Writing as therapy.

I used to write- a lot!

OK, so I still do, but very little of it is creative per se: forced to write reports and proposals and funding bids almost every day I try to make them as creative as I can. I always imagine making sure the paper fulfills what the 'commissioners' need but can be easily understood by ordinary folk. I used to stay up until very late tapping away with a contented heart.

I've started writing reminiscences of my time running the London Lesbian and Gay Centre and got swept away into all sorts of research and note-jotting until the early hours. I used to do that all the time. I wrote first drafts of plays like Battieman Blues and Quick Phyllis, Grab a Dyke and Dance Your Way Out; Its a Raid!  pretty much in one sitting! I remember feeling like, if I stopped I'd lose my 'flow'. It was like that last night and although my mind was still singing with ideas, I managed to get a good and refreshing sleep.

The great thing about writing is that, unlike theatre, it can be achieved alone. Of course its nice if someone else reads what you write but the act of creating- like a painter or a sculptor doesn't need the interactions of other to make it happen. I know there is a lot more writing in me, but I've not finished anything in years. I have been thinking about a book since I was about 17. I've started it several times and rewritten plans and storylines and character profiles but it never felt right. I've been consciously cooking ideas about it before I've gone to sleep for months and now have a more robust and logical story in my mind, it will soon feel 'right' to start again.

It was a more productive day all round: I completed a draft application to fund the wages of the Bridge House Custodian for a year as a way to get the Bridge House Group enterprise incubator on line.

The peripatetic lodger returned and started to bullshit till I shut him down. I told him I didn't want to know "his business" but that him living in my home and not letting me know if he's actually going to be there or not IS my business for a range of trivial to important issues. I also explained how RUDE it was. If he doesn't need the room he is to let me know and offer it to someone I will charge more than "mates rates". He does a very good line in contrition and he probably means it, but I doubt he'll even remember any of it by now- he is brilliant and saying what he thinks needs to be said!