I lie in the arms of THE GODDESS.
ME
I haven’t done ANYTHING this year.
THE GODDESS
Oh rubbish.
ME
I’m serious.
THE GODDESS
What were you busy doing at the beginning of the year then?
ME
... The short film.
THE GODDESS
And what have you been doing with those playwrights, hm? And that stuff for the guild?
I open my mouth, then close it.
THE GODDESS
And then there’s your radio play. Well?
ME
You can’t just let me feel sorry for myself, can you?
She kisses my forehead --
THE GODDESS
No, I cannot.
What have I achieved this year then?
I’m tempted to skew my stats a la the police leadership in The Wire but, for me, a project isn’t finished unless it’s finished, knowwha’Imean?
So:
- To’ona’i crawls towards completion;
- I’m co-writing a play, to premiere in 2012;
- I have my own play to push – and thanks to the joys of
misery likes company peer pressure, the first act is due by mid-January 2009;
- the diversionary feature spec has copious thematic and strucutural notes… but an actual story has yet to emerge;
- enamoured with the short radio play’s ‘success’, I’m writing an hour-long radio play: I’ve got the opening and closing acts while the middle is currently all rough notes – forty pages to go!
- and the long awaited spec feature of 2007 has been roughed out and is approaching a proper first draft.
[Takes a few steps back and squints]
Okay. I suppose it’s just about perspective.
ME
Maybe this is my dash. Maybe this is IT. Maybe –
THE GODDESS
Maybe you needed a year to consolidate.
ME
I thought last year was a consolidating year.
THE GODDESS
It’s a bit hard to consolidate when you’re juggling paying work, don’t you think?
I mumble something.
THE GODDESS
Pardon?
ME
... I suppose.
She nods, knowing, as always, that She’s right.
