I've got home after the last day of the London Screenwriters' Festival absolutely buzzing and high as a kite (no drugs involved!).
I've been writing ever since I got home at about 9pm. Talk about inspiring and action inducing...
First change is to rename my blog for what it really is. It's my diary and I hope before long others will also make it theirs.
LSF, is like no other conference I've been to. For a start it's not a conference it's a festival. A festival which I know I'll be going to for years to come.
I've made new friends. Real ones who I know I'll be in touch with. I really learned. Not just the obvious, extremely useful information but I also learned about myself and who I am as a writer. I learned so much about the industry too.
But without a doubt the most exciting discovery was that I've 'found my tribe', to use the wonderfully whacky and brilliant Chris Jones's words.
I'm not gushing or overstating it but I am in love with this industry in a way I have only ever loved one other, the ski industry (but that's another story).
There are so many in filmmaking who not only welcome newcomers but really bring them in and help them understand how they can play their part in it. At LSF I heard a phrase I've never heard before 'we have to push the ladder back down'. It was Farah Abushwesha, Producer and Founder of Rocliffe who said this when I commented on how generous industry professionals were with their time and free advice. Now that's not a phrase I've heard anywhere else.
Yes, I've found my home and I want to be part of this wonderful world for probably the rest of my life. Old romantic that I am, I believe in love at first sight. I just didn't realise it could happen twice.
Thank you LSF, thank you Chris, thank you all you wonderful volunteers and staff at LSF who patiently dealt with all our questions and problems, thank you to all the wonderful speakers and workshop leaders who taught us so much and got us thinking in new, freer ways...
Most of all thank you for helping me say 'I'm a writer' and believe it!
PS - thanks Mum for buying me the ticket, best present I've ever had.