My Life as a writer - When I'm not scribbling

Usually January is a slow movie month, with the build up to awards season and the post Christmas blockbuster lull there can be a lack of quality movies to make me venture in to the cold night air and loose myself in the darkness of the cinema for a few hours.  However this January has been a little different, there have been a few screenings and a couple of post Christmas surprises. The Gentlemen - Released 1 January 2020 Guy Ritchie returns to the formula that made him popular with Lock Stock, Snatch and Rock n Rolla, this is the type of movie he does well.  It's a bit of a mickey take on society and what people do when they feel they've been snubbed. Over a lot of Whiskey and some BBQ wagyu steak, Raymond, right hand of criminal top boss Mickey Pearson, played by Charlie Hunnan who shows he hasn't lost the Geordie twang receives an offer from  Fletcher, the private investigator,  brilliantly played by a rather camp and weirdly accented Hugh Grant. Fletche...

I have not blogged for a while, l have been focusing on developing and plotting my forth novel.     Also I haven’t really felt there’s been so much going on that would interest any reader, but last night was movie night, yes I know that’s not something massively out of the ordinary but the film I saw was beautifully inspiring and I really felt pushed to write a little review.     The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is a film I have been looking forward to for a while.  I am a fan of Lily James, I think she is a brilliant actor probably one of the best up can coming stars in the UK.  I am also a huge fan of period drama and have a personal interest in WW2 based fiction and fact.   Based on Annie Barrows book of the same name, currently and amazon bestseller, the film follows writer Juliet Ashton in post war England suffering writer’s block while working on a book of English Foibles and touring the country g...

Words are a massive part of my life, in every way, sometimes there are words that hit home, that make you laugh, cry and that push you forward.  They inspire your life help you when you are down and help you express the happiness you feel at the best of times. Sometime some words just resonate with you and these are the top five movie quotes that have inspired me; 1.  Love Actually - The Prime Minister "Whenever I get gloomy with the state of the world, I think about the arrivals gate at Heathrow Airport. General opinion's starting to make out that we live in a world of hatred and greed, but I don't see that. It seems to me that love is everywhere. Often it's not particularly dignified or newsworthy, but it's always there – fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, husbands and wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, old friends. When the planes hit the Twin Towers, as far as I know none of the phone calls from the people on board were messages of hate or revenge ...

I haven't posted much lately, I've been rather busy with the marketing for my new novel The Poppy Garden, setting up The Poppy Garden Appeal to raise money to provide care for service personnel and finishing up with my day job for Christmas. Now it's time to sit back relax and enjoy a Christmas movie or two - it would be rude not to.  So here on the eve of Christmas Eve are my top five Christmas moves. 1.  Holiday Inn  Bing Crosby Singing White Christmas My all time favourite Christmas movie is Irving Berlin's Holiday Inn.  Produced in 1942, staring Bing Crosby and Fred Astaire and featuring my favourite Christmas song, 'White Christmas'.  I remember sitting with my Grandfather on cold, probably rainy Saturday afternoons watching old movies while toasting marshmallows by the fire, this became one of my favourites.  My Grandfather also had a similar look to Bing Crosby so I think that memory always warms the heart especially at Christmas. The m...

As you know I love movies and I have a long list to see this year.  It's been a good year so far in terms of movies, there's been quite a few that I've really enjoyed and Monday Night I got to see another good movie. Me Before You in Cinemas 3 June 2016 Me Before You is based on the novel by Jojo Moyles, I must admit I haven't read the book.  It was originally published in 2012 and having just lost my father who I was carer for I wasn't really up for reading it given the subject matter. Roll on a few years and the book is now a movie starting Emilia Clarke of Games of Thrones fame and Sam Claffin (Pirates of the Caribbean & The Hunger Games).  The screenplay penned by Jojo Moyles gave me hope that the movie would be true to the spirit of the novel which the book groups I am in do rave about. When the opportunity came up to go to a preview screening at Cineworld I thought why not, I'll just ensure I take a box of tissues! Tissues was a great call,...

I was catching up on my Face book groups the other day and someone had asked the question, if you blog and work how do you fit it all in and it got me thinking how do I fit it all in and am I achieving what I set out to? Well as the old saying goes - "When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Lemonade" 1. Day Job As an independent author I still need a 'day job' to earn a living, I'm not in a position yet where the money I earn as a novelist is enough to cover my expenses,  I am working towards that but for now I need to support my writing by working. I'm a Personal Assistant in the Fire Service, I'm lucky in terms of my job is flexible.  A lot of writers and bloggers starting out are in jobs where the time they are in the office is set and unchangeable.  I'm lucky that mine is flexible.  Having this flexibility allows me to plan my days effectively. Most days I'm at my desk by 7.30,  depending on what the day holds which being an emergency servic...

I love movies, I mean I really love movies from the script to screen I love everything about the process and the final outcome.  I studied media at university and concentrated on the history of film and theatre. I've always loved movies ever since I can remember, I would spend my weekends watching old hollywood movies staring Bing Crosby, Danny Kayne, Frank Sinatra and Doris Day with my Grandparents.  I would watch 80's blockbusters with my family, horror films with my mam, and  teen slasher flicks with my brother.   I always had my favourites films I would watch over and over again and I think it's partly my love of films which influence the way I write. When I write I see movies in my mind, I have the actors picked out the locations, the camera shots the whole deal and I think it's because I grew up watching some of the most amazing movies of our time. I took a little walk down memory lane this week, I was in the mood for something good, something that would ...

Late 2013 I read an article on Guy Richie’s new project, taking on the 1960’s TV Series “The Man From Uncle” and I remember feeling rather excited.    Having seen other 50’s and 60’s shows reimagined and revitalized, Hawaii 5-0, Mission Impossible for contemporary audiences and having seen how Guy Ritchie adapted Sherlock Holmes for a stem-punk action generation I was intrigued to see how he would approach the world of cold war espionage and make it relevant to a modern audience. As a child growing up in the 80’s a lot of my TV habits were dictated by my parents and grandparents   and they all loved TV dramas like Chips, Dukes of Hazard, The Saint, Mission impossible and The Man From Uncle which were on re-runs throughout my childhood.   I vague memories of watching Robert Vaughn and David McCallum strut around opulent sets looking rather dapper in a similar style to how I remember my grandfather dressing.   It was in a way dated to me even then but in a ...

This week’s movie from the limited choice of the lull between popular release weeks and holiday period was the Reece Witherspoon/Sophia Vigara road movie Hot Pursuit.   Now I went in not expecting much from this movie and well that’s pretty much what I got.   The story is nothing new it’s a typical point A to point B movie with standard roadblocks along the way.         Bad Cops / Good ‘Overachiever’ Cop no one takes seriously            Revenge plot            Cinderella sub plot I’ve seen Reece Witherspoon do a number of great movies (Cruel Intentions, The Man in the Moon, Walk the Line, Legally Blonde)   and some not so great ones (Vanity Fair, Four Christmases) this one goes in to the “Not so Great” Category.   I usually like Witherspoon, she has great comic timing and can pull off a whole range of characters who at their core are all inherently likeable (Swee...