staying focused

It’s Halloween.

Today I cleaned my desk. It seemed like a good day for it.

Out with the old, and plenty of space for the creepy crawlie ideas to scuttle into my brain where they can transform into grotesque tales of fantabulous creatures.

This last week has been busy. I’ve completed a story outline for a new full-on horror/action screenplay. I’m excited about writing it.

I was informed that the script I co-wrote with my mate Brian made it into the initial shortlist for the RTÉ Filmbase Short Script Awards. That means out of 130+ scripts we landed in the top twenty.

Alas, we did not make the top ten, but I’m pleased with our showing considering it was the first script we entered. I’ll have to try that again.

I’ve decided to try for NaNoWriMo this year. For those not in the know, that’s National Novel Writing Month. Participants attempt to write 50,000 words in a month (of course, that’s not the length of a novel, but it’s a good chunk of one). It’s not ambitious when you consider that many professional writers clock well in excess of that total in a month. I don’t know if I’ll make it, but as I said in my last entry I have to keep pushing my writing output, and this is a good challenge.

If nothing else it will solidify my routine and keep writing uppermost on my mind.

Finally, I have a review of the Irish film, Isolation in the Irish Journal of Gothic and Horror Studies, which was launched today. It’s a promising journal with a number of good articles and reviews. It’s well worth reading.