FYI

My replacement desktop is ordered and being built - I'm due to get a delivery date by the end of the week. And, thanks to the blatant advertising on Paul Campbell's blog, I have succumbed and got myself a netbook too (but I decided on the Samsung NC10, Mmmm - lovely!), which should be sent to me on November 1st. It'll be a race to see which gets here first, but whichever it is, I should be returning full time to the Blogosphere very soon.

I've missed you all, dammit!

The Machine Stops (Slight Return)

My PC has broken down. Again! And, alas, as my day job is in the financial services industry, unneccesary web surfuing is frowned upon in the current climate of downturn and crunch (nothing to do with productivity, though - it's just that so many people are online checking out the current share price, they're bringing down the web proxy).

So, I'm being a bit naughty and sneaking some time at the blog face to bemoan my computerless fate, and tell you all the things I would have written about, had I the means. Firstly, Russell T Davies's book, which I've just finished, was very entertaining, contains some useful advice (Russell's section on cliched soap behaviour is a must read), and quite scary in places (his description of the punishing schedules of both writing and promotion made me feel sorry for him for a second, until I realised that - yes! - of course I would take on the job if it was offered to me).

And I've also been tagged with the song meme by Paul Campbell and I have a very good idea for a lyric connected to screenwriting to share with you all. But it will have to wait. I need to buy a new computer first...

Back back back...

...and raring to go. Returned from holiday last week only to fall directly into a big load of man flu. I'm over it now, and looking to get busy with a short film idea for Digital Shorts, work on 'Santa Baby', further obsessive tweaks to the last 50 pages of my Red Planet script, and - not least - catch up with everybody's blogs from the last couple of weeks.


But I'm not doing any of that yet, because I have been reading "The Writer's Tale" by Russell T Davies, a weighty tome about the day-to-day slog and thought process of the showrunner of Doctor Who. I've only read the first few chapters, but it's enthralling. It takes the form of emails going back and forth between Russell and a journalist during the writing and production of the last series of Doctor Who. This captures lots of lovely detail that a traditional 'How To Write' book or even an autobiography would never mention.

I recommend it to anyone interested in professional writing...

...but I really ought to stop reading it and do some writing myself.