De-cluttering my workspace and my brain

Today feels like a good die to tidy. The room where I work is a mess, so that's a good place to start. Sorting through the detritus of writing that piles up around me is a useful exercise in reordering my mind, as well. There's something soothing about an office purge, reclaiming control over all the surfaces. The results are always temporary, but the process marks a change in direction. Out with the old, in with the new. Plus it's long past time I'd backed up recent work on my computer. You never know when digital disaster may strike.

First night of the play went well, thanks for asking. Had a rocky start when somebody in the audience shouted after I'd said all of three words. That threw me completely and I spent the next ten pages getting my head back in the game. Took a prompt in that opening sequence, which was annoying but not the end of the world. Got through the second act without a prompt, despite going utterly, utterly blank once or twice. As the old stage motto suggests, just keep going and something will happen.

Am waiting on responses to a bunch of stuff. There's the 23-minute script I submitted for the TAPS continuing drama showcase. Ten writers from the 25 who attended the workshop in Cardiff last month are being selected for the second round, where they'll get feedback from a professional script editor before submitting a second draft. If memory serves, we're due to hear about that sometime next week. It'd be great to reach that stage, but what will be, will be.

Also waiting to hear back from Emmerdale's story team about the storyline document I submitted after taking part in the workshop at Leeds last week. Again, I'd love to be chosen for one of the storyliner try-outs, but that decision's out of my hands now so there's no point fretting about it. As part of our submission all the writers were asked to invent a three-beat C story for the episode they were storylining. I went bold, seeding the start of a major storyline for one of my favourite characters on Emmerdale. It'll be interested to see what the story team of it!

Last but not least, I'm waiting on marks for the major project of my screenwriting MA course at Screen Academy Scotland, not to mention my final, overall grade. I had eight distinctions for the eight 15-credit modules, it'd be nice to continue my winning streak right to the end. Still, nothing is certain in life except that it ends, so I'll just wait and see. It's the Napoleon plan, as cited in the Aaron Sorkin sitcom Sports Night: First we turn up, then we see what happens.