Started reading John Grisham’s The Associate – last place I would have looked for an example of stichomythia, but it jumped right out at me.

The only other place I have noticed it so prominently is in the film Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World.

Very clever, those Greeks.

Only one out of every two hundred million neutrinos passing through the Earth actually hits anything; the rest just come on through the other side.

I’m in bed – been here all day – reading Robert J. Sawyer’s 1999 sci-fi novel that forms the basis of the current US TV series.

And, as you’d expect, though set in 2009 as well, the TV series is nothing like the novel.

Now, bearing in mind I only saw the first few episodes of the series – three, I think, before guessing it would turn it yet another Lost, or Heroes, where no matter how good the story, they just go on and on and on and on getting more ridiculous as the writers run out of ideas – it appears that the TV series is only very loosely based on the novel. So loose it’s almost completely different.

At least by reading the novel, I’ll probably get to find out what caused the Flashforward.

It’s set at CERN, by the way, and happened when they fired up the Large Hadron Collider. Much more believable. Especially when you consider the author came up with the idea more than a decade ago. Spooky really.

I’m loving the references to ‘datapads’ (iPads?), though in the novel’s 2009 they are still using VCRs and haven’t migrated to recording video on hard disc. Oh, and in the flashforwards (2030) they have flatscreen TVs that you talk too – not far off that now – and cars that hover a couple of inches off the ground. Umm, don’t think we’ll be getting that advanced in two decades – who knows?

Guessing future technologies, great isn’t it. Though I have to admit, this guy seems to be pretty good at it – hovering cars aside.

Right, break over, I’m going back to my reading – can’t do much else at the moment as my brain’s not up to much. I’m a third of the way through and intend to finish it before going to sleep tonight.

Bye.

iWantone

I’m taking a leaf out of Stephen Fry’s book. He’s writing the next part to his autobiography and has a deadline. Basically, he’s stopped tweeting and cut off most forms of communication and distraction so he can get on with the business of writing.

I’m going to do the same. Facebook and Twitter are permanently there in my browser, and I’m always checking them, ‘liking’ something, commenting on something else, and updating my status, replying to a tweet, or adding my own pearls of wisdom for my followers.

I enjoy it, and when I’m in a normal frame of mind, that’s cool, but I have to write.

I’m in the middle of writing a new full length play. There’s loads in my head, and I really need to get it out. And although I can write and multi-task to certain extent, I often find myself checking something online, researching etc. And whilst there, it is too easy to click the facebook bookmark, or indeed twitter and just check in with the world.

And then, well I get distracted, and before I know it I’ve lost my train of thought and find it difficult to get back into the scene I was in the middle of.

My full length play is my ‘graduation piece’ for my Nuffield Theatre Writers Group. It’s due end of January.

Now I know I’m not going to make that one, hardly surprising based on my personal mental hell of getting through the last six months of 2009, but I’m aiming for the 18th February, since that’s when I’m due back at the Nuffield for two important meetings.

Now add to this another deadline; I’m applying for a ‘writing job’. It’s only £350 and tbh, I’ll be lucky if I get it as my CV isn’t exactly bursting at the seams, but the important thing is, there’s a deadline. 14th February. And that means having to write. Even if I don’t get it, I’d like to think that I could have done it, had I got it.

So I really need to start working on my dicipline. And that’s not going to be easy. I’m moving from the ‘wannabe playwright’ to ‘professional playwright’ and if I end up getting a writing job, and people are paying me to write, I need to come up with the goods when they require it.

So, I’ve decided, with all credit to the wonderful Stephen Fry, that I’ll have a hiatus and switch off most of my connections with the outside world while I finish writing the first draft of the current play.

Once written, it’ll hide on my hard disc for a few weeks, and I’ll come back and say hi, knowing it’s safely fermenting, waiting for me to return, edit, redraft, rewrite etc.

I can write quickly. The ideas are all there. I can spend hours and hours typing the words, but I’m going to have to do this without distraction.

This play has come out of my head in a very different way to my other work. It is a much more professional piece. I’m already proud of it, and it deserves my time and undistracted efforts in getting into the world, being the best it can be.

So, adios.

I’ll be off facebook and twitter for a while, and I’m turning off my MSN too. Temporarily of course; I’ll be back.

I’ll update my blog with progress when I can, and intend to keep my One Word posts going too. I’ll check my email, and you can always text or call me!

Laters xx

PS: Guilty as charged. I just checked my facebook again, and there was another couple of tweets on my Twitter too. This is gunna be hard.