Miranda's musings

Awake:   Part 1 The Road to Edinburgh By Miranda Colmans January 2017 The January blues hit. Hard.   So much so that my colleagues at my permanent-temp job think that there is something seriously wrong with me.   I’m in a terrible mood a lot of the time.   Something has to change. February 2017 By chance, I see that The Space Theatre are doing a writing challenge “28 Plays in 28 Days”.   It starts the next day.   I sign up without really thinking about it and then wonder what on earth I’ve got myself into.   I’m not a hugely competitive person, however I am a bit OCD which means that once I start something, I like to finish it.   During the month, I write a play each day, in a myriad of styles and genres.   It is stretching and enriching. Taking part gives me the confidence boost I need to take the plunge and apply for a slot at the Edinburgh festival.   So, mid-Feb, mid writing challenge, I apply with little more ...

Going Cold Turkey Social media.   Love it or hate it, it’s here to stay.   You can’t escape it.   Every programme on TV helpfully puts its #suggestedhastag at the bottom of the screen and even David Dimbleby is reminded to mention it during Question Time each week – though I often feel he isn’t quite sure what Twitter is… Every Lent I like to give myself a challenge and this year I decided to quit social media.   I’m not a big Facebook-er unless shamelessly self-promoting whatever I happen to be doing in my career but I was feeling that Instagram was beginning to take over my life.   I’d love to know the hours I’ve spent scrolling, staring vacuously at my phone screen, it would be days’ worth of time.   And this is disturbing.   It is a literal waste of time.   Instagram does have its uses – there are some lovely communities on there and who doesn’t love to see a photo of a kitten?   However, it is also known as a hotbed for batteri...