Almost There

Do you know how often my work has almost made it to the screen! Too many times to mention , so here I am, mentioning them. I had two comedy series on Radio 2. Yeah, did you know I once thought I was going to be a comedy writer? My Mammy and Me had begun as a short story on radio and then just grew. I was so excited when it was commissioned for television. They talked about the cost of each episode, the sets, the cast. I had a script editor and everything, and then.....nothing. Never quite rejected, just put on a back burner. Never mind, I already had another commission for yet another comedy series. I had worked in a woollen mill when I came out of school, and used the experiences to write about two mill girls in the '60's, who thought they deserved a better life. We Gotta Get Outta This Place( I even had a ready made theme tune!) I sent it off to the producer of my favourite comedies at the time. Susan Belbin, who was producing Only Fools and Horse, One Foot in the Grave among others. She came up to Glasgow to meet me, loved it. She commissioned me for five episodes. I was up and down to London for casting auditions. Me! I was swanning around Television House along with Steven Moffat, before he became The Moff.  I sat in as actresses came in and read for the parts. Kelly McDonald was our favourtie, told me her mum just loved the script too. Susan, a producer with a lot of clout down at the BBC, refused to have a read through,( that's when the actors get together and read through the script. That had to be explained to me, in case you think I am being patronising.)  or even for a pilot to be made. ' You are getting a series,' she told me. ' BBC 2 for the first series, then it will move to BBC 1'  Can you blame me for thinking, nothing could go wrong now?
  So, what went wrong, I hear you ask.
  Susan Belbin became ill, and had to leave the BBC!
  The baton was picked up by her assistant, also a producer. Just as keen as Susan Belbin but with none of her clout. She too refused to have a read through of the script. What she did get was a stage pilot. The episode was to be acted out on stage, and filmed  in front of an audience. She did a fantastic job too.
What could go wrong this time?
Well, it was a very Scottish working class comedy set in the '60's. And it was filmed in front of a London audience, mostly BBC types.  I didn't get the series.
   And then there was Granny Nothing. Before it became a book, I sent it off to the BBC as an idea for a children's series. They loved it. I was commissioned for 18 storylines, for two series.  So, what happened to this one? Well, the controller of children's television was replaced and his successor had his own ideas of what would make a good series. I began writing Granny Nothing as a book, which then became four books.
Then, to my delight, Granny Nothing was picked up once more by the BBC. Once more I was commissioned. Surely, nothing could go wrong this time? They were talking about a scriptwriting team which I would head,  how long each episode would last, at what time it would be aired., even who they were considering to play Granny Nothing.
Fate vomited on my contract once again.
Another new controller appeared. This one thought Granny Nothing was too much like Madame Doubtfire.
I almost phoned him up screaming. ' It's nothing like Madame xxxxx Doubtfire.'  But what would have been the point?
  But you know, and this is especially for any aspiring writers out there, I got all of this without an agent.  I looked in the Radio Times for the names of the producers whose work I admired and then I simply sent off scripts or programme ideas to them. (It was Susan Belbin who suggested I get an agent, seeing as how I was going to be so famous and all that with We Gotta Get Outta This Place!)
 And now.... I am almost there again. This time it is the big screen.  The film rights for my book, Another Me, ( another one which began as a short story on radio) were bought a long time ago.  Last year however, everything began to snowball. I met the people in charge of production, Rebekah and Nicole, and was invited down to London to meet the woman who is going to direct and write the screen play for the film. Isobel Coixet. A Spanish director with a wonderful track record and reputation. They are all delightful, and so enthusiastic.
Isobel told me she is so looking forward to bringing my story to the screen. They have found the perfect location, (Cardiff) and Isobel is planning to make it a terrifying psychological thriller. Fox International will distribute it. It is going to be called Panda Eyes. ( No, I dont' know why either) It is going into production this year......in the Spring...er, no, it has now been rescheduled for September.
So, here's the cliffhanger.... it isn't September yet.....I'm holding my breath.....

SAW writers conference

Just back from a wonderful weekend with the Scottish Association of Writers at Erskine. I was the key speaker for the Friday night, and as I stood there in front of all those writers I remembered the first time I came to that conference, sitting out there, listening to the Friday night speaker, wondering who I would meet, what I would learn, and if I would win any prizes. ( There are loads of competitions at this conference) In fact, almost the first time I was at the conference I won the women's short story competition, judged by the wonderful Alanna Knight, a real inspirations to writers still writing her Inspector Faro books. I was so nervouse I couldn't even  read out my story. Alanna had to do it for me. It was titled, This Could Be The Night, and the editor of Women's Weekly was at that conference, and she liked my story and bought it. That led to many more stories in that magazine and others, and also led to me wrting two romantic novels. I also won the Marty Duncan trophy for a humorous article. I was advised to send it to the BBC, who asked me to turn it into a short story which has been broadcast several times, I then wrote it as a half hour comedy play, which became a series on Radio 2. My Mammy and Me. That was even commissioned for television too. Never made it there....yet! From little acorns indeed!  and there I was, on Friday night, the speaker at that same conference. IThe lovely Joyce Holmes was the speake for the Saturday night.
   It was great to meet up with so many old friends and see how well they were doing with their writing. Alex Gray, now one of the most successful of the tartan noir crowd with her grim Scottish crime stories. Chris Longmuir, now an established crime writer who won the Dundee Prize just a few years ago. Joyce Begg, who was one of the adjudicators at the conference, and has won a shelf load of awards herself and is now a stalwart of many magazines writing serials and short stories. Nicola Morgan was there, fresh from her win at the Scottish Book Awards, and Katie Grant and Catherine Czerkawska and so many others.
I always came back from that conference buzzing with ideas, and this was no exception. I also heard two qutotes I must share with you.

If there is a gun on the wall at the beginning of a story, someone should have been shot by the end  of the story.   That was Checkov! Good advice too.

         After three hours of working, the orange is squeezed dry.  ( and that was my beloved Robert Louis Stevenson)

So I am off to do my three hours before my orange dries up!

It's March already!

So here it is, March already. And on the 1st of this month Secret of the Shadows was published! The second in the Tyler Lawless series and I think the scariest book I have ever written. I can remember the very night I got the idea for this book. I was in Lancashire for the Book Festival there, doing a tour of schools and each night I stayed in a different hotel. One night I was dropped off at my hotel and when I went into the lobby there was no one at reception, just a very elegant lady sitting at the bar, sipping a cocktail. I can still picture her;  dark hair, long legs, black spiky stillettos, red and white spotted dress. I crossed to her and was just about to ask if she knew how to contact someone from reception when I realised she was a life sized doll! It seems this hotel is famous for its dolls. Scrooge was standing on the stairs, nightshirt, nightcap, lamp in hand looking so real it was scary, and on the way to my room I passed a waiter, carrying a tray of drinks, a napkin draped over his arm. If I hadn't known any better I would have sworn that he had stepped back just that moment to let me pass. I imagined them coming to life when everyone was in bed, and the hotel was silent, walking the corridors, climbing the stairs. So you can imagine that by then I was in a spooky mood. I had a large room and by the window, there was an armchair with two cushions and a reading lamp hanging over the back of it. I woke up in the middle of the night, and  in the darkness I could have sworm someone  was sitting in that chair . I almost fell out of the bed, switched on the light and of course there was no one there. The lopsided reading lamp looked like someone's head , and the cushions looked like someone's elbows, sticking out on either side. But when I finally switched off the lamp again, I could still swear that someone was sitting there. And I thought...what would I do if that shadow stood up and came toward me. And in Secret of the Shadows, it does.
   So many exciting things are happening in March. I now have an official trailer for Out of the Depths.  You have to watch it. It is terrific, voted on and chosen by the very people I write for! Mark Chong and his wonderful team have done a brilliant job. A future film maker I am sure of it. The winning school was Stewart Melville's in Edinburgh. I have shown the trailer at all the schools I have visited since World Book Day and they were all totally spooked by it. So it must be good. Check out www.publishedworld.com/trailervote to see it!
  I so love writing these Tyler Lawless mysteries. She is the heroine of the Unlawfully Dead, and with every book I discover something new about her and her special gift. She is learning too. Learning what she can do, and how she can do it. What I want to know is, what do you think Tyler Lawless should do next. Let me know via the websites. http://www.cathymacphail.com/ or http://www.catherinemacphail.co.uk/
  I have already written the Dead Teacher story. I originally called this, Spiritted Away, but then I learned there is a Japanese animated movie with the same name. So I have to find a new title, and there will be a competition on the website to see if you can come up with one for me!
  And as if that wasn't enough, I still have the film to look forward to. I've been told it is all going well, coming together nicely. Going into production in the Spring! I am keeping my fingers, toes, eyes, all crossed so that nothing goes wrong.
  But I will keep everyone posted about that.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year! I love New Year. It is like a new beginning, looking forward to the year ahead. And I am lucky enough to have so much to look forward to. This month a short novel I wrote is coming out. The Football Shirt, and I am so looking forward to that. I am launching it in a school in Perth. In March, my new book comes out, the second in the Tyler Lawless series, Secret of the Shadows. I'm hoping to be able to launch that, as I did with Out of The Depths, at the Mitchell Theatre. And I'm already getting so much wonderful feedback about Out of The Depths. Just read a fantastic review on the FantasticReads blogspot. Also in March, or thereabouts, the film of Another Me is going into production. It is going to be called Panda Eyes, and I am so excited about it. Keeping my fingers crossed that nothing goes wrong. I have been so close before. I almost had a television series, you know, way back in the '90s. We Gotta Get Outta This Place was commissioned for five episodes, and they even made a studio pilot before it got the thumbs down. My radio series, My Mammy and Me, was also commissioned for television. Granny Nothing was originally, even before it became a book,  commissioned by the BBC as a telvision series. But a change of controller, or producers leaving meant that too came to nothing. Would you believe I was hanging round BBC Television Centre in London with the likes of Steven Moffat?  But with Another Me, I think this will happen. So I am going to enjoy the moment. I have met the people in charge of production and they are all so nice, as is the director/scriptwriter, Isobel Coixet She has a great reputation, so many fine actors want to work with her. She wants to make the film as scary as The Ring, so that can't b bad, eh? And when things start happening I am going to start a film blog so you can follow the progress of the movie too. No matter what, I think this team will make a quality film.
  I am going to start another blog too. I visit so many schools, do creative writing workshops with them, and am always asked by teachers if I have ever thought of writing a book using the exercises I give to pupils. Of course i have, it's already written. But you have to wait so long for a book to come out, I thought I would rather do it as an exercise by exercise blog, so  teachers, pupils, young creative writers can follow the tips too. So look out for that one.
  My head is filled with Resolutions, or revolutions as my grandson Robert calls them. Maybe he's right, I want to change things for the better. And I am one of those annoying people who think only you can change things, only you can take responsibility for your life.
  So what am I doing this second Sunday of 2012? I am reading through stories which were written because of a wonderful competition I set for Perth Academy last year. I gave them a first line, and the stories they have produced are so imaginative, and such fun to read.
  And the first line I gave them : I should have been hailed as a hero for what I did. Instead they all turned against me, and now, I will have my revenge.
  There, it's yours. What would you do with that line?
 

2011

Almost the end of 2011, and I hear some people say it has been a bad year. But my mother used to always say at the end of each year. ' You're alive and well, what more can you ask for?' Well, I am indeed alive and well and have even more than just that to be thankful for.
   Grass won the Royal Mail Scottish Book Award this year, as well as the Red Book Award, and the Grampian, and they were only the awards it won in 2011!  Out of The Depths came out in November, and my publisher took me on a fantastic book tour to promote it.  And in 2011 I have written 6 books! It Walks Among Us which will come out next year. The Dead Teacher,( must get a better title.) the third in the Tyler Lawless series, The Football Shirt which comes out in January, and Point Danger which comes out later in the year. I also wrote a short book for the French market, Harry at Hastings. And  also the fourth in the Tyler Lawless series, Scarred to Death. Isn't that a great title. Okay, I don't even have a contract for that, but that book will be published. I'm going to make sure of it. It's the book I wrote in November, for that book in a month thing. It actually took me almost two months to finish, but it is definitely a great way to get you started. And you know what they say. Something begun, is half done.  Now none of these books are great tomes.The longest is around 50,000 words, but I am very proud of them anyway.
  I have also travelled a lot in 2011. My daughter Katie took me to Madrid in March. It was her Christmas present to me. What a fabulous time we had. I was in Spain with Katie again in July with her family, and Spain again in August with my daughter Sarah and her family. ( As you can see, my family can't get rid of me!) Then in September I sailed on the Queen Mary, from Greenock to New York. How fabulous is that! Stepping onto a the world's greatest liner in your own home town, and stepping off in sight of the Statue of Liberty!
   I'm breathless with all the wonderful things that happened for me in 2011, but it hasn't all been good.
   Another of my beloved sisters died in July. Belle, the eldest of us died just six months after the youngest, Teresa. I still can't believe they've gone. Miss them every day.
  But, in spite of that tragedy, how can I say that this year hasn't been a good one for me?  As my mother taught me, I am alive and well, and with so many plans and goals for 2012. If anything the loss of my sisters has taught me that you must live for the day. Make the most of every moment.
   This is something I keep on my fridge, read it every day. Believe in it completely. It is a Sanskrit proverb.
   I hope you like it too.

   Look to this day, for it is life
   The very life of life
   In its brief course lie all the realities and verities of existence,
   The bliss of growth,
   The splendour of action,
   The glory of power,
   For yesterday is but a dream
   And tomorrow is only a vision,
   But today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness,
   and every tomorrow a vision of hope.
   Look well therefore to this day.

The Book Tour!

When I first became a published writer, going on a book tour was something I dreamed of. It sounded glamorous, exciting, a sign of a real author! I've been on a few now, and I still find them exciting! Mind you, I still don't think of myself as a real author. Someone is going to spot soon I don't deserve to be here!I don't ever want to get blase about those book tours. I visited so many schools last week, stayed at so many hotels, and travelled on so many trains it is all a blur, but a wonderful blur.  Emma from Bloomsbury was with me at the beginning of the week and  St. Bede's and Oasis Brightstowe Academy were the first schools I went to, and they gave me such a wonderful welcome. And at Oasis I did my very first powerpoint demonstration...and it worked! Mind you, I haven't used it since. Dinner that night, and isn't it amazing how interesting people's lives are. I actually had dinner with a woman who had been Margaret Thatcher's bodyguard ! and she said she was a very nice woman, considerate and someone who always remembered people's names and the names of their children too. Doesn't sound like the Margaret Thatcher usually represented, does it? Tuesday and we headed to Hilperton and then Melksham Manor School, and another wonderful welcome. After that we left for London and that gave me a chance to meet my agent and stay in another lovely hotel. Only trouble with hotels is you don't get enough channels on their televisions. The only channels they seemed to have only had food programmes on them. Not a sign of  The Walking Dead! Lucky I brought a good book!
On Wednesday, Ian from Bloomsbury took over from Emma( was I too much for her, I wonder) but it gave Ian and I a chance to catch up on Doctor Who. They're making a film soon, and we were wondering what monsters they would have in it. Don't you just love monsters? Off again on Wednesday to Coventry and Whitmore Park school, then right on to Birmingham for an evening event. I loved that one too! Ros Bartlett organised it and we had parents and young people there. Including, April who said Another Me is her favourite book and she even has the cover as her screen saver!  Next day I was on to Wolverhampton and two terrific schools there, Colton Hills Community School and Wednesfield High School.  You would think by that time you might feel mentally exhausted, talking about stories, creating stories, but I find it stimulating. It helps me when I come to writing mine. Finally on Friday it was Southampton and the Sholing Technology College. A full on week, but I met so many fans, and sold lots of books too. Hope lots of them enter the video trailer competition for Out of the Depths. Thank you all for the wonderful welcomes you gave me!

Out Of The Depths

Yes, at last! Tyler Lawless is here!The first book in the series, Out Of The Depths doesn't officially come out until next week, but today we had a pre publication launch at the Mitchell Library in Glasgow. 400 fantastic pupils from schools all over Glasgow, and almost all of my family were there too. It made it a really special day for me. I've used so many in the family in my books I'm surprised any of them are still talking to me. There's Katie, my daughter,who began it all.  She got bullied at school,went through an awful time...but it was such a great story it was a shame to waste it, so I wrote Run Zan Run, the book that began my whole career in writing for young people! I mean, it's not that I'm not an understanding mum, but I have said to Katie that I know it was the worst thing that ever happened to her....but it was the best thing that ever happened to me She said, ' Mother, you are a sick woman!'
    Sarah, my other daughter, she was there today too. She got herself a job in Glasgow when she was just twenty one. I thought her boss was a thoughtful, wonderful man. Then his body was found in a shallow grave with a bullet in his head. Turned out he was such a villain, they didn't know if the Chinese Triads had murdered him or the iRA, or the Clumbian Drug Lords, or one of the Glasgow gangsters were responsible for killing him. The number of suspects could have filled a bus. ( Not much of a judge of character, am I?) However, you have to admit, how could I not use a story like that! And the book that came from that? Bad Company. Can I help it if all these exciting things happen to my children?
    But they forgave me, and they all came today. And as if having my family there, including my gorgeous grandchildren, as if that wasn't enough, the real Tyler Lawless came too. She was as excited as I was to be there, a beautiful, bright girl and for her sake too I want the Tyler Lawless series to be a big success.
It has been a perfect day!