LOLA, or The Girl Who Lost Her Mind.

2012, film school was coming to a close and I realised too late, that I wished I had had the balls & the ego, to pursue directing and it's specific creative tyranny.

I also realised that to make a film you don't need much, not really.

And so, with the help of three close friends, the talented Nat B, Bene L &  E Rogers, we workshopped two characters for one week, in my bedroom.

The resulting story, about two girls who torture animals for fun, was bleak at the best of times. We had improvised everything from the moment they met, the height of their fascination with one another, to the moment Alice visits Lola 5 years later, in an institution.

We chose to capture the moment Alice confronts Lola and leaves her. 

We shot it in one day.

The edit took three years. 

Possibly nothing is as horrifying as watching the footage you directed over and over and over and over. 

You are made increasingly aware of it's many short fallings technical and otherwise: the lack of varied points of view, of angles, the absence of movement to cut on, how little of what you wanted to convey has made it through the lens, your own general incompetency - it was nightmarish. Over the course of those 3 years I sat down many times to finish the edit, but couldn't.

I was told that I was being hard on myself. Personally, I just think of it as honesty.

After a drunken conversation I finally knew how to finish it. Just cut the shit. Use the rest.

Making sense is over rated in short film.

I think ultimately, it's brief. The narrative is foetal at best, but I let myself hope that the final film is restrained and somewhat emotive. 

And so in 2015, I had finished my first short film, not just that, but it was screened at the Tabacco Factory Theatres in Bristol.

Despite the film's shortcomings, if that isn't a finishing project, what is?

Kate x

147 Days, or Ignore This Post

4 months, 3 weeks, 6 days since I closed STREAKS, moving away from blogging to focus on writing fiction.

And how did that go for you? I hear you wonder.

HAVE YOU WRITTEN A WHOLE NOVEL? You gasp!

No.

I have not. 

What I have done is try to adhere to the two rules I set myself after writing that post:

1. Finish what you start.
2. Be so good they can't ignore you.

I needed to know that once I had a big idea (or a small one) I could see it through. And now, today, I know: I can finish.

Now, while this output is hardly 'so good' it simply CAN'T BE IGNORE, OH MY GOD!  in order for some one to ignore you, you've at least got to be in front of them.

I am abysmal at self promotion. And so: STREAKS. 

This blog has always made me feel comfortable putting my Maxwell shaped voice into the world, and gosh-darn-it, hoping for the best.

Over the next few weeks, I want to share with you some of the things I have finished, as well as some that I have started and hopefully you will think they are, at least a little bit, good.

Truly - Maxwell

Avoid At All Costs, or The Last Post

Those of you who know me well, will know that at any given time, I am working on at least 6 projects at once. I suppose this has characterised me - I would say, 'if you want something done, get a busy person to do it'. 

But, throughout the Great Vagabond year that was 2014, I was hounded by the quiet certainty that I had at long last, too many projects. Zines, short films, poems, spoken word, a novel, a blog, and trying to pin down those basic necessities: a flat & a job.

By the end of 2014 I had a room in a little basement flat (see above) and a mad-cap job at an renewable energy company (no, I'm not sure how that one happened either).

And 2015 began. The basic needs are covered: after nearly 15 months, and upwards of 50 beds/tents/sofas/floors spread over two continents, working on and off as a dish washer, I now have my own roof above my head and my own pillow under my neck. And a stable income. 

So - what's next? Deep inhale. What's next is the barrage of click-bait articles telling me helpfully how to MAKE THE MOST OF THE YEAR TO COME! HOW TO KEEP YOUR NEW YEAR RESOLUTIONS! And more such self-help inanities. Until... Oliver Burkman's brilliant, cynical piece on the Guardian telling me with great certainty:

"[...] select something to stop doing this year. I don’t mean bad habits, such as injecting heroin or picking your nose; I mean something worthwhile."

And I found myself falling down an 'open in new tab' rabbit hole, of productivity-themed articles that all had one message, loud and clear: Do Less. Focus. 

From the Steve Martin Method ("Be so good they can't ignore you") to Warren Buffett's "Avoid At All Cost" list, and finally the "Power of No", that quiet feeling that I was spreading myself thin became a crashing wave of reality.

Lists were drawn up, gut feelings were assessed and decisions were made. 

It's time to put a few things down.

STREAKS has had many incarnations, since it's first posts as a style blog, I've written about everything and often nothing at all. It was briefly an arts magazine when my ambitions took over and then slimmed down to a music blog when some sense was knocked into me. Everything is still online and will remain that way. But for now, there will be no new posts.

I'll still be listening greedily to all the things (or as many as I can find) so please, if you are curious add me on Last.fm & if you ever want suggestions of things to listen to, I'm on all the social media (check the links on the right hand side) so by all means! Ask! 

There's no knowing if or when I'll be back posting reviews here, but for now - that novel won't write itself.

Until next time - Kate x