Lucinda Whiteley Week 3: In which I manage not to do lots of things.

25 November 09

This week I'm writing. Or rather I'm not writing. I'm supposed to be writing a treatment for our latest Horrid Henry project, but, like many writers, I'm doing everything but writing.

So far I've tidied up my inbox, cleared out my Junk Email folder, decided not to take insurance on my outside water pipes and resisted Johnnie Boden's impassioned pleas to update my wardrobe online (though the shiny shoes were tempting).

I've toyed with the idea of setting up a Facebook group (TAO - Try Anything Once) but am not convinced that that's going to kick start me into learning the banjo. I've read the second, terrifying, chapter of Born To Run (Q: can you be a born again runner if you weren't really a runner in the first place?) and I've been back and forth to the fridge more times than I can count (if I stepped up the pace a bit would that count as a run?).

I'm trying very hard not to think about chocolate. Having always maintained that you can't write without chocolate, it's a hard habit to break. Some time ago a good friend introduced me to Jurgen Wolff's Brainstorm Bulletins - you can find him at www.timetowrite.blogs.com. Try it, you might like it! In a recent posting he suggested that writers should take advantage of an upbeat mood to be creative, and use a downbeat mood to deal with admin work. That might account for the chocolate addiction, I need those endorphins!

Another friend helpfully alerts me to a news piece in Broadcast Online which reflects one of the themes of last week's blog and on the way to checking it out I read with interest that the government's Digital Britain bill will result in Channel Four returning to programming for older children and young adults. This is great news, as it's always seemed such a natural home for that age group. Wonder whether we could pitch the teenage version of Horrid Henry to them, I'm sure he'll be more T4 than BBC Switch when he grows up!

Funnily enough, my very first BAFTA nomination experience (some 14 years ago now) was for Channel Four with Wise Up and I still have the BAFTA chocolate mask I half inched from the table. Courtesy of my wonderfully thoughtful father-in-law (a talented carpenter) it has pride of place in a special box on a shelf in the office. Wonder if I'll be able to add to my collection on Sunday. I hear Hotel Chocolat are doing the goodies this year - can't wait!

And so, inevitably, we're back to chocolate. And to not writing.

Although hang on, I am writing. I'm writing this, aren't I?! I check the word count and decide to treat this blog as a warm up for the real thing. Next week will be our last posting for BAFTA and I'm starting to miss it already.

Hmm, is it time to switch off the Unthanks and switch on the endorphins? And if so, where did I hide that jar of Nutella?!

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