Getting into the swing again

Not been posting much recently; life has been taken up with preparing for Nanowrimo which begins at midnight tomorrow. Also been working on finishing a radio play and a couple of short stories. And I started a new job this morning, although I'm still carrying on with the old one as well. So, been a bit busy - but it's all good, especially the writing, which seems to be coming back, or at least the desire does, after having disappeared a bit recently. That's also a reason for minimal blogging - sometimes I wonder whether blogging takes the place of other writing. So if the "real" stuff takes over, then although I'm sad to be missing out on the blogosphere, I'm happy to be writing again.

Meanwhile, there have been a few cultural activities - went to see "The Last Kiss" which made me want to slap everyone in it apart from Tom Wilkinson's character. The message seemed to be that all men are pretty useless and can't grow up, while all women are fairly crap too, and governed by their hormones. One of those films that makes me glad I have an Unlimited card because that way I didn't lay out money specifically for this film. Also went to see Caryl Churchill's "A Number" at The Studio theatre in Sheffield. The play, about the relationship between fathers and sons, was undoubtedly made more poignant by being played by real life father and son, and it's an evening of superb acting by Samuel and Timothy West. However, although I thought the performances were top rate, I didn't think the play really did enough to address the many issues it throws up. And whereas I often feel that plays need a good going over with a filletting knife, in this case I left feeling dissatisfied that it didn't go further. They're getting great reviews, which is fab for Sam in his second season as Artistic Director in Sheffield.

I also did a day-long workshop on short film-making run by Peter Kershaw of Duchy Parade Films, which is probably the best film workshop I've ever done. Plenty of practical advice, insight from a film-maker, lots of short films and clips to look at and discuss - well worth going to.

And now back to my Nano-plan.