Dance your cares away...

I'm writing like a crazy person to meet my deadline for submitting the first draft of Book 5, so I just wanted to share a little something with you that's made me smile in the middle of the scribbling craziness...

Because everything is better with FRAGGLES...

Bollywood dancing - the evidence!

I wanted to do something a bit different for my hen party, so my fab chum Susanna Westwood (who inspired Wren in It Started With a Kiss) found the most amazing thing... Bollywood dancing!!

I fell in love with Bollywood films when I was writing It Started With a Kiss at the end of 2010. Being a bit of a night owl when it comes to writing, I found I was invariably writing in the early hours and would often have the TV on for company and background noise. To my delight, Channel 4 had a season of classic Bollywood movies which were shown after 1am - and I was hooked! I love the flamboyance, the drama and the utter fabulousness of it all, with infectious music and awesome dance numbers.

When I was working on a series of Christmas gigs last year I ended up sharing my secret Bollywood crush with Susanna - so when she offered to host a hen party for me and suggested we learn to dance like the Bollywood routines, I was over the moon! Six of us learned two routines in an hour and adored every minute. It's fun, energetic and makes you ache next day! Susanna took videos of us shaking our hips and genuinely having the best time - so here they are for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy!

First up, a routine to Jai Ho! by A.R.Rahman from the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack:



Next, a more traditional Bollywood dance with a cheeky female protagonist!

A bit of silliness for a dreary Monday...

It's August, but nobody seems to have told the weather that.
R-r-r-r-rubbish.
So, in the name of all things Eternally Optimistic, here's a little bit of silliness (with a classical theme) to brighten your day. Enjoy!

I must be CRAZY...

I've signed up for NaNoWriMo again!

The National Novel Writing Month is 30 days of complete madness where people all over the world spend the month of November frantically scribbling an entire novel. I did it last year for the first time and it was manic, scary, exhilarating, tough, crazy - but most of all, fun! My NaNo novel from last year, The Mystical Wombat's Guide to Life, is currently nearing the completion of the Big Final Edit, so it's time to wrap it up and get ready for chaos to begin again on 1st November!



Like last year, I'll be posting excerpts of my new novel here at Coffee and Roses, so please, please, please let me know what you think... Any encouragement, words of wisdom or offers of caffeine will be gratefully received!

Till then, I'm stockpiling coffee and chocolate and grabbing as much rest as I can!

Is there ANYONE out there...?

I'm starting to wonder if I've developed a Superhero Power...

No, really.

It appears that I am now able to become... drumroll, please... invisible!

Let me explain...

For a few months now (well, since last November, to be precise) I've been job-hunting. I'd just like to find a job that is more creative in nature, more writing-centred (my current role is more of a copy-editing/proofreading thingy). I've been a busy girl getting lots of writing experience in addition to my work: doing citizen journalism things for the past two years, maintaining my blogs and, of course, writing short stories along with my novel. About the only other thing I could try in order to add to my already gargantuan writing efforts would be to resort to writing down everything I'd normally say out loud on large sheets of A3 paper, a la Bob Dylan.

Now, nobody would say that job-hunting is easy: I completely understand that. And neither am I over-ambitiously pursuing roles that are stratospherically out of my league. I am so entirely capable of every job I've applied for - and if I could just get to an interview, I'm certain that I could communicate my potential. But, twenty-one job applications later, I'm yet to attain this lofty goal...

Maybe it's my CV, I thought. So, I found a couple of CV-clinic services, where you submit your CV and they, basically, rip it to shreds - before suggesting lots of lovely ideas to make it sparkly and attractive.

"Don't have an Objectives section," they advised, "state your Attributes first to sell your skills."

Brilliant, I thought, and got straight to work.

I was ruthless, I was eloquent, I was... well, quite chuffed with the result, actually. So - just to check - I sent my newly polished CV to a different CV-clinic company and eagerly awaited their reply.

"Attributes sections are quite old-fashioned," came the sombre verdict. "You might consider changing it for an Objectives section, so prospective employers know what you are looking for in a position."

Brilliant. So basically either would work - or not work - brilliantly - or awfully - depending on which way you looked at it.

Undeterred - ever the Eternal Optimist - I made some more tweaks and sent my newly - well, altered CV off to apply for several jobs.

Nothing. Zilch. Nada. Ничто.

So, after considering all the options, I finally came to this earth-shattering conclusion: I am invisible!

How cool is that?!

Then, I started to look at other areas too and found that - yes - my Superhero Power is evident there, too! Take my blogs, for example. To be fair, this one does get lovely comments, all of which completely make my day - but my new blog September's had a few comments initially, then everything went quiet...

Don't get me wrong: I love my blogs and I will keep writing them even if I am the Invisible Woman - but do you ever find you start to wonder if what you do makes a difference to anybody? I think we carry on in the hope that something we do, or say, sing, or write will meet someone at the moment they needed to hear it. Maybe that's the driving force behind all creative people, however they express themselves to the world.

I'm not fishing for jobs, or recognition, or a thousand hits on my blog sites - it's just a rhetorical question I keep finding myself asking - well, myself. Am I invisible or do I make a difference? I'm not sure there's an answer, really. After all, how many people do we pass in the course of our day that we never really take the time to notice?

In the meantime, I'm going to have fun thinking of ways to utilise my newly-found Superhuman Ability... Now, where could I go if nobody can see me....?!

My Dad's Famous!

My Dad is a Star...

It's Official.

Here he is! ----->

And I don't just mean he's a star because he's the Best Dad in the Whole Wide World (not that I'm biased in any way, of course!) As well as being the Dickinson family knight in shining armour - my sister and I call him 'Sir GallaDad' - he is also a TV and Film Star! He's worked with A-listers, on prime-time TV shows and now on two feature films... He is a Supporting Artist (don't call them 'extras'!) and has been appearing on national and international screens for the past four years.

Most recent appearances have included: Life on Mars (series 2, episode 1 - Dad is the body on the double-decker bus!), Crimewatch (Dad was the guy who got attacked with a skewer - eeuuww), Blue Murder (Dad was in the episode featuring Tom Bell, as a family member claiming they killed someone - he was wearing a green fleece!), Doctors (lots of episodes) and Casualty (quite a few appearances in the waiting room)...

He was a passer-by in The Libertine, with Johnny Depp, and has most recently worked on the upcoming film version of Philippa Gregory's The Other Boleyn Girl - with Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson and Eric Bana - as a nobleman at the Boleyn family table!

What is so wonderful about this for me is that he deserves it all so much. Dad worked for 40 years in a job he really didn't like and wasn't valued in, just because he was determined to provide for his family. He got 'given' early retirement at the age of 56 and felt like he'd been dumped by the company. My sister and I never wanted for anything - even when often it was a struggle for Dad and Mum to do all the things they wanted for their family. Dad was always content to carry on being undervalued and ignored at work, just as long as we were all cared for, fed and clothed. And every situation my family faced was always approached with my parents' trademark sense of humour, fun and creativity.

Dad has been involved in amateur dramatics for over 40 years - in fact, my earliest memories are of him and Mum learning lines, going to rehearsals and performing in plays. And Dad is a KILLER on stage... Somehow, when he has lines to say and an audience in front of him, my unassuming Dad becomes this amazing acting phenomenon. He has timing to die for and an expressive style that wins audiences at every single performance. He comes alive when he's on the stage and he's always loved being able to "get up there and sock it to 'em.."

So, when he got the opportunity to work as a Film and TV extra, he cautiously accepted. And he hasn't looked back since!

One funny thing about Dad is that he rarely knows who his co-stars are - he'll get home from a day's filming and say, "Do you know who Natalie Portman is?" or "I'm working with this guy and I'm sure I know him from somewhere - do you know Jonny Vegas?" One time, he worked with Jonathan Wilkes' mum (Robbie Williams' mate) and had a great chat with her about "Robert"!!

Dad has a blog, where you can read all about his exploits in the TV and film industry - as well as other really funny stories about his life. You can see it by pasting the following into your browser:

http://uk.360.yahoo.com/profile-0cOOEt4zaa_lJOmwhsqtGttoStIKcSe28Q0br401IAGDbm86r0Jc

Trust me, it's well worth a visit!

So, next time you watch a TV programme or a movie, watch out - you might just see my Dad!