New Year, New Storyteller

So, it's been over a week since Storyteller 2011 ended.  I normally finish a run very tired and irritable, unable to quite get into any structured activity, stumbling from one futile task to another.  I tend to focus on tidying, doing the accounts, things that require no use of my higher functions.  I can't say I have got a lot done since the run finished as I have had something of a day job this week, but I have tidied, I have gone to meetings and I have planned what I'd like to do for the rest of 2012.  Some of this is sorted - green lit and agreed - some of this is purely speculative.  But, broadly, I know what I'm doing for the next 12 months with Storyteller 2012.
This isn't far off how I spent this week last January - planning the year, making lists - but unlike last year I am infinitely less tired, depressed and generally low.  Last Christmas was terrible for me, this Christmas has left me with options.  I know I'm going to tour the GhoStoryteller show - or try to (have to get the bookings) - and I will be doing another six weeks at Barons Court at the end of the year.  I know what I plan to schedule into those six weeks - but plans from this distance have a tendency to change. 
I've just been watching the vlogs I made charting the progress of 2011.  I can see where various plans came to nothing - there were going to be a whole selection of stories for Storyteller that just went out the window - and where many little projects were left alone after a few months.
One of the stories I was going to stage for 2011 was the new version of The Examiner of Small Ailments - currently retitled as The Examiner of Beauty.  This is definitely something I'll be working on 2012 for Barons Court.  I have really exciting ideas about how I want it both to look and, more importantly, sound.  It's going to be crazy - I think.  That's the Trolls type show for 2012 - the show with more production values, less just someone telling a story, more theatre.
I have ideas for two more stories to have ready for Barons Court - the oft mentioned Attack of the Christmas Squirrels (abandoned because I couldn't think of a complete plot) which is shaping up nicely in my mind as a complete piece, and a spoof lecture on the life of William Shakespeare, which I've got some great material on.  The difficulty with Shakespeare is making up something that is stupider than some people actually believe in.  And I'm also planning to do some readings of The Pickwick Papers - edited and a complete version - like I did with the Sherlock Holmes readings of 2010/11.
So, including GhoStoryteller, that's five different shows to have ready for autumn.  Nothing much.  One thing I do intend to do this year is share more of the process of creation.  I didn't share much of the last years material because a lot of it worked because you didn't know where it was going.  The Examiner of Beauty is based on already published material, so there's little to hide.  I will share.
All this and more burbling can be found on this week's vlog - the first proper vlog I've done for a while.



And there's also my compilation blog of 2011 - all the silly bits edited together. 

Till next time... Robx