Deadlines
Less than four weeks remain until the deadline for the at . I’ve decided to enter the competition for the first time. Most of the stuff I write is co-written comedy, but I’ve been working on a proper, full-length stage play about crime in Glasgow for a while, and I reckon I can do a rewrite by the 6th July. Watch this space for minute-by-minute updates!
I find it almost impossible to overcome my natural laziness without a deadline. Usually I’ll have to finish something for performance, or broadcast, or publication, but when you’re writing something uncommissioned it’s hard not to find excuses to leave it for a bit and play a bit of . (Yes, there is almost no end to my geekery. Speaking of which, I played a game earlier today where I got IRONIST, HOPLITE and DEUCING. I was very pleased. But still lost.) Like a lot of writers, I have always assumed that the deadline sharpens the writing, and makes me produce my best work. Thinking about it now, though, this is a theory that I’ve never put to the test, as without a deadline I generally don’t produce anything. It’s not really very scientific.
As well as working on the Glaswegian script, I’m currently rehearsing in the evenings for one of my first Edinburgh preview performances: the new show, Coat of Arms, which I’m directing. Once again, we had a rehearsal in which we came up with the funniest joke in the world (see my earlier blog entry about ), which I’ve subsequently repeated to my friends’ blank, mirthless faces. We’re planning to finish working on the script today, and the first preview is a week on Friday. Hopefully my ‘the deadline sharpens the writing’ theory will also hold true for the acting, directing, and indeed line-learning. Fingers crossed.
Comments
Worked, didn't it?