Right.
This is it.
This blog has been quiet for far too long. My writing has been quiet for far too long.
My five month old son isn't quiet but that's another story...
As 'regular?' readers will know, I haven't posted anything on here for well over a year. What the hell have I been doing with myself in the meantime? Why haven't I posted anything? Just what do I think I'm playing at??
Well, I'll tell you...
It's no coincidence that my blogging exploits (rare as they were) ceased to exist upon me hearing the news from my partner that we were pregnant. Suddenly my priorities totally changed. I couldn't even think about writing scripts, let alone this blog! All I could think was "Wow! I'm going to be a Dad! It's time to get serious!"
It was great news and it was planned, so no scary surprises, apart from how quickly it actually happened!
I suddenly began to focus on what I needed to get done in preparation for the birth. The first thing on my list was to get my car repaired. It had been sitting on the carpark for almost a year and was beginning to seize up. I know nothing about cars but managed to get everything done with the aid of a Haynes manual, a lot of sweat and a few cuts and scrapes. Miraculously, it got through the MOT.
So, the car was done. Next was the spare room. We'd used it as a dumping ground for all our junk for the past 4 years. Not any more. We cleared it out, spent a little time and money on it and turned it into quite a nice little nursery.
Finally, things at work suddenly improved and I managed to wangle my way through a couple of promotions. I'm now in a much better position than I was last year, doing a much better job.
Everything in my life seemed to be falling into place since finding out about the pregnancy, except for one thing... my writing.
Before the pregnancy news, I had signed up to do an OU course on creative writing. The course started last October but I just couldn't keep my mind on it. I didn't review any of the course material at all and just submitted the Tutor Marked Assessments when they were due, which were all based on writing short stories that should have included elements from the workbook. Of course, my stories contained very little from the workbook and so they suffered as a result. I did however manage to scrape a pass, which I was quite proud of, having learned nothing from the material (my fault for not reading it!)
It's now been just over five months since our son was born and they've been the most exciting, interesting and scary moments of my life. I think I'm just now feeling slightly more relaxed and can breathe a bit easier. That's not to say things have suddenly become easier! I think I'm just more in tune with being a Dad now and know (to some extent) what I'm actually doing! I'm sure there are even scarier and more exciting moments to come, but for now I'm in quite a chilled state.
It's due to this 'state' that I've finally decided to get back into writing. Yes, my job is going well and my home life is fantastic (it always was) but I still hunger to be successful in some aspect of my writing. I'm still yearning to see my work out there in some form or other. It's time to polish off the scripts I was working on and complete the book I started 5 years ago!
I've got a lot of catching up to do. I haven't been keeping up with all the blogs for the best part of a year. Even James Moran has started blogging again (which is great news! This is the first blog I've caught up on). I'm going to spend the next week or two reading and absorbing all that has happened since I last took a trip down bloggery lane, read over my previous and 'current' work and then I'll be ready for action!
Wish me luck!
