Oh look, I’ve gone and changed my site again; what am I like?! I thought it could do with some slimming down, especially since I’m trying to really push things forward on the work front at the moment, and is absolutely nothing to do with me putting off any writing…
So whilst the ridiculous weather plays havoc with my work ethic, I’ve spent the last week outside enjoying the sun. First off, me and the lovely Emma headed down to Brighton for a day by the sea. It’s a city of contrasts, with lovely little alleyways tucked away from a rather grim town centre. However I did buy the coolest anorak known to man- which counts for something.
Whilst exploring the high street I found Nuclear Time in a branch of Waterstones. It’s not the first time I’ve seen my work in print (an honour reserved for last year’s Storybook) and I always feel like I should be far more excited than I am (although obviously it’s still ruddy exciting!). If anything I end up feeling quite self conscious- an imposter hiding amongst the real authors. It’s one of those weird things where you live and breathe this work for so long, and when it’s finally finished it’s still months away from publication, so you need to really psyche yourself up again for that moment where it all pays off.
Speaking of things paying off though, the following day I travelled to rainy Cardiff- where sunshine and blue skies are things of myth and legend- to visit the gorgeous TARDIS set.
Now that’s something I’ve been psyching myself up for since I was six!
Unlike seemingly everybody else in the country, Christmas has snuck up on me rather quickly and even with the snow and all it’s very difficult to get into the swing of things this year. I have some deadlines next month and I’m working away furiously at them. To that end I’m not really relaxing, because relaxing makes me feel guilty for not working and I’m not really drinking on the off chance that when I come home from the pub at four in the morning I’ll sit down and do some more writing. Sound silly? It is.
But I refuse to complain any longer as actually I’m having a great december- I met a few of my heroes last week which was absoultely lovely and, even though I don’t have any free time, I really ENJOY my job. So in reality I think I’m rather lucky.
So for the five people that read this, I hope you all have a great Christmas and enjoy your lives. Wooh.
After a very epic and tiring birthday weekend it’s been a proper struggle to get back into the the writing zone, mostly due to the complete averageness of the weather at the moment- there’s nothing inspiring about dull grey mundanity. I’ve been trying to write more in the day to try and sort out my body clock, so to combat the daylight distractions I’ve been listening to a lot of music. All my work tends to have a couple of songs as the soundtrack (going back as far as my GCSE art days when Daft Punk’s Discovery permeated my dreams), they work as a short cut to get back into the appropriate tone for whatever it is that I’m working on.
The only problem with musical soundtracks is that you end up wanting to incorporate them into your work, and unless you’re working on a big TV script (which I’m not) with a lot of money for soundtrack clearances (which would mean you’re writing for Skins) then it’s impossible, and it ends up being frustrating that you’re unable to convey the emotion of the soundtrack to your writing in the writing itself.
There is an easy solution though, and that’s not to tell people that you were ever listening to anything in the first place, and keep that extra layer of depth that comes with the music to yourself. That way no one will be any the wiser.
So bearing that in mind, here’s what I’m listening to right now:
Oli is a freelance writer living in London. He has written various comics and short stories as well as a few non-fiction works, mostly for Doctor Who.
On this site you can find information about Oli's published works as well as news about his upcoming projects. The most recent are shown on the right, please click the covers for more information.
