Gill Kirk, writer

Writing Life: insights, updates, and craft

  • Giving good story: it’s all about the posture (but never posturing!)

    If you love writing, you just love writing. I’ve got several fresh projects on the go  (film, stage and TV) and it’s a lovely time, tending the garden, straightening the bamboo poles, checking the rainfall, soil and consulting the manual…I also have several (*metaphor switch alert*) fully formed babies out there, trying to find their…

  • My under-nourished child: writing

    I’m writing again. After a year of office work fee-earning, a lot of high heels and suits, mind-shredding guilt and doubt, 800 commuting hours and a host of very unexpected experiences, I’m writing. Again. And of course, a bit of writing stuff happened in the last year – one stageplay rewrite, a couple of 1-page TV…

  • Catch & Kill the Clock-Eaters? Or live now, write later?

    I’ve never before seen the clock as a tyrant the way I do (ironic pause) now. In February, I binned the full-time office contract- great for funds, appalling for my just-4 year-old. My extraordinarily understanding client got out her net, dragged me from the slough of despond and offered me fewer hours. The results are…

  • Leslie Crowther & The Red Pen of Time

    I’m catching up on the quantum script after moving house.  As you’d expect, I had put the annotated script “somewhere really safe”…. far too safe, it turns out. Almost four months later, it was still “lost but obviously not lost”. Panic was forbidden. It was just not lost. Right? The irony of this is not lost,…

  • Magic Beans & The Myth of Artistic Poverty

    Poverty paralyses art. It doesn’t inspire. It murders. For twenty months, while my life was fat with “material” (running away from domestic abuse with a freshly-two year-old), it was thin on cash. As the months went by, the rent went up, the flexible hours vanished and the hope of ever getting a mortgage and stable…

  • A bad writer…

    Before you leap in, protesting, writing letters to the Queen, setting up Change.org petitions, I’ll say I don’t mean I’m a bad writer….just an appalling blog writer. Phew. The country heaved a sigh and put down its quills. On the 1001 excuses list, the top one is I’ve been writing. Loads. All of it (fanfare)…

  • Learning from the professionals- part 1

    A wee thought or two about the first of two script development days in the last 10 days. Mainly about brilliant actors and directors.

  • A Bit of a Song and Dance

    Ever feel you’ve got the weight of the universe on your shoulders? You need Dan Dare – or does he need you? One man’s “Potteresque” escape hatch, live on stage and for one night only… A script in hand show – come and see theatre get made! Monday 14 July, 7:30pm, Tobacco Factory Theatres (Brewery)…

  • Stage Manager sought

    A quick ad from our sponsors. Tobacco Factory Writers’ Forum (Bristol) are seeking a stage manager for 1-night script in hand with lots of “business”, to join a 100% unpaid team. If it still sounds interesting, read on. You’ll need to source lots of props and some costume between now and the show on 14…

  • A quantum of an update

    Just a very quick cheat of a posting: click here for the first update for supporters of the quantum play. News on our support from Old Vic New Voices Lab, how we beat the fundraising target by 25%, a piece in Arts Professional on what not to do and the skinny on this month’s big…

  • Tips from my crowdfunding experience

    The great chaps at Arts Professional have run a piece on my crowdfunding experience. If you remember, I was aiming to pay professional actors and director to help workshop my quantum mechanics script. Here’s a link to my original crowdfunding video – https://youtu.be/JTjduZoCWpk And here’s the piece: happy reading! http://www.artsprofessional.co.uk/magazine/272/article/tough-month

  • Exciting news…..soon!

    Spring is in the air, the blossom is appearing and things are starting to happen with the next stage of QM, my quantum mechanics play. If you remember, we raised 25% above target in December-January, through talentbacker, to fund a script development day with professional actors and a director…. Things are starting to happen, so…

Want to get in touch?

Get In Touch

– ㉿ –

Sign up for updates on shows, observations, tips and tricks for writing – every so often straight to your inbox: