That was February 2014

Previously… For the last year I’ve been on Room 204, a programme from Writing West Midlands, and through a fairly complete misunderstanding, I believed they wanted me to report about what I’d done each month. They didn’t. It’s not like they didn’t care or didn’t want to know, but there are limits, you know? Like as in hours-in-the-day. But they were so nice about getting these reports that I kept sending them. (Suckers.) And then after a little while I found I was becoming a bit dependent on writing them.

It got so I would stress and underline to Room 204 that they needed even glance at this stuff, but I needed to write it. If you asked me today about February, I’d say it was a quiet and a short month and that’s about it. But when you work it out and specifically when you make notes during it so that you can later work it out, it’s much more encouraging. You feel at least you may not have wasted the entire time.

I sent the report to Room 204 at Writing West Midlands a moment ago. Next month is the final one but I’m hoping to use you to get me the same effect. So beginning with That was January 2014, I’m doing the same job.

Or at least a similar job. I have to sanitise it a bit because this is a family show and because so much of the work is confidential. Worse: if I write down here that I’m in talks to script the sequel 13 Years a Slave and then it never comes out, you’ll just look at me like that.

So with those provisos and with the very big proviso that, seriously, you don’t need to glance at this, I just needed to write it, this is how my February went.

Writing (approximately 27,495 words):

Wrote three new radio short stories totalling 5,170 words and submitted two of them to producers
Revised novel, now with Paul the Agent Guy
Wrote 50 posts in The Blank Screen blog (which takes me to 200 since late November) – total of 18,440 words
Wrote 4 Self Distract blog posts totalling 3,755 words (and got favourited by Suzanne Vega on twitter)
Planning second edition of The Blank Screen book
Rewrote The Blank Screen presentation into 2.5-hour version
Revised novel Transferable Skills and submitted to Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award
Reviewed BBC Radio 4’s Pride and Prejudice part 3 for Radio Times (130 words)

Workshops and meetings and performances:
Led Burton Young Writers group for February
Worked with around 120 kids from Golden Hillock School at the Library of Birmingham
Did The Blank Screen at Newman University (which then tweeted: “Many thanks to @WGallagher for a fab session in our EN617 creative writing module. Absolutely brilliant life-changing advice! Oh and fun!”)
Attended Reading Lives
Attended Poetry at Lunchtime in Library of Birmingham
Attended Moon Over a Rainbow Shawl at the Birmingham Rep
Chaired Screenwriters’ Forum meeting
Got a guest speaker for Screenwriters’ Forum meeting (with help)
Attended Writers’ Guild meeting as secretary
Pursued getting guests for Guild events
Postponed women in theatre event to May – my decision and Guild went along with it
Worked with the RTS at Stuart Bathurst School (paid)
Birmingham Press website called me “acclaimed Dr Who script writer William Gallagher” after January’s RTS work
Attended An August Bank Holiday Lark, Northern Broadsides, New Vic Theatre
Attended iFeatures launch and workshop; recorded it for Screenwriters’ Forum Facebook page
Attended Yasmin Ali’s Write Away play performance

Other:
An entry from The Blank Screen blog was picked up and circulated by the Evernote Daily News
An entry from The Blank Screen picked up and retweeted by Zippy productivity app company
Interview request: From Croydon to Gallifrey podcast (scheduled for March)
Produced one-minute audio submission for Mac Power Users podcast
Invited to contribute to Nina Lewis’s online Writers’ Retreat in October
Produced and shot a video for my mother explaining how to use email on her iPad
Asked by Jeff Phelps to contribute an entry to the Blogging Tour (to go live 3 March)
Got three other writers to do it too

Continued writing buddying system; February’s buddy reported: “My writing output this month has doubled this month, just by association with your work-ethic.”

Liaising over music in River Passage poetry app
Pursuing funding and funding advice re app and including pitching related events

Pitches:
Pitches: 16
Success: 10
Rejections: 2
(the rest ongoing, as are many from January; I just have to stoke the fire every now and again)

ENDS

One thought on “That was February 2014

  1. Pingback: That was March 2014 | William Gallagher and The Blank Screen

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