Hah, my revival of the blog didn't last long, did it? Well, I'm trying
again. I'm writing this while on holiday with no internet, no phone
reception, and no interruptions (except for my family wanting to do fun
things with me, and for some strange reason I'm okay with that).
Time flies. It's now three weeks since I wrote the previous paragraph;
I've only written a little in that period, and rather than being
contributions to this blog it's mostly been a trial chapter for a
potential new book. So far the experiment's looking promising, but it's
still too early to tell whether it's worth the investment of time to
finish it and then attempt to interest publishers or agents.
I've also been doing other things. Dieting, for one. This was for health
reasons, and I've managed to lose about five kilos so far. A surprise
benefit is that I've stopped snoring, so my wife isn't getting disturbed
in the night. Which is not only nice but also important, since she is
currently taking up the financial slack by working extra shifts at the
hospital and really needs her sleep.
Oh yes, money. Alison earned more than we anticipated last year, and as a
result our Working Family Tax Credit has been cut - by more than the
difference between estimate and actuality, so her working hard meant we
got less. To balance the books she needs to earn at least an extra
£3,000 this year - but not more than £5,000 otherwise we lose the rest
of the benefits, and then she'll have to earn even more! It's a
minefield. Meanwhile, the school where I work (very) part time as a
teaching assistant has had its budget slashed. No surprise there, but as
a result it's unclear whether I'll be getting any work from them. Last
year my groups were cut from two to one (though since I was doing Gifted
and Talented maths sessions rather than boosters I was at least able to
pack in more fun stuff). Oh for the days when I was physically able to
do contract programming, could earn four times as much per hour, and had
trouble getting enough time off! Anyway, we'll wait and see what
happens, but current plans involve me trying to see if I can make my
money from writing, though that won't happen unless I prioritise it.
But I digress. Apart from diversion (and a little understandable
depression), what has distracted me from my marathon? I think one thing
is that I really don't want to say goodbye to Iananbarbara. With Susan's
departure there was at least the feeling that the character never lived
up to her potential, but it's been a more solidly positive experience
with the teachers from Coal Hill. The Time Museum was to have been my final story with them - well, with Ian, at least - and I don't want to get to the end.
I've decided to postpone that moment. There's a large backlog of stories
(mostly audio) which have been added to my collection since the time
they should have been reviewed, so I'm going to go back and fill in the
gaps. Timeslips, as deltaandthebannermen puts it. Stories include The Masters of Luxor (which I was given last Christmas and still haven't heard), The Library of Alexandria, The Flames of Cadiz, and some pre-Unearthly Child stories with the Doctor and Susan. (There's also The Wanderer,
if I can get my hands on a cheap enough copy.) On top of that, I want
to briefly revisit a few televised stories that weren't out on DVD. The Sensorites will only get a brief mention, but I'll do a (single) review of the two animated episodes of Reign of Terror as well as one for the four-episode reconstruction of Planet of Giants.
Here's my ambitious plan. I will post at least two reviews or fiction
extracts a week between now and the anniversary. As soon as I finish the
story I am then reviewing, I will tackle The Beginning in celebration (I have it preordered). I will stick to this plan unless some money-earning writing opportunity comes along.
Fingers crossed!
Next Time:
Really The Cave of Five Hundred Skulls!
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