Brilliant!

I finally got the proof copy of ‘Me and Mickie James’ this week. I have it next to me now. It looks just like the finished thing except the cover is white (instead of black) and it has ‘Free Jonathan Cape Proof Copy’ on the back.

It’s brilliant!

Brilliant is my new favourite word. I went to see Son of Rambow last week. If you haven’t seen this then you should. It’s the best film ever made.

A young Brethren boy, Will Proudfoot, sitting outside the classroom at school while the rest of his class are watching tv, (he is not allowed), encounters the school rebel, Lee Carter, who has been thrown out of his own class.

Lee is making his own version of Rambo for a BBC TV talent contest and he bullies Will into helping him. Will, quite surprisingly, finds this brilliant! and throws himself into it.

I heard Garth Jennings, the writer / director talking about the film on Mark Kermode’s film review show. He was so enthusiastic and excited. He said ‘Brilliant!’ about a hundred times. This is the way forward. Life should be fun.

At work I found myself saying it.

“You’re reporting a burglary? Brilliant!”

I also heard from my publicist this week. She sent me a list of magazines, newspapers she had sent ‘Me and Mickie James’ and she said she would have a chat with The Independent about me.

Brilliant, I thought and she asked me if I had any ideas for journalism, travel, music, gay opinion pieces and if I did she could pitch them.

You know what I thought of that. It begins with ‘B’. I drank some wine and danced around my living room. I bought Groove Armada’s Late Night Tales this week. It’s perfect for late nights and it has a Will Self story on it too.

Nothing may come of it and nothing in my life changes, not really. If it wasn’t this I’d find another reason to drink red wine and dance around my living room. It’s what I’m good at. I read the first chapter of M&MJ. I realised it’s my writing life transposed onto a pop group.

Down By Law want to be famous. But that’s not the things that make them happy. It’s other stuff, like not having a toilet that flushes, or entertaining orphans of war, or maybe supporting Shawaddywaddy.

I wouldn’t want to be famous. I wouldn’t want to present the National Lottery, appear on a game show, be in the X Factor. Those things are empty. But I would like the wine on the way.

2 other things: I’ve got some interviews lined up. To get myself in the mood I read an author interview on the Guardian website, it’s with James Kelman. Read it here. One word. Yikes!

I have also updated my website. Visit the new and improved www.drewgummerson.co.uk

Currently reading The Man Who Was Thursday by GK Chesterton

Currently listening to Reverend and the Makers