Free! Free at Last!
Rabbit sitting amongst dandelions
It's Spring!
School’s back on, Easter is a slightly distant memory and time for me to emerge from my self-imposed hibernation. I spent much of last year and most of last winter, hunkering down and working on my Book 2.
Actually, it was my Book 2.5 because in between Happy Families and my next novel, I wrote myself several thousand words into a dead end. If Elizabeth Day https://www.elizabethday.org were here, she would suggest I chalk it up to one of those times where learning how to fail in life actually means learning how to succeed better.
I grudgingly have to admit that’s true but only in hindsight and after many tears were shed and much gnashing of teeth. Cue that other, wise soothsayer of failure, Samuel Beckett who said ‘Try again. Fail again. Fail Better.’
I handed in a first draft of the completed Book 2 at the end of last month and now is the time for my confession. 🤫 I have never submitted a book for publication like this before. As some of you may know, my first novel was published after winning a writing competition. So, I wrote my debut novel with no expectation it would get published; it was a bit like singing along in the car while the traffic lights are on red. (I live by some traffic lights; this happens a lot.)
The Book 2 experience is more like preparing to perform ‘I Dreamed a Dream’ at the Albert Hall.
In short, everything from this point onwards is going to be a new experience for me and hopefully, I will be able to share a little of what it’s like, with you, here on this blog.
In the meantime, I am free! Free at last to read all the books, watch all the shows, listen to all the podcasts, peruse all the articles I’ve missed while preoccupied with Book 2.
There’s been so much good stuff that I thought I would share a few with you. Don’t worry, I won’t be suggesting anything that will take up more than twenty minutes of your time, tops. I hope you get a chance to enjoy them.
Validation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cbk980jV7Ao
This is a short film from 2009 when you still had to go the Customer Service desk to get your parking ticket validated. Only sixteen minutes long, it is the sweetest of love stories with the best romantic hero’s hair ever. And the most upbeat soundtrack too!
Foutaises
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AspmmjBl1LU
Why are so many of the good short films in black and white? If you’ve ever seen ‘Amelie’, you might recognise this as Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s practice run for the opening scenes of that film.
The translation of ‘Foutaises’ here is ‘Things I Like, Things I Hate’ and sometimes, isn’t it just good to know what your small pleasures and tiny displeasures are? You can learn a lot about your characters by knowing what they like and don’t like too, even if you never get a chance to mention it in the final novel.
Google translation informs me that the correct translation of this film’s title is ‘bullshit’. Make of that what you will, it’s only seven minutes of your time!
The Rabbit of Seville
I’m sorry to report that most of my knowledge of so-called high culture, like classical music and opera, comes through first hearing it from somewhere less highfalutin. Prokofiev’s Dance of the Knights from Romeo and Juliet will always be The Apprentice music to me. Don’t have time for hours of The Barber of Seville? Try this seven-minute mini-masterpiece instead.
These are my short film recommendations. There’s something so satisfying about the mini-quality of a good short film, isn’t there? Like a good short story but that will have to be another blog post entirely!