My Creative Everyday

  Tonight I watched the first episode of The Blacklist . In 2013, The Blacklist was NBC's highest testing drama in 10 years. It was renewed for its tenth season in February. From 2014 to 2020, the series was nominated for numerous major awards.  Jon Bokenkamp is The Blacklist's writer and producer. He was encouraged to enter a script writing competition by a friend. After he won the competition, he landed an agent along with his first paid assignment, rewriting a horror film   I first watched The Blacklist years ago. From memory, the first season was great, but it became less compelling viewing over time. I remember, they introduced some cool characters and there were always twists.  It's fascinating studying tv shows, films and books when you're writing a novel. I've written more than 30,000 words of a 80,000 word novel. I edit as I go and think about how can I make it better.  WARNING - This post contains spoilers as it explores the episode's plot. ...

10 days ago I challenged myself to dance to one song every morning until the end of April.  I didn't know if I could do it, but I was looking forward to it as I love to dance but rarely do any more.  These are the songs I've danced to in the last 10 days.  Shake It Off - Taylor Swift Thunderstruck - ACDC Pump It - Blackeyed Peas  Gangnam Style - Psy Heat Waves - Glass Animals  Glad You Came - Liilz (Ziezie) There's Nothin Holdin Me Back - Shawn Mendes Shut Up and Dance - Walk The Moon The Motto - Tiesto Giant - Calvin Harris I confess, on day 3 or 4, I forgot so I made up for it the next day. Today's song I got through 3/4 of it and had to do the last 1/4 a few hours later.  My living room has been an excellent dance floor. I'm definitely less stiff and have found my rhythm again.  The benefits of dance: reduces stress, supports physical, mental & emotional health, improves agility and flexibility, and provides better coordination, strength and bal...

Thirty years after the movie Pretty Woman romanticised a prostitute & a wealthy businessman rescuing each other, I wondered what sort of story could work for a sequel 30 years later. On a budget of $14 million, the movie made $463.4 million at the box office, becoming the third highest grossing film in 1990. It was nominated for Oscars, Golden Globes, Baftas  and a Cesar.  Many of the cast of the original movie had successful careers, though aren't active any longer on the big or small screen.  If I was creating a sequel, in an ideal world my cast would include Julia Roberts (Vivian Ward), Richard Gere (Edward Lewis), Héctor Elizondo (Barnard Thompson), Laura San Giacomo (Kit De Luca) and Jason Alexander (Phillip Stuckey).  My Pretty Woman 2 story would also include Alex Hyde-White (David Morse) and R. Darrell Hunter (Darryl The Limo Driver).  It would introduce some young fresh faces (Eddie, Vincent, Carla and Stephen) to play the two love interests, a...

When you're busy, it's easier to say no. When you get admonished for saying no, it's a bad habit to apologise or defend yourself. I've been flat out crazy busy working 12+ hour days, including weekends. Since it's my own business, some people have the expectation that my time doesn't matter and I should be available and responding asap to messages. Facts Since the pandemic began, I don't respond immediately any more to anyone. It's not that I don't want to respond or that I am being rude. I just don't have the time or energy. My priority has become me. I have learnt to put my needs before everyone else's. This was a hard thing for me to do. This may sound like I am defending my actions. May be I am. I made plans to meet up with someone and they did a 180 on me. They simply said I was too busy and decided they no longer wanted to meet. Actually they never want to message with me or meet ever. Period. We had agreed the place and day. The only e...