Reports Of My Blog-Death...

... have been non-existent. Nevertheless, I can't help but notice it's been a while since I blogged. Nothing wrong with that, I'm saying - if you don't have anything you fancy blogging about, don't blog. Good philosophy, no?

Anyone who follows me on Twitter will know that I'm plenty active on there, tweeting like some kind of coked-up chaffinch. There's no doubt that Twitter has dented blogging's alluring, in favour of daily, hourly micro-blogs - and, to a large extent, led much of the blog-based writing community to up-sticks and communicate there instead. I'm not concerned about that - as long as there's a community, and as long as people are also sitting down at actual physical pub tables to talk about the stuff they can't talk about online (or, at least, shouldn't) I'm not too bothered about the online platform.

That said, I do love Twitter. I'd try and persuade the unconvinced, but Lucy Vee has done a perfectly good job of that in her detailed blog-post The Twit's Guide To Twitter. All I will say, is that Twitter is tailor-made for writers working from home. A whole community, live on your screen, ready to offer whatever you want it to offer. Networking, fun, advice, information, friendship, outrage, displacement activities a-go-go. You can also start your own lists of Twitterers. So far, I've made just the one - a list of Scriptwriters, which can be found and followed here. There are 82 scripters on it right now - want to be included? Tweet me.

So. What else have I been doing? Well, Doctor Who returns to our screens on April 3, when fantastic new episode The Eleventh Hour kickstarts the show's first full series in two years. There's a great new Doctor in the shape of Matt Smith (doubters, believe!) and an equally excellent new companion Amy Pond (played by the ludicrously hot Karen Gillan). As a result, I've failed to resist the undoubted allure of more journalistic work than usual, conducting a set-visit for Doctor Who Magazine and several interviews, including two big ones (who could they possibly be with?) for the next issue, out April 1.

That's not to say I've neglected my own fiction. Hell, no. I wrote a new horror feature in two gloriously driven weeks, and look forward to returning to that for a second draft. It's a dark and unpleasant piece of work, but explores a theme which fascinates me. Aside from that, I've mainly been pitching. Storylines, ideas, this 'n' that. One of those has become a commission, which I'm really pleased and excited about... although in the time-honoured blog tradition, I can't talk about it yet.

Over in comedy sketchville, work has continued on the fourth series of Radio 4's Recorded For Training Purposes, which has been, and continues to be, bagloads of fun and a proper learning experience.

Ghost Writer, my 24-minute film shot by the splendid TAPS organisation, is edited and almost ready to be shown to the world via some medium or other - most likely the net. Once that happens, I'll blog about the shoot. Also the edit, because unlike in TV-World, I was given the chance to give my own notes on the first edit, in conjunction with director Guy Slater.

Generally speaking, this year, one new thought keeps coming back to me: what you want to write is more important than the medium for which you write it. Since my Friday The 13th: Hate-Kill-Repeat novel was published in 2005, I've penned Doctor Who and Bernice Summerfield short stories for Big Finish hardback collections, but haven't given much further thought to prose. I'm starting to feel differently now. If you can do both script and prose, then why not do both? I don't think it necessarily means sacrificing focus. Beyond those, as well, I'm starting to turn my attention to comic strips which are another very viable and fun option for a genre-leaning writer like me.

So. Tough times for everyone from the work-hungry writer to the beleaguered BBC itself. Yet plenty of sandpits in which to play. Buckets and spades at the ready? Let's dive in.