Get Your Portfolio Ready

Ooops.  Nearly slipped there with my regular posts. Slapped wrist.

So what have I got planned for the writing year?  Well I have bought my ticket for London Screenwriters Festival. I have wanted to go since it started but there was always something happening.  So I have planned well ahead this year.  Excited already.

Now these events are only of any use if you prepare.  Otherwise it is a glorified trip to the pub to see your mates.  Yes there will be mates there, can't wait to see them all, but it is also to help with writing.

So my New Year's resolution is to get my Portfolio into shape. I have quite a few short film scripts but only one completed feature and one completed TV. Both of which are stretching it to say completed.  They are early drafts and need to be refined.

There are some good suggestions for portfolio content from Lucy (Bang2Write) here

My aim for my portfolio is to have refined scripts, or decent treatments, for:

Features:
  1) A Thriller, inspired by  Lucy's book Writing and Selling Thriller Screenplays.  I have all sorts of ideas buzzing through my head.
  2) A Monster feature. Love them so interested in what I can do with one.
  3) Romcom.  I'm an old romantic but want to try something different with it.

TV:
  1) Sitcom: I've got a couple of ideas in early development so I will be working on them.
  2) Drama: Need something but the ideas are really rough at the moment.

What are my chances of getting them all finished in time?  Not a hope. I have a full time job too.  However there is no excuse for not having a decent treatment for those I don't finish.

"Yeah, yeah", I hear you say.  "You'll be so embarrassed by this post in 6 months when you have got nothing done."

Well if I don't set targets I won't get anywhere. So what if they aren't hit? I'll still have something.

So what are your plans for 2014?

2014 Day 1

Well the closest I get to a New Year's Resolution is this. To get the blog active again.

Why?  Because it has been feeling abandoned for so long and guilt tripping me every time I pop by. Passive Aggressive is its speciality.  All riiiiight. I'll blog something.

So a quick update.

1) Been really poorly for a while, Big C, but on the mend.

2) Too poorly to write for most of the year but did completed one short radio play that was broadcast on Radio Cumbria just before Christmas.

3) Working on a YA Novel which has nearly completed its 2nd draft so still a lot of work to do.

4) Signed up for London Screenwriting Festival 2014.  First forward planning I have been able to do for a long time. So strange after living from day to day for so long.

5) Remembering my Brownie and Guide training, Be Prepared. So will be working on my Portfolio ready for LSF. Trying to forget I got kicked out of Guides for leaping over gravestones. Bad Girl.

Well that's it for now.  Must remember to keep this going.

Any of you still out there?

I'm back. I think.

It has been 2 years and 2 days since my last post. Wow that is a long time and so much has happened. I have reviewed whether to keep the blog going or close it. I don't like putting family stuff out in the public domain, nor am I an expert in writing that strew pearls of wisdom. So what I have decided is to use it for a while to put bits of my novel out there. Let the characters introduce themselves and just have a play really. Posting will be intermittent because the muse does not always come when it is called. Typical man, off loitering in some shed instead of shining a light on great ideas. Yes he's male. I'm female. The ancient Greeks can lump it. Well, let's see how it goes.

ABBA is back

Theatre by the Lake, BBC Radio 4 and BBC Writersroom are running this to help with the competition. Thought you might be interested.


Are you interested in writing for radio?

Would you like a £5,000 writing bursary and the chance of a Radio 4 drama commission?

On Thursday 14th July BBC Radio Drama North will launch their 2011 Alfred Bradley Bursary Award, an open submissions process which aims to find talented Northern based writers who are interested in writing for radio.

Charlotte Riches, Producer for BBC Radio Drama Development, and Jo Combes, New Writing Development Manager for BBC Writersroom, will be here at Theatre by the Lake at 6.30pm on Thursday 25th August to discuss what the judges will be looking for in submissions and how you can make your writing stand out from the rest. They will also be on hand to answer any questions about the award and about how you can get your first writing break at the BBC.

The award is run in partnership with the BBC Writersroom and full Award details, entry forms, terms and conditions and sample scripts are available on the Writersroom website from Friday 15th July. www.bbc.co.uk/writersroom/.

This event is free but places are limited – please contact the box office at Theatre by the Lake for tickets. 017687 74411

If you fancy a bit of light entertainment.

I have a short play (about 5mins) on Radio Cumbia. It is one of a set of five with the theme Winter.

They will be broadcast each day starting Monday 20th December at about 930 with a repeat between 5 and 7pm and between 10pm and 1am. Mine is on Tuesday.

You can listen in from beyond Cumbria because the live broadcasts and replays (for a few days)are homed here. Catch them while you can.

Nanowrimo

Just popped by to say I've got past 25,000 words at the end of the 15th day. Way hay.

Back to writing.

Oh and for those wondering what on earth I'm talking about look here.

A list of novels

I spotted this in Piers blog and thought, well I have a bit of time. Little did I guess how long I would be searching my shelves for a book beginning with E or X. I remember plots but not titles.

So the idea is to list books for each letter of the alphabet. Only using the first one you think of and not the one you find later that is more impressive. And it must be one you have really read, not just one you keep on your coffee table to shock the vicar.

This is tougher than it looks. Epecially when you keep remembering ones and finding the letter is already used. There are a lot of books beginning with M and W on my shelves.

So here is my list. Like Piers I will not select a victim. Just read, enjoy and if you have a couple of hours to kill where you should really be writing or washing out the bin then have a go.

A: Animal Farm: George Orwell
B: The Big Sleep: Raymond Chandler
C The Chrysalids: John Wyndham
D: Dracula: Bram Stoker
E: Empire of the Sun: JG Ballard
F: Frankenstein: Mary Shelley
G: Greenwitch: Susan Cooper
H: The Hobbit: J.R.Tolkein
I: The Inheritors: William Golding
J: Judgement on Janus: Andre Norton
K: King Solomon's Mines: H Rider Hubbard
L: Labyrinth: Kate Mosse
M: The Midwitch Cuckoos: John Wyndham
N: The No.1 Ladies' Detective Agency: Alexander McCall Smith
O: The Osterman Weekend: Robert Ludlum
P: Pride and Prejudice: Jane Austen
Q: Queen of Sorcery: David Eddings
R: Revelation: C J Sansom
S: Swallows and Amazons: Arthur Ransome
T: A Town Like Alice: Neville Shute
U: Ubix: Philip K Dick
V: Virgin in the Ice: Ellis Peters
W: The Wierdstone of Brisingamen: Alan Garner
X: (Essential) X-men: Chris Claremont- Well I was struggling on this one.
Y: The Year of the Comet: John Christopher
Z: Zanthan at Moon's Madness: R M Williams