Screenwriting: Unfinished business

A couple of weeks ago my dad set me a challenge to complete another screenplay I had been writing by the end of the month. On Tuesday, two days ahead of schedule I completed my second film. After putting about my achievement on Facebook, an old work colleague said about how she needed inspiration to restart what she had been writing. So in a three part blog posting, today’s post will be about character development.

The film I wrote is called ‘If We Aren’t Married’ and is about 3 women who each have a best guy mate. I don't want to go into much further detail in case someone uses my idea, lol.

So how did I develop the 6 main characters? Well I literally did it by the book- Screenwriting for Dummies to be precise. I thought of the idea back in 2010/2011 and it was one of my first ideas. My only screenwriting experience prior to having the idea was a 4 day intensive short film screenwriting course I took in my final year of uni. Yes I had plenty of experience of reading plays as I went to drama club for 15 years, but writing a screenplay I had zero experience.

Now some people struggle to think of names for their characters, and if that’s you I strongly recommend you get a baby name book. It sounds crazy but it’s a good resource, particularly if you want a name with a specific meaning. I got my baby name book when doing research for a two week work placement at Mother & Baby magazine at uni. So that’s a good place for first names. As for surnames I just look at my bookshelves and find one that sticks.

I used my Screenwriting for Dummies book to get thinking about the basic details of my characters. The book suggests detailing the geographical background, family, past relationships, occupation, and successes and failures of your characters. As I hadn’t written before this was a great thing to do; although with all the rest of my screenplays I haven’t followed suit. This maybe a good exercise for me to do before the second draft stage. As I maybe able to give even more depth to the characters I've created.

What I also did with ‘If We Aren’t Married’ which I haven’t done before is visualise my characters with actual pictures. I love magazines, and I used to have a big collection, until it looked like I had a hoarding problem. For years I have been keeping articles that I found interesting and kept them in several folders. While looking through magazines in general if there was anybody that stuck out, for whatever reason I kept that page. I’d see pictures of real life people and in the photo shoots and think; that’s what I think Sydney James would look like, or that’s who I think Ed Dean would be like. I’ve kept these pictures and although your plot should aid what your characters look like in your mind, I've found the pictures I kept to be a great help; especially when trying to restart the whole writing process.

Everyone has different methods as to how they develop characters, so if anyone has any other ways of developing characters, it would be great to hear them.

Challenge within a challenge: Getting my ideas heard

For today’s blog I get to talk about two of my favourite things; Greg James and Aussie Masterchef! 

Now Aussie Masterchef is being used to hypothetically cover something that happened a few weeks ago. I can’t actually say what, but I’m hoping this scenario and with your high intelligence and common sense (the sort that brings you to read my blog,) you’d figure out what I am going on about. But a major clue is it’s to do with something I do every weekday.

It’s a far stretch I know but for this you need to imagine I’m in Aussie Masterchef. Each week they have mystery box challenges were all the contestants have a box in front of them and they have to cook with whatever is inside the box. There are 20 odd contestants, but only 4 or 5 actually get picked to be tasted each week.

So I’ve been in the show for a while; George, Gary and Matt ask me week after week what my dishes are, but they don’t get tasted. They’re not strong enough, maybe they don’t meet the brief or maybe there are simply better dishes to try. Week after week it’s back to the drawing board, or should I say chopping board and to try and come up with a winning recipe.

A few weeks ago it looked like I got a winning recipe, or at least one that wants to be tried by Matt, George and Gary, and could progress further.

So what has this got to do with my blog? Well I wore a dress, a smart black work one, with some great maroon heels. A determined, serious outfit as I had a point to prove.

Now why am I talking about Greg James in this blog? He’s a radio 1 DJ who I've been a fan of for years. I’m such a big fan that my sister Lisa wrote to Greg asking if he could write me a birthday card, and he did! It was the best birthday card, and true to Lisa’s word she said she wouldn't be able to get a better card so why bother trying, and I haven’t got a birthday card from her since.

Greg did a great challenge for Sports Relief; to do five triathlons, in five days, in five cities, and he completed it! So for wearing the dress for ‘Aussie Masterchef’ I donated to Sports Relief.

Screenwriting: The challenge to complete another screenplay

For anyone that read my 29 challenge blog, you will know that one of the parts of the challenge was to write 29 pages of a screenplay every month for a year. I had various other categories to work through the 29 challenge, but the screenwriting proved the most difficult. However at the end of it I had written; 2 shorts, a TV made film, a 6 part TV series, a 2 hour feature film and restarted another film which I got to 32 pages of. That restarted film is what I'm focusing on today.

On Friday I met up with my dad and he asked me about my screenwriting and whether I’d sent any of my work off, to which I hadn't. I was more focused on getting words on the page, then fine tuning what I've written at the moment. I explained that I had restarted writing a film during the 29 challenge and my dad challenged me to finish that film by the end of the month.

At first I was daunted by this suggestion but then I had to remind myself that the 2 hour feature film I wrote took me a week to do and that was alongside work. So starting today I have 17 days to write, including 2 bank holidays and 2 weekends.

The screenplay in question I'm hoping to complete is one called ‘If We Aren't Married.’ I went into depth about it on the 29 challenge blog and when I came up with the idea. However in short it’s about 3 couples of guy/girl friends who have agreed that if they aren't married by the time they are a certain age, then they’ll get married.  

As I said I have written 32 pages, so if I'm going to write a 90 page screenplay (which is a 90 minute film), then that’s 58 more pages, or if I'm going for a 120 page screenplay (which is a 2 hour film), then that’s 88 pages left to write. Spread over 17 days I either have to write 3 pages a day or 5 pages a day. This doesn't seem too daunting.

So as Barney from How I Met Your Mother would say; Challenge accepted!

Challenge within a challenge: Maths exam

As you may or may not be aware I have been going to Life Skills classes to improve my maths. The aim is to eventually retake my maths GCSE again, but the local college say you have to need a D in order to retake, and I have an E so back to class I went.

The classes I'm okay with doing once I'm there, but to be honest the feeling I get going and leaving them is the worst. People say they respect me going to try and improve a weakness, but weakness and failure is all I feel before and after. Failure that my life isn't where I want it to be in all areas and how no matter how hard I try to make things change and make them better things just aren't happening. It feels like it’s been 2 years of wading through treacle and although I'm getting myself out there, applying for new jobs, meeting new people, the results of all my efforts just aren't showing. And Maths for me is a weekly reminder of that for some reason.

I know it will only be temporary, the maths classes and indeed hopefully where my life is at the moment, but it’s frustrating all the same, when everyone you know is moving onto better things and when you want that to but things just aren't moving. In a sports situation at the moment I'm like and England cricketer who has been having a bad innings and then the commentator goes: ‘And then something extraordinary happened.’ I'm waiting for the extraordinary to happen.

But let’s get back to the maths, today I had my Level 2 Life Skills Maths exam, the last time I had a maths exam was when I was 16, which was 14 years ago! It was in a sports hall at the local college and there were around a dozen or so 18 year olds also doing exams. I instantly flash backed to how I was before exams; for one the sports hall at my school was huge and there was close to I reckon a hundred or so people taking exams at any one point. You could talk with your friends while waiting, going over last minute revision hints and tips, before everyone entering with a mass of nervous energy.

Today before my exam my mind went blank on averages; I was scouring my brain as if it was a filing cabinet trying to find the answers. And then the exam began; I read through all the questions before starting and there were a couple that were a little tricky.

During my revision I had been worried about not showing my workings out fully as that’s where I lost marks on my mock exam. But on one question in that mock my teacher said my workings out were too tedious and I didn't need to put that much detail. So since then and revising with my dad I had paranoia about what to put down in the working out. Miss the crucial first step in getting the answer and I’d lose the marks.

The time went way too quickly towards the end and I was writing right till the end. Usually I always have time to check answers, so I don’t know why this wasn't the case today.

I won’t know for a couple of weeks my results, but luckily my dad has set me another challenge which I’ll tell you about tomorrow to occupy my time.

Thoughtful presents: Happy Hour

This weekend my friend Ro came to stay and it was her birthday last weekend. I've known her since uni and for the 2nd and 3rd year we were housemates.

It was her birthday last week and I thought I’d give her a present that I gave my friends Kate and Dan last year and they really liked them.

I got Ro her favourite drink….or rather what makes up her favourite drink. Her favourite drink is a Woo Woo and below is what I put in the present.

I think that will make a fair few Woo Woo’s!

Challenge within a challenge: Signed, sealed, delivered

The 30 day letter writing challenge was one that I knew I would enjoy. I've said in previous posts how much I like writing letters and there’s nothing better than receiving something in the post which isn't a bill.

So who did I write to? I wrote to 11 strangers, 8 friends, 5 family members, 3 friends of family or friends, 2 celebrities and myself!

The 11 strangers I wrote to were a combination of neighbours who I’d never met, and to people through More Love Letters. I discovered this site through reading an article about Hannah Brencher in Glamour magazine who started More Love Letters. Every few weeks the site puts up 4-5 people that have been nominated to receive love letters as they are going through a tough time and need a bit of love, so I write letters with words of encouragement to hopefully in some small way help.
I feel writing letters you can open up more than in a text message or email. I wrote to one of my friends explaining why I couldn't make her hen do, which was hard to write. Trying to write the right words and balance to ensure that it didn't look like I was hurting her feelings in the process. But I got a nice message back saying she completely understood my reasons.

Other letters I wrote were ones of opportunity. I wrote to Coops and Fran to organise a film night, I wrote to my friend ‘Meryl’ offering to cook her and her husband a meal as they’d been through a tough time, and I wrote to my cousins asking them if they wanted to visit as I barely feel like I know them which is a shame.

With letter writing you don’t do it to get replies. With writing to strangers, you don’t get replies, and some people are just really busy to find the time to reply to a letter; albeit whether it’s in a text or an email.

I wrote to 2 famous people, one of them being Jimmy Fallon and I wrote to him thanking him for doing his show as last year when I was going through a tough time it made me laugh quite a bit.
I wrote funny letters, including one to a family friend called Mike who I nickname Lionel as I think he looks like Lionel Ritchie. I wrote congratulating him on all ‘Lionel’s’ success with Glastonbury and how he’s already got a Vegas residency for this year.

And I wrote a letter to my future self. I read a book a few years ago about a site that allows you to write a letter to your future self, and it had a book with some of the letters submitted. I'm going to give the letter to my parents who in turn can give it to me in 10 years’ time. I've written what I want the future me to have achieved, what not to have done and hopefully the person she (I mean I) has become.

I'm going to carry on with the letter writing as it’s something I enjoy and it’s a simple thing that doesn't cost the earth to do. And I've got a few ideas for great letters to write in the near future.

Challenge within a challenge: The bible

One of my 30 day challenges for this month is to read the bible everyday. I have never read the bible before, or at least I can’t remember doing so. I don’t think I read it in R.E. at school, and I went to Quaker meeting with my dad and we didn’t read it there.

I saw this idea on a great challenge pin on Pinterest which someone had collected a lot of 30 day challenge ideas and put them in one long list. I thought this would be great challenge as I really am starting from scratch.

In terms of what I believe in I don’t really know. I know that sounds naïve in approach and by the age of 30 I should have an idea of what I believe in. I'm opening minded and non-judgemental, and I think that’s thanks to going to Quaker meeting growing up. Maybe this challenge will help me start to think of different beliefs or at least give me an insight into Christianity.

I didn't know where to begin with this challenge though; I didn't know whether I’d need to borrow the bible from the library, I didn't even know how the bible was set up apart from there being the old testament and new testament. However I did know quite a few people who knew these answers…..my relatives.

I contacted my Auntie Jean and Uncle Tony who I usually only see or hear from at Christmas and got a reply the same day with recommendations of what to read from the bible. They even said they would email me daily notes on the challenge, and I’ll take up that kind offer. My cousins Janet, Simon and their children (well my second cousins and aren't children anymore) Anna, James and his wife Katy all gave me recommendations of what to read as well.

My old housemates Lizi and Ro from uni also gave me some suggestions of what to read, as did Ro’s friend Mark who gave me a great list of readings and resources to go to.

I was amazed at how quick the responses came, and although I didn't know where to begin on what to read from the bible, I now have a structure for the month ahead. I'm simply going to work through the recommendations.

So far I've read the following:
Luke 7:24 KJV
Mark 1:14 KJV
The 3 day Loop for Women: New beginnings reading plan, which had the following passages;
2 Corinthians 5:17
2 Corinthians 3:5
Psalms 139:13

And I’m 2 days into the 7 day plan- Love Does Experience a Life of Love in Action, which has the following passages so far:
Deuteronomy 7:9
Matthew 28:20
I John 4:21
Psalms 89:33
Lamentations 3:22-33

I think with reading the bible some passages won’t necessarily sink in straight away and they may take a few reads before they have an effect. None of the passages have had an impact on me so far, but it’s still early days, so I’ll be interested to see how the challenge progresses.

Thoughtful presents: International Women’s Day

Okay so today’s post isn't about a thoughtful present I gave, rather a thoughtful gesture. Today is International Women’s Day and when first hearing about it I thought it was a gimmicky commercial day, but the first time it was celebrated was in 1908, and it’s been recognised by the United Nations since 1975.

With that in mind I thought I’d write about two things today; the first is my Grandma who lived to 101. Yes my Grandma, not my Great Grandma, my actual Grandma lived to 101 with all her marbles intact and could still beat me at cards.

She was very much the independent woman, right from the start. She would travel to her family on her own on the train at a very young age; she’d sit in the train managers' carriage I think (no doubt my dad will correct me on that one as I think I've got the facts slightly wrong.)

She would go to dances on Saturday nights and if there were no men that wanted to dance with her, she’d dance with her girl mate who she went to the dances with, as she didn't want to miss out on the fun. And after my Grandpa died she lived on her own, so truly independent.

So what did I do today to celebrate International Women’s Day? Well I wasn't going to do anything but then I had an idea that it was a good opportunity to tell my female friends why they’re great! So that’s exactly what I did. I sent a text message to a fair few of them, and apologies if I missed you out. For my friend Emma I said how I admired how she achieved her goal of being a teacher and that in even in tough times she stuck with it. With Humaira and Louise I said how I admired how they had jobs and were mums and having that combination is really hard work. My old pole teacher Lucy; I said that her teaching pole gives so much confidence to others who are learning pole moves. And my friend Alice who took a major career change last year which was really brave and is now thriving.

I love how Lizi has explored the world, how Mel loves seeing new places and Ro lives life to the full and tries new things. With Jen and Carmella I admire their work ethic and drive and with Jas I admire her sense of humour and how she can get anyone laughing, no matter how stressful the situation is.
And I admire Laura and Linsey’s and Vicky’s determination as they take different steps in their careers.

I wasn't expecting any replies, just wanted to celebrate my female friends but I got some lovely replies; saying how they admire all the challenges I take on, as well as my kindness and determination.

It’s a shame that in essence you should celebrate being a woman once a year and I think from now on I’ll say to my friends more often why I admire them and why they should be celebrated.

Challenge within a challenge: Journaling

At the end of last year I did a 30 day minimalism challenge and one part of it was to journal for 20 minutes.  It was supposed to help organise my thoughts and de-stress. Now the last time I wrote in a journal or as Brits say a diary was back in uni. At school I did keep a little diary, but it wasn’t a dear diary thing, just the odd thought really. And it got quickly abandoned when I wrote the guys I fancied at school and my sisters got hold of the diary and told my parents at the dinner table who I fancied.

So my uni diary wasn't kept everyday but as anyone who’s gone to uni knows, you’re in a bubble where everything is magnified and dramas are even more dramatic then the real world. Following on my sisters reading the school attempt at a diary, I even made code names for guys I fancied, in case anyone read my diary.

Before I journalled for this challenge I read back some of diary. I’d actually read some of it back a couple of years ago with my friend Ro and it was very funny how seriously I took things, and how it really was the end of the world stuff. It was solid gold rubbish!

Not all of it was rubbish as the pages on the left were for thoughts and pages on the right were for quotes and song lyrics I liked, and they've stood the test of time.

The last time I wrote in the diary was 2009 I think, and the last passage was about me going for a job in Dubai. I even finished mid sentence, how dramatic! And the passage before was about my decision to end a long friendship; ‘Why be friends with someone who speaks with broken words.’ See really deep stuff, lol.

So what did I write in those 20 minutes of journaling? It was sort of a reflection piece really, what had happened in my life in 7 years and how nothing had gone the way I planned and of course there was my thoughts on guys as well. Really my diary entries hadn't changed at all.

I'm not going to keep the journaling up. I admire anybody that does; I've read a book of Richard E Grant’s diaries and they were a really interesting read. I think writing a diary had a good purpose in uni, but in the real world it’s just not for me right now.

Going back to my uni diary, at the end of it I wrote that the diary would be given to my friend Emma on the 17th September 2026. Yes when I'm 40, my friend Emma and I will be swapping our uni diaries…although everytime I remind her of this she says no straight away. Let’s see what happens in ten years!

Challenge within a challenge: Penpal from the past

As I said yesterday my challenge where I contacted 30 Facebook friends was a great success. One of the people I contacted was an old penpal and that’s what I’m going to write about today.

When I was growing up I loved receiving post and I still do. For a while I had quite a few penpals; I was penpals with Elizabeth who I went to school with but then moved away to Iceland. I also joined a penpal club through the Royal Mail I think it was called Hola. Here I got two penpals, the first was Florian from Germany. For some reason I thought Florian was a girl’s name, so imagine my surprise when I got a picture sent through and it turned out to be a boy!

I had another penpal from India and her name was Atreyee. When Facebook first came out I guess most people added people from their past as much as their present; old school friends mainly. I searched for Atreyee on the off chance she was on Facebook and she was.

I sent her a message when I was first on Facebook asking if she was the person I was penpals with growing up and she was. We sent each other a couple of messages to say where we were at in our lives and then got on with life.

With the challenge I thought it would be nice to check in and see how she was doing, as it had been 7 years since I sent that first message. I got a reply within a day and she sent me the nicest message. She’s now a mum of two and is on sabbatical from being a lawyer.

Being a letters fan, I always keep letters I receive as I feel letters quite often require more thought than emails. I looked back in a folder which I kept old school reports and certificates and found my penpal letters. I read through Atreyee’s she had a lovely way of writing; always kind and positive and telling me to make the most of life. I guess with these challenges I take on and things I want to try I feel I’m doing this. I don’t think I had an outlook on life like that when I was 13 or 14 which is when we were penpals, so she was wise before her years!

With her Facebook message she hasn't changed. She said how my Facebook posts are awesome and make her feel like there is so much more to life than her life as a lawyer. She said she’s trying to learn to cook, so I might send a few recipes her way.

She said that if I ever was to go to India I must make a stop at Delhi and catch up with her. I'm hoping one day I’ll take a trip and be able to meet Atreyee.

Challenge within challenge: Reconnecting with the past

During February and one day of March I sent messages to 30 Facebook friends I either hadn't spoken to since adding them as friends, or I hadn't spoken to in over 2 years. So how did it go?

Well out of 30 people, 23 replied which was a great result. Although it wasn't the plan I ended up contacting an even number of men and women. The people I contacted came from mixture of backgrounds. 3 were old work colleagues, 12 I went to school with, 8 I went to uni with, 3 I used to go on holiday with, 1 was an ex, 1 I went to pole classes with, another was a family friend and 1 was a penpal.

People replied quite quickly as well which I was really surprised about, and they were all pleased to hear from me. A few of the guys are now dad’s, others had bought their own houses and quite a few of them were in careers I didn't expect them to be in. School friends had spread out around the country; one was living in Bristol and another was in Norfolk. I also found out that one of my old school friends is in contact with a guy in my class who now lives in Japan!

James who I’d known since a baby is now studying for a PhD and is a lecturer as well. One of the women I used to go on holiday with is now a councillor for people who struggle with substance abuse.

With people I contacted from uni, we've all gone on different paths from what we studied. Stuart who I was in halls with and had some lectures with is now in the royal military police in St Andrews which is pretty far from what I thought he would be in the future.

This challenge was in a way an extension from the reconnecting part of my 29 challenge I did last year and like last year I really enjoyed it. In some of my responses people had said they liked what I was doing with all the challenges and my life and my blog, which was a nice surprise. As I always say people are in your life for a reason, season or a lifetime. And I think it’s nice to drop a line to people out of the blue from time to time.

Challenge within a challenge: My Bucket List

You’d think making your bucket list would be easy and it was to begin with, but towards the end it got quite difficult. I think because I’ve been trying to save money over the past couple of years, it sort of stops me dreaming and thinking of what I would like to do, as they all cost money. So to open that part of the brain where the sky’s the limit took a little while to do.
I present my bucket list!

Go wing walking
Do the dirty dancing lift
Go to Comic Con
Dance on a bar
Go on a long haul flight in first class

                                               Having landed in Melbourne

Do a voiceover for either an animated film or TV programme
Visit at least half of the states in America

Go to the Superbowl
Go on a golf buggy
Go in a big lorry either driving or as a passenger
Crowd surf
Go to an entire Ashes series in Australia, preferably on one of the guided tour holidays

                                                     At the MCG

Do a triathlon
Go to a drive through movie
Have an all nighter in a Vegas
Save a life
Catch a last minute flight to a random destination
Dance in the street as in full on boogie
Go on Test Match Special
Drive from the south to the north of the UK with only a compass
Write a book
Do the splits fully

                                                Nearly there!
Live in a major city
Go to Dubai
Stand on a stage at a big venue or stadium
Meet all my heroes (1 down 3 to go)

Watch a sunrise and sunset
Learn to surf
Go to a movie premiere
Get married

Who knows you may like some of the things on my list; feel free to put them on your own.

February review and March preview

Is it me or did February just fly by? The challenges I set myself for February were great fun, and gave a few surprises and I found them very rewarding. So what did I do?

Well apart from read a few books and watch a few films which seems to be a standard every month I contacted 30 Facebook friends I hadn't spoken to either at all since adding them or in over 2 years. I contacted 30 neighbours which if you read my previous post you would've found out how it went. I wrote a letter a day, and kept a laughter journal as well, which has been fun to look back on.

And I finally have a bucket list!!! I’ll be writing a post about that soon. Who knows maybe I’ll be able to tick a few things off that list this year.

So what’s coming up in March? Well I’m going to have my hair in a different style everyday for 30 days (nothing as drastic as the 80s hair do below.) I've started a health awareness challenge for 30 days, and drinking 8 glasses of water a day. And I'm going to read the bible everyday, something I’ve never done before.

Here’s to a great March!

Challenge within a challenge: Meeting the unknown

At the start of the Neighbour challenge I could have gone the easy way, or the hard way. You can probably guess which way I went.

I live above a chemist in one of the main town centre streets in Hitchin. There are around 20 or so shops on my street and the easy route could've been for me to just go to all the shops and buy something, as a way of contacting my neighbours. I did go for fish and chips the other night, but to be honest, although they tasted great, it didn't leave me fulfilled in terms of having contact with my neighbours.

As I said in my previous post about the neighbours challenge I was in the process of arranging drinks with my neighbours. I’d sent close to 40 invites for the drinks, and before this challenge, I didn't realise there were that many flats on the street, so already I’d learnt something from this challenge.
So already I surpassed the 30 neighbours that I had to connect with. With high quantity projects like this, I'm all but aware that you won’t get the large quantity of results you want. You’d get a fraction of those.

Out of nearly 40 invites, I got 3 responses before the drinks. I got one from my neighbours below, but I already know them so it didn't count in my book. The 3 responses all said it was a great idea, but they couldn't make it and they would be up for meeting up at another drinks. So already the seed of the idea was a positive one.

Not everyone understood why I organised the drinks. My flatmate laughed when I said what I was doing. She asked if the reason I was organising the drinks was because none of my friends were free for a drink. I explained that wasn't the point, and I just wanted to see who was on our street. There could be some great people on our doorstep that we weren't aware of. Or in Zoolander terms, we couldn't see them because we couldn't turn left.

When Sunday afternoon arrived I started to get nervous. I thought I could go with a neighbour that said would be there, but she couldn't make it after all. Lots of doubt came into my head as to whether it was a good idea at all, whether anybody would show, or whether people would show and laugh at the idea and leave? But as I said to my dad, the bar is 15 seconds from my flat; I’d stay for one drink, read a magazine and then go home if nobody showed. 30 minutes tops would be wasted if the idea failed.

I arrived at the bar and I recognised one of the barman from New Year’s Eve and told him about my idea, which in essence is an experiment. He thought it was a great one, and said he would keep his ears open in case anyone was here for the drinks.

Eventually finding a table, I set up my neighbour sign, armed with an Appletiser and Stylist magazine to read and waited.

5 minutes later (which lasted a lifetime) and 3 women show up asking me if I was Jocelyn. I was unbelievably happy that 3 people believed in my crazy idea. Their names were Andrea, Tori and Lou and they lived together in a flat next to the bar. I was in so much shock that people showed up, I had to ask their names at the end as I didn't hear them the first time round.

A few minutes later an Irish guy showed up and asked if I was Jocelyn and then he sat down with us. His name was Brian and he’d moved into the new flats on my street in November and it turned out he worked on the same road as me.

It was acoustic night at the bar and James Bay’s brother Alex was doing a set, and talking to the barman later he said it was the perfect night to pick, because if conversation had awkward silences then the music filled them.

My neighbours and I talked about work, the flats we lived in and our surroundings. We all had such diverse backgrounds and we were all different ages.
They've got my number as I put it on the invite, so if they want to meet up again, they know how to reach me.

I'm already going to plan another drinks for the people who couldn't make it. There’s at least another 4 people who are up for coming along.

Was I scared going into the drinks? Absolutely, it’s definitely the most nervous I've been about doing a challenge in a long time. And that’s a good thing! To push yourself out of your comfort zone, where’s the negative in doing that? If you've got a crazy idea that you've got a good feeling about, but people laugh or ignore it, go for it anyway. As corny as it sounds, you've got nothing to lose and everything to gain. And on my part, one of the barmen definitely knows my drink order now so I can be one of those people that say I’ll have the usual!