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For a few days. You don't get off that easy!

I'm flying to a commissioning meeting tomorrow and have the rare luxury of the BBC swinging for club class. Nothing whatsoever to do with how much I am held in esteem. That would be a one way ticket on National Express. They just left it so late that was all that was available. Yay for me though, I can now drink my weight for free in the BA lounge.

Taking that into account and the fact I will have to put some grind in over the weekend and at the same time recover from a serious hangover, some of you will be pleased to know my rantings will not resume until next week. Or until I get bored and the kids skipping and jumping outside finally realise I'm firing blanks.

Anyhoo, here's the best writing tool I think you can have. A Writer Buddy. I'm not talking about a writing partner. I mean a buddy who's a writer. Someone whose judgement and instincts you trust. WAGS Shags and Lags are okay up to a point. But when you have a writing problem a writer buddy shorthands it. Knows the ropes. Zeroes in on the problem. What might take 20 minutes to explain to a non writer takes half a sentence to writer buddy. Writer buddy 'gets it'.

How do you meet writer buddy? Good question. My soon to be ex wife asked me today how she could meet another fella. She's tried looking helpless in the gym, smiling in wine bars and throwing herself in front of cars. No dice.

OOOps. It's just occurred to me my son reads this blog. Ah hell, he's got a sense of humour. Hi Gus!

Anyway, it's the same answer. If it's meant to be it will happen. Same wavelength, same tastes, whatever. The vibes are like a magnet and you will meet. Writer's club, internet, on a job? Doesn't matter.

Writer buddies never take umbrage at the other's opinion. Because there is no competition between them. They wish each other every success. Writers buddies never for one moment hesitate to talk about their idea or concept because they know they can trust the other not to nick it. Yes the party line is that no one nicks ideas because why would a studio or prodco risk an expensive law suit when they could just shell out a lot less to buy it in the first place. But in the real world it does happen. You think the head of Universal knows if a lowly Dev Ex reads a script, leaves the company and several months or years later writes a screenplay the same but different to the great one they read and buried like a squirrel with a nut in Autumn? Companies don't steal ideas. People do. As a lowly Dev Ex, if you also happen to be a scumbag, the shortest route to fame and fortune isn't neccessarily discovering great scripts. It's bastardizing them and passing them off as your own. They are like paedophiles. You can't imagine someone being that way but empirically they are out there.

But the good news is you will meet your writer buddy. Be open for it because it might be the best thing to happen to you.