Right. So this is working. I’m actually blogging.

There was a blog page on my website but- to be honest, I was actually quite bad at updating it. The whole point was to try and get myself writing, and it kind of failed rather spectacularly.

So what’s in my life at the moment?

Well- I’ve recently come off a gigantic burst of work. Being a freelance journalist means that you do have tremendous amounts of freedom (the freedom to be poor, the freedom to stare at yourself in the mirror and wonder “Why the hell am I doing this again?”), but it also means that “No” is the most frightening word in the history of the English language. You just can’t say it. So, I’ve had a couple of weeks when it’s just been a non-stop tide of screenings and work. I’ve gotten to the end of it, thankfully, but not for long as next Monday, I’m off to the Edinburgh Film Festival for two weeks. It’s a long time since I’ve done something like this (Last time, I journeyed across America for six weeks visiting movie locations). It’s going to be good, but it’s also going to be hard work. And the worrying thing is that I’m ill at the moment.

Just over a year ago, I got iller than I’ve ever been in my life. I had a combination of glandular fever and tonsilitis, which I really can’t recommend to anyone. It basically meant that for a solid month, I could barely do anything. I couldn’t eat without being in pain. I couldn’t drink without being in pain. There were a couple of points where my tonsils were so swollen, I started having these weird images of them swelling further and blocking my throat so I couldn’t breathe. And that was on the good days.

I got through it, but the trouble with glandular fever is that it sticks in your system. I had a brief relapse earlier this year- it tends to happen when I get very run-down. And that’s exactly why it’s happenned now. Thankfully, it’s not too bad, but there’s nothing scarier than just having to hope that your body gets well in the next few days, when you’re kind of screwed if it doesn’t.

I guess we’ll see…