Journal: 1st March 2023

Happy March, my friend.

Another month is behind us. Is time speeding up? It certainly feels that way to me. Days flow into weeks, and weeks flow into months at a rate I’ve never known before. It doesn’t concern me.

That’s a lie.

It does.

I’m 40 this year.

I remember, more than ten years ago, reading Lucid Living by Tim Freke. In it he writes something profound, and it has never left me. I paraphrase: “If you live until you’re 80 years old, that means you have just over 4,000 weeks to figure it all out.”

The first time I read that, it blew my mind.

So I write. I write because I enjoy writing and using my imagination to create stories. But I also write because I’ve got – if I see 80 years – just over 2000 weeks left.

(Though I do plan on living to 100… as foolish as it is to plan such a thing.)

I woke up at 4:40am this morning, wide awake, thinking about the screenplay I’m writing. After wrestling with my thinking mind, I swung my legs out of the warm bed at 5:25, went downstairs, made myself a cup of ginseng tea (with one cardamom pod), opened Final Draft, and got to work.

I enjoy that time. When millions of people are unconsciously using their imagination to create dreams, I’m consciously using mine to create the next line of dialogue.

***

Last night I signed up to BFI networking events called In Person Talent Mixers. I signed up to the one in Leeds on the 15th March, the one in Manchester on the 19th March, and the one in York on the 3rd May.

As my wife likes to remind me, it’s incredibly important to network, especially in this industry (she worked for nearly 20 years in film production in Taiwan, so no doubt she’s right, once again). Admittedly, I’d make a happy hermit. I’m happy writing at home, going for walks, watching films, reading books. So it’s time I get out and meet folk, to mingle, to tell people what I’m writing about and what my plans are.

I trust you are well.

Blessings.

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