July 2009

It's a long, long way from January to July but the Rooinecks have met twice. Nick and I met in February to talk about a short story of his, which is a kind of follow up to his Radio 7 story. The re-animators are back but in a new era. I won't give anything away except to say I thought he should consider making this next tale a novel. There's nothing like landing a friend with loads of work.

Last Monday Nick and I both brought radio plays to the group. This time we had a good turn out Cathy, Maya and Hartwin. Lots of useful feedback.

With radio plays the importance of grabbing the listener from the start is even more pronounced than elsewhere. People stumble upon radio, they turn it on because they happen to be in the kitchen or the car and they're quick to turn over if bored.

I met up with Tom Lee on Friday. His book of stories, Greenfly, is doing well. Getting good reviews in the Times Literary Supplement and London L(sh)ite. One of the stories is going to be in the Sunday Times, in two weeks I think. Why aren't more short stories in magazines and newspapers? Tom's advised me to read Tom Wolffe, so I've put a request in at my local library and one for Walk the Blue Fields by Claire Keegan.