I am a one-woman band, a lone author, new to publishing, not new to writing.
I don’t have a ghost-writer or an editor, not even a mentor, and I’m all about honesty and authenticity so I’m not going to pretend I’m someone else and write about ‘Julie’ in the third person! I am a Mum to one son (and about to be a Grannie); I’ve been a brilliant wife – twice; a surthriving divorcee – twice! Brilliance plus wayward husband does not equal permanence, hence my nom-de-plume reversion to my birth name and I may just reinvent this as I become an even more accomplished Covid Chameleon. I am, after all the Mother of Reinvention; a teacher for thirty years, an educational leader for some of those and for all of them a maverick. I’ve directed dramas – on and off-stage. I’ve been a serial dater, and an occasional real-time Bridgette Jones – yes I have been incarcerated in a foreign jail. And I’ve worn ‘big’ pants from a perfect size ten to a bustin’ out of the seams eighteen.
My timing is appalling – or fabulous, depending on which way you look at it! I lost job security two weeks before lockdown and I’d just got myself back into lead vocals in a band but I will be a rock broiler before live performances are permitted ever again it seems. And I was writing a musical before all of this but, with a cast of thirty in my Tolpuddle version of Les Mis, it doesn’t easily lend itself to a Zoom staging and in any case, Sir Cameron Anthony Mackintosh (I’ve moved him to the same categorization as John Hutson) is not in my best books. Besides, Michael Sheen and David Tennant are too hairy to take the lead roles.
But this is just my script so far! The scenes I’ve chosen to act out. The plot I’ve adopted and even without the global lockdown, it’s been a little too theatrical. So I’ve just sacked the scriptwriter! I have become the CEO of my own thoughts and I can hire, fire, demote or promote as I see fit.
Character traits? Well, they’ve enhanced the performance entirely. I’m a warrior but I don’t fight; I make peace, I don’t ever try to keep it; I am resilient and resourceful and that makes me a target for challengers to test those qualities out; I love fiercely, but have no passion for hatred and I truly believe that we have the power to turn the world, and our own performances in it, around.
And now, I am a published author. Here’s to me…and to you, my much-loved reader. I am so excited to see how this change of script affects the performance!
Latansani 