OK… you may have noticed that i haven’t been my usual diligent self, updating all there is to update… being the loudest ranter on the web… perhaps you’ve thought I’ve been laying low. And indeed I have been. And here’s why…

The last two weeks have been particularly difficult with a delightful (this is a lie… it’s not delightful) viral conjunctivitis which seems to only strike when I need to a.) see things b.) stop working so hard… it hits me (always) in the left eye… and cripples not only my sight, but my confidence to be in public (especially without the – “Oh Gus! You have a red eye…” or “Gus is your eye ok?” conversations) and on this occasion completely draws my writing to a standstill – yes. Doctors orders. No screens. No reading. No writing. No seeing shows. It’s been uncomfortable, and annoying, lonely and boring but thankfully it has now has all but dissipated.

And of course these excuses come not in single spies but in battalions.

I have been struggling through my attempt to read film scripts for the AWG/AFTRS assessing screenwriting course. I managed to sit through the course, like a child suddenly transported to Japan and asked to write an essay on what I felt a foreign and bizarre language. I struggled and furrowed, and read, and thought… and decided that the course was really fantastic in reassuring me that I have a supreme and impressive talent for reading plays and that I should stick to plays.

This month I have been invited to be on the board of an art gallery soon to be relocated at Dank Street, Waterloo headed by Samantha Mitchell-Fin called Kaleidoscope Gallery. so I have been looking at/into visual art with more than my once a week interest.

And finally is the news that after seven years, the botanist and I have called it a day. Probably the nicest and amicable break up in history… possibly because he’s a lovely person… but we remain congenial friends, as one should be after seven years. We are both happy and happily separated and there is no drama or trauma there. At all. But it does mean that the last 6 weeks have seen my house in absolute chaos as the furniture and finances and the usual ship-shape order of my routine has been shaken like a snow globe… and I must say, it has been a real re-birth in re-settling myself.

I have also been deciding what projects to do – where to go from here – what is needed – where do I fit – what challenges am I ready for – and that naval gazing takes time. And energy. And solace. I have a few projects brewing – but I’m taking a deep breath in -looking and watching the world/myself/theatre/writing and trying to be open and learn as much as possible. I have been hoping to put forward the idea that I am literary manager material – and trying to move away from being seen soley as a reviewer – I write responses not so that I may ape the actions of journalists, but perhaps offer an alternative perspective – a context to work, for those interested and engaged enough – and perhaps there will be a time, when I am employed in a capacity somewhere where it would be inappropriate for a response… and that I’m sure, I’d be ok with…

So at the moment I am solidifying, and consolidating. I’m thinking. Digesting. Scheming. I’m perfecting my muffin recipes. I’m catching up. I’m clearing out. I’m choosing. I’m curating my life. I’m feeling nourished and delighted by the surprising and splendid people I have orbiting about me right now…

And apologies for my absence… I promise, it’s not you, it’s been me.

But I’m back now… and I’m keen to hear what you’ve been thinking about…