Warning: Hard work can be too much fun.

Another warning: My brain has possibly turned to jelly so read this post with a pinch of salt. Or something.

(That is to say, accept it but maintain a degree of scepticism about its truth.)

It may be the masochist in me but I loved yesterday. Impossible deadlines. Colleagues in meltdown. Me required to produce scintillating copy out of thin air.

I just have to mention that usually I buckle under this sort of pressure...

By Victor de Schwanberg

...but yesterday was SUCH GOOD FUN!

Question: Was it INHERENTLY so much good fun that I had no choice but to enjoy it a lot?

OR...

Was I actually on top of things (for a change) so that my brain managed to convert a potentially mind-blowing and stressful day into something enjoyable?

The jury's still out on that one.

My verdict?

The latter. 

Next question: What's the secret of being able to do that every day?

The answer? On a postcard, please, because I have absolutely no idea.

(Nice postcard. Shame I can't read the answer.)

On writing screenplays: There's nothing more important in making movies than the screenplay.

Okay, Richard Attenborough, I'll let you out now. You have just been conferred God-like status for saying that.

Well...let me look at my calendar. Hmmmmm. I have precisely 41 days to complete a screenplay of which I've only written ten pages. I know the ending. It's the 90-odd pages before that I'm unsure of.

Here's another quote about writing screenplays, this time from John Irving:

" I don't begin a novel or a screenplay until I know the ending. And I don't mean only that I have to know what happens. I mean that I have to hear the actual sentences. I have to know what atmosphere the words convey."

41 days...taking out the days when I'm working my socks off, the days when I have family staying, the days when I'm coaching on a Self-Expression and Leadership seminar up in London...

So, LESS than 41 days then.

This is what I am saying to myself: If it was a project for work, I wouldn't even blink. I'd be working crazy hours like I was for the last two weeks. SO, all I have to do is apply the same sort of pressure to myself over the screenplay deadline.

Easy!

Yeah, right...

On deadlines - One of the great disadvantages of hurry is that it takes such a long time.

G.K. Chesterton looks as if most of his deadlines were concerned with how long it would take him to finish the next bottle of port. What a cheery looking gentleman!

I am NOT a cheery looking gentleman today... (Actually, I did manage to raise a laugh when I discovered I was sweating PINK DROPLETS after my riding lesson! Blame the new hair.)

I've got mountains to do and this evening I'm going to see my dear friend Libby in an outdoor performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream at Coram's Fields in London. Come on, weather, be kind!

This morning, I decided that, rather than panic, which would make me ultra-inefficient, I'd be calm and GO FOR IT - do everything, cancel nothing and everything would be done. You CAN have it all.

So far so good...but ask me again when it's approaching 5 o'clock. See how serene I am THEN!

Panic ain't better than pretending not to feel so.

Toba Beta, Indonesian author, said this. [I love the title of his (pending?) book of quotes - Master of Stupidity.]

Today, I'm NOT pretending not to feel so.

 Yes, panic. When I give myself time to think about it, there's slight panic rising inside about finishing my feature length screenplay by the end of August...That seems quite a long time away, you might think, but to me it's looming scarily and time appears to be moving faster forward than it should do.

Sometimes not writing is procrastination on my part, I know it is. At the moment, honestly, it's lack of time. I say that and then I think - lack of time? I could spend less time with the horses, I could spend less time writing this blog, I could spend less time reviewing other people's writing, I could spend less time sleeping...or eating...or remembering to breathe...

But June's been busy, July looks like it'll be even busier and as for August...

When I've finished a long day copy-writing - and there have been many such days lately, which is excellent for the bank balance - my mind is like a wrung-out dishcloth. Then I saw this image, posted by a great writing friend, Chris Messineo, creator of the very excellent MoviePoet.com website.

Yup, that's absolutely right.

Bother and damn!