Happy New Year 2009 - writing, yoga and YELP

Happy Chinese New Year of the Ox! It's been a whooping six months since my last post and as I am unable to write everything that has happened in detail, once again I'll do a 'catch-up' post.

I realised that I hardly ever write anything about yoga despite declaring myself a 'yogini' (a female yogic practitioner). I started Ashtanga yoga this time last year after practicing the more gentle style of 'Hatha' (actually, all yogas with postures are Hatha, but if it's advertised as a 'Hatha' style it usually is a moderate paced class with breathing and relaxation work). There has been a strange symbiosis going on with my life and the introduction of yoga to it. I can now do postures that I could not complete when I first started classes, and like my writing it has taken time and patience getting to grips with the technical aspects even though I had some natural ability. I recently found an electronic journal article that linked Thoreau's 'On Walden Pond' with Yoga. I had read the text whilst studying my undergraduate degree. Back then it had no real effect on me, however, now I follow a yogic path it makes a lot more sense. I was really happy to see a link between yoga and literature, as they are my two favourite things!

There has been quite a huge change in me since I last posted a blog entry. I feel like I've slowed down and life is not as frantic as it used to be. I wrote another short script last October called 'Aston Manna' which was inspired by true events. I had had the idea of writing about the main characters for some time but had not considered writing it as a script. Roger Shannon (Producer) and Pogus Caesar (Director) asked me if I had something I'd like to write for the Screen West Midlands Digishort and I thought about that old idea (I keep an ideas folder on my computer, along with an unfinished stories file). They liked the sound of the story and so I wrote it, still quite unconfident about my screenwriting abilities as up until that point I had only written two short film scripts. We submitted it, and the wonderful news is that we have been shortlisted to pitch to a panel which includes representatives from Screen WM and the UK Film Council. For myself, I've just very pleased to have gotten to the final nineteen from around one hundred and fifty scripts. Obviously, I'd be chuffed if we did get the funding as I'd like to see how a film is made. I am curious to see how my vision of a story becomes transmutes into a collaborative vision on the screen. Last year was great for me to simply 'have a go' and try different writing formats and collaborate with different people.

I also wrote a ten minute play for the SCRIPT/Beijing Map Games competiton. Shockingly, I was one of the winners. I'd never written a play before but felt that a short script would be a good training ground to see if I could do it. I've seen only two plays in the last two years and my knowledge of the mechanics is very basic.

October 2008 was a really busy month as I also wrote a sample for a children's book which was created by a lady who contacted me via e-mail. Earlier in the year I had received my first rejection letter from Hodder for a concept book for young children, however, I was told that the sample I wrote was interesting and Franklin Watts (the largest publisher of children's educational books) would offer me a contract. Funnily enough, Franklin Watts are part of Hodder and so it felt like some karmic reckoning was going on. The series is called The Crew and the title I wrote is the Day of the Dog and will be out in July. The books are quite unique in that they are about six inner-city children from various ethnic backgrounds who live on a housing estate. It's very much my kind area. When I read the notes I recognised the similarities between the fictional location and an area I lived in a few years ago. I'm very happy to be part of something so positive.

I've pondered some time about the kind of writer I want to be...I've come to no concrete conclusions, however, it has always been my intention to connect to other's emotions through my words. I have been deemed by a couple of people as a 'storyteller' and I quite liked that label. I thought every writer was a 'storyteller' but now I realise my work often has a very definite story to it. You will not reach the end of my writing and ask 'What was that about?' In many ways, learning about screenwriting has helped my prose writing, as I always begin my plan for a screenplay with one line detailing what it's going to be about.

My friend Allison sent me a book for Christmas called Writing Well whic is by an Austrailia guy called Mark Tredinnick. I'm enjoying most of it. There is a section for creative writers and he quotes George Saunders who wrote:

"Art, at it's best, is a kind of uncontrolled yet disciplined YELP, made by one of us, who because of the brain he was born with and the experiences he has had and the training he has received, is able to emit a Yelp that contains all of the joys, miseries, and contradictions of life as it is actually lived. That Yelp, which is not a logical sound, does good for all of us."

Yep. I like it. I wanna YELP!


I have said it every year, but I want to write a book. I feel that I've had good practice with the shorter pieces and now I want to challenge myself to create something FAT with vitality. I'm excited about this year and the possibilities that it may bring.