This post, as it happens, appears to be post number 100. Congratulations to those of you who have stuck with me through my ranting, wailing, massive highs and crazy lows. You deserve a treat.
When I saw that I was approaching post 100, I thought it was going to be a fun-filled ride with fireworks, banners, and maybe a balloon or two.
But I'm just incredibly tired...
It appears that I haven't posted since the beginning of June, and with very good reason. I've been so freakin' busy! Most of it has been good, but there have been times during the last couple of months when I wondered if I'd actually slept at all.
So going back slightly, the end of May saw my Neverland productions hit the stage, 'Peter Pan' and 'Second Star To The Right'. Amazing feedback was given, the kids had a great time. Job done. Time to move on to their next project, my World War 2 drama, 'Wish Me Luck As You Wave Me Goodbye'.
June passed by in a bit of a blur. I turned 30 (ssssh!) and spent most of the month celebrating with various people on different days because we're all grown ups now and we can't all play together like we used to. And had I written much script? Of course not.
My lessons with the students continued, and I felt bad that I hadn't got anything for them yet. A couple of job offers came my way which of course I gobbled up instantly. The offer of a play in Bedford that would only require a week of my time was replied to with a big fat "YES!!", and another talking book for the RNIB was given to me. I could see the £ signs flashing before my eyes.
Of course, on top of all of this, I was still working at my normal job of rollercoaster operating. From one extreme to the other. I put my head down and got on with it, knowing that every penny counts as I am very soon indeed, moving house. Natty needs rent money! Plus being in a new relationship doesn't tend to be kind to the wallet when you're trying to impress!
My final birthday outing was on 1st July when my ex-work-husband John took me to London to see the live stage show of 'Whose Line Is It Anyway?' A more glorious day was not spent, and it was the perfect finish to an awesome month.
And then it was July. Oh hell. The deadline for having draft 1 of the play finished had gone so long ago that I couldn't even remember when it was. Plus, I had the play in Bedford, and the audiobook to record, as well as lesson plans for two different schools, house hunting, and general existing.
First up was the audiobook. I am incredibly ashamed to reveal this next information to you. I didn't prepare well at all. It was the night before my first recording session when I picked up the book and read it for the first time. I knew that I was booked in for 8 sessions, so divided the page numbers by 8 and read that amount of pages. Shocking behaviour. That was the cycle of my week, apart from the nights when I fell asleep before finishing my pages and ended up having to read them in the morning. I was pretty sure I was going to get sacked.
Then last week brought my play in Bedford, entitled 'Amazing Bedford People'. It was a whizz through history featuring famous Bedfordians. Oh my, was it a test for the brain! Myself and two other actors played a combined number of 31 characters (I counted) the majority having a different accent(!) in the space of one hour. We had one week to rehearse, and then 3 performances last Sunday. It was such a fun show to be in, and I actually learned quite a lot of interesting information, but my goodness was I exhausted!
The shows were incredibly well received, and even some of my students and their families came over from Kettering to watch, which was amazing. After the obligatory post-show drink, I stayed in Bedford to get some dinner, before somehow driving home without the aid of matchsticks in my eyes. Thankfully my Monday day shift at the park got cancelled so I performed a small whoop of joy and passed out in bed probably around 10.30pm. Rock and roll.
Back to this week and I managed to catch up slightly with sleep, although I could probably do a pretty good Sleeping Beauty impression for a while, and thankfully my workload has decreased.
Today I finished my audiobook, which has a running time of 12 hours and 53 minutes of me rambling(!) and now all that seems to be on my plate is finishing this script and making sure kids don't fall off whatever ride I'm operating at the park.
At the current time of writing, it is now 11.15pm, I have done no lesson plans for tomorrow, and I'm spending the majority of my day working at the park, before teaching. I'm anticipating 40 something children begging me for scripts which they are not going to receive because I just broke my printer, so they'll have to wait another week. At least that's better than telling them that it's not finished yet! Ssssh!
I said that my workload had eased off, but I just remembered that I also have to do plans for three summer academies, plan and organise a Christmas drama production show to include four different Starlight shows, squeeze in some house viewings, dog sitting, and a baby shower.
But I can't let the kids down. No matter how tired I've been this last month, I've still worked as hard as I could on my projects, and I'm determined to make this one a success too. It's a big gamble to write a play about such a topic, but I'm really pleased with how the script is turning out. If only I could get my brain to work a little bit faster to get the last few thousand words out!
This is my first play completely done by myself and it has to be perfect. Who needs sleep anyway?!?
Nxxx
