Monthly Wrap-Up – January 2018

Inspired by Austin Kleon’s Ten Things, and in awe of Pip Lincolne’s Taking Stock blog posts, I’m going to give a weird hybrid of the two a crack. Here we go!

Here’s what I’ve been up to this month:

WATCHING the brilliant The Good Place, which I’m utterly THRILLED for (it’s perhaps the best thing on TV at the moment for SO many reasons). But I am terribly upset that Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency, which just released it’s second series, will not be getting a third season. I binged it over the weekend and while it didn’t have quite the same zing as the first series, and was admittedly a bit slow to start, I still really enjoyed it, still loved the characters and feel a bit let down that there won’t be any more.

SEEING lots of movies at the cinema! There’s so much on at the moment, so I have a big list to work through. But so far, I’ve seen: Pitch Perfect 3 – utterly ridiculous but thoroughly entertaining, Murder On The Orient Express – Mr Branagh really does know how to make beautiful movies, but he really needs to calm the farm on his moustache game – and also maybe not cast himself in his own movies quite so much – I didn’t say that… The Florida Project – a festival darling that reminded how gloriously brash and flighty festival films can be – also that little girl, Call Me By Your Name – which unlike the rest of the world, I found dull, listless and uncomfortably problematic – I had lots of thoughts, but this is an interesting review you may like to consider, and Coco – bloody glorious, a moving story and perhaps the single most visually beautiful film I have ever seen. I hate that this film has been marketed so poorly in Australia, I think so many people would love it.

GOING TO Muriel’s Wedding The Musical, which was not “terrible Muriel”, it was f*cking amazing. It was recently announced that it would be returning to Sydney in 2019, and yes, I will be going to see it again. Squee! I also went to Circus Oz’s latest show, Model Citizen, as part of the Sydney Festival. It was so much fun, and featured a hilarious reworking of ‘Waltzing Matilda’ as ‘Worship my Weber’ (as in the barbecue). I was so inspired that I even bought me a hula hoop.

READING a lot of fiction – you can read about some here, but I’ve also started The Power, which EVERYONE seems to be talking about.

EATING way too many Magnum ice creams as they are on perpetual sale at my local IGA.

MAKING very little, which is unlike me, but I have been slammed with work – which bring me to…

WRITING an endless amount! I have been so lucky of late to have had quite a lot of work (knock on wood – yeah, that’s totally a thing). This month, the two biggies have been my third script for Neighbours, and, excitingly, a pilot script for a kids animation series – which I have to say, came up a treat. Woop! It was my first adaptation, but I should say that I didn’t even get a chance to read the original picture book (I was told not to read it – perhaps I’ll write about that particular experience another time…)

CELEBRATING my first Neighbours script finally going to air this week – hurrah!

DRINKING kombucha, like the hapless hipster I am. Honestly though, it’s kinda great… No, I do not make it myself.

WANTING more time, more money, more patience…

WORKING – on developing a preschool project with a friend who’s also a screenwriter – and while we have a way to go, it’s feeling really good. I love the development process, but am weirdly always surprised by how many layers and questions and considerations there are at every, EVERY stage of ALL OF IT. Onwards.

REJUVENATING my front verandah with a nice, new bench seat and planter under the window. There was a small tragedy – I made the mistake of transplanting my indoor peace lily into the outdoor planter and it pretty much died of shock. I brought it back inside, but I don’t hold much hope for it’s revival. A hasty emergency mission to Flower Power was made for some replacement plants for the planter.

USING my fan a LOT – wow, it’s been hot.

LISTENING to two podcasts – Launch and Tabled Fables. Launch is new, from John August, all about his journey to become a children’s book author. Tabled Fables is quite an oldie, but I’m enjoying it so much nonetheless – great discussion on the origins of some of our most well-known fairy tales. And speaking of fairy tales…

THINKING about this wonderful article on the rise of good vs evil in modern storytelling. SO MUCH to think about here.

BOOKMARKING almost every vaguely interesting article I come across on Facebook, which I now understand to be my mind’s way of giving me a ‘get out of jail free’ card for not reading said articles.

Ok, that’s enough. What have you been up to this month?