Fast Forward to Spring

So it's been a while. A long while. Something like 9 or 10 months which is not quite long enough to gestate a baby elephant but long enough for people to think I'd dropped off the face of the earth.  Just in case one of you is still out there, here's the 1 minute low-down-catch-up:

- Acting: Nil

- Writing: I appear to have sublimated my acting creativity into writing stories. I've got 3 screenplays  and 1 novels in progress. Oh yes! What about?  In no specific order crime, ghosts, hearing problems, models, global conspiracy theories, murderous siblings and coma...

- Old Work: finished last Friday. I'm now on gardening leave (which for those of you who don't know means you don't go into the office but they still pay your salary!)

- New Work: starting in a few weeks' time. Another large UK broadcaster (hence the gardening leave), much closer to home. VERY exciting (the job itself, not just the absence of a commute). Let me put it this way: there's an outside chance that I could possibly become the next Simon Cowell and excert dominance over the world's (and your) TV screens and mobiles and tablets for the next decade.

- Physical appearance: a pound or two heavier due to lack of exercise (see long commute) and general winter weariness (can't blame it all on the commute) - but I still fit in my clothes. (A girl's gotta eat but maybe not quite so much...)

- Hair: short. My four pet strands of grey hair are gone since this morning as I dyed them with Feria. Feria is lovely, it doesn't give you the one block of colour look of regular home dyes, it looks natural (except to those who know me well obviously who will note that my hair is now a shade redder even though the box said "chocolate brown".)

- Nails: tidy since this morning thanks to a home mani/pedi(cure) which kept me occupied during the half-hour it took for the hair dye to activate. Toe nails are now sporting gold nail varnish.

- Mood: it's Spring! The days are longer, I've got time off, the temperature is warming up.

- General outlook: full of promise like those new shoots just waiting to burst out of their buds on all the trees around London.

So, here I am, back with the Swallows and raring to make the most of my time off before I start on my Simon Cowell metamorphosis!

The Newbie

Five weeks ago, I started a new job. It's a big deal and the reason behind this brand new blog. You see - and it's taken me five weeks to admit it and put down in writing - it's not an acting job. It's a  proper job that pays the bills. I have to tell you though, as far as office jobs go, this one's up there with other dream jobs: it's creative, it's in broadcasting and it more than pays the bills.

Let me put it this way: when I tell people about it, they get really excited and wish it could be them. It goes something like this: I watch TV all day and read scripts and treatments for new shows and then I get to write stories about them. Really. That's how good it is. And as I said it pays the bills and then some. I know, it's mad isn't it? I'm like a couch potato in a pin stripe suit! Of course, the pace is pretty relentless and I'm having to adjust to working long hours, a long commute, meeting tight deadlines and working with others but all in all it's pretty cool.

Let me put it another way: I've been there for 5 weeks and I still like it.

Does this mean I've given up on acting? No. But a girl's got to eat and unless I start growing vegetables on our window sill and keeping chickens on the landing, I'm going to carry on doing the weekly shopping at Tesco's and last time I checked they only took cash or card.

Am I going to miss acting? Yes. Do I feel like I've given up? What I've come to realise is that once you become an actor, that's it. You're it. Whether or not I attend auditions  I'm still an actor.

So, do I feel like I've given up? I hope not. I try not to think about it in that way. I just see this as adding another string to my bow, getting experience. I've got 3 novels in development, one piece of non-fiction, and this new blog to keep track of things. Onwards and upwards.

Who knows what my next incarnation will be?