No doubt the entire internet has been hanging on tenterhooks, on the edge of their seats and generally losing sleep over one question: “Did Christopher Magilton, Writer Ordinaire, Part-time Classical Dance Teacher and All-Round Good Guy complete the challenge he set himself, to write ten sketches in ten days despite his demanding work and home life?”

First let me answer your question with a question: If you’re simultaneously hanging on a tenterhook and sitting on the edge of your seat, are you at all surprised that you’re losing sleep? I mean that sounds uncomfortable. And difficult. And also, I don’t teach dance. But I digress. Let me now properly answer your question.

Yes. Yes I did.

I struggled some days to find the time. I had to do four and a half of them in the final weekend. But I got them done. There were one or two work related things that needed attention that I had to make myself put aside (not really an arm-twist, it’s not like I wanted to do them, I just have to) and I paid a bit of a price for that. But I got them done.

In total the sketches amount to about 52 script pages. For some perspective on that, a feature film would probably be somewhere from 90-120. So about half a film’s worth of material in 10 days. I can live with that.

And that’s not to say that it’s all gold. It’s first draft stuff. Finding my way through aspects of character and ideas and gags. There’s still work to be done. Changes and tightening. Comedy is tricky in this regard, because you want to make sure you work in as many jokes as possible, but sometimes if you have to stray too far from the essence of the story to work a gag in, even if it’s the funniest bit in the whole piece, it often has to go. There’s a line you have to walk.

But it was exactly what I needed. A short, targeted burst that moved me forward. Gave some substance to the series. Helped me find the dynamic between the characters that I hope will be compelling to watch. Got me a little bit invigorated.

So, what now? Well there’s about five weeks to go in the school term, so I’d like to find time to write some more material. One a week would be perfect, as that would bring the total number of written episodes up to 20. Then over the holidays I want to focus on second drafts and working out which episodes will be produced first so I can start some pre-production. The aim would then be to be ready to shoot over the summer break.

Of course, to imperfectly borrow a line from Paula Abdul and MC Skat Kat, when I take two steps forward, I take two steps back. Two days after completing my personal writing challenge, I sat down to start recording some demos for my partner’s audiobooks (another one of the projects on my list) only to find that my audio recorder had died. Completely failed to boot up, and none of the various troubleshooting or software reinstall attempts did more than vary the background while I stared at a spinning loading icon that was happy to continue spinning until the day of judgment.

Now this is not a minor thing. It’s the device that is going to be used for recording audio for my web series, Devin Madson’s audiobooks and her writing vlogs (and if we ever get back to it, our podcast). And while this isn’t high-end professional gear, it’s still the sort of thing that costs a pretty penny (and a number of its ugly mates) to replace.

After a bunch of online searching and emails the recorder went off in the post to the distributor of the brand in this country who will hopefully be able to fix it for about a fifth of the ugly pennies we would otherwise need to replace it. Fingers crossed.

Finally, a shout out to my partner Devin Madson. She is sitting next to me as I type this, working through the last ten or so pages of edits of the third and final novel in her Vengeance Trilogy. Finishing is tough, especially dealing with all the little last minute things that we all put off, and also the act of letting go of something out into the world. She is inspiring for how hard she works to get her story as near to perfect as human fallibility will allow and for not accepting anything less than her absolute best.

Bless me Internet for I have sinned. It has been over three months since my last confession. When last I came before you I confessed to a desire to make more time in my life for my creative projects. It would seem that now is as good a time as any to check in.

So how’s progress?

Honestly, not amazing. But there are positives.

I have struggled to find the time to really work at things. I will admit that some of that is my own personal blocks which I have fought against and probably always will. And family life, a newborn and teacher homework (trust me, we have more than the kids) are still there.

On the other hand, those things aren’t going anywhere, so I can’t give myself the excuse.

What I would like to discuss are the positives. Because when you’re trying to achieve momentum from a stationary start, any forward movement is still something.

Positive number 1: My Commute

I mentioned in my previous post that I now spend about three hours a day behind the wheel going to and from work. That’s a restriction on my time but I’ve said I want to use restriction as fuel, not as excuse. I’ve hunted down podcasts and audiobooks that are relevant to my various projects (more on this in another post). More than that, I’ve used the space and time to think, mulling over ideas and problems as I’ve driven (while still maintaining a vigilant watch for suicidal kangaroos). By the time I’ve reached the other end of the journey, I’ve often had more than a few notes to scribble down.

Positive number 2: Feeding My Muse

No one creates in a bubble. We need stimulation in the form of viewing the creative work of others and engaging in dialogue with them (literal and metaphorical). Luck has been with me and I’ve taken advantage of every opportunity.

My partner, an independent author, attended Continuum (Melbourne speculative fiction convention) to speak on panels, meet other authors and sell some books in the dealers’ room. I came along as general support crew for the books and bub, but also took advantage of the opportunity to speak on a few of panels (of the fan discussion variety, but I was still plenty nervous about whether or not I had anything worthwhile to say) and met a great bunch of writers and fans of all things fantasy, sci-fi and geeky.

I also went to Melbourne Web Fest, a festival dedicated to the web series. This was incredible (so much so that I will be posting a separate blog about it)

Finally, this year I decided to be an assessor of the VCE Theatre Studies exam. Since students can write on any two of ten approved plays, it’s necessary for an assessor to see them all. So far I’ve been to six and they have also been amazing and stimulating experiences.

So on the whole that’s been a pretty incredible few months. Certainly a wider variety of creative experiences than I’ve had for some years. And it’s been really good for cementing my desire to flex my creative muscles again. Now comes the next bit. Actually getting stuff done. I have a particular challenge for myself in mind. More on this soon, along with some specific updates on the various projects I talked about in my last blog.

First off, I take great comfort in the fact that this will not be read by anyone. Or at least, not for a long time. Sure at some future point once I actually start to produce something that people take notice of I imagine someone will get curious and want to look me up (and if that’s you then let me just say a quick “hey, thanks for stopping by”). But until then these words are kind of just whispers in the dark, marked for internal use only.

Which is handy because the second point of this blog post is a personal kick up the butt. Let’s not think too much about the anatomical logistics required to pull this kind of manoeuvre off (or that it took two goes for me to correctly spell manoeuvre), let’s just take the metaphor as read.

See it’s like this: I set out some years ago to live what I would describe as a creative life. And there have been times when I would say I have been living one. I’ve written or directed or produced or appeared in shows at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and Melbourne Fringe Festival. I’ve worked on various short film projects. I’ve worked with high school students to create and put on plays that deal with the issues that affect them, as well as getting my Broadway on directing high school musicals (though not High School Musical). I am proud of all these things.

However, they haven’t been quite enough. Just like when you read through someone’s social media postings you get the edited highlights of their life, my reality is much more mundane. And worse, many of the projects and ideas that excite me or mean the most to me are the ones that still lie largely incomplete or unrealised.

Like all of us when we procrastinate, I have the usual array of excuses. As a teacher, I have the kind of job that I don’t leave behind when the day is done. I have a family (a partner, two stepdaughters and a newborn son). I also recently moved further away from where I work, meaning I spend about three hours a day in the car. These and other demands over the years have restricted and at times outright stopped my various creative pursuits. Often times I would find myself shaking my head, wistfully sighing and putting a project aside with a lament of “One Day.”

I’ve decided that doesn’t work for me anymore. Partly because of the obvious, that life is too short, and eventually “One Day” if left unattended in a loading zone for too long gets towed away to “Never”.

But it’s also because of a realisation: Restriction does not stop creativity. It hones and unleashes it.

When working on independent productions, the restriction is usually money. There’s never enough to get the best quality equipment or expertise on board. It’s forced us to be creative, getting more out of less, finding another way to tell the story without elaborate effects or fancy camera dollies or cranes.

When working in a high school setting, the restriction is usually experience. The kids don’t have the training or worldliness to completely understand and pull off a performance in the way that a professional cast might. It’s forced me to learn how to cast creatively, re-imagine scenes to play to kids’ strengths and ultimately led to much tighter and interesting finished products.

When writing, the restriction is usually the limits of form or genre or perhaps the limitations of historical events that a story is linked to. The challenge in creativity comes in making those work for you in such a way that a 14-line sonnet can say as much as a full-length novel or that a play set in one room can somehow feel like it is still a critical fulcrum in world-shaping events that are happening somewhere offstage. These are ongoing challenges, but I’ve relished each of them.

So if restrictions don’t actually restrict creativity (instead forcing creativity down new and more interesting pathways) then why should this be any different if the restriction in question is time?

That is the question I am going to attempt to answer as I start the quest to reclaim my creative self. Finding ways to use time more creatively and effectively within the time limitations of everyday life. I plan on blogging about it too, both in terms of what I’m working on as well as in terms of how I am finding ways to work with the time I am given.

So what am I working on? Well at the moment there is a comedy web series that I am working towards and a military horror novel set in Roman times. Recently I’ve also been floating a fictional podcast idea and a new technical challenge in the form of performing and producing audiobook versions of my partner Devin Madson’s novels.

How will I go? You may already know the answer by the time you read this. But I’m going to be writing about it here whether you’re reading it or not. Think of it as motivation. Whispers in the dark, echoing my own thoughts back to me to keep me moving. For internal use only.