Friday 11 May 2012

Fan Mail #1



A rather random posting on someone I am an unabashed fan of... (I might actually add further postings to this theme from time to time, just for a bit of fun).

Dawn French: the rather marvelous actress, writer, comedian, all-round fabulous woman, who I am a flag-waving fan of. On my only (to this point) trip to London back in 2003, I went to the West End and saw a one-woman play staring Ms. French called 'My Brilliant Divorce.' It was hilarious and heartfelt and remains a wonderful memory.

The reason for my post is that I've just watched a marathon of Dawn's "Vicar of Dibley" episodes - all 20 of them, over the weekend. If you haven't caught this show, please do yourself a favor, go out and buy it! It's English comedy at its best. The creator, Richard Curtis is the talented chap behind Four Weddings and Funeral, Notting Hill, and Love Actually - so if you like those films, I think you'd love this show's take of a female vicar that lands in a quaint, countryside town with the oddest, yet loveliest bunch of characters. I've seen all the episodes countless times and despite knowing what happens - even down to miming the dialogue, it genuinely makes me laugh in a way that few shows (especially on repeat viewing) can.

If I can turn but one person in the direction of this show - and this exceptionally talented woman, I would have done my good deed for the gods of entertainment.
 

Thursday 3 May 2012

The Carousel of Guilt

After posting my last blog - regarding my 'day job' as an Aviation Instructor and the rigors of training, I had hoped to reengage with both my writing and my posting. Perhaps it was naive of me to expect to go full tilt, but I did expect to do more than  I subsequently have = not a thing.

So, my sometime companion, guilt, popped by to torture me softly over what I should be doing, of what should have been done, and what I must now do.

Perhaps it's wisdom in age - another birthday just passed last week, but I thought to myself that this time, this time, I would not let my unwanted mental house-guest to outstay its welcome. And it is welcome, only because it spurs me to activate my situational awareness of my current state - which is healthy, but then it continues on and starts sabotaging my feelings of self-worth and self-esteem, culminating in "I'll never get published at this rate" and the like.

How many fellow writers out there go through the same dance?

The excuses are invariably there - new job is intense, I'm keeping long hours, I'm studying at home to the point of dreaming of airplanes, trying to keep up with my home obligations, squeezing in a life and some sorely needed sleep to name but a few. I could then either hold these reasons up as armor and feel vindicated, or feel forlorn that I've hid behind them and failed to achieve what I set out to do. Both options I have visited.

But not this time.

Simply put, it is what it is, and now I will revisit my time management schedule (I've started keeping one this year, and before the changes at work threw it all asunder, I was kicking goals rather well), and I will take things ONE STEP AT A TIME. Do one thing, followed by the next, and so on.

That is how anything worthwhile gets done (and hopefully done well, with skill and care). I will keep my dreams on an achievable, bite-sized scale, AND I will allow myself to be a multifaceted and flawed human who lives and loves in the real world - with all of its unpredictability.

I call that progress.

I hope by sharing I might help others out there get off the nauseating Carousel of Guilt.

Happy writing!