Challenge within a challenge: Back in events

Challenges come in all shapes of sizes; in our daily lives we can be challenged, even if we don’t set these challenges ourselves.

From 2009 to the start of 2013 I worked in events, and then until February this year I worked in team support and PA roles. However, this sort of work was mundane to me and it made me realise I wanted to work back in events. Getting back into events work was a challenge enough as the large majority of the time potential recruiters and employers could only see my most recent employment in support roles and not see beyond that, and the fact that I had 5 years of solid events experience.

Last year I decided to take matters into my own hands and in a small way try to make things happen, and started volunteering at charity networking events to get my foot back into events. I did this for a year and as a result of volunteering, the company I was doing this for actually did recruitment as well, and ultimately put me forward for the job I’m now in today.

I’ve been in my current job since the start of February and it’s been a bit of adjustment getting back into events. I thought it would be easy but there is a difference between being busy as a PA and busy in an events role.

Tomorrow I start working on a week long course which is a very high in demand revision course for 150 delegates total spread over 5 days. The set up and the days themselves are complex and long. I was at work on Friday night till 8.45 setting up with my manager. There are lot of circuits of different materials and different sets of timings that all the delegates have to abide to. The real kicker is I have to be at work at 6.30am, and commuting in it will be a really early start for me (3 or 4am!)

There are several things I’m nervous about; exactly how tiring will it be? How will I keep up the energy up, it will fill like Groundhog Day as every day is an identical set up. Will I make mistakes?
I was thinking to the last 5-day event that I worked on was back in 2012. It was a 5-day residential course which took place in Loughborough. It was a great week, the faculty were lovely and the core team of me, the events coordinator Emma and our colleague Ashley from Washington worked really well together. Ashley and I became quick friends (as pictured below) and she showed me to Michael Buble singing about Russian Unicorns which will always make me laugh. I still hope to visit Ashley one day in Washington. Although it was a long week, surprisingly I still had time to train for Tough Mudder everyday in the gym for an hour as soon as the gym was open. I’ve no idea how I managed to get the energy for that and how I was still standing, but somehow I did.

With tomorrow I’m hoping that my neighbours don’t have late night parties tonight (letters have been posted.) My outfits for the week have been planned, my evening light meals will by the end of today will have been made. I plan to read some of my favourite books each night before bed, and listen to a Desert Island Disc each night to help me sleep. Eat, commute, work, commute, read, relax, sleep repeat will be my week. Bring on Friday evening!

Thoughtful presents: Music in the future, from the past

A couple of months ago my friend Michelle had a baby girl called Millie. It’s her first child and I’ve had a few friends who have got children and I’m also at a loss at what to get. Toys and clothes are the obvious, but babies grow out of clothes quickly and move on from toys just as fast. I got my thinking cap on as to what I could get that might last a little longer and then I had an idea.

Michelle did a clever thing which not all my friends have had children have done, she text me after a couple of days saying what date Millie had been born on. Sometimes you hear about when babies arrive, but they don’t mention their birth date. This is all important in the present that I got.

What I bought was the album which was number one at the time Millie was born, and the number single. Although with singles no longer being readily available, she ended up getting another album. Millie’s full name is Emelia and Elbow had the number one album with Little Fictions, and the number one single was Shape of You by Ed Sheeran. So it was a week of the letter E. It was also a good thing she arrived when she did, if she arrived earlier then she would’ve got a Justin Bieber song as the number one single!

I wrote a letter with the CDs and the present and letter are to be opened by Millie when she is older and starts appreciating music and likes reading letters. So I’m hoping this will be 6 and upwards. The letter states how I know her parents, why music is important and how it’s a great thing to enjoy and help you through the good times and the bad, and how fun it is to dance.

I really enjoyed writing the letter. I’ve given Michelle the choice of when she gives the present to Millie. She says it’s going to be in her wardrobe until that point. I’m excited for the future and when Millie will open her present. I want to start backdating this sort of present with other friend’s children, especially the ones that are a bit older. It will be really interesting to see what music was number one when they were born.

Thoughtful presents: Supporting exam madness

Whenever I talk to one of my friends, if they say they are struggling, or down I automatically think what can I do to help them. And recently my old flatmate Faith said she was right in the middle of exam madness. She’s currently doing law exams and they are notoriously tough. Although I haven’t done law exams to the depth that Faith is I did do GCSE Law and NCTJ Law exams at uni. Both of which I found really difficult and I even failed the NCTJ one first time round.

Studying for exams around full time work shows even more determination and even more energy than when studying for exams at school. I didn’t want to bombard Faith with useless things, but I thought a visit to Paperchase might brighten up her studying days, and also to use a 20% off voucher that I had as well.

I got scented highlighters, because it’s a small reference to Legally Blonde when Elle Woods gives her resume in and it’s scented. I got a little gratitude book where you write 3 things that make you happy each day, so that could provide positivity during stressful times, novelty sunglasses just because they are funny and laughter is good for stress.

Food also made an appearance and after some research I found that pumpkin seeds and blueberries are great for brain power.

Faith was really pleased with the gifts and she said that pumpkin seeds were her favourite so that was the perfect choice.

Challenge within a challenge: Giving Lent a go

Firstly, apologies for not blogging in nearly 2 months! It’s hard to believe it’s been that long, but in short I’ve got a new job, and my months’ notice at my last job was very stressful and it’s taken a bit of time to adjust to my new job. Hopefully I can blog on a more regular basis from now on.

I’m not really religious. I was brought up going to Quaker meeting and know about the Quaker faith. Last year I started, but albeit did not complete a challenge to read the bible every day for 30 days. However by reading some passages I can see why people have the bible as a source of support.
Traditionally you give up something for Lent to ‘purify’ their bodies, so usually a certain food or alcohol. With so much talk about it in the office, I wondered what I could give up and then it hit me, I could give up films!

As I said in my last post, through not going to the cinema for the year I felt more creative than normal, so by having no films to watch my creativity may increase even more.

I’ve become quite spoilt with films since I started getting the Sky Movie channels and Sky Movies on demand for free. It’s meant I’ve started a particularly bad habit; starting a film but not finishing it and picking another film instead that seems better. There is too much choice and as a result I don’t give films a chance to grow and develop. With the number of film channels I have; myself and Rachel average around 3 films a week, occasionally it’s more or less. That’s a lot of time I’m wasting. A lot of time I could spend doing something else.

There are several things I could do; catch up on TV shows I’m behind on, finish a few of the many books I’ve started, finish a screenplay and start another, more volunteering and many more things. I could even see about completing a few challenges I didn't complete last year, including the bible one.

Lent is also a time of reflection and I’ve started to be in a reflective mood about the future, so I’ll have more time to explore my thoughts.

Of course I may isolate myself a bit as a result, as Rachel still watches films, but as it’s only 40 days it’s not a lifetime.

I’m excited to see how the 40 days pan out; whether I find it easy or a challenge. And whether it has a lasting impact; will I watch less films afterwards? Will my habits of starting a film but not finishing it change?

So it’s lights, camera, action for Lent!

Challenge within a challenge: Surviving a year without cinema

At the start of the year I had a few new year resolutions. I think I said that I wanted to learn to juggle and learn how to fence, but with most if not all resolutions, they don’t last or happen. However, one new year resolution did. Apart from the one exception of going to a movie marathon for my flatmate Rachel’s birthday, which I mentioned before starting the challenge, I haven’t been to the cinema once!

So how was it? To be honest I didn’t miss going to the cinema as much as I thought I would. There were only a few times where I really wanted to see a film but had to miss out. I got asked to go and see Bridget Jones’ Baby a couple of times with different sets of people and because I loved the book so much I wanted to see Me Before You. Apart from those two there were quite a few films I wanted to see, but I wasn’t too fussed ultimately about missing them on the big screen.

In a strange twist of luck in February I got an email from Virgin Media saying that the TV package I was on they were fading out and that they were putting me on the Sky Movie package at no extra cost! So without even trying I got way more of a selection of films then I would get at the cinema at any one time.

With the resolution I thought that some friendships might wane as a result. Ones where the main activity we’d do would be to go to the cinema. Some friendships we did alternative activities and others I just saw less as a result of not going to the cinema. Or it could be that people were busier in 2016.

I’ve come to realise that going to the cinema isn’t a great way of catching up with friends. You meet up just before, and you leave just after the film and that barely gives time to chat. 2 hours in a dark room isn’t that social. So I think going into 2017 I’m going to go to the cinema, but only films that I really want to go to and worthy of seeing on the big screen.

During the year I missed out on just over 25 films, so financially I saved. With every film I missed I read an autobiography, and I’ve fallen a little behind on this. I’ve got about 3-4 books to go. They are my favourite genre of books, but towards the end of the year I got a bit sick of them. I’ve read a great variety; ranging from entrepreneurs to dancers to everyday people overcoming adversity.

Throughout this year I was also more creative than I’ve been in previous years. But I don’t know whether that has anything to do with going to screenwriting and creative groups or cinema being absent.

The challenge was an interesting one; one that I thought I would break but ultimately didn’t. Looking through my IMDB watchlist there’s half a dozen films on there which will be released in 2017. But truthfully only half of them I really want to see.

So here’s to 2017; a year of spending less time sitting in silence and more time in the light.

Screenwriting: Like-minded people

When I was at uni I did a short course on writing short films. It was a four day course spread over a month. One of the things I learnt on the course was that if you had a ‘Hollywood meeting’ about your work, you should also have something up your sleeve, in case the powers that be like your work and want to see what else you’ve written.

This is something I’ve always remembered and going into 2016 one of my aims was to join a screenwriting group. During my 29 challenge, I wrote a fair bit and as a result had ‘something up my sleeve’ to show people. So armed with this I went about joining a group where I could a) learn about the industry and b) more importantly meet people who could help, collaborate or point me in the right direction of somebody that could get my screenplays made (that being the ultimate aim.)

At the start of the new year I discovered Industrial Scripts which I have mentioned before on this blog. Industrial Scripts put on Insider Interviews once a month in London. These are interviews with a variety of people in the film industry; screenwriters, producers and directors. Networking then follows after.

Armed with my Vista Print made business cards I went to my first event and it couldn’t have gone any better. I ended up getting a reputation for being a powerhouse after explaining how much I’d written in 18 months (which apparently was not normal.) Give or take a couple of months I’ve been to most of these this year and I’ve learnt something everytime and met other people who screen write. People that have got something made, or are at the same stage as me, or have yet to start writing.

I also attend a monthly group called the Creative Meat in Hitchin. This group was recommended by my old boss as she knew I did screenwriting as a hobby and thought this could help. The first ‘meat’ I went to everyone was friendly and it was a great atmosphere. The format was pretty similar to Industrial Scripts, except the focus is on creative people in general and not just screenwriters. In fact, I didn’t meet anyone who did screenwriting until the start of December.

At one of the ‘meats’ there was an exercise we all were asked to do. During the weeks between that ‘meat’ and the next we had to pick a name out of a hat and meet for a drink with that person to see how we could help each other out creatively.

As a result, I got to know Frankie who is a Jack of all trades and Pete who is a freelance photographer. Meeting anyone creative instantly gets me motivated. Pete was and is really enthusiastic about my work. He in fact encouraged a passing idea I had years ago which I mentioned in our initial catch up and got me to write it as a short film. And following this I entered my first competition with it in September.

The screenwriter I met at the start of the month, Nigel was a great person to meet. Upon chatting we realised that we’re both at the same point and realised that we could help each other out. We could be a sounding board for potential ideas, and a new pair of eyes for any drafts we have that need reading and feedback to be given.

At the last Industrial Scripts event I went to I met two others who have offered to read my screenplays. Although some would broach with caution people who want to read my work, in the fear that they would nick my ideas for their own; I think you have to get to know the person beforehand. The people I’ve spoken to are writing in completely different genres, so if I can get someone who isn’t a fan of the genre I’ve written in, to respect and even like my work, then I maybe onto a winner.
With Pete and Nigel, I’m going to meet up with each individually on a monthly basis going forward and I think this will be incredibly beneficial. I already feel inspired and motivated after every creative event I go to. Meeting up with like-minded people will mean I’m constantly motivated.

Both Pete and Nigel will tell me if what I’m writing is rubbish. I’ve yet to receive feedback from Nigel on my work, but Pete was the only one I sent my short film to before sending it off for competition and his feedback was amazing. Although I didn’t win the competition, his feedback gave me a real boost. The short film was about M and James Bond and he said he could imagine the characters saying the lines and said he was laughing halfway through the first page. You can’t really get much better feedback than that.

Going into next year I look forward to getting a good set of contacts to help me on my way in screenwriting. One person I met at Industrial Scripts in December called Shell said I had an infectious enthusiasm and I inspired her to start writing. So even though I haven’t had any of my screenplays made, the fact I got someone else to start writing is something I didn’t expect to do. I write because I don’t want to be one of those people that say I’m going to write someday. I want to be the person that writes and gets on with it. I want to continue this into 2017.

Thoughtful presents: Festive treats

Nothing says Christmas like festive sweet treats. Although I’d done Secret Santa twice at work, there were a few people at work that I wanted to give little presents to.

At my work I know most people like it when I bake, so I baked some millionaire shortbread. And I put the shortbread in cute little festive paper bags I brought from Not on the High Street years ago, but didn’t know what presents to use them for.

Again another present not costing the earth, but the recipients seemed to like it as much as a really expensive gift.