I’m working on an idea for a new sitcom. Oh Christ, says the world, that’s just what we need. Well, hang on ‘world’, say I, you haven’t heard my idea yet, or looked at a few pages, or let me sell it to you! Go on then, says the world, wearily. Well, err, hang on – I’m not going to go into detail here. I’m just talking about what it’s like working through a new idea. That sounds fascinating, says the world, rolling its eyes. Well, it’s possibly a bit interesting. I just wanted to share how dispiriting it is to have weeks where you don’t have a single idea and then something pops into your head and you bash it around a bit, scribble some things down, cross them out, write new things, type them up, delete some bits, type new bits, print them out, cross bits out, re-type new bits, leave it for a few days, come back to it, delete some bits, type new bits and generally feel a bit pleased with yourself at having done some Work. Pardon, says the world, can you go over that again? I had an itchy calf. Oh, look, who asked you anyway? What have you been doing with your time? In fact, I don’t think you’re ‘the world’ at all. You’re just a peculiar rhetorical device for me to seem a bit self-depracating about my writing. You don’t seem to have any other function, you’ve certainly not said anything witty or contributed to the conversation in any way or done anything useful, like the washing up. So you can just bugger off. Suit yourself, says the world, it’s Friday anyway. I’m going for a pint. What, ‘world’, all 6.8 billion of you? Are you all going for ‘a pint’? Yes. Oh. Right.
IN SUMMARY: It’s important to get out of the house and meet people from time to time.
