Better than a kick in the knickers with a winklepicker

Well! I am growing ever more optimistic about bedtime and sleep in general since last night Madam was very dozy but still eyes-open awake when I put her down and she didn't cry at all, but lay and played with her toys for fifteen minutes or so, then went to sleep and slept through until just before half 7. No vomit or anything! And she was really, really awake when I put her down for her daytime nap but again settled herself really well. Fingers crossed for tonight.

Since I'm no longer a shambling zombie, i really have no excuse for not getting back to The Specials in my Nap Break - need to go through it with a fine tooth comb (too lazy), then write a cover letter (started), research Radio Drama Agents (started) and... um... send it off (too scared). Didn't even work on Family Reunion today - ignored all writing and played Soul Calibur instead. Naughty Scribbles. The Character Creation facility is horribly moreish. As well as making Eric, Nym, Janapurna and LeFroux, I now also now have Mavis Swift from 'Allies', The Creature from the Inversion Trilogy (or 'Chaos', to give him his assumed Arch Villain name) and an Evil Sheila (called 'Shadow'). Think I might make an Evil Diana ('Nightshade' - even though that makes her sound like a Gladiator... sod it, all the Evil!Persona names I make up for them sound like Gladiators) and an Evil Presto (any ideas for names? Warlock might be a good one).

My Dunlop Green Flashes are dying, so I pootled out to get some new trainers today, but then decided once I was in the shop to splurge on a pair of DMs instead. Haven't had a pair since the early 90s - Saturday must have put me in a Retro Mood. So my new shoes are metallic purple Doc Marten Classic boots, and they are beautiful. I'm wearing them in right now. Add to this the fact that I can't keep Violet out of her wellies at the moment and you've got a whole lot of indoors boot wearing. We spent a while this afternoon dancing on the lino in the kitchen in our boots to the Jackson 5. Joy.

Husband bought Ballroom Blitz by Sweet the other day, and it's glorious in a naff sort of way. I think Data and Tasha might have to make arses of themselves dancing in public to it at some point.

I have discovered recently that a couple of the guys I used to do Drama Soc stuff with at Uni, last heard of slogging away on the standup circuit and Edinburgh, have got their own Radio 4 show. I suspect that they'll probably graduate to telly fairly soon. Obviously, I wish them luck - they've clearly worked bloody hard and it'll be fun once they are household names to be able to say, 'oh, I was in a play with so-and-so, I wrote sketches for such-and-such for a revue show, thingummy-bob once went weird at one of my house parties and was caught rifling through my housemate's knickers drawer' (might save that last one for The News Of The Screws, see how much money I can get out of it). However, it's created a feeling of ennui Chez Scribs. Almost as if that was *my* radio show they've been given. And their hard grafting traditional fringe-to-radio transition has only gone to remind me quite what a stab in the dark my own plans for fame and adulation are. The Beeb still haven't sent my script back, by the way, which apparently they do as a matter of course once it's been rejected, and they definately received it because I got a confirmation through, but it's been well over 3 months now. I'm sure that if they did like it they'd have let me know by now. I'm starting to think they've already sent me a rejection which got lost in the post. I need to get back to writing original stuff, with a purpose of having it used. I have started a short screenplay. Whether it's any good or not remains to be seen, but I NEED to stop dithering and write properly!

1. Must. Finish. The Specials. MUST Send off to the Writer's Room. I intend to do this within the next couple of weeks. If it's still not done by the end of January you must all give me a virtual kick up the jacksy.

2. Feature length screenplay in collaboration with/for the directorial usage of Husband.

3. Cinder Burns. As a novel. And try to send that off as well. (I have started this today! Finally have a decent opening paragraph after only 3 attempts!)

4. Try to think of a better title for Cinder Burns, so that it doesn't sound so fucking 14-Year-Old-Goff-Girl. Ideas for a good title for a book that's basically The Dirty Dozen with aging, embittered Fairy Tale Heroes, lead by a middle aged, highly repressed deposed Queen Cinderella?

5. The Violet Fairy Collage. Preferably try to get this done by pickle's birthday as a bidet prezzie for her.