L'Acrostiche

Today's Thought For The Day is highly appropriate to the situation in which I find myself. It says that when faced with a challenge that feels as if it is bringing a negative change in our lives, it is worth remembering that every single thing that happens to us is ultimately for our own good. How true that is!

Here is the reasoning behind this: Change is necessary because without it, nothing happens. We have to move old things out of the way to allow newer, better and more amazing things to come to us. When I was told that I was being unceremoniously booted out of my last job before my contract had ended, I was tempted to curse and swear. But it didn't take me long to remember that all change should be welcomed and that, as black as this news might have appeared to some people, it appeared to me as an opportunity.

Every time I get too comfortable, it is necessary to shake myself up and look for new openings. Getting too comfortable causes me to take my eye off the ball; to lose sight of the goals I really want to achieve. I mean, I was never going to get my novel about rent boys finished while I was slaving away at Northampton and driving for three-and-a-half hours every day

So, whilst it is still necessary to earn money, my somewhat rude ejection from my last contract has forced me to look around for something more suitable. But more importantly, it has given me the opportunity to get back into circulation with my favourite people – the writers and film-makers of Nottingham. And here comes the good bit – a film producer has shown some interest in making my film - the one about the man whose wife thinks he's a transvestite, but isn't.

Even though nothing may come from this (there are many false starts in the film industry), it's really great that a serious film producer has shown serious interest in my script. It's only a ten-minute short, but it's a start. If nothing else, it has boosted my confidence at a time when I really could use it. And the nice thing is that it only came about from a chance remark made during a chat over a beer, where said producer was present. That conversation wouldn't have taken place if I'd been at Northampton, no sir!

Chance is not something that happens to other people – it happens to us all, but some people don't actually see it. The difference is to keep one's eyes open and never, ever, see anything as negative. Sure, bad things will happen – but the answer is not to let those bad things knock us off course.

Rare is the change in anyone's circumstances that can't be exploited to find something better, but it's all a case of application; it's all a question of attitude.

Each and every one of us has a responsibility to ourselves to search for the best we can do, and to do it. Maybe my film script about the man who isn't a transvestite will never appear on the screen, but at least I'll have given it a go; at least another door can be creaked open a notch.

The momentum of this new spirit of optimism might even see the completion of the novel about rent boys, or even, the novel about the woman who died but didn't. There's so much to do, but the satisfying truth about this is that there is only one person who can do it. And that person, is me.