The wake-up call

I've started this blog not as an ego enhancement (like my website, you could argue), but as a way to stick to the challenges I've just set myself. Another reason why I've decided to join the blogging revolution, perhaps, is because this year - for the first time since 1996, I stopped writing my diary. Every day I entered some of the day's ramblings (or, 'Every Day I Write The Book', as Costello wrote), but this year I figured I was too old for that, I had to stop at some point - maybe it was time to grow up? Writing a diary was beginning to feel like being a teenager, pubescent, dreaming of normality, naughty hairs, of finding romance one day etc etc. Obviously, those things were achieved, apart from the normality, but I've lost a sense of what this is anyway. But I was wrong; because writing my diary became part of my progression. If I did nothing all day apart from play Pro Evolution Soccer (4) on the Playstation I could almost punish myself with guilt by writing this in my diary - like an apology to myself. And there's only so many times you can apologise before you realise you're doing something wrong, so in a way - a big way, it helped me actually find the will to do good things - exciting things - creative things, with my days, or else I'd have the half a page of A4 to answer to. This year hasn't been good for many reasons, but there's still no excuse for my fucking laziness. It's time for that to change, the diary is gone but maybe this'll help me achieve some simple tasks.

Paul Richards; 27, going slightly grey, not looking his best. Scruffy, Pepsi stain on teeth. Terrible posture, lacking in academic qualifications and with a bit of a Red Bull problem. 3 Edinburgh Fringe shows (plus 2 Brighton Fringe, 1 Buxton Fringe and various other theatrical malarkey) behind him, reasonably well regarded session musician, locally at least. Should probably play more jazz. Still lives at home with parents, often convincing himself that's because he's saving up for a mortgage, but often spending the money he saves on studio time, Fringe productions and snare drums. In a temporary job, very little career prospects or options, especially within the current recession. Shit-loads of ideas on how to make his world a better place, but often these are confined to his notepad as he spends most of his evening watching episodes of classic sitcoms (circa 1974-1989) on his PC.

I have a few simple targets, and this blog should help me stay focused in my mission. By the end of December 2009, I should have achieved the following:

* Been on the recording for a song which has charted - top 50 in the UK singles chart.
* Start to actually make money out of playing original music.
* Take at least 2 shows to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2009, ideally 3. All of these shows should be a touch sharper in script than my previous attempts.
* Toured; either with my own theatre production, or with a band. 'Toured' means a series of dates in a row that doesn't involve coming home at night; give me a dirty old van, different cities every night and service station food now!
* Made a short film for internet distribution.
* Raise my profile as a writer considerably both in the UK and abroad - although this one may be difficult to measure.

And by achieving all of those things, I should be in a position where I:

* Know what I'm doing with my life.
* Be able to afford to live and stand on my own two feet, not from the funding of my parents.

It's a challenge, but one I think is in reach. Time to roll my sleeves up and be somebody. I'm not sure how often I'm going to update this, but probably a lot. If I stop updating this, I've probably failed badly and become a sterile excuse for a human being, I hope it doesn't come to that, obviously.