Picking up where I left off…

Hello lovely readers! It’s been a long time since I’ve spent time on the blog and how lovely it is to find that people have been visiting and reading in my absence.

I quit posting regularly to focus on some long projects. The truth is my writing habit has slipped: this blog forced me to sit down and write. Without that impetus when the going got tough…

So I owe a huge vote of thanks to the wonderful folk behind the London Screenwriters’ Festival, which I attended last weekend. It’s given me my mojo back! I’ve written more in the last week than I have in months!

To help keep me honest I’ve written a list of 10 things I’m going to do to further my writing career…help keep me honest by asking me how I’m doing with it!

One of the 10 things is reading more scripts. If you’re a writer that would like someone to read your screenplay, I’d be happy to be asked.

Keep writing, writers, and readers, keep reading!

Pop-up ranting

Dear reader, let me apologise to you for interrupting your peaceful day with a rant. Last time I ranted, in the wake of the News of the Week scandal, I semi-promised myself I wouldn’t post again until I’d goddamn finished a story. Apparently I lied.

This time last week England was waking up after the worst night of the riots. I was relieved the night had passed quietly in Brixton. We knew about the riots in the 1980s when we moved in, of course. We never expected to live through it. If anything, I feel more affection for Brixton now than before. People living locally are determined not to let the troubles set the tone.

What distresses me is the woeful response by the government. Right now I wish we’d left Dave tipping waitresses in Tuscany. He’s worse than useless. I think there’s only one way his agenda can end: I predict (another) riot. I have been terribly lazy and not included links to references, sorry. If you want any, leave me a comment.

For those interested, I am still plugging away at the writing, although I have to confess to having been quite distracted by current affairs. The long short story I thought I was writing seems to be morphing into something longer. For now, I’m just going with the flow.

Thanks again for reading.

 

First battle won, on with the fight

I’ve really been trying to stick to the plan of focussing on my longer projects. Really. And I’m doing okay. Good even. But media ownership and press freedom are two issues guaranteed to get me saddling up my hobby horse at the best of times. I’ve been railing against Murdoch and the tabloids for years, surely no one could expect me to hold my tongue NOW!

The past two weeks have been truly extraordinary. I have been supporting campaigns to end the BSkyB deal since the first announcement. As the months have passed I have been more and more resigned to the fact that Hunt is a Murdoch lackey and that we had little hope of success. Not only is that deal dead in the water, the campaign has claimed major scalps in the Murdoch empire and the Metropolitan police and the credibility of senior government ministers – including the Prime Minister – has been called into serious question. There’s even a faint possibility of action against Murdoch under US law. Each day brings more revelations, more surreal twists and turns than a David Lynch plot.

Wherever this all ends, one thing is for certain: we need new, better media regulations. The government has already sounded the death knell for the Press Complaints Commission (despite lauding them merely weeks ago): what will repalce it? What checks and balances will exist in future to prevent this happening again?

When the banks had to be rescued from collapse by the taxpayer, no action was taken stop them from going back to business as usual. Let’s not make that mistake with this issue. Today’s rant, Three ways to reform news media, is my opening contribution to the debate about what should be done to prevent a repeat of this sorry situation.

But before I go. In the midst of this crisis the heartless, corrupt, sneaky weasels in government are trying to sneak out a whole lot of bad news that most of the public would be against. While half of England were transfixed to the Murdoch & Murdoch double act at the Parliamentary Select Committee, the government announced they are opening up a whole lot of NHS services to private money. Including WHEELCHAIR SERVICES FOR CHILDREN, people.

The events of the last few weeks have shown that people power, backed by a few institutions with independence and integrity, can effect real change. Let’s not let this circus distract us from holding this government to account. Or bringing them down, if that’s what it takes. I’m sure their billionaire boyfriends will look after them.

Pinch & a punch

Happy 1 July everyone!

It’s been a whole year now since I went live with this blog. And I’ve decided it’s time I stop trying to publish a new story each week. Here’s why: I don’t actually have an ambition to be a short story writer. I would like to publish the occasional opinion piece, but mainly because I’m never knowingly without an opinion. My real ambition is to write novels and screenplays.

The blog has been great for helping me get disciplined, and for learning that I am capable of engaging a reader. If you’d told me this time last year that my work would be read by more than 6000 people, I wouldn’t have believed you. But I’m not making progress on my longer projects while I’m spending the little time I have to write feeding this insatiable beast.

So I’m going to take a break to concentrate on those longer pieces for awhile. I’ll still occasionally publish shorter pieces, but I’m taking away the self-imposed pressure to create something new every week. If you have enjoyed that, I hope you’ll understand my decision.

I want to say a massive thank you to everyone who has read and commented here. I cannot express how much pleasure it gives me to have people read and respond to my work.

Here’s one last installment of weekly pieces, A Small Glass of Sherry, a (slightly) tongue-in-cheek rant about plans to reduce alcohol limits for old people. Enjoy it with cheese, or a small dish of olives.

Nanny state v. state

This week’s post is a piece I started when I was back in Australia briefly the other week: Clubbing Aussie style. Most regular readers of this blog are Australian so my efforts to explain the vernacular will be redundant, but I live in hope of world domination. In a shameless effort to achieve same, I’ve even included some gratuitous male nudity. Here’s a bit more.

Now, where was I?

One of the favourite topics for Aussies in London when they get together is ‘what’s better where?’: an ongoing ranking of the small differences between Australia and their chosen home.

Peanut butter is better in Australia*. Public transport is better in London.  You get the idea. In the post I mention coffee: it’s a constant source of wonder to me that it is so frickin hard to get a decent coffee in London. My theory is there’s too much competition from other beverages. You won’t find no Dandelion and Burdock in your Aussie caff.

One that came up at work this week is the Nanny State. Aussies and Brits both rail in frustration at the extent to which their lives are controlled by an interfering government. But I want to know which is worse? Which government is the super-nanny?

I want nominations! And evidence:what are the rules you think are unnecessary? Compulsory cycle helmets? No dogs in pubs? Comment below or email me sirenofbrixton@gmail.com. If it entertains me enough next week we’ll have the Ultimate Nanny State vs State competition.

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* Really. Waaay too much sugar. The black market in proper Aussie Kraft Peanut Butter in London is massive.

Sluts and naked bikers will not distract me

 

Just another day in London. How I wish I’d been there to see the moment the Naked Bike Ride crossed paths with the Slutwalk, a protest against the suggestion that women’s clothing is the cause of rape. I was indoors being virtuous, trying to compensate for my fecklessness and lack of focus of late.

Must have been quite an unexpected sight for the tourists, especially those in town to see our Wills at his first official Trooping the Colour. As one wag said, the bike ride was the Trooping of the Todgers. How I love this crazy city.

No amount of discipline would make it possible for me to fit writing into my life if my partner wasn’t happy to let me ignore him for large chunks of time while I write. I’d dedicate this week’s story, The Nurse, to him but he might be offended. Read it and see what I mean.

10 things I love

I’ve missed a week of posting for the first time. I blame Steve Jobs. I got holiday-happy and splurged on an iPad, justifying the expense on the basis it would help me keep up the blog commitment while travelling. Ha! Quite aside from the fact our hectic schedule has barely left me time to scratch myself, much less form words into coherent sentences, it seems gremlins stowed away in my luggage AND it turns out wireless coverage is very mean indeed. So my iPad is basically an over-sized iPod right now but I still love it’s shiny, shiny promise.

Stephen Fry was a good friend of the author Douglas Adams and commented in Time that the iPad ‘is the closest thing to his Hitchhiker’s Guide that humankind has yet devised’, so I’ve (geekily) made my home screen an image of the horsehead nebula inscribed with the words DON’T PANIC, in homage to one of the great loves of my life, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series.  I mention this because this week my post is 10 Things I Love. A few weeks ago the lovely folk at SW Craft Club tagged me to write the list, which was bloody hard as of course there are way more than 10 things I love…

Part of the ‘deal’ is that I tag 10 bloggers that I follow to do the same: these are all people with sites I like to read, go check them out. And if your name’s on the list? Tag: you’re it.

http://nontrue.com/

http://alisonearlsaloud.wordpress.com/

http://fydsy.wordpress.com/

http://vanessapage.wordpress.com/

http://bettyherbert.com/

http://www.dangerousminds.net/

http://rachycakes.wordpress.com/

http://generationwhynot-stupidgirl.blogspot.com/

http://brixtonblog.wordpress.com/

http://thehappinessprojectlondon.wordpress.com/

 

A rant about porn

I’m working on (what I hope will be) a lovely little story about growing up in the seventies. But with all the debate around rape and violence against women going on in the media this week, I figured it was finally time to write a rant I’ve started many times.

What’s held me back is that I know that my position will piss a lot of people off. Whenever there’s a debate about rape and porn, an element of the feminist community come out militantly against the women who make their living from the porn industry. In fact, that’s what inspired me to write it this time. There’s a page on Facebook called A girl’s guide to taking over the world. Mostly it posts inspiring, exciting content about women. But during the week they posted a story about a man being convicted of murdering his niece with the comment  ’Another victim of pornography’. In the discussion that ensued, the militants came out, with one woman posting  ’As much as I despise the men who participate, I despise the consenting women even more.’ That really gets my goat on a number of levels. Aside from anything else, I find it hypocritical to claim to be a feminist and then decide you know better than other women what’s good for them. Pornography does not kill is my answer to that woman.

If you don’t have the stomach for a rant about pornography, do something positive for women: support The Great Initiative. It’s a charity being launched today that aims to help women in war-torn Africa. More than 250,000 women were raped in Rwanda and only 8 convictions have ever been secured. Surely we can do better than that for the women of the world.

The 3six5

Changing it up! Today’s post is not even on this blog. I signed up for the3six5 project, a world-wide project in which 365 authors each write about their day for one day of the year. May 12 was my day.

It’s a great site to pass the time on: the stories are very different and it does give you a little window into other people’s lives. They still need authors for November and December. Why don’t you apply?

Home and away

Two reviews for you this week. First of all, last weekend I went to Rome. The idea was to get away from it all while London was awash with crowds for the Royal Wedding. Not quite how it panned out: with a Pope being sainted, Rome was probably the only city in Europe busier than London. This week’s post is my review of that trip, Bread and circuses, Christians and Romans.

The second is a quicky. Last night I went to a special screening of the new film Attack the Block at the Ritzy, Brixton’s marvellous cinema which is celebrating its 100th anniversary this month. Director Joe Cornish is a local and the film, a tongue-in-cheek horror about aliens attacking a council estate, is set and shot in and around South London. The cast, some of whom are young locals themselves, were in attendance. Sure it was a biased crowd but they and I loved it. Joe Cornish is a friend of Edgar Wright and if you like his films you’re bound to enjoy this. It was a huge hit at SXSW and on the basis of that success Cornish is now working with Spielberg on the Tin Tin film. I especially loved the cracking dialogue in authentic Sarf London vernacular. Get out and see it!