Greetings and I can’t believe that we’re half-way through the year already. Time certainly flies. And what glorious seasonal weather that we’ve been having in dear old Blighty.

I’m the first to admit that I love the heat-wave that has graced us recently. There is something very European about being able to read and eat breakfast whilst sitting in the garden. So I took exception to all the moaners on social media who were praying for some rain.

Come and live in Manchester if you want rain. This city usually never stops. Anyway they got what they wanted as I’m writing this post with the weather having turned and Manchester being back to its familiar, drizzly self.

April

I was excited to attend a three-day scriptwriting workshop at Manchester Metropolitan University’s Writing school led by playwright Simon Stephens.

Being taught by Simon was the main reason that I booked onto the workshop in the first place, and he didn’t disappoint. A wealth of knowledge and experience oozed from his very being.  I learnt several new approaches to writing from Simon, and I particularly enjoyed his writing prompts which he’d start the day off with.

Creative juices flowed and I adopted a similar method when I taught a masterclass in creating characters during May.

May

The opportunity to teach the masterclass in creating characters was given to me by Alty Word Fest, a brand new writing festival in Altrincham. Each of the delegates left the session having created brand new characters and hopefully a new enthusiasm for writing.

Most people who know me know about my lifelong love affair with Coronation Street, so I was delighted to be asked to co-present a talk at Salford Museum and Art Gallery as part of their Tony Warren exhibition.

Myself and a colleague discussed the role of villains of Coronation Street and listed the top eight. We couldn’t have planned it better if we had tried as it was the same week that Corrie was running its demise of Pat Phelan week long episodes. It was pure fluke that the timing was perfect as we were booked back in October 2017.

June was a very busy writing month as I frantically wrote a second draft of my new theatre play that I’m writing as part of the Liverpool Everyman Playwright Programme.

I decided to hold a read-through with three professional actresses to hear it read out loud and make copious amounts of notes to help with the editing. There is never a short cut when it comes to writing. Getting to the end of a first draft is an accomplishment in itself but then beginning re-writes is a whole other ballgame.

I also began to develop a brand new radio play which I took to my online script development workshops in June. Beginning new writing projects is always exciting and this piece will certainly be challenging for me.

Finally, some life writing that I submitted as part of Manchester Womens Words project was displayed in Central Library Manchester at the end of June. I felt absolutely privileged to have my work included with other outstanding pieces of writing by incredible women across the city.

On top of all of that I started running again which is instrumental in maintaining a good mental health state for me. Parkrun 5k races have been incredibly motivating for me and I’ve just completed my fifteenth as I write this post.