As a solitary writer, with nobody to look over my shoulder while I work but a gecko named Duke (who contributes nothing by way of constructive criticism), I’ve finally overruled a trait of reticence to assist in combatting any compulsion to put things off until another time.
I was once given a copy of Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way by my good friend Suzy Harvey. For those unfamiliar with the book – its aim is to discover or recover one’s creative self in the form of a 12-week course. One day I picked it up and made a pledge that came out of nowhere: “I shall stop drinking until I have completed this book!”
It has to be said that very little thought went into this statement. I drink no more than the next bloke of similar age to me, but I do enjoy it and two seconds after it came out of my mouth, it occurred to me how much of a challenge that might be. I may not have stuck to it had I not made the proclamation in front of my mother and my girlfriend at the time.
This form of self-implemented negative reinforcement remained in my psyche and came back to me as more than enough time passed whilst I worked to get several screenplays into production and, one New Year’s Day, I said to my next girlfriend (and producer partner at that time), “I’m not drinking again until we get a film made!”
One year, nine months, sixteen days and fifteen hours later, I shared a glass of champagne with a cast and crew on the set of our film Selective Listening to celebrate the 100th slate.
Non-drinkers are welcome to shrug their shoulders at this, but are simultaneously welcome to substitute the odd sherry (I don’t drink sherry) with a vice they enjoy to help empathise with such a vow.
What’s that got to do with why I’m writing a blog? Well, previous vows have been made in the presence of loved ones, but my ambitions are now bigger and, while loved ones will forgive us the majority of our foibles, the wider world via social media is a smidgen less forgiving than that. This is why I want to document my progress publicly.
To quote the great Drew Barrymore from her appearance on Inside The Actors Studio:
“Get out there. Expose yourself, bare yourself and just start. Focus, even if it’s a small amount of attention, but every day do something that could possibly link you to something else instead of waiting for weeks at a time for something to come to you. Go out every single day and try.”
Obviously, I hope that this journey to the next film will gain interest from lovers of film, British film, independent film and horror fans… because the next film is a horror film.
I may not blog every day, and even if I don’t, watchers should see sufficient progress made between blogs. In that way, I shall be spurred on by feeling the eyes of many over my shoulder… not just a stoical gecko.
