Ding Dong Merrily On High

Okay, I admit it! I’ve been silent for too long now. But here’s why:

- I’ve been made the Entertainments Officer in the Mess that I live in. As you can probably imagine, the Christmas Season means that I’ve organised loads of socials – some formal and some informal. We’ve had Christmas dinners, Senior Non-Commissioned Officers Christmas drinks in our Mess (and after that event, you realise why we call it a Mess) and today we have the Officers serving drinks to our staff. You’d never believe how much organising that takes.

- Panto is now only a month away. We’ve just had our new lighting rig put in place and we’re in the process of hanging curtains and trying to put the lights in the right places. We’ve still got to build the set (as the materials we ordered are still not here!) and we’ve still to get all of the company in the theatre at the same time.

- Steven has given me the most impressive edit of the Error of Comedies: Occupations script I have ever received. I have now reviewed the script after his input and now have to reformat it so that I can publish it at Lulu.

- I start a Masters degree in January – with the first residential element starting Saturday 6 January 2008. When I saw the reading list, I nearly fainted! But thankfully I have been reading for just under a month and am taking extensive notes.

- My wife and I still haven’t finished our Christmas Shopping. Indeed, we were out yesterday and realised that we haven’t bought anything for each other!

So, not exactly the calmest of times. But who would expect anything less at this time of year. I can’t wait for the Christmas Holidays to come, just to have the chance to sit down with my wife and children and be a family. There isn’t the slightest chance of me getting any writing done over that period, but hell… It’s Christmas.

It just means that I have to get Error of Comedies: Occupations reformatted during the evening this week. If things go to plan (and if all the socials I have planned turn out well) it should be available by the end of the week.

‘Denim’ Nominated

I was delighted to hear from a member of the Waterside Theatre Company who informed me their production of Denim had been nominated in three categories of the Southern Daily Echo’s Curtain Call Awards.

Nominations are for Best Newcomer, Best Set and Props and Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy or Comic Drama.

Congratulations to all involved!

It’s great to see these nominations after such a non event of a review and each nomination is richly deserved.

That. That? That! THAT!

Sometimes things happen to a writer which makes them stop dead and look at what they are doing. Sometimes this reflection leaves you cold and wondering if you are as good as you think you are.

That happened to me last night.

One of my readers, Steve, sent me his very detailed comments regarding Error of Comedies: Occupations. He picked up unintentional spelling mistakes, made excellent comments regarding voice… and then highlighted the word ‘that’.

A wet fish hit me in the face. It was everywhere. So much of my dialogue was passive. So little of my dialogue had any passion. Nearly every instance of the word ‘that’ was redundant.

Steve had highlighted every redundant ‘that’ in green, so that the manuscript looked like an alien version of measles. I opened the original manuscript and did a global search for, what I now call, the word that shall not be named.

The strange part for me was the way it changed my mood. At first I was disappointed I was so reliant on the word. Then I became angry that I was so lazy to employ it so frequently. Then I saw my dialogue anew.

This was damned good stuff. When I read it aloud with all the words that shall not be named, it came over well and sounded real. When I re-read it losing the offending word, suddenly it came alive, had energy and pace.

But worst, was when I realised I had gone through this about 2 years ago. I recalled how I had opened all of my manuscripts and did a global search for the word that shall not be named. And again, I removed nearly every instance. So why had I forgotten that I over used it? Why hadn’t I searched for it before I sent it out to my readers?

But then again, what does it matter? Steve has put me back to where I need to be to develop my work. Gill didn’t spot it, but Steve did.

And thank goodness, as it means that Error of Comedies: Occupations is going to be better than I first thought.

But I don’t think that I’ll have it published by Christmas now… But who knows?