HAPPY CHRISTMAS (i)

Christ! There are eight zeros in the thought bubble...

Plan on reading Cheever's memoirs (or should that be his miscellany of misanthropy?) over Christmas. It's bound to lift the spirits!

Looking forward to whatever dramas 2010 presents after all it can't be any worse than this year... could it?

BBC PROGRESS

We've a lot of work to get through over the next month. By February, I've got to have an entire series outline and scripts written for our 'make or break' meeting with CBBC.

Down to the last four from about four thousand submissions, so very close to a result.

While I've been writing, Henry's been working on character development. Really happy with the darker direction our show is taking.

A lot of work has gone into the project - with major involvement from artists, animators, composers etc. from all over the UK.

Hope to repay them all for their help. But seeing as we're all broke, the only way we can is by getting commissioned.

PEOPLE WALKING IN CIRCLES.

I was cycling around town today looking for see-through shower caps (you'd be surprised what a task this is) and saw loads of people out on strike.

Fair enough, it's a National Day of Protest - but what struck me was that in most cases people marched heads down, shuffling around and around in circles. How passive and mind-numbing is that? 

COWEN RENTS COUNTRY OUT TO PRODUCERS OF 'I'M A CELEBRITY GET ME OUT OF HERE!'

NOTE TO SELF - donate this idea to Dept. of Finance for 2010...

Another (uncoloured) sketch of Fred...

Here's another quick drawing. Not sure about the wallpaper. Who wallpapers their house these days anyway? But then, his mum probably decorated the room. It's a night scene so it'll be interesting to see how I get on with the fall of moonlight. Anyway I better get back to sketching and cleaning up another rhyme. Sending the 'Cribben' manuscript off to a few agents today. Expecting quite a few knock-backs before I get a result. In the meantime might get a read recorded just to work over whatever blemishes there might be hidden. I'm thinking David Kelly will be my first port of call.

More scamps to follow...

I've been having quite a bit of trouble looking for someone to illustrate my book.

Perhaps it's a wayward combination of vanity and indolence or my innate pedantry that has me now working the characters in pen and ink.

The chap above is Fred.

He's a sickly fellow who's come undone on top of a tree with some cats - actually, he was supposed to be saving them but a series of unfortunate events have seen matters take a turn for the worse.

Clearly I need to revisit Fred's head but apart from that it's okay for a first attempt.

A STILTED CONVERSATION...

I'm rubbish on the phone.

Utterly rubbish.

A recent monosyllabic conversation with a Creative Director gave me cause for reflection. Later that night, as my mind was replaying the day in a style reminiscent of Gil Scot-Heron, I got to thinking about men on stilts and the conversations they may or may not also have.

So in the drawing, that's me on the right...in the yellow pants.