Well, at the risk of sounding cynical, things have been going well recently from a creative point of view - exhibition coming up, getting back into painting and the story is shaping up finally - so it was just a matter of time before a horrible, all-consuming crisis arose to throw a spanner into the works and absorb all my time. A while ago I posted on Facebook saying "if I wait until there are no major upsets happening to start drawing, I will never get any drawing done", and that continues to be true. The question is whether I can continue to be artistic while the current "thing" (I won't go into details, but take it from me that it's pretty horrid*) sits like a huge festering tumour in the centre of my life and refuses to be resolved or go away.
The prints for the display in Croydon Clocktower are on the way, hopefully to arrive before Friday afternoon when the pictures are meant to go up. There was some kind of issue with the pictures at DStudio and one of their technicians got in touch to say they'd only received 2 out of 5 images that I'd uploaded, so those remaining 3 had to be sent again last night, which has delayed the process of printing and mailing.
The story is under way again, following another major decision. The first major decision was to stop writing it in the first person from a particular character's perspective. The latest one is to stop writing it in the third person from the same character's perspective and shift to a different character instead. Suddenly the story makes a lot more sense in my head and is easier to write. This is in no small part down to the fact that human characters are much easier to write than alien ones, and I suddenly understand why all Terry Pratchett's books (for example) are written from the perspectives of the human characters rather than the dwarves or trolls. I've also adopted a more humorous approach with the writing and rather than writing it in a linear fashion I am waiting until a really funny idea for a scene develops in my head and am then writing that scene down and am then adding in paragraphs to link those funny scenes together. As a result this story is coming along much more naturally and in a voice that sounds more like my own and less like a talking satnav.
I emailed Twinkl last night about their lack of resources for older kids with learning disabilities and included my "Whole Body Listening" poster by way of an example of what the teachers at my school look for. I've modified the poster quite a bit after realising that it's a bit too similar to that "Listening Larry" poster and may provoke a lawsuit if I start posting it around online.
The painting is on hold at present - I just don't feel like doing it.