the best way but choice? None of.
One property agent I spoke to refused to allow me to pay for a flat without seeing it. I'm not really critical of this, it's their company policy based on bad experiences with tenants who kicked up a fuss when what they got wasn't what they thought they'd get. Fair enough. But no use to me, at all.
Anyway the agency I'm using seemed quite nice people, I even spoke to the guy who owns the company. They offered me a bedsit that they own themselves, which would have been good from one point of view but I prefer to have a lounge/kitchen with separate bedroom so I can keep bits of my life separate. Call me an old fogey, I don't mind.
In the midst of all this there is ScriptFrenzy which I'm supposed to be doing this year. Not doing well, I'm days behind. The idea is to write 100 script pages in April (30 days) which is about 3.3 pages per day. I'm on 7 when I should be on 25 today. Hopefully I'll be able to catch up once I get the job and property sorted out. (I am a professional writer, after all, should be a doddle.)
I did ScriptFrenzy last year on my Monsters TV series project, and the year before I wrote a novel during NaNoWriMo both of those were well prepared. This time I have barely more than an idea -- I'm writing a story inspired by the 10CC album called "The Original Soundtrack".
Confused? You will be.
This 10CC album was not the original soundtrack of anything, it was just the name of the album. It's the album that has the wonderful "I'm not in love" song, a full gorgeous 8 minutes of it. It also has a narrative track called "One Night In Paris" and I'm writing "Une Nuit a Paris".
Anyway, I'm feeling a bit better now. Thanks for listening. Same time tomorrow? If I'm not busy? Fine.
What's on the turntable? Enrique Inglesias singing Hero in Spanish.
The Saturday trip to Liverpool went off without a hitch: Daughter got her Jujitsu Black Belt 11th Tab (roughly equivalent to "First Dan and a bit" for a junior), and the Boy is now a Black Belt.
We were so close to Aintree that we could hear the announcements and race commentary. However we arrived and left early enough that we weren't affected by the traffic. Still, sitting (or even "sitting still") in a car for 6 hours is not very exciting.
My relocation to Reading is turning into a bit of a nightmare. The agency just informed me that they have to account for my employment for the entire previous year. What? I've had two contract jobs but the rest of the time I've been writing and editing stuff for other people, usually taking only a few days each.
I had nothing like this on the previous jobs, they didn't even ask.
And what's really sweet, the agency guy says "oh, it's alright if you don't remember the names of the people you worked for ... " as in line/project managers " ... I'll just call the HR departments and ask."
Oh you will? You'll phone individuals living at home who had me edit their book and ask for their HR department? Real world, living, not.
And, you know, I'm not a stupid person, but the forms that I'm required to fill in for the job and also the flat rental. I'd like to scream.
So while sitting in the car in Liverpool I chose a flat to live in in Reading and paid over a deposit, sight unseen. Not that I had Internet access in the car, that was just from a note I made. Not the best way but choice? None of.
One property agent I spoke to refused to allow me to pay for a flat without seeing it. I'm not really critical of this, it's their company policy based on bad experiences with tenants who kicked up a fuss when what they got wasn't what they thought they'd get. Fair enough. But no use to me, at all.
Anyway the agency I'm using seemed quite nice people, I even spoke to the guy who owns the company. They offered me a bedsit that they own themselves, which would have been good from one point of view but I prefer to have a lounge/kitchen with separate bedroom so I can keep bits of my life separate. Call me an old fogey, I don't mind.
In the midst of all this there is ScriptFrenzy which I'm supposed to be doing this year. Not doing well, I'm days behind. The idea is to write 100 script pages in April (30 days) which is about 3.3 pages per day. I'm on 7 when I should be on 25 today. Hopefully I'll be able to catch up once I get the job and property sorted out. (I am a professional writer, after all, should be a doddle.)
I did ScriptFrenzy last year on my Monsters TV series project, and the year before I wrote a novel during NaNoWriMo both of those were well prepared. This time I have barely more than an idea -- I'm writing a story inspired by the 10CC album called "The Original Soundtrack".
Confused? You will be.
This 10CC album was not the original soundtrack of anything, it was just the name of the album. It's the album that has the wonderful "I'm not in love" song, a full gorgeous 8 minutes of it. It also has a narrative track called "One Night In Paris" and I'm writing "Une Nuit a Paris".
Anyway, I'm feeling a bit better now. Thanks for listening. Same time tomorrow? If I'm not busy? Fine.
What's on the turntable? Enrique Inglesias singing Hero in Spanish.
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