2009, what happened...?

Well, that year just flew by!

Didn't get a lot done that I wanted to do. But got a lot of other things done, and things that are in the process of doing, instead.
I'm up to my eyeballs in ongoing stuff at the moment - which makes it a bit difficult to comment on 2009 properly, and specifically so with regard to a certain project I'm involved with that just keeps dragging on and on. *gnashing of teeth*

HOPE! - - dashed - - HOPE! - - dashed - - HOPE(kinda).... and on, and on, and on.
It's getting annoying now. GRRR!

My goals for 2009 were to:
* Find a new job
* Complete the American Collaboration Rewrite for Producer no#2
* Finalise the sale/option of the supernatural horror screenplay
* Complete at least one more spec and get a producer seriously interested/sold
* Earn some money from my writing
I said, "F*ck it! This is the year I make it happen!"

Did I? Jury is still out.

* I did get the new job.
* Producer no#2 rewrite is ... well ... stay tuned in 2010!
* Finalise sale/option ... Producer no#1 was last seen stalking funding, stay tuned.
* Complete at least one more spec ... erm ... Got interrupted. (which is no excuse! ARGH!)
* Earn some money ... 2010 may be the year for that?
I made some things happen. - - On the one hand, meh; and on the other hand, I did a shit load of work (during the few moments when my brain was functioning), which was mainly rewriting (including the tarot books), and which is in the process of building a partial foundation for the future.


Okay, so 2009 ...

January. My day job notified me of potential redundancy from my work as a telephone monkey, but then said they would retrain me to work as a telephone technical monkey, and teach me about how (not) to blow up computers, which incidentally came with a minuscule pay rise, so hooray!
I also casually toyed with the idea of investigating e-publishing for my tarot books....

I spent February doing computer homework, surrounded by men (hee!). Got a bit stressed about living in chaos, and by my car threatening to fall apart. Writing didn't really happen this month. Blech.

March, I bought a new car ... well a secondhand runabout that was as cheap as chips, but it gets the job done. :) Bargain. ....Was that it? Blogged about villains - - oh yes, I was intermittently rewriting the fantasy. But didn't have the proper time to devote myself to it, what with the day job. (Brain power exhausted by the end of the day... *shakes head at self* Light weight!)

In April I tried to boost my self confidence by bragging. Never works. *rolls eyes*
The NEED to write started hitting home big time - that itch at the back of your brain that tells you insanity beckons if the writing can't get out! - and realised I'd already lost 1/3rd of the year to other distractions. Grr.
Also failed basic math. ;)

May was a month of "No." LOL. Producer no#3 liked The Grim (A.K.A. The Legend Of The Beast) a lot, but not enough to option it. And yet another publishing company turned down the tarot book (the one that came within a whisker of being published in 2008).

June was spent concentrating on horror - both watching it, and rewriting story for The American Collaboration. I also experienced a weird combination of insecurity and "Ha! Ha! I'm a genius!" this month. Conflicted? Yep. Looking for reasons to worry? Yep. Pointless? Yep. Effectively told myself to "Get on with it!"

July was a month of plague. I caught Swine Flu. Blech. Still, I lived. But the after effects dragged on and on. Grr.

August - my body tried to kill me. On my birthday, no less! I had a full bore asthma attack. First properly serious one ever. If my inhaler hadn't been nearby I might have died. - Terrified my sister, who was on the verge of calling an ambulance when the inhaler started working its magic and I began to actually be able to take in air again. The landlord had the builder putting in double glazing, I went to offer him a drink, and the dust from the work nearly took me out for good. Very, very blech.
If you have asthma, even if you think it's only mild, please for goodness sake carry your inhaler. Asthma is an allergic reaction to a factor in the environment that your body doesn't like - and is liable to zap you when you least expect it. (Like on your birthday. Grr.) Asthma may only be a mild annoyance usually, but it can turn around and whack you for six at a moments notice.
CARRY YOUR INHALER!
What else happened? Philip Morton updated his blog, briefly. I spent half the month doing social type things, away from the cave. Writing didn't really get a chance to happen, I may have mulled a bit, and jotted down some new story ideas, but no actual typing as such.

September ... another month of plague.
Early in the month, my Step-Mother's body decided to try to kill her: she was diagnosed with grade 3 breast cancer (she's receiving treatment and seems to be doing well).
And later in the month, not yet fully recovered from the dreaded Swine Flu, I came down with a temperature for two days and ended up mostly dead for the rest of the year. I'm still mostly dead now. *sigh* Combination of stress and fatigue, and generally feeling totally crap. I have more bad days than good days, but it's beginning to even out. ... I think part of it may be 2008 finally catching up with me? Grr. Anyhow, it ain't fun.

October ... there must have been an October...?
Oh yes! In between being mostly dead, I decided to self-publish my tarot book and finish writing my other tarot book. So I was finishing the second book and sorting out the self-publishing thing with Authors OnLine for all of October.

November, pretty much a page-one rewrite of the first tarot book at speed. Followed by sorting out artwork for the covers, and starting to edit both books....
Producer no#2 also circled back and made very encouraging noises (my co-writer is no longer on the job, and he wants me to rewrite it solo. Okay, can do.) - so I started some serious work on planning the rewrite, as well as putting an initial pen to paper - - And then put it on hold when promises were not fulfilled.
I also touched base with Producer no#1, who is actively tracking down funding (*fingers crossed*) for a couple of projects including The Grim.
And I discovered one of my favourite bands has got back together and started touring again. - - And I couldn't go see them because of me being mostly dead. *SOB!*
Busy month, November.

December, continued the edit (panicked when I discovered there were some gaps in the first half of the second book - from way back when - that needed sorting; sorted them), final approval on artwork for second book.
Producer no#2 discovered I wasn't going to cave, and sent a Deal Memo proposal which we are currently negotiating over....


Which brings us in to 2010.


And it's part way through January already!

And it's snowing.

And I'm still mostly dead.

Theoretically, later this month, both tarot books should finally be approved for publication. Probably some time in the next two weeks - if the weather doesn't delay things.

And screenplay negotiations continue....

Things are looking up! ... Or it could all just be smoke and mirrors ... or a hallucination from my lurgified brain.

Goals for 2010.
* get well again before too much more time passes!
* nail down the contract for the American Collaboration Rewrite, and then get the script finished so that Producer no#2 can go work some writer-producery magic.
* finish writing the science fiction screenplay.
* finish the fantasy screenplay rewrite.
* try to earn enough money from the two tarot books to cover the cost of getting them published. Or any money at all, really.
* take a look at some of my old story ideas to see if anything jumps out, or get at least one other project written (or mostly written) ... I want to keep this one a bit loose, I think things may stir later in the year, but I'm not sure in what way....

Onwards! *whip-crack!*

Need a stunt man?

Check out Vinnie Wilson's showreel.

He's looking for more hours on film to go towards his quota for joining the guild. So if you need someone to: set on fire, or throw off a building, drag behind a car, or just kick the crap out of Jackie Chan style, Vince is your man!

Enjoy the showreel!
(The 2008 showreel and the Year In China showreel are also worth a look see.)

You can also visit his website to find out more. www.VinnieWilson.com

Self-publishing - Part I

I've just received the finished artwork for the second of my two tarot books, THE YES / NO TAROT ORACLE, and I am extremely happy with it. Jo Spaul is a very accomplished illustrator, you can look at examples of her work on her website, here.

And I thought some of you might be interested in my experiences so far while trying to get published.

Basically, I've written two books on the Tarot* and have been unable to secure a publisher for either of them, so in the end I decided to do it myself.

Initially I was going to use LULU, but after some quick research decided against it (the new owners had increased postage rates to non-competetive levels, and some authors claimed they were having trouble getting their work taken off the site when they wanted to go elsewhere [I haven't checked them out since. So whether this is still the case, I don't know.]) - and in amongst the complaints thread someone recommended another self-publishing company, Authors OnLine. To cut a long story short, I decided to go with them.

Their fees are reasonable, with a low annual fee for remaining in publication, and the books are Print On Demand - so someone places an order, the book gets printed and shipped out. Quick, easy, no need to store quantities of books. Also a PDF version of each book will be available for those who prefer electronic media.
Best yet, the books they sell are available to all the usual book retailers - so whether you prefer to buy via Amazon, or via your local bookshop, or direct from them, you can!
As the author it is up to you to advertise your book. Just because it's published, doesn't mean it will necessarily sell any copies.

So far I have found the process pain-free, which is always good. Although they tell me that it does generally take about 2 months to get into publication from the date you sign the contracts.
The Christmas rush (which starts in August!) combined with a flu outbreak has delayed things slightly, but I am expecting both books to be available from January 2010.

I am using the delay to do a final edit on THE YES / NO TAROT ORACLE, while I await confirmation of the ISBNs.

I'm providing the text PDF files, they are doing the covers (under my direction) - Which makes my 'Control Freak Self' very happy.

They do various different packages to suit your needs, and they are very friendly, very helpful, and very busy (at the moment).

If everything continues according to plan I expect to be a very happy customer.


... Should you plan to use them, they are quite happy to vanity publish for you (for example, if you want that green crayon text, unspell-checked book of "My Favourite Moles in Dresses" that you wrote when you were six, published to show your friends), but if you are looking for a more professional publication that will be available in the shops, they do require a basic level of competence from their authors.


So far, so good. If things change, I'll let you know.


*THE LOVERS' SPREAD: A TAROT GUIDE TO RELATIONSHIP COMPATIBILY
and THE YES / NO TAROT ORACLE

Read Self-publishing - Part II here

Impatience.

As a writer, you will be feted and courted and asked to achieve the impossible ... the person asking this will promise various things.

The question is, if they then delay implementing those promises
(for example providing a contract for work they want you to do by such and such a date, on a deferred payment basis - - and then don't even send you the draft version of that contract for discussion / haggling / wrangling over until well after the date they really, really, really needed the script by - How long are you supposed to wait? Are you supposed to wait? At what stage are you allowed to disembowel them?)
... do you:

A) Throw a fit, then write the screenplay anyway, and then refuse to hand over the finished document until the contract is finalized, signed, and delivered?

B) Throw a fit and refuse to put pen to paper until they come forth with the contract - even though this will mean definitely missing the deadline?

C) Roll over and wipe yourself off, hand them the script without the contract in place, and then go and cry behind the rock you normally hide under?

D) None of the above.

E) GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



*sigh*
I'll just go put pen to paper then.

Any grinding of teeth, or swearing, you hear over the next few weeks will be me. After that, if you hear a large explosion (as of a bomb, or a fire, or high velocity ammunition being fired) - It wasn't me! ... You are such a lovely, supportive person. Will you be my alibi? Pretty please?
*grinding of teeth* *muttering punctuated by prolific swearing*

Where's the alcohol?


UPDATE: 26 November 2009, I've just emailed the producer the soft version of the riot act. We'll see what happens. He may have a completely legitimate excuse?
... Yeah.

UPDATE: 29 November 2009. Hmm. Apparently the project is not a priority, he'll get back to me about contracts next year.
Well, that's that one shelved for now, then.
(If you're keeping score, the answer was option B.)
It's good to get these things clarified. I shall concentrate on one of my other projects instead.
*gentle simmer*
... and moving on.

MISFITS on E4

Misfits 4oD has previous episodes available on catchup here

It's dark and brilliant. If you are unaware of it, go check it out.

Ghost cats & other monstrous phenomena

Okay, Halloween is long gone, but I shall tell you a chilling tale of the other night.

Okay, it's not chilling at all. It was quite nice. But it reminded me of the time ... and then there was also that other time ...

Yeah, I'm a brilliant story teller me, you can see my career is gonna go far - - probably down the nearest drain! LOL.

So, the other night. ... Hmm, maybe I better go back aways, to when I lived in Reading, and before.


When I was little we had a cat called Wormsley.

[My mother, going to find a kitten: "Ugh! That cat's got worms!" Said kitten runs over and rubs against her leg purring.]

She was always a feature of my life, as she was a member of our household before I was - until we moved to Exeter and she moved into the old people's home next door, for a quieter life (our household was chaos incarnate much of the time). She was getting old and thin and we would occasionally see her sunning herself on our front lawn or the low wall beside it, and then about nine months later we saw her no more....

Many years later, while I was at University in Reading, I was rudely awoken in the middle of the night by a hurly-burly of of spectral cats - imagine a constantly moving ball of hyper cats playfully screaming and scratching their way across the landscape as they travel from one place to another on their joyous, tumulous, straight-out-of-the-witches-handbook, tangle of cats journey. Wormsley was one of them, and they had stopped by for a brief visit. They were in the area for two days and then they continued on their hurly-burly way.
It was a bit of a surprise, but I have had more freaky encounters than that, and it was nice to see her again + having fun with her friends.
(That same year the ghosts of our pony and our dog also came to visit me.)

A few years later, still in Reading, I was at the cinema with a friend and as the film ended we both felt the nice warm furry black cat (that had settled there unnoticed at some point during the movie) get up and jump down as we prepared to stand up. We both looked at it as it jumped down and there was nothing there - just the physical sensation of a cat departing. I scanned the floor between the seating but could see nothing. "Was that a cat?" My friend replied, "I think so." "Where is it? I didn't see it?" My friend, "It was a ghost, I think." I blinked a bit, but that tallied with my experience too. It was just a bit of a surprize having one turn up mid-cinema, during a sunny and otherwise uneventful afternoon.
The cinema staff were unaware of any cats, or of any ghosts, in screen 3. I did check....

And now we catch up with me living back in the safety of the Wilds of Devon - I think I mentioned previously that I inherited my mother's cat when she died. He was called Ubiquitous, otherwise known as Black Cat, and he was lovely in his own extremely scraggly Evil, Black & Midnight way. I changed his name to Monster shortly after I adopted him, after The Kingfisher Incident. (But then this was the cat that was witnessed by 3 other people, and me, folding up a swallow in mid-air after it made the mistake of flying in to my mother's kitchen.) I can only assume the kingfisher was ill or asleep or ... but then again Monster was a teleporting cat:

Cat in a locked box on the passenger seat. Cat by my elbow while I'm driving. Locked box empty. Hmm.

I used many far less flattering words to describe him that kingfisher day, but Monster seemed to fit him better than Ubiquitous or Black Cat, and Evil Black & Midnight Cat is not something you want to be shouting when it's his dinner time: so Monster became his name.

I never did really sense his presence when he was alive, unless he was actively hassling me - I think that may have been part of what made him such an astonishingly good hunter - and after he was killed in a hit and run, I still didn't really feel his presense strongly, although you could see him when he was around if you looked through the corner of your eye.
I first realised he was around again when I nearly tripped over him ... Have you ever done that? Seen something virtually under your feet as you are walking and trip as a result - only to realize there was nothing physically present for you to trip on?
He visits a lot, but I usually only sense him as something unseen out of the corner of my eye, or as I nearly trip over him.
(That cat was always getting under my feet! He's even worse now.) ...

But the other day, I woke in the middle of the night to visit the smallest room in the house - which is on the landing next to the stairs - Monster was around and getting under my feet as normal. As I left, I glanced in to the stairwell and got the shock of my life (okay, I have had worse - but this freaked me nearly as badly). A large animal was looking at me, eyes reflecting in the darkness. It lunged up the stairs at me - - and as my heart lept in to my throat, I realised it was our wolfhound, Brit. She died about 20 years earlier and she'd come for a visit. Give me a heart attack or what, why don't'cha! *rolls eyes*
This sensing the ghosts of pets can be problematic....

After I'd got over the shock, I gingerly got back in to bed - incase there was some other spectral something-or-other hiding under it. Well you never know.
There wasn't. Phew!

Well, that was the not-really-chilling-at-all tale of me getting freaked out by the ghost of our pet dog. If you're not familiar with wolfhounds, she was quite a small one, she came up to my hip when she was standing on all fours. (Her dad was 10 inches taller at the shoulder.)

As an adendum, my favourite of my step-mother's many, many cats came to visit a few nights ago. He was always a very heavy cat, who was the purryest thing you ever met. He is still excessively heavy as a ghost. You know it when he's curled up on you. Sheesh.
I knew he had been ill and wasn't expected to survive. When I rang the next day, sure enough he had succumbed.

Ah well, at least they're all happy.