Monthly Archives: March 2010

I’m intrigued after reading this piece about famous writers’ working methods.

Now, I know we’re all individuals and we all do things our way, but it kind of bothered me that all these writers are said – or intimated – to have done these things everyday.

My writing methods vary almost as much as these guys’ apparently didn’t.  One day I’ll sit and right reams on my MacPro – technically my editing machine, but Final Draft doesn’t exactly swamp the disc space.  The next I’ll be making amendments to script at my dining table in the lounge (oh for a bigger house!).  Another day I may curl myself up on the sofa with my MacBook Pro and hammer out some solid revisions or exciting new treatments.

Are we supposed to be habitual animals who can only do what we do in one place? Or can we – do we – write wherever and however we can?

Russell T Davis, showrunner of the original relaunch of Dr Who says in the brilliant book on the series “The Writer’s Tale” that he can’t carry a story from one city to another – if he starts writing in Cardiff he can’t continue in Manchester.

Is your muse specific to your location, or does it follow you around?  Would love to find out just how abnormal I am.

I made my Multi-Hyphenate debut today with an article about the advantages of using long-hand writing alongside the usual keyboard-bashing techniques familiar to all writers, bloggers and, well, anyone who uses a computer for work.

“Like most people under the age of 60 today, with the exception of my mum, I can type a lot faster than I can write long-hand.  In fact, I can type faster than I can think.  And therein, as the Bard would put it, lies the rub.”

Read the rest of the article here.

My friend Jess would have been 21 today. Instead, we are all celebrating without her. After 4 years of waiting when she should only have survived for 2, Jess’s transplant came too late for her massively weakened body and she died in January, just days after receiving the gift that should have given her a second chance.

You can help make sure this doesn’t happen. Wherever in the world you’re reading this, register your wishes to be an organ donor. It takes 2 minutes – 2 minutes out of your day to ensure you can give the gift of life when you have lived yours.

When you’ve signed up, talk to you family and your loved ones about it. In the UK there is a 40% refusal rate among families when they are asked if their loved one’s organs can be donated. That falls to just 10% (a 75% decrease in refusals) when the donor coordinator can demonstrate to the family that their loved one wanted to donate.

Don’t put this off until tomorrow, go and do it now. Right now.

In the UK: http://www.organdonation.co.uk
In Australia: http://www.medicareaustralia.gov.au
In the USA: http://www.donatelife.net
In Canada: http://www.organdonations.ca
In South Africa: http://www.odf.org.za

SmileThroughIt has moved.

Don’t worry, it won’t be changing (other than being updated more often), but as I set out to make the most of my new life, I needed to make a change.

The decision has, actually, mostly been motivated by technology. This site is powered by the free, web-based WordPress.com site, which was great for the olden days of quick and easy blogging.

Now, though, as I’ve become more adept at tinkering with web-things, I’ve switched to the server-based, more customisable WordPress.org side of teh blogging site, which allows you to make the most of all of WordPress’s outstanding features.

From now on you can read and enjoy all of my ramblings, plus more new arts-based thoughts, at olilewington.co.uk

It occurred to me watching a good friend on GM:TV this morning that by separating my personal and professional lives into two blogs is at best an unnecessary separation of my life and work and at worst a betrayal of where I’ve come from and how I got here.

I’ve therefore re-christened this blog – it’s still just me, but I’ve carried over the old SmileThroughIt name to remind myself and everyone who visits just how big a part of my life transplantation and organ donation is.

I originally started a separate blog so I could present a professional face to the world and keep my personal story out of the mix. But I’ve realised over the last couple of days and weeks that who I am and where I’ve come from are inextricably linked and should never be separated.

This, then, is the place for me that will offer not only my thoughts and offerings on the independent film world, writing and other arts-based things, but also my personal journey as I set out to achieve all the things I want to achieve in my life, my work and everything else.

Here’s to being yourself and shouting out loud.

Since the back-end of last year, I’ve been working on a new screenplay for an ultra-low-budget film with just two characters and a powerful, emotional love story.

It’s now at that stage with which many writers will be familiar – the skeleton is there, the bones and muscles, but it still needs that little something to really form it into something special.

What I’m battling with now is the classic filmmaker’s dilemma of just how commercial do you make a script for a micro-budget indie? I know that the market for the film isn’t going to be vast, but I also know that a couple of simple – but major – tweaks could open it out to a wider and more passionate market. If nothing else I’m confident these changes would give it a much better chance on the festival circuit.

The trouble is, I don’t know how big a compromise this is. I’m not as familiar with the environment I’d be re-setting the film in and although I think the story would work just as well, am I betraying both my instincts and my original story in pushing for a bigger audience? Or am I doing the underlying story a disservice in sticking to my guns and potentially reducing the market for the finished film?

As it stands I’m torn between the two, hence this little cry for help. At what point does targeting a market becoming selling out?

A few weeks ago now, I started talking to Matt Shea of Swanky Reviews about joining their team as a UK/European writer for their reviews site.

Swanky is a reviews site with a difference – it’s not solely focused on what’s hitting the screens or the streets this week, but rather in building up a catalogue of quality reviews of great – and not so great – movies, so that any time you’re stuck wondering which DVD to choose from or which of the movies on your satellite channel to pick you can refer to SwankyReviews.com for advice, guidance and heavily-subjective opinions.

None of us at Swanky pretends to be the ultimate in film reviewing wisdom, but we share with our readers what we like, what we don’t and why – then we leave you to decide whether you want to believe us, disagree with us, watch it or skip it.

So head on over and check it out at http://www.swankyreviews.com. You can also follow new posts & reviews via the site’s Twitter feed or subscribe to the RSS.

Procrastination is not uniquely an artists’ disease, but it does seem to afflict writers, filmmakers and our fellow creatives more – or more prominently – than most.

The ins and outs of procrastination are a blog in themselves (or several, depending how much time of my writing day I’m trying to waste…) so I’ll skip over that just for now.

What all artists need to avoid, however, is the self-inflicted, unavoidable procrastination within every day life that can jump up and bite you on the metaphorical creative behind.

Only today I had to address some post and, in doing so, discovered something which led me on a wild goose chase of an afternoon by way of trying to stop being overcharged for an energy bill (curse you Scottish Power). This detour, and its subsequent fallout, has entirely swamped my afternoon, which was to be dedicated to address some script issues on a new project of mine.

Today’s lesson, then: stay organised. If I’d been organised enough to notice the bill issues before today I’d have dealt with them when I had more time, rather than having to fire-fight solutions on the fly and eat into my writing time. I’d also be a lot less stressed out than I am right now.