Bits 'n' pieces

After a couple of weeks of nothing much happening, it looks as if we might be able to get "Echoes" up and running soon. We have enough in the pot to both feed and insure everyone involved, and Darren and I went up to the location yesterday to check it out as he hadn't been before. He loves it, and the people there were incredibly helpful and will pretty much let us shoot where and when we want, which is excellent. We have gear and we have a crew, more or less - now all we need is a cast.

Writing wise, nothing is happening. I think having finished a draft of the sci-fi script, and redrafted the play and sent it off, all in the space of a few weeks, has drained any feelings of creativity I might have. I can't seem to get a grip on any ideas for long enough to really want to work on them. Perhaps I should just declare that I'm taking a break and not even try to write - but then, that doesn't feel right. What do other people do? Do you ever feel like this? Not blocked exactly, more unsettled. All hints and tips gratefully received.

I know that part of this feeling stems from the unemployment situation; if I felt that there was any prospect of making a decent living any time soon, I might be a bit happier. Still, it has its moments - I went in to sign on this morning, and my adviser said "we have this for you" and passed me a sheet of paper outlining a job that had come up under "Research and Development". It was for a concrete tester. So, had he looked at my CV, full of qualitative research with medical patients, and gone "yeah, she can probably work in an engineering lab testing concrete"? What does a concrete tester do, anyway? Hit it with a hammer and if it shouts "ouch", ask it to recite its two times table?

Meanwhile I have become hooked on blogpatrol. I love those little flags that show where readers come from (UK, USA, Canada, Mexico, South Africa, France, Finland, Japan, Germany, Iceland, Norway, Austria, Ireland, and Australia so far) - say hello as you pass through, please! And I like the google searches that led people here - Daniel Bruhl, Rufus Sewell, Chez Freddie's, Red Road, Science of Sleep and Starter for Ten, plus "is my astilbe dead?" I'm sorry that particular searcher didn't get an answer but merely a rant about slugs. (And in fact the hot dry spell seems to have seriously impacted upon the slug population, as the hostas are doing better this year than ever before, and the sad astilbe has produced a flourish of lovely fresh green leaves - although it also means there was a very poorly looking hedgehog wandering around in daylight a couple of weeks ago, so I gave it a dish of water and some food, and it drank for ages).

A has gone out to a party at the house of the lead guitarist in her band, so I'll hear her later and see her tomorrow no doubt. And now I'm going to crash on the sofa to watch my copy of "Proof", which arrived this morning after I won it in a competition. Am I entering another winning spell? I hope so.