Thursday 29 October 2015

The Challenge: What I’ve learnt and looking back

In the challenge I've learnt; how to cook 29 new recipes, say 29 phrases in different languages, stone pitching, jump starting a car and how to finish a screenplay.

Picking my favourite part of the challenge was hard, but I've whittled it down to 9 things (and out of 300 odd that’s not bad.) These are; Chessboxing, reconnecting with Jo, reconnecting with Hannah, Sevens in the City, reconnecting with the marathon, reconnecting with Neighbours, going to Rome, doing a pole photo shoot and writing a film in week.


It’s been a few weeks since I've finished  and it’s only when I look back at my trusty spreadsheet I can see exactly how much I've done in a year, and it’s a lot! Here’s the thing when I have an idea, I think it’s going to be quite small, but with further planning it actually turns out to be quite big.
There’s been a fair amount of change over the past year; not having a contract extended at work, temping again, then finding another job, financial troubles, falling in love and getting heartbroken and then trying to move on. Although these are all little things in the grand scheme of life, they can add up and for quite a few months of the challenge I was very lost, felt very alone and very low. But as crazy as it sounds the challenge kept me going through those lost dark times. I kept thinking if I finish this big challenge then at least I've achieved something this year. I won’t look back and think what a failure it was; I can look back and think if I say I'm going to do something, I can actually do it!

The thing with a challenges is, once you set your mind on it you become focused and depending on how big the challenge is, you can be very one track minded and sometimes become quite boring as its all you talk about. And there were times throughout the year when I was a challenge bore. Especially in the last month or so. I can only imagine Charlotte wished the challenge would finish as it was all I talked about and in the last couple of weeks I was so focused on the screenwriting and comedy part of the challenge I just shut myself in my room until those parts were complete. So apologies to my friends and family if I was a challenge bore.

Quite early on one of my sisters said to my dad that they wished I’d shut up about my challenge and not make a big deal about it and turning 30. I guess that’s one of the hardest elements, to keep on going when people don’t believe in you or have lost interest. Matt who I was seeing for 6 months didn't believe in the challenge. He listened to the idea of the challenge when I first met him, but after that took no real interest and when people who are important to you don’t support something you believe in, it can hurt a little. Just like when the believers stop believing. I know towards the end of the challenge there were only a handful of people that were still asking me about my progress. I think others forgot, had lost interest or didn't think I could complete it. And they wouldn't be wrong in thinking the latter, with one month to go I think I had 44 things still to do. It was a massive mountain to climb but I did it. Although you shouldn't do a challenge to please people, it's nice to have support through the tough times to keep you going.

Looking back on the list I don’t think normally I would experience such a high level of variety. It would probably be the amount of stuff I would do over a few years, let alone one. In what challenge would you see; chessboxing, a one direction concert at the cinema, learn how to stone pitch, cook crème brulee, listen to Chas and Dave, catch up with a neighbour you haven’t seen in 20 years, try locus, see Fifty shades of Grey and Gone with the Wind, learn insults in multiple languages, see your old teacher do stand-up comedy, read Miley Cyrus’s autobiography, jump start a car and write a 2 hour film in a week?!


Oh and do a pole photo shoot, go to Rome, meet someone who gives you a life trick for the theatre, read American classics, meet baking royalty and a cricketing legend, take part in a parade and music festival, get autographs from the other side of the world, go to a rugby festival and see Cool Runnings on an ice rink? Tough Mudder you may have your electric eels, stinging nettles and your mud mile but the 29 Challenge can pack a punch as well. Just at the end of it, it won’t take 15 minutes to get all the mud out of my hair!


Doing this challenge has definitely made me stronger and it’s only now that I've finished the challenge that I can hold my head up high. It’s actually surprising to hear what people think of the whole thing. Since putting it on facebook that I finished, one of my work colleagues is currently working his way through the blog entries. My Auntie Benita said that the post I wrote about my sister Gemma was very touching, and my friend Carmella even made a whole birthday card about my challenge which was the best. People have asked if I will carry on blogging, and I have a few ideas of what to do next. So watch this space.


I don’t want to end on a low or end on an Oprah Winfrey motivational high. I’ll just end it by being me. Challenges aren't meant to be easy, they’re meant to test you and quite often there are parts of challenges you do on your own. You’re lucky if whatever challenges you set yourself; you've got someone to do it with. But whatever challenges you set out to do, whether it’s physical, mental or emotional, stick with it, stay focused and plan ahead. If you plan ahead then if you start to worry about reaching the end, you've got it all figured out anyway.

To the non-believers and the ones that got bored I thank you as you made me more determined to complete the challenge. And to the believers, the cheerleaders and the people that read the blog regularly to see how I was doing I thank you as well. I hope in some small way I've inspired you to do as much as you can; whether it be in a month, a year or a lifetime. Make it count.

Screenwriting: What have I learnt?

‘The biggest challenge, especially if you don’t have a deadline, is finishing something. I admire anyone who just sits down and completes. Not many people manage to maintain the motivation to get from having an idea to finishing a draft.’ Jane Goldman, screenwriter of Kick Ass and Stardust.

The screenwriting part of the challenge was by far the most challenging part, and the part where I learnt the most. It was an area that nobody could help me and if any obstacles arose, which they did then I could only battle against myself to get through it.

So what did I write? I finished writing a web series, wrote 2 shorts for a friend, a one off piece for TV, a 6 part TV series, a 2 hour film and restarted a film idea I had 5 years ago. The themes have been sport, futuristic and even sci-fi.


The two challenging aspects which I found with screenwriting were keeping up momentum and writing when I couldn’t write. Life happens and it gets in the way and takes turns you don’t expect. So from April till July I couldn’t write at all due to getting over a break up which took way longer than I thought it would take. 4 months of no writing meant I had 116 pages to catch up on. Whenever I wanted to write my mind would either drift or the characters I wanted to write about were coincidently going through similar things. And during those months I couldn’t think of an idea where I could be completely distracted from what was going on in my life. (More on this in my previous screenwriting post.) That part was tough, especially coming into September I still had an awful lot to catch up on and it was the one time I was scared of not completing the challenge.

But then I created strong plots which got me through and kept me distracted. Platinum Heaven was easy to write to begin with, but got a bit more challenging towards the end. And with Marathon Money it just flowed and at times I struggled to keep up with the ideas I was having.

They say you should write about what you know and for quite a few pieces that was true. The web series and Stuck on You were stemmed from one of my ex’s. Marathon Money used my small amount of knowledge I had on running in sponsored events and pole lessons which I took. I used a lesson that a lecturer taught me about thinking of ideas for articles; what if this happened? How you can change the angle of a story that had been written time and time again by simply asking one question and making it different. So Platinum Heaven, Stuck on You and If We Aren’t Married all came from that question in a way.


Through the lows of the year I gained an emotional tool kit which means any future characters I create can have some depth to them.

Going forward writing is definitely going to be a regular thing, as it’s been about 7 years since my interest in screenwriting began and I can’t stop and restart again. Although I may not write 29 pages a month, I’ll definitely write something every month.

So what’s the plan now? I'm going to finish If We Aren't Married. After that I have 3 ideas that I’d like to complete. One I have already started writing and has a beat sheet written out so I know how the plot will develop. It’s called Somebody Else’s Dream and that is my next film to complete. I’ve also got another screenplay idea called ‘2 hours You’ll Never Get Back’ which is another futuristic film, and has the potential to go in lots of different ways, so that will take a lot of work. And the final is a comedy series. I’m also interested in seeing how it would work if I write with someone, so I might explore that also.


People have asked me what am I going to do with Marathon Money now I’ve completed it? Well I’m going to write the other pieces I stated above first and then I’ll go back and make notes ready for a second draft. I feel if I have a break from the characters, not only in Marathon Money but also Stuck On You, then I can come back afresh with new ideas. I also feel that if I do a second draft too soon, then I’d become too attached to the characters and would find it harder to change things. I may get some people to write and make notes on what to improve, although that’s a scary prospect. I’ve only just opened up to the idea of people hearing my ideas to begin with.

Jane Goldman also said: ‘Allow your first draft to be crap and just focus on getting to the end. Then go back to improve it.’

So the next chapter of writing is all about improving.

Wednesday 28 October 2015

Reconnecting: What have I learnt and what was the best?

So here’s an interesting fact about the reconnecting part of my challenge. If you add up all the years it has been since I last connected with things and people on my list, it would equal 148.8 years!!!! Who can ever say they've reconnected with over a century worth of things and people?

This category is probably my favourite category for the simple reason that for the most part there’s another person involved.

It’s helped restart some friendships again, like Tom and I. We hadn’t seen each other in 7 years and truthfully I didn't think we’d see each other again as lives on the other side of the world. But since catching up last year we've been in more contact then we were in the past. And hopefully if I can go to Australia again then he can come and visit from New Zealand.


It’s been ten years since I started uni and I reconnected with 4 uni friends this year and as a result the friendships have been refreshed.

Some of the reconnection's were unexpected with Islam in Boots and Luc who I used to work with. It still makes me laugh how we managed to get a picture with Islam and his colleague being completely bemused by the whole situation. Islam was probably a little weirded out by us asking for a picture, but no doubt he’ll recognise us next year.


The marathon was a lot of fun and the punting although I found it fun years ago; it was the complete opposite this time round. I hated it by the end!

It’s really tough to pick which reconnection's were the best, but I've somehow whittled it down to 3. The first being autographs. No it wasn't a person, but me writing to the Neighbours cast for my friend Laura and for them to actually reply was an unbelievable feeling. It still makes me smile to think the cast of a soap took the time to sign a wedding card with funny, witty messages for someone they had never met. That letter that I wrote inspired me to write to other people important in my friends lives. I also wrote to a number of rugby players for another friend to motivate him and I each time I got a reply it was overwhelming that a player would take the time to do a random act of kindness. I had 6 amazing responses and each player wrote their own version of what I asked. Getting any reply in the first place is a little victory when it comes to autographs, for whatever purpose they have.


The second favourite reconnection was with my shorthand teacher Jo. It was such a fun day, and I still remember Humaira and I watching Jo walk into the hotel we were meeting, I felt like royalty was coming to visit! It’s a rare occasion to meet someone who used to teach you not in the teaching arena if that makes sense. I should be used to it as my parents were both teachers and I know a lot of them. But how often do you meet up with teachers that taught you after you've left school or uni? And Jo was way more open than we expected and we got to know her as a person instead of just our shorthand teacher. We’re facebook friends now and we message each other more frequently.


The last favourite reconnection has to be number 29, reconnecting with my old neighbour Hannah. During the challenge it’s been either 2 years or 5 year time period since I last saw someone. However with Hannah it was 20 years which looking at that on paper is a lifetime. In essence I wasn’t just reconnecting with someone from my past, I was getting to know a new people entirely. I mean come on who has the same conversations as when we were 3. There’s only so much you can talk about when it comes to dolls.


Luckily the risk of meeting someone I pretty much didn't know had paid off. She’s already put up pictures when we were young on facebook on my birthday, and I’ll do the same on hers!

Reconnecting although it seems quite scary and daunting from the outside is actually one of the most fun and rewarding things you can do. And yes I know that not all reconnection's work, just look at reconnection number 3, I never heard from the ex/fridge magnet again. But reconnection's can bring opportunities and open doors to new ways of thinking and different angles on memories. So maybe don’t try and attempt a crazy 29 reconnection's in one year, just go for one and see what happens. I want to try and do at least one next year, if not more. Who knows where it will take me?!

New Comedians: What have I learnt and who was the best?

The comedian part of the challenge I was a little overwhelmed with. Apart from the last 2 comedians, all of them I saw doing stand-up, whether it be live or on DVD or Youtube. With this sort of format, they all have the same sort of rhythm and same sort of subjects they tell jokes on. This is absolutely fine because if it ain’t broke don’t fix it.

What I’ve learnt about comedians and comedy is how tastes can vary dramatically. So quite a few recommendations fell a bit flat.


I was a bit disappointed with how few female comedians I saw for the challenge as well. I know the local comedy club does have female comedians do sets, but unfortunately they weren't the weeks that I went. I do really want to watch more comediennes so that’s one thing I’ll take away from the challenge.

And I think throughout the challenge I've got less funny! Maybe an overexposure to comedians might be why.

So who was the best comedian? It was of course Kevin Hart; his stand up I was laughing from start to finish. And as strange as it sounds Geoff Norcott my old media teacher was a close second. Who’d have thought it?

Monday 26 October 2015

New recipes: What have I learnt and what was the best?

Just over half of what I cooked in the challenge was something sweet. Not all my cooking attempts were successful; in fact the sweet treats were things that often went wrong. The key lime pie was a landslide, as was the upside down cake which didn't cook fully either. Panna cotta and the chocolate fondant didn't come out of the ramekins and pudding basins successfully, and the macaroons didn't turn out great either.


With all the failures in the cooking it doesn’t mean that I failed the challenge. I cooked things I wouldn't normally cook or things that I thought were adventurous. I was really surprised with how the Crème Brulee turned out. I thought they would be a disaster because on Bake Off the week I cooked them, the contestants had trouble mastering them. But they were a hit and surprisingly easy to make.


I learnt how to cook some basics like Stew, steak and flapjack and there were some dishes that I would definitely make again like Biryani, the vegetable rosti and Mexican scrambled eggs, which I have already made again.

The best times of cooking were when I was cooking for friends and family and I loved making brunch and doing the pudding club and food gathering. On the subject of the food gathering I must do a little shout out to Fran who made me some Indian almond milk sweets and I forgot to mention that in the food part of the challenge. Sorry Fran! Hopefully I can cook for you again soon.


Sunday 25 October 2015

New books: What have I learnt and what was the best?

I've managed to read a near even amount of fiction and non-fiction books for the challenge. I’ve read autobiographies, American classics, a children’s book and a text book among others.

With the American classics such as The Great Gatsby and Catcher in the Rye I felt that if I read them when I was younger I would have liked them, but reading them now meant I was too old to appreciate them in some ways.


I read a number of autobiographies and a number of these were sportsmen and women. One of the books was about a sportsman who I didn't like. For a long time I hated Kevin Pieterson but reading his autobiography made me do a complete 180 and change my view on him and now I respect him, something I never thought I’d say.

The two books I enjoyed reading the most were ones about challenges. So Reading Promise and Eat, sleep, cycle fall into this theme. They were really interesting and completely different challenges to each other; one spanning a few months, the other spanning years and years. It was really interesting to see how they kept going on their challenges.

For two of the books; Eat, Sleep, Cycle and Us I met the authors themselves and asked them both questions. They both took the time to answer my questions which was great and very worthwhile.

There are still quite a few books on my bookshelves waiting to be read. Ones that I borrowed or bought for the challenge, but never got round to reading. Or started and haven’t yet finished. There’s a Virginia Wolff novel, Cloud Atlas, a short Cecelia Ahern story and plenty of my favourite type of books autobiographies to get through.


So what have I learnt from the books I've read: I've learnt traditions on being happy in different cultures, how one moment can change your life and how to pick yourself up when you get knocked down. Lastly I've learnt surprisingly age does matter when it comes to reading books, read one too early and you might not appreciate it but read one too late and you can’t connect to characters you thought you could. So I guess if someone recommends a book to you, read it now and not later.

Saturday 24 October 2015

New Comedians #27-29: The Last Hurrah

Towards the end of the challenge I aware that I’d only seen one woman in the comedians’ part of the challenge. I told Hayley aka Rock sent me a link to a Marie Claire article of comediennes and it was there that I found a different way to watch comedians aside from in comedy clubs and DVDs which I had been doing for the challenge.

One of the comediennes on the list was Bonnie McFarlane and she made a documentary called Woman Aren’t Funny and it explored that statement. The documentary interviewed lots of female comedians about how it is in the profession and the reaction they get.


It was a really interesting documentary; it showed the history of female comedians, as well as what current male comedians thought. Bonnie is married to a stand-up comic called Rich Vos and she met him when he was a judge on a comedy talent show she was entering and he was the judge. So I got to see his stand up material as well as Bonnie’s.

One thing Bonnie did which I thought was clever was she did a stand-up routine dressed as a man, to see how the reaction would differ. Both Bonnie and Rich are great comedians and the documentary gave me a great insight into the world of stand-up comedy.

The last comedian I saw for the challenge was Lee Mack. I was aware of him as he’d been on lots of panel shows over the years and his stand up was okay. However I'm fine with swearing on the whole, but I feel he thought he was funnier when he swore, when in fact he wasn't.

New phrases: What have I learnt and what was the best

This part of the challenge was the one area where I didn’t know what to expect, or how long it would take me. With films, books and recipes you know where to find them. But with phrases it’s a more open option. Do I ask strangers in a foreign country for a phrase? Do I start learning a foreign language to get some phrases down?

How they came to me on the most part was from my friends and family and their travels and nationalities. Fabiana and my Auntie Benita gave me phrases from their mother tongue. Hayley gave me a phrase from when she went on holiday and Lizi, Emma and Tom gave me phrases they learnt on their travels which were all quite varied. Fran and Kayleigh gave me phrases at the food gathering as well.

My favourite part of getting new phrases was when I was on the National Trust holiday. The people on the holiday were really enthusiastic about the challenge and wanted to help with it. With the variety of nationalities in the group, the phrases were the best way to help. So one day after the work element of the holiday we headed to a pub, armed with a notebook the others took it in turn to write phrases they knew. If you look at the list of languages used, they extend longer then what the group knew in their mother tongue. The phrases were also the most random list.


For some reason the best phrases were the insults that were given. I guess what I should do with my phrases learnt is use them in public, but I’m not sure I’m brave enough to use the insults!

Friday 23 October 2015

New screenwriting #12: Restarting

Around 5 years ago I went to Birmingham to see the Question of Sport Live show with my friend Chris. We’ve been friends since the first year of uni and while we were travelling to the show we jokingly said about how we would be each other’s back up plans if we didn’t get married, as we both like cricket and could spend days at Lords making our way round the ground with Zimmer frames!
The following day my friend Humaira took me to a spa for my birthday and we chatted about the conversation I had with Chris and it was there I got the idea for a screenplay called If We Aren’t Married.

It’s about 3 pairs of male/female friends who have all agreed at some point that if they aren’t married by a certain age they will get married to each other. The question is do any of them actually go through with it?

So after that spa day I set about creating a plot and characters. I did character backgrounds, wrote out each narrative strand for each couple and set about writing it. To help visualise the characters I actually had pictures of people from magazines as the characters, so I could imagine them better. I wrote 13 pages straight off the bat and then just stopped. For some reason I couldn’t write anymore, even though the plot was laid out for me. I remember my friend Jas reading the synopsis and she stopped before the end as it got too sad.


It wasn’t until this challenge that I thought about restarting the screenplay again. However when I wanted to restart it, I was going through a break up and weirdly some of the things I was going through, I said the characters were going through….even though the plot was written 5 years ago. Restarting it around April time was just too raw, I got upset every time I was reading the plot as things could relate to me, and I just wasn’t in a good place.

Months have passed and what I’ve figured out is this. 5 years ago relationship wise I hadn’t had much experience. I think at that point I had been out with one guy for 3 months and another for 9 weeks. Fast forward 5 years and I had a 2 year relationship, saw one guy for 4 months and another for 6 in addition to pre 2010. And there have been some near misses along the way. With all the highs and lows, it’s actually given me an emotional tool kit which I didn’t have before. All I had really was a chick flick view of life and not real life.

And the tool kit is great for writing; it can help me add depth to characters that I didn’t have before. For the challenge I added another 18 pages and one of the main challenges I initially had was combining 3 narrative strands together. One morning I had lots of different elements to the narrative strands spread on the living room floor trying to combine them all equally into one main plot.


Another challenge is whether when writing I write in order of the main plot, or just write each strand separately and then combine.

So going forward from the challenge, this is the screenplay I’ll next complete. And what am I going to do with it once it’s done? Send copies to Chris and Humaira who were there at the start of the idea forming, and to Jas to see if the piece makes her cry. If it can bring out any emotion then I know I’m on the right lines.

Tuesday 20 October 2015

New Comedians #26: Helpful humour

A couple of my friends suffer from anxiety and I’m always at a loss as to how I can help. The other week one of them had her wedding reception taking place, and her anxiety was kicking in the day before. So what I did was try to find jokes for her to read whenever she felt low throughout the night. I asked another friend which comedian I should search for jokes from and he said Tim Vine.


I then watched Tim Vine’s stand up and he is king of the one liners, they’re all on the money.
I wrote his best jokes on separate bits of paper and put them in an envelope so they could be picked at random. Even though my friend didn’t take them with her to her wedding reception, she did take them for a trip to London a few days later. So it was good to know that comedy acted as part of a toolkit for her.

Saturday 17 October 2015

New comedians #21-25: Home stretch

It’s funny when I started the challenge I didn’t think the comedians part would be one element that I would finish last, but it was. So it was a bit of a mad rush towards the end.

So which comedians did I watch in the lead up to the end of the challenge? I started off the home stretch of comedians with Mark Watson who I heard of before but hadn’t seen. I really liked his comedy, probably because I’m my father’s daughters in the fact that I like train journeys and Mark’s comedy was mainly about people he met on train journeys. Fear not my train journey stories aren’t comedy worthy.

I then watched an Irish comedian called Neil Delaware and I didn’t find him funny at all. I didn’t laugh once and I think it might have been because I’m not Irish and the large majority of his jokes were about living in Ireland and the little quirks.


Andy Parsons was a similar comedian to Sean Locke and I feel the jokes he told were very dated and if I watched the DVD the year it was released then I probably would've found it funny.
Now have you heard of Dave Allen? Probably not and it was a random choice for the challenge, but I bought it randomly at CEX in the comedy section and thought why not. The DVD was collection of monologues and comedy sketches from shows he did in the 70s and 80s, The comedy was a mixture of word play and visual comedy and the visual stuff I found quite funny; in particular one sketch where a group of workers went to a sardine factory where they worked, so they walked to work very close together, packed like sardines!

Eddie Izzard is a comedian everyone has heard of and he’s been around for years, but I hadn’t seen any of his stand up. To be honest I didn’t find it hilarious and I think that’s down to intellect, he’s very smart and I think as a result quite a few of his jokes went over my head.

Tuesday 13 October 2015

New Recipe #29: Simple yet satisfying

For my last recipe of the challenge I kept it pretty simple as I was running out of time. So I made hummus. I thought it would be quite complicated to make for some reason but it was quite the opposite.

Just chuck some chickpea, lemon juice, garlic, olive oil, cumin and paprika in a food processor and hey presto hummus!


So not a grand finale on the recipes but I reckon if you put together all the recipes I made over the year it would make a pretty great feast.

Sunday 11 October 2015

Screenwriting #10-11: My sister

When I was at the Radio Times Festival I told my dad Bobby a bit more about Platinum Heaven and the land I created and one main character I hadn’t mentioned before. I have an older sister called Gemma, who I have never met. She passed away when she was 3 months old, and the reason in the simplest terms was because her muscles were too weak to feed herself. She would have been two years older than me. My sisters and I have always known about her and her grave is at Hitchin Quaker Meeting where we used to go every Sunday growing up.


The great thing about screenwriting is you get to create characters, create new personalities, and maybe combine traits you like from people in your everyday life. Writing Platinum Heaven allowed me to think what Gemma could be like if she was alive. I’ve made her out to be a bit of a ball buster, but someone that cares a lot about her family at the same time.

Upon talking to my dad about Gemma and my writing I explained Gemma’s role in the series, in that she was a meet and greeter for new arrivals. He thought this shouldn’t be the case as he said she was smart and would have a better job than that, one that would use her intellect. I asked how he knew she was smart, and he said the nurse said that when she was born she recognised my mum and dad straight away.

So in the final episode I incorporated that view; was she deserving of a better job? And she does get an opportunity by Steve Jobs and Jim Henson no less. But an unexpected twist means that the audience don’t find out whether she takes the opportunity up or not.

The second view point my dad had was he accepted a few of the entry points into the land but couldn’t accept A-List and asked why they deserved to enter. So to add a bit of conflict episode 5 explores exactly that, and how after so many years the entry requirements may finally change. There were some characters willing to fight the system.

I’ve always been scared to tell people about my ideas, only a few people know about them to be honest as I think that people will laugh at them. Yes Platinum Heaven is whimsical and complete make believe, but how often do you get to really use your imagination fully on a regular basis? It’s fun to create something completely from scratch.

Saturday 10 October 2015

Screenwriting #8-9: The film finish line

This past week I did the unthinkable, I finished writing a full length film. The last time I blogged about screenwriting I had written 71 pages of Marathon Money. Originally it was going to be a 90 minute film and I got to 90 minutes and realised I still had lots to say. So it ended up being 120 minutes, which is 120 pages.


It was still easy to write although at the start of the week I did stall a bit. Even though you invest time into the characters they can’t always distract you from real life and I got a bit hurt. And it stopped me, but then I realised that I still needed to write and I still needed to finish the challenge. So I controlled the hurt, I let it control me for me 15 minutes, had a good cry and then powered on through and wrote.

With Marathon Money being about the marathon, towards the end I did struggle a little and I guess I had it easy the majority of the time writing. I then remembered the advice that author David Nicholls gave me; think of a film you want it to be like, watch it if you can or think of a beautiful piece of writing. So I thought of a film it would be similar to, and combined with putting my ipod on shuffle and get inspiration from different bits of music I got through the temporary block and finished the screenplay.

A few people have asked me what I’m going to do with it now that its done. Well I’m going to let it rest a little, and then go back and read through and make notes before I do a second draft. I haven’t got to the second draft stage so I’m a bit nervous about that stage!

Friday 9 October 2015

Reconnecting #29: Save the best till last

Everyone has that neighbour that they grew up with. For me this was Hannah who lived across the street with and I was friends with till she moved away around the age of 4 I think.


We stayed penpals for a little while and briefly saw each other when we were 10 but then we lost touch.  After adding each other on facebook I think we did try to meet up while I was at uni but it never happened. And then I thought with this challenge, why not get in touch with Hannah. She’s now living in London so the geography wise it couldn't be more perfect, and what’s the worst that could happen? She would say no.

Well she didn’t and yesterday evening we met up, we hadn’t seen each other in around 20 years, and we got on like a house on fire. There were no awkward silences and it was as if we’d be friends all this time. There were also quite a few similarities between us as well, we both went to sports with our dads and we both had in essence free coats. Gone are the days of bowl haircuts and playing with dolls!


As Hitchin is enroute on the way back to Hannah’s parents’ house, Hannah and I are hoping to catch up a bit more regularly then every 20 years!

Thursday 8 October 2015

New book #29: The nicest guy

A few weeks ago I went to the Radio Times Festival with my family. Strange as it sounds I love the Radio Times and it’s a sign that Christmas has arrived when the Christmas edition is out and I can highlight all the films and programmes I plan to watch.

The festival had lots of talks taking place and I went to two. The first was one by Bafta about how to get into TV and the second was a talk with David Nicholls the author who is best known for his books Starter for Ten and One Day which were also made into films.

His talk was about his career and about his latest book Us. It was actually the last time he’d be doing promotion as it had been a year since the book was released.


I decided to go to his book signing after the talk about Us as it was the only book of his I hadn’t read. I had wanted to ask a question at his talk but they ran out of time so I asked him when he was signing my book; I said that I was writing a screenplay and asked how he dealt with writers block. And he couldn’t have been nicer he gave me some tips even though there was a queue of people behind waiting for their books to be signed. So that gave me more motivation for my writing.

Now back to the book it was about a couple called Connie and Douglas who had been married for 25 years and Connie was thinking of leaving Douglas. They had a son called Albie and they planned one last holiday through Europe before he went to university. The book was well written and travelled through each country as well as the couple’s past and how they got to where they are today with ease. David Nicholls books are easy to read and the characters develop quickly which makes you care for them. During the talk quite a few people took either Douglas or Connie’s side on things and I couldn’t decide which side to go for. It might take a second reading to determine that.
So a great book to finish the book part of the challenge.

Wednesday 7 October 2015

New Recipes #27-28 and New Activity #30: Thai and Mexican cuisine

For my food gathering I was going to cook Thai fish parcels, but with some late drop outs I decided to cook these at a later date and at the end of last week I did. Now I’m a real stickler to the recipes, even when it comes to something as simple as pancakes, so it may come as a shock to my friends that I didn’t follow the recipe.

The recipe said to use coconut cream and red curry paste. I didn’t have either, so I used Greek yoghurt, double cream and tikka paste instead. It was an easy way to cook fish, just wrap it up in baking parchment and foil and put in the oven. I thought that with the flavours being wrapped up, when I opened it up once it had been cooked the flavours would be really strong. However I was underwhelmed by it. It tasted okay, but didn’t really look that great.




The second recipe I made was recommended by my friend Rachel and I made it for her while we were at the fitness weekend. It was Mexican scrambled eggs and I think the last time I cooked or at least got taught to cook scrambled eggs was when I was 5 at school. The recipe was pretty easy to make, fry some tortilla wraps which have been cut into strips. Fry chopped chilli and a spring onion, then add that and 4 beaten eggs together and tada! I was expecting it to be really spicy but it wasn’t too bad and was very filling. I’ll definitely make it again as it was so easy to do.


Even though I've finished the new experiences part of the challenge I also went to my first pilates class over the weekend. As I thought the class consists of lots of stretches, but challenging ones. It was towards the end of the weekend so was a good way to wind down.

Tuesday 6 October 2015

New foods: What have I learnt and what was the best?

Looking back over the list of foods that I tried there’s a great variety. I‘ve tried different meats, different desserts and foods from different countries.


Trying panna cotta, crème brulee and biryani inspired me to make me try the recipes out for the challenge as well. And my attempts at these dishes were successful.



Although there was a great variety, I think it would have been good to be a bit more adventurous with what I tried. The most adventurous I got was trying a locus and I think going forward I’m going to consider more out there choices.



In one of my first jobs I was given 2 bits of advice, the first always look up at the ceiling of places (especially in grand buildings) and the second was when eating out for one of the courses always go for something you haven’t had before. So with this in mind, trying new foods in the future won’t be a problem.

Monday 5 October 2015

Screenwriting #6-7: I can sleep when I’m dead

With the Hea-Van series coming to a finish I decided to work on another screenplay. I have two screenplays I wanted to work on, one that I started five years ago and one I had an idea for a few months ago. I will finish both but have put a concentrated effort into writing the latter first.

I have started writing what was to be a one off TV piece called Marathon Money and it’s about a woman in her early twenties called Jenna. In short she is going to be running the marathon and has got a charity place. But with charity places you have to raise a certain amount of money, and although she finds this easy in reality it’s not.

She’s exhausted all options of fundraising and then realises that an unconventional way might be the answer. Jenna had been going to pole classes for a few years and got quite good, so she takes an evening job at a pole club in order to raise the money. Obviously there are obstacles along the way and while the marathon is at the forefront of the screenplay, the real focus is whether she can raise the money.


This by far is the easiest screenplay I’ve written, for some reason the words have flowed out onto the page really quickly. The second evening of writing I wrote 23 pages and was questioning how long I could stay awake as I couldn’t stop writing.

I guess its true what they say, write about what you know. And while I don’t have any experience in doing pole at a club (well as a paid job) I did go to pole classes for around 3-4 years. And although I haven’t run a marathon, I’ve done several races and challenges which require sponsorship. For me the training part wasn’t the problem for the challenges, it was getting a person to sponsor me which was the tricky part.


The timing of me writing this couldn’t have come at a better time as all over Facebook I’m seeing friends who have applied for a ballot place in the marathon to be told the outcome over the past few days. Others have been toying with the idea of a charity place, but many are put off by the high amount that has to be raised.

Over the weekend I went to a fitness weekend and somehow between classes I managed to write an awful lot. I’m now on 71 pages! So with plenty more still to explore, instead of a one TV piece, I’m making it a film. I’m heading for 90 pages, but I reckon I could do 120.

I hope the rest of the writing will be just as fast. Question is how much sleep do I really need?

Sunday 4 October 2015

New phrases #24-29: Insulting finish

For my food gathering some people brought a phrase with them, and my friend Fran did just that. She told me in German how to say my sister is sometimes annoying, which is; 'Meine schwester est manchmal argelich.' And I’m sure my sisters will use that one on me in the future!

My friend Kayleigh couldn't make the gathering but she text me a Spanish phrase that she had learnt on holiday. A very useful one in ‘Can I have the bill’ which is; 'La cuenta, por favour.'

In the book I’m reading at the moment a trip around Europe is the main focus and in one of the flashback scenes one of the characters says; Ton coeur brise se reparera rapidement in French and for some reason I liked the sound of the phrase.

The last few phrases are courtesy of my friend Rachel, a regular contributor to the challenge. She gave me a book of insults in a foreign language and when I started reading through them I couldn't stop laughing. It was a really tough choice to decide which ones to put in the challenge, and so I've decided on the following phrases:


Vorrei rompere qualcosa. Posso prendere in prestito il vostro naso? This is Spanish for 'I would like to break something. Can I borrow your nose?

Avete il cervello di un panino del formaggio. This is Italian for 'You have the brain of a cheese sandwich.'

Votre pay est comme une toilette. Il n'a pas besoin d'un président, il le besoin justes quelqu'un de vider toute la merde.' This is French for; 'Your country is like a toilet. It doesn't need a President, it just needs someone to flush all the shit away.'

So an insulting finish I think you’ll agree.

Friday 2 October 2015

New food #29-32: What the gatherers brought

As part of the food gathering that took place on Sunday I asked friends to bring either a phrase or a new food to try. I ended up trying 4 new things and the first was Dal Puri which my friend Penny made. Dal Puri is an Indian flatbread made with lentils and they tasted great. It was really nice that she went to all that effort to create a food for me to try from scratch.


My friend Coops also did the same and made Pigeon Pie which was another great gesture of helping me complete my challenge. It also showed off Coops’ cooking skills and the pie had just the right amount of sauce, so it wasn’t too watery. He also bought an alpaca burger for me to try and I tried it a few days later. It tasted nice and was a rich meat. My Grandad had warned me off trying unusual meats as the last time I had an unusual meat which I think was goat, it did not sit well.

To finish off the day my friend Claire brought round Physalis to try which is a berry that tastes a bit like gooseberries. They’re more for decoration on desserts and are bright orange.
So a great variety of foods to finish off the food part of the challenge.